You may not know about protests in Spain, but we sure as shit see yours. And we see you getting shot in the streets. And yes, you look like fucking clowns letting what semblance of a democracy you had slip from your fingers.

So you can see that some of us are trying to fight this shit, but in the next sentence say we “look like fucking clowns.” I’m not sure what the message here is supposed to be. Why would the protesters, whom you acknowledge risk getting themselves shot in the streets, deserve to be insulted for actually doing something? Or did you mean that other Americans look like fucking clowns, and it’s just an unfortunate juxtaposition?

I'm so glad the internet is a recent thing so past citizens of fallen empires didn't have to be called names by outsiders while being utterly powerless themselves.

doesn't mean folks from other nations aren't educated about yours.

That’s what some folks from other nations presume. How does this “education” happen? Is it standardized, in textbook form, and presented in class? Or is it the whiff of familiarity that comes with seeing the same words smeared on random internet posts?

Not to dismiss the point, frequently made, that American politics has outsized influence; but to clarify that understanding what our electoral college is and what gerrymandering is are just the most basic building blocks of understanding one aspect of American politics.

More to the point, politics in America is, perhaps more than some other nations, suffused into daily life in almost every public interaction in some way, shape, or form. And presuming to have an understanding of that while never participating in that public life - and furthermore judging such aspects based on one’s non-involvement with the assuredness of a wise veteran participant - is bullshit.