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Friday, November 6, 2020

From the Indonesian Viewpoint

 It is interesting to me that people here in Indonesia have for the most part only the vaguest idea of what is going on in America, election-wise and so on. Come to think of it, I don't know why they should have. It serves at any rate as a kind of an appropriate reset to my own preoccupations. 

They are aware that there is an election going on, and the outcome is important to them in as far as the importance of America is concerned as it relates to Indonesia in particular and Asia in general. At the same time, however, they seem to pick up some rather odd bits of information, or disinformation, likely from talk on the street rather than official news sources. 

One friend told me, for instance, that her apparently more informed friend told her that Mr. Trump is much better than Mr. Biden because Trump is a successful businessman whereas Biden was a soldier who fought in the Vietnam War (lol) and may have killed hundreds of people. He does not care about human lives, only the advancement of his political goals. 

Hmm. Somewhere, somehow, something seems to have gotten garbled. 

She further explained that Trump is quite feared by China, which she counted as a good thing, since China's "expansion, culture, and military" is a threat. 

Of course, I set her straight on these things. 

I remember another guy telling me that Trump is strong and tough, like a general. 

General who? General Bone Spurs? 

So it is at least entertaining--and in many ways just about as accurate as many American opinions I've seen on Facebook comments. One doesn't have to live on the far side of the world to be ignorant. One can do it in the comfort of his own home. 

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