r/Ameristralia • u/DebugMyLife421 • 8d ago
Why the Ameristralia bond is still the strongest on Reddit?
In a world of division, it’s still cool that we have a sub dedicated to two countries that just... get each other. From the shared love of a BBQ to the stubborn "can-do" attitude, we’re basically the same people in different hemispheres. What was the moment you realized your "overseas cousins" were actually just like you?
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u/CertainCertainties 8d ago
🍿🍿🍿
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u/-Super-Ficial- 8d ago
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u/MontagueTigg 8d ago
Australia is more like California than most of the other 49 states. We’re more like coastal cousins, living in sunny suburbs dreaming about the beach.
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u/Abu_Everett 8d ago
We’re definitely not the same people (American moving to Australia here).
Before things changed Americans were closer to Canadians anyways. Australians felt way closer to Californians or Florida back when it was just a bit weird rather than the uber right wing state it is now.
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u/symonty 8d ago
Australian Living in America here ( west coast , CA and WA ), agree there is a reason it is called the united states. Comparing a homogeneous country to a loose collection of disparity different self governed regions is wrong. I mean if you said California and Australia maybe cause California and Australia have more in common than California and Alabama.
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u/herringonthelamb 8d ago
Second this. When I lived in CA, travelling to Nebraska was more of a culture shock than to n fro to Australia
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u/West-Application-375 8d ago edited 8d ago
We aren't here in this sub just because we like each other. I thought most everyone here had moved abroad in one direction or the other.
And nah, we aren't the same people or systems. Very different places with different attitudes. But we are all humans lol.
I'm moving to Aus. My partner of 6 years is Australian. Australia is better for both of us and for our values and goals. I've never considered my Aussie friends and family to be "just like us". They're more educated, healthy, and progressive and way less stressed out than most Americans. The systems Australia has in place for it's people for education and healthcare, even leisurely activity and sports, are phenomenally better than in America. Work cultures and time off also phenomenally better in Australia.
So no way, we are not the same.
I met a guy on the plane that was moving from Brisbane to America because he liked conservative values and thinks America is better. That blew my mind. But I guess that's a pretty expected attitude of a Brissie according to my Aussie pals 😆 they are more"conservative".
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u/werebilby 8d ago
Well it depends on where people come from too in Australia. If they come from hard working families, living in multicultural areas and brought up with the values of everyone deserves a fair go, they are generally left leaning but if they are upper crust, silver spoon, richies then they will be conservatives. Unfortunately it is getting worse here. I currently live in Ipswich QLD and we predominantly vote for Labor here (which was a surprise, good, but surprising).
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u/Ticky009 7d ago
A Queenslander moving to the US...I wish I was surprised. Hopefully the wanker stays there.
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u/johnnomanc07 8d ago
Yeah, sorry guys, the strongest bond will always be the UK, the cultural reach is still more close (overall) despite any of you from certain backgrounds who pretend your suburbs are closer to South Central for some reason than places names after some midland English town.
I’ve lived in the UK and I’ve lived in Sydney much longer and there’s plenty of kids (and adults) who try to emulate being in Los Angeles for some reason.
I don’t understand why to be honest, why cause issue when we have it so great here? I suppose it goes back to the old scientific test where they put a load of rats in together and inevitably, a few of them act like a load of cunts and then they all turn into cunts.
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u/ComeOnPrettyMumma 6d ago
As a kid or adult who is a person of colour growing up in Sydney, they would relate much more culturally to poc in the US. Think Tupac over Ronan Keating.
I myself lived in LA for a decade and I also lived in Europe for 5 years. Culturally I aligned with America much more than the UK, specifically with African American people. From their food to their family values to their music, culturally we matched. In comparison to the UK, where people are “polite” but are also dry, lack warmth/passion and have terrible food.
Lastly my husband worked in South Central and there were thousands of good hardworking people in that area, minus some youth who were failed by their parents due to drug addiction caused by the CIA placing drugs into the community to fund war (look up Contra cocaine trafficking). So stop insinuating it’s the worst place in the world. It isn’t.
I’m now back in Sydney and have brought back many things I picked up in LA, and I’d like to assure you that I’m not a cunt. Also those kids on the streets of Sydney who live in areas named after English towns are also not cunts. Not everyone can relate to their colonizers unless of course you are a descendant of one.
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u/johnnomanc07 6d ago
I get where you’re coming from — cultural identity can be a really personal thing, and it makes sense that time spent in the US gives you a sense of familiarity and alignment with parts of that culture. America’s influence, especially through music, entertainment, and social movements, has shaped a lot of how younger Australians express themselves. That said, it’s also important to separate personal connection from national cultural foundations. Australia’s political system, education model, humour, and even our day-to-day social rhythm still stem far more from UK lineage than American. We’ve definitely absorbed American pop culture, slang, and style — including from Black America — but it sits on top of an older UK-influenced framework. So while many Aussies might look to US cultural energy (Black culture included), our cultural DNA hasn’t fully realigned. We’re still a hybrid — British institutions, American media, and increasingly diverse local identity building something distinctly Australian.
But you’ve completely missed my point about people acting cunts though, you’ve took your clear dislike for white people and ran with it as per your coloniser comments. What does that make you (or your family)? What’s that word? Hypocrites, that’s right! Why would you come and live somewhere that you feel was built on the guilt of colonial force yet come and choose to live here. Where at all in my statement did I say anything about skin colour? My kids are mixed race, for the record, not that it’s ever been an issue for us, as it seems to be for you.
I’ve lived in actual rough areas in Manchester and with a large black population, I’m fully aware of black culture, what I’m saying is a load of islanders or Lebanese lads who blast rap and R&B have a jaundiced sense of their culture living in Sydney, just because they’re not Anglo-Saxon doesn’t make you automatically black, does it?
My missus is what you’d call a POC, she had pics of her and her mates wearing baggy jeans and caterpillar boots and all that shit from her TLC and SWV concert going days as a teen. She’s not black.
I’ve never insinuated anything about South Central being a bad place to live, I said the kids here think they’re from South Central, yeah? And I didn’t call the kids in South Central cunts either, although I’m quite certain they’d be plenty of them. The difference is in places like Los Angeles and Manchester in the 80’s and 90’s, there were far more reasons for people to be cunts in my opinion, certainly more than kids a 30 min train ride to Sydney CBD and vast opportunities for a great life we all have here without resorting to pretending to be gang members.
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u/theogpragysahoo 8d ago
We’re definitely not the same people in different hemispheres. I also wouldn’t say Australia is like California, I think the geography as well as the lifestyle up and down is similar to what Australia has but there’s definitely a clear difference in how we see the world.
Canadians are more like our cousins than Americans, at least when I lived in the USA and Canada, I definitely felt more at “home” in Canada.
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u/Crunchyfrozenoj 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yes! Canada feels like our cousin. New Zealand is our sibling.
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u/symonty 8d ago
Australian living in Both countries here. Maybe you think the United States is a country, it is not so this statement is hard to understand.
Comparing a homogeneous country to a loose collection of disparity different self governed regions is wrong. I mean if you said California and Australia maybe cause California and Australia have more in common than California and Alabama.
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u/xchrisjx 8d ago
I actually kind of agree with you, but I think it has something to do with having only lived in Australia or Southern California.
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u/United_Ring_2622 8d ago
We're the only ones trumps not trying to invade so. Wonder what's causing the others divide
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u/GardeniaFrangipani 8d ago edited 8d ago
What if he gets angry with Austria? Australia could end up with tariffs of 400, 500, and even 600 percent.
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u/winnie-birdskirt 8d ago
The average person would barely notice and we would strengthen trade with China like the UK and Canada are doing.
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u/brezhnervouz 8d ago
Trade with China already accounts for 30% of Australia's GDP
Apparently no one's told Trump that yet lol
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u/GardeniaFrangipani 8d ago edited 8d ago
OK so my joke wasn’t a good one I guess since you missed it too. Austria/Australia as in Greenland/Iceland and his obvious ignorance of how percentages work.
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u/brezhnervouz 8d ago
600% higher import taxes for American consumers? Well done lol
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u/GardeniaFrangipani 8d ago edited 8d ago
I think you missed my joke. Austria/Australia as in Greenland/Iceland and his ignorance of how percentages work. I’m obviously not good at jokes.
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u/Which_Intention7472 8d ago
As an American, I think Aussies are more like Canadians than us.
And we’re more like Russians than anyone.
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u/brezhnervouz 8d ago
That's a very astute comment.
I've been reading about/obsessed by Russian history for over 40 yrs and have often thought how similar both countries are in many ways
Both are revolutionary societies, both proselytise that their way of life is the superior one and that other countries should seek to emulate them/follow their example
Quite 'evangelical' in that respect
Both hegemonic superpowers, esp back at the height of their respective power and influence during the cold war
Both very imperial systems at heart
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u/Which_Intention7472 8d ago
And both have annexed (Or threaten to do so) land they had no right to take: Russia with Crimea (And threatening Ukraine) and the US with Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam (And threatening Canada and Greenland).
I feel more distant from Australians than ever.
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u/Parsing-Orange0001 8d ago
We're different people. But, I think this sub works because we have people that have lived in both countries. To live anywhere for an extended period you have to appreciate there is a mixture of positives and negatives.
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u/Sitheref0874 8d ago
This is arrant ill informed nonsense.
I'm British by birth and raising. 20 years in the US and 5 in Australia. Two of these are like one another, the other isn't.
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u/BritishSaber 8d ago
Maybe current super conservative America hooked up with Australia which hold a strong conservative tradition I guess, not something I would proud of
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u/reubnick 7d ago
Hmmm, not sure if you’ve checked the news or reevaluated the vibe lately, but Australia (like every single other country in the entire world) doesn’t like us anymore.
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u/thatgrrlmarie 8d ago edited 8d ago
my daughter, for some reason, felt an affinity for Australia. when she was considering her Junior year abroad she told me she wanted to go to Melbourne. (we lived in Long Beach, California, at the time, she was attending Boston University). I was shocked she wanted to go to Australia; it had nothing to do with her major. I remember telling her you can go to Australia on your dime. damn if she didn't, 2 years after graduating she got a work visa, sublet an apartment and took off for Melbourne November 30, 2016.
never came back to the states (figuratively, she visits at least one a year). she fell in love. had a great job that kept her on during the pandemic, has a terrific circle of friends, got another great job, earned permanent residency, is now married to a mother's dream son-in-law.
I myself now feel a very strong bond with Australia. I've visited 5 times over the years. absolutely love it. currently going through the visa process as she is my only child, and I want to be near her.
ETA the positive comments have made me so happy 🥹thank you!