Life's Greatest Mystery: Understanding Americans || Peter Zeihan

[@owenkeller2748]

I have it on good authority that there was a major war in New Zealand concerning a plain gold ring. Men fought orcs and goblins to stop a great evil.

[@WhatWhy42]

Precious 💕

[@andrewread154]

There was a major war in New Zealand and the empire couldn’t win it. It ended with a truce.

[@jackcaffrey8493]

very well documented

[@scottmadison4380]

That was just a walk in a park... NOBODY expected a bunch a scruffy small dudes to simply WALK in said park (and then litter in, what I am sure is a nationally protected volcano -Rude....).

[@RyanSemmel77]

Theres a great documentary about it that’s a three parter.

[@PhilRable]

I’m Australian, and I can tell you he is so right about Australia. It is all about geography. We don’t have a river system like the Mississippi and all of its tributaries because we don’t have a mountain range to feed these systems. While we have some great arable land, it’s nothing to match the Mississippi basin. We are the flattest and driest continent on the planet, and even while we are nearly as big as the lower 48, 90% of us live within 100 kilometres of the ocean because we do t have enough water to support a bigger population. On top of that, we got “mothered” by England right up until 1901 and that held us back. We are a very conservative people, I don’t mean right wing conservative like Republicans, I mean we are carful, slow thinkers who don’t really go for radical change. We have in the main a stable society and that’s the way we like it. With better geography, we would have a population 10 times what we have now, and we’d be very different, but if my aunty had ……….

[@kane_lives]

No radical change? OG, are you trying to gaslight us here? Your COVID regime was the most draconian of any remotely democratic country.

[@LD-vn3zu]

Because Australia is quite isolated & relatively disease-free, the threat of disease (&lack of toilet paper) freaks Australians out big time!

[@rolandnelson6722]

Absolutely spot on. When we plan a trip into the interior we are primarily concerned with how to get back. The planing and making sure we can get back, is more important than the plan to get there. That’s high level conservatism.

[@tombeespoke9384]

No mention of the Murray/Darling system and their tributaries in the above.

[@sailirish7]

You guys should be killing it in solar! More than enough energy to run as many desalination plants as you need, not to mention all the jobs in building the distribution pipes all over.

[@georgiewalker5826]

You should do a psychological approach to other major nations, ie UK, France, China, and Russia

[@justinturman]

He talks about Russian psyche in his books. They are paranoid about being invaded.

[@TomTomicMic]

Psychological analysis of France, there are not enough centuries!?!

[@ImAliveAndYouAreDead]

Read his book "Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World". Great read.

[@tedcrilly46]

A psych evaluation of how the Brits got Americans to hate on the French, when it was the Brits who tried to kill the US, the French who helped stop that. The Brits who burnt down the whitehouse, and the French who gave US the statue of liberty. The French are republicans, the Brits monarchists. And STILL Americans think its the French who are their snooty rivals.

[@shaunstrachan]

trying to find any kind of logic to the UK's actions? that way madness lies :D

[@Simple_But_Expensive]

It is always a trade off. Going nuts when something happens does stimulate us, but it has its negatives also.

[@jakeaurod]

It's the Gold Rush mentality. War is even more lucrative.

[@randomgrinn]

I'd rather deal with reality in a rational way instead of being, "stimulated". The fact we are still terrified of 911 20 years after it happened is one example of stimulation prevailing over rationality. I knew it was a fluke the day after it happened, and openly wondered how long it would take normal people to figure that out. They still have not figured it out.

[@jakeaurod]

@@randomgrinn It wasn't just 9/11. There were other attacks that occurred or were attempted afterwards, such as the Anthrax mailings and the shoe bomber, the constant terror alerts from the then president, and then the war that followed.

[@Simple_But_Expensive]

@@randomgrinn I think your average Joe feels the same way. It is when you deal with large groups that irrational behavior begins. It is called mob mentality for a reason.

[@sumdude4281]

One thing Peter left out is the conflict with Native Americans very much shaped Americans especially in what is called the fly over states. Comanche, Shawnee, Sioux those "Indian" wars and the settlers out on the fringes (the borderlands) were terrified, armed and on edge. Settlers were out in the middle of no where, on their own with no army or law enforcement around for miles and miles. They were rugged, hard people who fought to survive just to eat let alone see the sun rise with their scalps intact. That more than anything imho explains the American mind, especially in middle America. We do reinvent ourselves a lot. One difference I see between us and other cultures is we don't really say no, or its impossible. We say how can we do it. We make stuff happen. We have a crazy work ethic. Not the Asian work ethic...its different. Someone else can put a finger on it maybe. Americans aren't going to stand in a factory for 16 hour days. That's not their jam. Some are lazy sure. But Americans DO things. Can do attitude. Not everyone, but a lot of people. When many people form many countries and cultures call us crazy, sometimes it's because they see only limitations. Americans don't see limitations. Generally, we believe in ourselves and think we can do anything we put our minds and hearts to. Shrug my two cents.

[@cottonysensation3723]

Agreed and I’ll add my two cents. It’s frontiersmen mentality. For a long portion of our history we were essentially frontiersmen first for England and then even after the revolutionary war. The population was light and spread over a large area with as you say a hostile native population. They had to contend not just with the natives but a rugged and harsh environment with hostile and aggressive animals and tons of natural disasters. There was no one to get help from. They not only had to work hard to survive but also had to be inventive and creative in that work ethic to tackle the laundry list of problems they faced knowing help would likely never come except maybe from a neighbor if there happened to be one close by.

[@kelschc]

Really well said, sums up America very well.

[@nnonotnow]

My family pioneered on the Great plains in 1870 and I certainly understand the frontier spirit and Independence. I honestly think we've taken that farther than we should have. We are dependent on one another. We can't forget that.

[@Reviews4fun1]

Americans had no conflict? History would disagree. We’ve been in conflicts since the beginning and throughout the history of America.

[@likearollingstone007]

All generalizations

[@aint_just_whistlin_dixie]

Props to PZ for tackling this topic. Countries do seem to have national neuroses: the Germans are OCD, the French suffer from NPD (narcissistic personality disorder) and the Americans are bipolar, ready to conquer the world (1950's, 1990's) then wanting to crawl under a rock after setbacks (1970's, 2010's).

[@justfrank5661]

Should American isolationism before WW2 also be included in that?? Just wondering

[@sailirish7]

The post WWII world order is not something most Americans are ok with. We only got sold on being the world's policeman because of the big scary Commies. After the Soviets fell, we started to wonder why we're paying this bill every month...

[@solariss452]

I first met the Americans when I was serving with the Royal Air Force back in the 1970's and the first big impression they made on me was their far superior equipment and technology. The British gear was just crap in comparison. That never changed and as I bumped into the US military over the next 20 plus years. They always had so much kit and we still had virtually nothing. What we did have was just shite but somehow we got by with it. However, I did also see that the Americans always took everything very seriously and they were dangerously trigger happy. They rarely laughed and they never, never, never understood the British sense of humour. They were easily offended but they were also very polite, in all circumstances.

[@SonnyBubba]

The part about “polite in all circumstances” comes from the fact that guns are ubiquitous in America. An argument that might escalate into a fistfight somewhere else could easily, in America, lead to someone getting shot. That’s why, for the first 150 years, America had such a taboo against carrying a concealed weapon. If everyone who had a gun was required to open-carry, it reduced the chances that an argument turned violent. This is going off on a tangent, but maybe that open-carry mindset also allowed the Americans to adjust to MAD during the Cold War…

[@brianniegemann4788]

I get the British sense of humor, in fact i prefer it. I also prefer your laws on gun control. You're right. Americans are far too trigger-happy. We're just crazy when it comes to guns.

[@solariss452]

@@SonnyBubba Makes sense SB.

[@solariss452]

@@brianniegemann4788 Thanks Brian - and your politeness shows through.

[@jfarmer1711]

"never understood the British sense of humour" Then we imported a bunch of British TV shows... It's taken a while but we're beginning to get the hang of it...

[@p.d.stanhope7088]

Stephen King wrote in Danse Macabre about how Americans lost their proverbial sh*t over Sputnik in 1957. He was at a Saturday Matinee when he was 8 or 9 years old watching Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers at his local movie theater with all the other local kids. The movie was suddenly stopped and the theater lights came on as the manager walked in front of the movie screen announcing: "The Russians launched Sputnik and it's circling the Earth!" The parents in the theater were all aghast but the kids didn't know what was a Sputnik but it was the birth of the Space Race. 😆

[@jamesmyszka2249]

My dad was in USAF in England during Sputnik. Folks definitely lost it. Everyone thought nukes were coming any minute.

[@JH-jx1hs]

Pretty easy to forget that we were at the very beginning of a potentially catastrophic nuclear cold war at the time of Sputnick. The echos of WWII, the Soviet Nuclear saber rattling and the express intent of the Communist Manifesto to take over the world was a very real and existential threat to our way of life, if not our very lives. To look back on that in a revisionist and disconnected speculative way and dismiss it as an overreaction is not a valid criticism. For what it is worth Steven King is not any kind of an intellectual authority. At very best he is an author of compelling horror fiction - no more.

[@BasePuma4007]

@@p.d.stanhope7088 An interesting thing about Sputnik is the Soviets really needed to develop an ICMB, much more so than the Amercians, because they didn't have very many bases or other military assets anywhere near the United States. The US Army and Airforce could have a ton of medium range missiles in western Europe, but the Soviets couldn't threaten the US with the same volume of nuclear weapons. This is why they tried to put missiles in Cuba. Nuclear submarines helped reduce the strain eventually, but in the 50s, having the capability to launch a missile from anywhere in Soviet territory to strike any target on the planet was the prize, and it led to a much more focused effort on the part of the Soviets to make an ICBM, which is why they were first to put something in orbit. Americans today and at the time seemed to think that the Soviets were ahead of the US technologically, when that wasn't really true; the US DOD was just directing procurement money into a broad distribution of different rocket development projects, rather than focusing on a specific operational capability. This changed when Eisenhower created NASA, and eventually the US greatly surpassed the Soviets in operational capabilities in space with the Apollo Program.

[@bingflosby]

To be fair Russia had first dibs on alot of stuff in Germany when the war ended

[@misterwhipple2870]

Sputnik means Fellow-Traveler.

[@karlbarks2219]

"It has to do with geography." So shocked at hearing Peter say that.

[@QuantumAscension1]

I'm pretty sure I've been Geo-pilled by Peter at this point. Every interaction I have or observation I make now has to be directly correlated with the geography and its impacts. lol

[@franknada8235]

How can a person confuse zionism and banksterism and their brainwash machinery with geography? The question answers itself.

[@jakeaurod]

Every Political Scientist is a frustrated geographer at heart.

[@s.a.charles271]

@@QuantumAscension1 geography can explain EVERYTHING, it’s absolutely fascinating, physical and human geography, the relations and differences between space and place

[@logician3641]

LOL...Right!!

[@godschild6694]

Texan here. Very cool history lesson. Makes so much sense. Thanks. Oh, and I think you are having too much fun. Tone it down a little!

[@pigslave3]

lmao. Peace, from Washington State ✝

[@aaronfleming9426]

As a side note, I really love listening to Peter's Iowan voice inflections.

[@davidstringer8711]

Kiwi here, Peter. LOVE your show, it's quickly become a must-watch for me. HOWEVER, just to correct (ever so humbly) something you stated above: The Maori wave of settlement in Aotearoa (NZ), was indeed around the 1200's-1300;s, but they found an uninhabited land -- they did not fight with any extant indigenous peoples. There was indeed a more remote Polynesian tribe called the Mori-Ori who lived on the Chatham Islands, a little east of the South Island. A Maori invasion force, utilising helpful white sailors and ships, enslaved and /or killed this whole group of people. The last time there was war on the NZ mainland would have been during the NZ Land Wars between Maori tribes (mostly Taranaki and Bay of Plenty), and British Army soldiers, somewhere around the 1860's -- 1880's. Many thanks for the wonderful analyses, brother.

[@SeruraRenge11]

The New Zealand Wars killed a tiny fraction of the amount of life lost compared to the Musket Wars. But yes, it was more recently than Peter thought.

[@Detached_Contemplation]

We also have mountain ranges down the middle of our two islands - transport within NZ has always been difficult and required government funding to build rail and roads, so dependance on the State is higher than in the US.

[@daffyf6829]

​​@@Detached_Contemplationalways good to hear from native sources. With all due respect, the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas were formidable obstacles to our interstate travel along with the Panama isthmus and straights of megellan. The US government invested heavily into first building the intercontinental railroad, then the Panama canal, then the interstate highway system. Not to mention the usual harbor dredging, navy building and canal digging we reaped benefits from before that. What a lot of people don't realize, especially Americans, is that the only reason we aren't Argentina is because we focused so heavily on building infrastructure, a world class navy and industrializing, which was completely driven by the government. Someone else in the comments said something to the effect of American settlers were completely alone and self sufficient in hostile native territory...no they weren't. The army was massively involved in driving out the natives, there were forts and trading posts everywhere, the mail was delivered and settlers were subsidized and supported with homesteading laws. The settlers worked hard and lived dangerous lives, but they were successful because of government hand outs. We need to drop this ridiculous myth of individualism.

[@BarryInnes]

God defend New Zealand

[@akcarlos]

yeah the only people that believe in Maori killing the previous inhabitants are conspiracy theorists normally.

[@tomwende5529]

An immigrant's perspective: I often have to remind myself that America is a young country. I grew up in a house that's twice as old as this country, and it was built on Roman foundations. Americans and Europeans have completely different perspectives on time and space. Here, something that was built in the 1800's is old. In Europe, a 6 hour trip is long. Those oceans to either side of us give us a peculiar perspective too: everything tends to occur pretty far away from us (except if it's a border issue, then, it's RIGHT HERE). The northern half of this hemisphere is nearly monolingual and nearly monocultural (with some regional expressions and lots of native and immigrant bits added to the gumbo), so we're not particularly adept at seeing how other people do things. The huge landmass on which people do things in more or less the same way makes us prone to believing that other people do things or want to do things as we do. I laughed loudly at Peter's observation that we "overreact." That's... yep, we do that. Often, because something that was "over there" the last time we looked at it is suddenly RIGHT HERE. This really messes with us because it's disorienting. Our exaggerated startle response can boil over and spill out beyond our borders in some really big ways, but generally, we're playing pull-my-finger and splashing around in our own chaos as we innovate our way out of problems... and into consequences. Finally, the dominant culture in this part of the world had an Industrial Revolution while no other culture in this hemisphere independently developed the wheel. This colors our perceptions, makes us horrible tourists, and (I think) explains why Europeans tend to roll their eyes at us. While Canadians are quite a bit better at keeping their eyes on the horizon, we tend to deal with things as though they're happening for the first time. Because to us, they are.

[@anasmouden5416]

I didn't understand the wheel exemple and it's relation with being horrible tourist could you elaborate?

[@jamesdixon2860]

America is one of the oldest countries in the world. How many countries have a constitution that is over 200 years old ? The rest of the world has remade itself over and over again since then. Most countries didn't even exist until fairly recently. All these countries that were literally created by Western empires throughout Asia and Africa etc are hundreds of years younger than the United States. Even countries like France are on their 5th reincarnation. America is a very old country which has influenced The current foundations of every other country in the world.

[@MonosProsMonos]

America is built on the foundations of the Iroquois.

[@alertgasper]

America is a young country...but it's also a country of immigrants. They bring THEIR thinking here. the founding fathers copied what the french philosophes were discussing out loud. while France, Great Britian, and Spain got the world on the path towards globalization through colonizing other continents, North America colonized...itself. We took the labor force out of Africa and brought it here. Europe ran out of coal and wood long before NA did, but we could stay isolated from Europe's tensions for the most part (other than the French and Indian War) until we decided to jump in--and then we avoided the war's damage. Does NA over-react? well, we weren't starting world wars in the 1900's. But when the Cold War developed, we were the only western power really standing. and we became the world cop ever since. Oil has replaced coal, which replaced salt, for the most-important substance pulled out of the ground. We used to export it, then we imported it, now we're back to exporting it again, but we don't really control the pricing of it. so our foriegn policy is in fact, based on it, since oil has been the backer of our currency since Nixon took us off the gold standard--so long as OPEC agrees to only sell oil in dollars. Once that falls, the only thing keeping the American dollar solvent is the size of consumer market--threatened by the size of India's and China's. As a capitalist nation, that's going to be important to us.

[@spartancrown]

@@jamesdixon2860countries perhaps depending on the way you define it, civilizations/culture, no. Nothing we have here comes close to most others. Doesn’t bother me in the least. I think while fascinating to look at something like land my family had owned in Greece since ancient times it matters little when you see how much and how fast Americans have accomplished what they have.

[@kate2create738]

I also think our geography has greatly attributed one major quality that is beyond comprehension in how it motivates our brainstorm to come up with different and varied technology over the years. It’s probably an answer that might piss off some, make others scratch their heads, and the observant ones ponder and think this could explain a lot. Americans just love to have convince.

[@simmonslucas]

I have never had this explained this way. Excellent.

[@tonyflorio3269]

Canada is, IMO, defined as a group of people who didn't want to be American: British settlers and Loyalists loyal to the Empire; and French settlers and Indigenous peoples who worried their cultures would disappear if Canada was swallowed by the US. Our early history is defined by these groups working together; our modern history is defined by Quebec and Indigenous people's frustration that Canada did not live up to its promise to allow their cultures to continue to thrive. Arguably, even regional challenges are defined in terms of waves of immigrants who settled the west versus the mainly English/Protestant power centres in Ontario.

[@FactsTruths]

I am an immigrant but both my kids as born in Canada and 100% bilingual in English and French - and we live in the west coast. My kids kept more than I could expect from my own culture but more importantly have even greater respect for other cultures in Canada. I hope they are not just random individual examples of the Gen Z of Canada and this generation of Canadians can thrive alongside others under the Canadian banner of a multiculturalism society.

[@brianniegemann4788]

In other words, you're becoming America. Although I'm told that French culture is thriving in Quebec.

[@ChristopherMHeaps]

@@brianniegemann4788No

[@ToddSauve]

That is merely an Ontario-centric view of Canada. Life and views are completely different in Western Canada. It is this mindless eastern viewpoint that is destroying Canada. Justin Trudeau is a perfect example of this mindlessness.

[@BasePuma4007]

Peter talks a big game with Canada, but the reality is he knows almost nothing about the country. He talks out of his ass a lot.

[@GLxGL]

Australian: we were amazing at planning for the future, now our politicians just plan to win the next election while creating their post politics golden parachute

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

That may be more to say that there's no real enemy... Outside of that fact that they're trying to make China into an enemy. There's definitely the whole "re-shoring manufacturing" thing happening.

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

This. In capital fkn letters!😤

[@IdesOfKnicks]

That’s every Boomer everywhere

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

@@IdesOfKnicks Any Gen X, Millennial or Zoomer that disagrees has their head in the sand. This is precisely what lobbyists do. "Want to make a difference? We can help you with that!"

[@ash9x9]

The Chinese immigrants have infiltrated your political system, next gen. beware!

[@darrenlove2625]

Canadian here: spot on. We are extremely passive aggressive and have convinced ourselves that its being "nice". Canadians are envious as hell of Americans and in private do not talk kindly of y'all down there. Politicians up here will actually sell policy by attacking its alternatives as "American". Its gotten so bad up here that "Not America" is actually the second of two cultural standards here...the first being health care. We will do ANYTHING to make it clear that we aren't you guys, including saying things like "free speech is an American concept", "Canadians have no real property rights", and going on to think we're not allowed to defend ourselves with guns "like those Americans". These are all things Canadian politicians have said...and they say these things proudly, as if its a good thing. Yup....Little Brother Syndrome. Its a real thing.

[@ggjr61]

As an American I can tell you the Canadian attitude toward us is well known although if I were Canadian I wouldn’t be happy with my politicians bragging about a lack of freedom of speech.

[@jackdawg4579]

last i looked Canada is in America, so they are also Americans...😇😁

[@savevsdeath]

We know. And we don't care.

[@darrenlove2625]

@@savevsdeath good. You shouldn’t

[@joebollig2689]

Americans: Mountie envy. Those are cool uniforms.

[@georgiewalker5826]

Interesting to see you take a more psychological approach to your geo-politics video's. I like it

[@georgiewalker5826]

Like there are a lot of other weird countries and cultures too I'd be interesting in understanding

[@abcxyz123]

​@@georgiewalker5826 he's not the best man for it, but he speaks well and his viewpoints are interesting nonetheless.

[@kelschc]

Peter, this is just a fantastic and extremely insightful post. Really gets to the heart of “why we’re so disconnected”. I’ll take it a step further and just say your outlook on life depends on whether you view life from an abundance or scarcity mentality. Again this post explains everything. The US remains strong, but as in life, fear-based decisions can be so costly. Thank you again, nailed it.

[@FGBFGB-vt7tc]

Mr. Zeihan, I have a blast reading the Posts here. As a Venezuelan we had the pleasure to have Francisco Herrera Luque's "La Historia Fabulada" (Fabulated History) in three tomes that was the script of his radio program, where the author explained our History not as a succession of events but as shifting psychological landscapes. I get the same vibe here and would recommend to add this Video as a favorite. To the Forumites, please let comments coming!

[@robsonwilianwinchester9726]

😊nice 👍🏻 I try to see that guy . I can understand Spanish. I'm Brazilian 🇧🇷‼️ sorry for the situation of your country!

[@FGBFGB-vt7tc]

@@robsonwilianwinchester9726 Mi pana, esto es Latinoamérica. Algunas veces estamos arriba y otras abajo. ¡Un abrazo desde acá!

[@MilStdNZ]

Kia ora Peter, the reference about there not being a war in New Zealand other than “…when the Māori landed…” is a tad simplistic and forgets the appropriately named New Zealand Wars (1843-1872). Keep up the good work and we look forward to seeing you here again soon.

[@drpapa26]

There was also the New Zealand Wars in 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side, and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. But they've had it relatively easy.

[@pigslave3]

Huh, I don't know much about this. Is this considered a civil war in New Zealand?

[@terrycole472]

@@pigslave3 : I suppose the earlier Musket wars (an intertribal affair starting shortly after 1800) could be considered a civil war. But the iwi (tribes) involved did not think of themselves as one nation.

[@Pterradacto]

Super thoughtful perspectives on your part. I'm a fan.

[@forbeginnersandbeyond6089]

In other words, Americans hit the geographical and geological jackpot.

[@michaeldowson6988]

Lots of the US West is desert. Remember all those cowboy films? The Canadian Arctic is a deterrent to invasion.

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

Well mostly it was the British I guess. This is played out with the language that prevails. But as ever, rejection of the aristocratic overlords tends to win out

[@Drago2600]

Escaping tyranny and wanting Liberty has it’s benefits, i guess.

[@gaspikefan]

Geographically, Americans most definitely did! I have watched a few videos about how the geographical features of the continental US really worked in our favor for becoming a global powerhouse.

[@joycecharbonneau152]

Absolutely.

[@chrisambarian]

I recognized that backdrop immediately - hiked that patch of backcountry for a couple of weeks when I was 20 years younger than you Peter. You are a machine! Enjoy the beauty

[@crush_ed_it]

I know this is kind of crazy, but do you think you could ever bring up the topic of Chïnä influencing America’s soft power?

[@alertgasper]

should Trump get another presidency, his isolationist foriegn policy will once again negate our soft power--Europe won't experience any of it if we ask for an "admission charge". China, meanwhile, has its Belt and Roads initiative, but as declining gas prices show, they aren't really in a spending mood at this moment.

[@FellowHuman18]

This was mind blowing. Dropping deep knowledge.

[@tpk182]

As an Aussie, calling Australia forward thinking is laughable

[@stephenderry9488]

He probably meant international-minded, as a geopolitical analyst the two are likely indistinguishable from his perspective.

[@aussietom85]

Education is our third biggest export and we produce like three times as many published journal articles than other OECD countries per capita.

[@ianmclean528]

Australia is incredibly forward thinking

[@JamilaJibril-e8h]

​@@ianmclean528facts 👌🌠

[@terrycole472]

The Aussies always seemed pretty switched-on to me. Stubborn, but that can co-exist with forward thinking.

[@itsame1277]

A kiwi here Peter. The Maori are believed to have settled around 700 years ago coming from "Hawaiki" or somewhere in the Pacific. There was intertribal wars which did have some element of canibalism due to possibly the largest bird being eaten to extinction (Moa) and protein being somewhat hard to come by. After English settlements and the treaty of Waitangi in 1840 there was some peace until the Maori wars of 1880 (approx), and later we had 'peace' on our shores. However due to the feeling that "Where England goes, we go" we sent our young men to die in WW1 and then again for slightly more reasonable reasons we sent men to WW2. But yes we live in isolation. Rudyard Kipling said of Auckland city in New Zealand when he visited in 1891 'last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart'. Whenever someone in an English TV soap says they have had enough, they then say that they are going to live in NZ. The inference being you can't get any further away from England than to come here. Like everything, there are pros and cons to being so far from the Northern hemisphere and especially Europe to which most young New Zealanders travel for their big Overseas Experience (OE). Cheers and very much enjoy your videos.

[@tonywilson4713]

AUSTRALIAN HERE: I went to college in America and the most fundamental way to see this is that America REACTS while others have to PLAN. America with its incredible resources with the water ways & farming coupled with some of the worlds best mineral resources allows Americans to REACT rather than plan because almost everything is in over supply to demand. On minerals Americans often forget that they have some of the richest mineral deposits every found. They might not be as large as those found in Canada and Australia but the quality of its deposits makes gives America a huge advantage. Australia (26 million people), Canada (36 million people), New Zealand (3.5 million people) might have some amazing resources (minerals, oil & ocean) but none of us has the population to take a "we'll do what we need to when we need to" approach. We have to think ahead a lot more than America and its something we don't always do well. In fact MOST of the time Australia, Canada, New Zealand..... try to operate like America and wait until they MUST do something and that gets us into some staggering trouble with things like infrastructure, water management & power grids.

[@terrycole472]

Oh, the Americans have a plan. It's to spend so much on being apex predator that they don't need a plan.

[@kate2create738]

It’s more likely regulations boggles down the system to get things done. It’s both political power and a drain of financial means to get things done. Overall though, this depends state to state, the ones with strict regulations are the ones who push a lot of red lines for environmental reasoning. However, there’s other states that are more open to using our resources, Texas is a good example with fossil fuels, as it’s openness developed to the new technique of gaining oil in a unique way that it has made the country gain control back of the oil reserves.

[@shabzone]

Really spot on with the mindset of Americans. We are a young country yet we are so shielded from world affairs until recent decades

[@FactCheckerGuy]

By "until recent decades" do you mean the wars against the Barbary pirates of 1801-1815 or maybe the War of 1812, which was sparked by British seizure of American citizens in international waters, or the Spanish American War of 1898?

[@fermentedcinema4892]

Canada is a little different than Australia is that once you get west of the shield there is a very large decent agricultural plain that is larger than most countries, so not quite the same as the endless outback.

[@kinoonik]

I wanted to write a comment like this. Alberta, Saskatchewan and to a lesser degree Manitoba have huge fertile land. Those provinces are also flat and easy to develop with Oil, Potash and Uranium, etc. Add to all that that it is as safe as it gets. I wonder why Peter is so fast to overlook Canada.

[@agentm83]

@@kinoonik Yup, the Prairie Provinces are some of the bread baskets of North America. Massive resources.

[@especialexpression6922]

Canada's situation isn't as dire as Australia, but it's still limited by geography and climate. A lack of major port options is another that comes to mind, as most interior waterways don't lead to the sea or are shared with the US (Great Lakes). Imagine if Canada had 4 Vancouvers, 3 Montreals, a couple cities twice the size of Toronto, and about 20 Calgarys. As the climate warms up, Canada could be in a very favorable location however. Australia will likely be more fucked.

[@marcvenot1332]

the paradox is that part (west of the Mississipi) is better on that in Canada than in the US.

[@HandsomeCat-we2dq]

I really enjoyed this analysis: geography creates psychology. I agree with Pete on most of the ideas here.

[@alexiskiri9693]

Peter, I love American politics. It's a free-for-all. Anybody can lift their sign, march around and have their say. It's called freedom, although I realize the rest of the world calls it chaos.🇺🇸

[@kkpenney444]

I'm an American and I definitely call it chaos. Sick of it.

[@alertgasper]

at one time, America had TV with only 3 channels that shut off at midnight. So when Concrite told us, "annnnd that's the way it is", we accepted it. A middle class lifestyle was affordable since it offered so little--small houses with one car garages because mom was home for free daycare. One TV, one phone, one bathroom, one bedroom for the kids. now that's working poor level of materialism. Conservatives believed in change, but at an evolutionary pace not a revolutionary one. Coffee came in one version--whatever was in the pot. now we try to make everyone happy, and Lincoln had a saying about the odds of that. so we get chaos.

[@pauls.2526]

Irishman here living and working in New Zealand great analysis. 😊

[@treswright142]

It’s the desperation of all immigrants, and we are a nation of immigrants. Therefore everyone here is the type of person who would take a huge risk to gather their family and few belongings and make a journey across the world to seek a better life. That mindset is of America. No matter the challenge we will overcome to better our lives.

[@ocmetals4675]

Totally agree. It's a mindset of drastic action to get a different result when you feel stuck or in a bad situation. Now take 330 mil that come from that background and call them a nation.

[@meikala2114]

If you take a big risk and end up in Australia the deserts will condition your big risk taking... Just saying don't forget geography

[@ahmedshaharyarejaz9886]

So what he is saying is that Americans think: 1) Hard work guarantees success 2) The world is fairly abundant with Opportunity 3) When suffering failure, we must overcorrect and reinvent our methods of doing things

[@old-slow-and-tired]

4) Will eventually do the right thing, after all other options have been tried.

[@overworlder]

There were 19thC Māori-British wars, famously. The Māori quickly adopted trench warfare to neutralise the British firearms advantage, forcing the British into assaults and hand-to-hand combat where they were NOT disadvantaged. Very nasty. This is why the Māori have a treaty relationship with the New Zealand crown, unlike say Australian First Nations. There was no population in NZ before the Polynesians, who adopted the name Māori after British settlement.

[@terrycole472]

Well no, the most important Māori-British wars came half a decade after the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. As an aside, while you are right about early Maori use of trench warfare, they did not invent them (pace Jamie Belich), nor were the Land wars responsible for development of Maori entrenchments. (Yes, I am aware those so-called Land wars, once labelled the Maori wars, are now known as the New Zealand Wars a.k.a. Ngā pakanga o Aotearoa). This defensive epiphany was sparked by the much earlier inter-tribal Musket wars which killed between ten and twenty percent of Maori after about 1805; I cite Chris Pugsley who wrote half a lifetime ago that "Maori did not invent trench warfare", citing earlier European efforts. I'd add that during the later Land wars it didn't take long for the better colonial commanders to deal with a gunfighter pa (fort). On the other hand you are absolutely right that the British commanders never expected such sophisticated fortifications.

[@lukenash8112]

I was going to say this

[@phuckpootube6231]

LOL

[@RossOzarka]

Crazy that Zeihan gets this wrong despite studying at University of Otago

[@lukenash8112]

@RossOzarka further to this, is there any proof of pre Maori settlements? I know it has been suggested but from my reading it seems to have been disproven. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[@declanm2783]

You’re the best Peter!! Love from Washington state

[@billpetersen298]

Next, we will be hearing about Moses. From the top of the mountain.

[@pigslave3]

😄

[@mikloscsuvar6097]

This is the most useful video of Zeihan in the recent time, year or more because: 1. It explain what way and how much the geography shape the national psyche that drive the participation in history. 2. How much, and in a bad way, do the benefitial factors and especially the size of the country shape the way of thinking of people in an empire, that they think even the world is like that as home,when it is the opposite.

[@JH-jx1hs]

The only problem with that is Peter is utterly wrong in his conclusions in this video. Not a little bit off - completely off. Been a growing trend with his "analysis" in recent years and like those, he will just move on and ignore this.

[@HeilwoodBeagles]

I find that you have the urban Americans and rural Americans. Two different peoples.

[@Curious-Mr.-Lee]

Thank you for saying that.

[@tirepunk7367]

Urban...... leftists who have rotted and gutted our cities. See Baltimore, Washington D.C., NYC, LA, Portland, St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, etc.....all shitholes now. All run by Democrats/Progressives. Burn our flag Rural....working, patriotic people who care about their country and families. Proudly display our flag. Two different peoples indeed.

[@FamiliarAnomaly]

And which one is gonna be effected most when EBT turns off - keep believing your lies

[@marin_real_estate_photography]

On the other hand, after 9/11, even liberal media on the west and east coasts was gung ho about invading Iraq. I had many liberal friends who lost it over 9/11 and bought the narrative laid out by Bush and Cheney.

[@JonBlier]

​@FamiliarAnomaly. Who is lying? What are you talking about?

[@corgijim2003]

One of your best observations explained.

[@technicolortony3091]

I love the trail reviews were getting along with Geo politics !

[@SourWhiskee]

Channel should be called around the world with peter in 80 days!

[@jordanhoon]

This would be good as a series, covering different nations and cultures.

[@scottbaron121]

I was attempting (poorly) to explain an "American mindset" to a friend of mine. He's an Albanian immigrant, working a white-collar job for a large accounting firm here in the US. I boiled it down to this: Tell an American, "it can't be done". And then watch it happen. We are disastrously optimistic. To the point of delusion. And somehow. SOME WAY. It gets done. It happens. He just laughed. He also admitted that, as a European, he had an inferiority complex, BECAUSE of American attitudes. I've lived overseas. I've experienced other cultures and lived in other countries. Trust me. There is a significant difference in the attitudes of people from other countries, vis-a-vis Americans.

[@SelectCircle]

That's a good one. So we got a big chip on our national shoulder. Like China does.

[@donovansteltzner9080]

Peter, Sputnik wasn’t a beeping grapefruit; it was a beeping beach ball!

[@JH-jx1hs]

It was much more than that. It was a pioneering beginning to the space age and shocking wake up call in an era of existential nuclear threats.

[@donovansteltzner9080]

@@JH-jx1hs symbolic value aside, I was talking about its size - Peter was off the mark by a factor of about 50. Word pictures are important.

[@chipsatterly4902]

I always love his BIG PICTURE analysis!!

[@jiminverness]

As far as is known, the Maori were the first human settlers in NZ, and the last time war "touched NZ shores" would be the end of the "New Zealand Wars" (aka the Anglo-Māori Wars) in 1872.

[@philipwilkie3239]

I think PZ was referring to the perennial inter-tribal battles that occurred as successive waves of waka arrived and the infamous Musket Wars when the tribes managed to kill something like 20 - 40% of their own population. Also the 'New Zealand Wars' scarcely dignify the term, the total death toll over a period of seven years was about 4,000 on both sides, was a drop in the bucket compared to those earlier conflicts.

[@johndeerman2105]

There was no doubt that there were people inhabiting New Zealand before the Māoris. There own myths talk of two groups of very different peoples. There are also stone structures scattered around to attest to that.

[@Nah_Bohdi]

How tf a war culture "never touched war"?!? YOU FOOL! 😂🎉😂🎉 They werent the US, exportong warfare...

[@jiminverness]

@@philipwilkie3239 Good point.

[@philipwilkie3239]

@@johndeerman2105 Yes - it's a very controversial topic, but I have met enough people who I respect and who have knowledge of these things to agree with you.

[@BrianTHOMAS-ei8fu]

Peter, this was an absolutely fantastic analysis of the American psyche. True genius.

[@kevinh5349]

Oh, brother.

[@Alan-lv9rw]

Americans know no limits. We ask “why not?”. Others are more likely to be pessimistic and ask “why”?

[@stuartwithers8755]

American optimism does have its limits though. Have you ever asked our countrymen how they feel about fully adopting the metric system or improving passenger rail service?

[@KRYPTOS_K5]

Excellent video.

[@awf6554]

The kiwis and canucks are isolated and can be complacent about external threats. The US, and to a greater extent Australia, are effectively bordered by undeveloped countries with massive populations and very different cultures. It's understandable if the latter 2 tend to be a bit more wary of external influences, perhaps explaining more conservative cultures.

[@michaeldowson6988]

Canada conservative? We just know a Yankee scam when we see one, while Americans fall for their own bullshit continuously. We have a much smaller population & GDP, so we can't get involved in every one of Americas' 'politico-military excursions' designed to benefit the US economy first and foremost. Zeihan is supposed to know this.

[@NoPe-no4sn]

Mexico and Canada are not undeveloped countries. They are our biggest trade partners. Somalia is an undeveloped country

[@JohnSmith-ti2kp]

@@NoPe-no4sn They are undeveloped compared to the U.S. in terms of use of resources including human due to their historically socialist leaning governance. Australia suffers from low i.q. and poor education generally, and like the U.S. does not vote higher I.Q. and educated people into public office.

[@Fireneedsair]

@@NoPe-no4sn he’s talking about Mexico only

[@LoganChristianson]

@@Fireneedsair Mexico is not an undeveloped country. Their population has better educated workers than China does.

[@peteg6118]

Americans tend to see that we are lacking in something and then move to repair it. That has always been our advantage though it does create the "manic depressive" nature Peter mentioned. Declinism is useful as long as we strive to correct for it rather than believe in it.

[@Alister.95]

Actually. For Wars on New Zealand, you only need to go back about 150 years. There is a reason the Maori have a fearsome warrior reputation. The British Empire spent 3 decades fighting the Maori.

[@seanmarcum9753]

Beat me to it. Yeah the Waikato wars. I know there were some sharp battles, but I can't remember how widespread it really was

[@curioussentience4935]

This was great insight

[@GreatestAudioBooks]

You forgot to mention that Americans are heavily bombarded with 24/7 advertising & propaganda pushed by corporations, the US gov, & every foreign/special interest group in the world. It never stops. It makes us extra crazy. 😅

[@brianniegemann4788]

Exactly. The constant push to get you to buy a new car, a bigger tv, the latest tech. And now propaganda. That's something new to Americans, and they haven't yet reallized that they're being massively brainwashed

[@jonnyd9351]

Your propaganda all stems from your ruling class political elites, everything else trickles down from there. Most countries have it even worse.

[@westernhowler8985]

That's every country

[@ecthelion83]

Not so much crazy (there are other places where that comes from), but irritated/on edge perhaps.

[@ParagonFury]

@@westernhowler8985 Not in the way the US is - because of the 1st Amendment and free speech laws, companies and special interests can go absolutely ham and basically completely fabricate a reality for people in the US. Whereas in other countries a lot of that kind of advertising or speech is heavily regulated or outright illegal because it's seen as corrosive or toxic to a functioning and healthy society. A huge example is drug ads: in most of the Western world the kinds of drug ads we see in the US are completely illegal and can't be shown. And it reflects in their culture and behavior where the DOCTOR is the authority, you go to them and describe what is wrong and they decide what the treatment should be where in the US it's reversed and the PATIENT is the authority and can go into the doctor and ask for/demand things and be given them.

[@davidascher1801]

That was crystal clear, well done!

[@DawidFRF]

That's a great series can you do it about Europe? I bet it would be awesome to us to learn.

[@808bAler]

Hawaiian Gen Xer here. I've seen bat-shit crazy happening all my life and I'm still proud to be an American.

[@davidolson3008]

Awesome video

[@wswanberg]

Peter has to be a magician. How does he get a signal in the middle of Yosemite and I can't even get a signal in my own house?

[@overredrover9430]

Starlink, or record on site and upload later. Edit: there is high latency connection that is slow (satphone), but not worth it compared to the latter

[@nichobee]

He works for the CIA

[@mikejones7990]

Signal?? He just recorded it locally, then uploaded it after he got back to civilization.

[@KR-ki9hw]

Same here.

[@KRAMITDFROG]

He recorded then uploaded where he had signal. He isn't Livestreaming because it's dark there when he posts the videos. I'm on the East Coast and the sun has only been up for an hour.

[@Andjac2010]

Good old Peter, always condensing and explaining every complicated phenomenone through monocausal factors ultimately harking back to geography...

[@terrycole472]

Geography, often. And rightly. But he also relies on conservation principles. Like, when you have used all the land, there ain't no more. And you can't conjure a new generation forth when the old one dies without issue.

[@shannonmcstormy5021]

Similarly and famously, the ww2 Empire of Japan thought that Pearl Harbor would make the Americans capitulate. They eventually realized that they had, "woken a sleeping tiger." The same thing happened after 9/11. Finally, I recently saw a picture showing the front of a F-22 Raptor with the caption, "American's enemies are about to find out why America doesn't have healthcare."

[@overredrover9430]

As I understand it Yamamoto knew he was poking a sleeping tiger, but felt that destroying the Pacific fleet in a surprise attack was the best way to avoid defeat to the USA who were likely to respond to Japanese expansion in the western Pacific at some point. Best case scenario the Pacific fleet would have been out of action for a couple of years, at least until the objectives in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malay peninsula and Australia had been achieved. He could then concentrate on defending against a rebuilt fleet.

[@TheGreatOne-gw7xh]

America does have healthcare, its just not public.

[@Pod6168]

It’s a great line, but it’s wrong. The American government spends more on healthcare, per capita, than most European countries who have “free national healthcare.”

[@davidmcneil1550]

@@Pod6168yup. Medicare and Medicaid.

[@pierresaelen3097]

@@Pod6168 We Europeans are simply lucky that our lawyers aren't that costly (yet), and that we're a bit less litigious, and that in case of an error in a hospital, the indemnities aren't as sky high. The sum total of this makes for a far more affordable health care system.

[@alexmanosjr.4966]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! For saying that you are American!!!

[@spcwild]

As an American i can agree this makes sense and sounds true.

[@modjohnsenglishdisco]

It was explained to us the first day of my PSSC Physics class (in the early 80s) that we were here because of Sputnik. Though the Physical Science Study Committee started in 1956 to oversee physics education, the Beeping Aluminum Grapefruit of 1957 got their asses in gear and funding was increased. I'd say our emphasis on STEM (which I love, btw) was at the expense of basic writing, communication, and critical thinking skills among the citizenry. This explains why I was able to make money at university writing papers for my illiterate engineering friends. And look at us now. Loaded for bear and on the verge of losing our democracy to a gang of tech bros, uneducated legacy admissions, and grifting preachers who can't hear themselves speak and whose only literary output and reading material are ghost written "how to self-help" books. Your videos start intelligent conversations rather than end them, as befits a thinking academic and educator. Engineers, businessmen, and religionists have all the answers and lay down the law... and god forbid you push back or question them. The comments section gives me some hope. Well, most of it. So, here's to all the "liberal artists" and their "useless" degrees providing explanation, analysis, and warning. You also inspire me to hike more. I live on the Front Range. :)

[@landspide]

This is also why China and India are not going to overtake the USA... Geography.

[@CraigMader]

Geography is also why no one can take India. Fun.

[@alfaeco15]

Indeed

[@TomTomicMic]

​@@CraigMader The UK bit it's lip!?!

[@asdasdasddgdgdfgdg]

​@@CraigMaderthe Mughals?

[@cag03hd]

Lol. They are buying our geography. Taking it over is a long game

[@SkinE-Vadee-Veechee]

If everyone looks at their individual lives this is a common response to difficult times. I know some people don't use setbacks as fuel to move forward at a better pace. But the majority of Americans (or people as a whole) in your life I'm guessing you've gone thru some difficult times. Or you are currently in that place. But looking back most will see they've been thru a lot of setbacks or unpleasant times and have pulled thru carrying those memories and using them as a driving force and an inner strength. That's Americans but that's also civilization as an existence. That's Life! When life knocks you down you'll eventually get back up and knock life out. Motivational aspect of tough times I suppose. 👊😤

[@Zerkzeez]

Excellent point about the passive agressiveness of Canadians. 😂

[@michaeldowson6988]

During their civil war loads of Canadians joined the Union Army, to kill Americans legally.

[@GarrFagen]

In response to American aggressiveness?

[@FactCheckerGuy]

@@GarrFagen ^Great example of passive-aggressive behavior.

[@baneofbanes]

@@GarrFagenthe mere existence of America is often what is meant by “American aggressiveness”. Which I guess is to be expected given there’s ten Americans to every Canadian.

[@mrbobsevil]

Great video.

[@randomgrinn]

60yo educated American.....I don't know if you described the normal American, but you certainly did not describe me. Therefore, I still believe my fellow Americans are insane. Their actions are self harming (voting for a billionaire that hates them, denying climate change, etc) and self harm sounds insane to me.

[@Rando-vn8ds]

You need to step outside your bubble. If half of the country is behaving in a way that seems insane to you, then you have not made sufficient good faith efforts to understand their way of thinking.

[@tpreston8453]

You're the best! Thanks!

[@curtissmith4708]

No setbacks for five generations? My family moved to Texas in 1845, so I am a 7th generation Texan. My family moved here as farmers from Missouri. As a family we have experienced a few setbacks. The ones that come immediately to mind - Comanche raids, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the dust bowl, the Great Depression, the longest draught in Texas history during the 1950s and the complete collapse of the Texas economy in the mid 1980s (oil prices collapsed from $33/Bbl to $10/Bbl). The Americans (Texans) I know and associate with are not manic depressive, very independent, take pride in self reliance, and as a group we are very optimistic about our future. It doesn't hurt that we have a tremendous work ethic.

[@ParagonFury]

He means no setbacks as in "The outside world didn't come in and forcibly reset civilization/culture or make it adapt" like most countries in Europe and Asia have had to deal with multiple times. As a comparison in the last 100 years Europe, as a continent, has been flattened TWICE and had to basically restart.

[@JH-jx1hs]

He skipped right over quite a few major "setbacks" to make that assertion. Ignoring them changes his conclusions entirely and they were flawed in more ways than just that. America is a nation build on pioneering spirit, constitutional rule of law (even though that has been a bit "pliable" at times), liberty/free markets and legal immigration. That has changed it's character somewhat over the decades, but the key is assimilation and opportunity. That is facing challenges at the moment and Peter's assertions gloss over that and deflect responsibility for it.

[@JH-jx1hs]

@@ParagonFury Well if he meant that, then 150 years is not the right number. He did not mean that. He was literally just spinning shit to fit what he wanted to conclude.

[@baneofbanes]

⁠@@JH-jx1hsAmerica has never been invaded and occupied by a foreign power. The USA has been the dominant power in North America since its independence. The only peoples to have ever colonized this land were us. In much of the rest of the word this is not the case.

[@luminyam6145]

Such a great explanation, thank you.

[@EL_DUDERIN0]

And all the bonkers folks who wanted to move across in these wagons are our relatives, that should also explain a lot.

[@j5555785]

Peter, I may not agree with you on many things, but, for sure I agree with your appreciation for nature

[@MelbaOzzie]

Australians are good at forward thinking? Good one! Which planet are we talking about?

[@benjaminseddon9386]

Yeah Anglo-Melanesian Ozzie here. We need a plan..

[@jpanderson2569]

Even Americans don't understand Americans. There's a quote from a WW2 German general who said "it's hard to fight the Americans because they don't follow their own doctrine."

[@KeshenMac]

1:41 Conestoga wagon, 14,000 USD in today's money

[@Rich-NH]

Solid assessment!

[@JoelMcnelly-z4r]

Hi, Minor correction here. I'm a kiwi. There were no people here before Maori settled. There is a myth that the a people called the Moriori were in NZ before the Maori but that is incorrect. The Moriori were settled in the Chatham Islands and we're invaded and conquered by the Maori in the 1830s but they were never established on the main land. There was however regular fighting between the Maori Iwi (tribes) throughout NZ history and significant inter Iwi fighting in the 1800s when muskets were introduced. There were also major wars with the Europeans (with some Maori allies) in the 1840s and 1860s. Hope this helps 😊

[@masterchinese28]

OMG! You got the Chatham islands history! I'm impressed. (Good one, mate!)

[@vaakdemandante8772]

There were a lot of other cultures in and around NZ well before the Maori. If you choose for it to be a myth, go for it, but the world (NZ included) inhabited by humans and non-human entities is much older than it is believed by the majority of people.

[@patrickkalin4437]

Great to see a fellow kiw here chur bro

[@patrickkalin4437]

​@@vaakdemandante8772met many people claiming this over the years but no proof show. I'm not ruling it out 100% but from what I've seen and read there only speculation at best for pre Maori settlement

[@sned_music]

​​@@patrickkalin4437 concur. I would assume that humans had definitely visited NZ pre Maori, and I would truly love to come across any evidence of people truly settling and living lives there - however, it just seems like there's no evidence to be had 🤷🏻‍♂ (also hello fellow kiwi bros!)️

[@aaronswanson6719]

Spot on. I knew we were crazier than most

[@wanaced6]

I have been thinking about this very question and glad you answered it. I notice similar overreaction in Feminist movement, Black Panthers, Woke and everything else. I am 50+years old as a black male, but believe the 60's free love has doomed our moral compass. We are the new Rome with its many perversions. As long as more ill-logical thinking keeps bubbling up, one time, one overreacts and nothing good will come from it, except civil war.

[@DogeMcLovin]

I couldn't have said it better myself! People need restraint, and seeking absolute perfection (thus being perpetually non-content) is a fools errand.

[@austinduke8876]

Rome lasted for like 2700 years from founding to the fall of the Byzantines. It's the single biggest success story in Human civilization's history. If we're the new Rome I'll take it.

[@marin_real_estate_photography]

Rome didn't fall until after Christianity had become the majority religion of Rome, in case anyone is keeping score. And not sure how treating women or people of color as equals is "illogical."

[@wanaced6]

​@@marin_real_estate_photography RACE & WOMEN: You are telling me that its OKAY for young white boys in elementary school to apologize for being white. Or that cis white straight males should be ashamed for being white and straight? As a straight black male, this is appalling, despicable and only destroys the country. Let's not EVEN look at the many crimes of feminist exploiting true equal rights at the expense of males or destroying males, because that is what WOKE & CRT does

[@wanaced6]

@@marin_real_estate_photography ROME: Wait, so you are saying that when Rome split into two kingdoms (286 AD) to "SAVE" itself, long before Constantine (325 AD) came along and accepted christianity, when christianity was making up less than 10% of the population in 286 AD is at fault??? Just keeping facts or real scores here.ales.

[@MobiusCoin]

Not sure if I buy all of this but some interesting stuff to think about.

[@pablosopena5091]

Siempre interesante. Always interesting. Check the spanish past of your history, never mentioned, including the first world of exchange currency: el Real de a Ocho.

[@sbfcapnj]

"We become convinced that the covenant with God has been broken and that our days our over and we start a panicked recreation of everything about ourselves in a desperate attempt to survive." 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% absolutely perfectly accurate.

[@nelsonsack2694]

One of the more convoluted explanations of subject.

[@nephilimninjaofnibiru2907]

When you start with projections of your fears on to people 150 years ago. It tends to be convoluted...lol

[@here_we_go_again2571]

Well said Peter! ❤❤👍👍😊😊 God bless you Peter --- Keep on hiking! ❤❤👍👍😊😊

[@shakespeare4bears]

What’s wrong with Horse Creek Pass?

[@RuneDrageon]

I am betting on the horses.

[@stevekatmarian]

how you pitch this with a straight face - I admire you lol

[@kludgedude]

Don’t underestimate the GREATNESS of ‘merka!!!

[@gabrielgreen9883]

Let get the Great White Hope back into office

[@ash9x9]

Roger

[@larsseagren6814]

Love your content! And now contemplating the mountains I might never hike and the countries I might never visit. 😮😂

[@betterlifeexe4378]

As a US citizen I think we're experiencing a dichotomy. There are those who tend to be more religious and older and reactionary and isolated and prejudiced, and there's the group that tends to be younger more secular more rational and strategic and empathetic. I think that is a meaningful explanation to the condition of America at this time.

[@rico14]

I mean I don’t think that’s just American dichotomy. I would definitely say America is a land of optimists. Everyone thinks they will be right eventually.

[@madsnovember1614]

We have traditional salt of the earth rural people who produce everything of value and degenerate urbanites in tech and finance who think food comes from a store.

[@betterlifeexe4378]

@@madsnovember1614 gps tractors are totally driven by Amish, who totally produce the countries food supply. It's not corn or subsidized beef. Nope.

[@madsnovember1614]

@@betterlifeexe4378 What percentage of tractors are autonomous? About the same as urbanites who can sustain themselves with their shitty studio apartment and evolutionary dead end lifestyle.

[@betterlifeexe4378]

@@madsnovember1614 Approximately 70-80% of U.S. agricultural operations use GPS technology. typically, you just have to sit in them and respond to any problems. a significant fraction of agriculture is unnecessary and could be avoided by reducing meat consumption, which is more expensive than consumers know. we could also eat less and be healthier if we stopped eating fluffy corn and corn syrup. it does not take much to provide food in the modern world.

[@bobfry5267]

It all sounds plausible, but most Americans have never had anything like the experiences that Peter described. They immigrated into cities, struggled, failed or succeeded, and never left them. Or were enslaved. And I'm sure that he didn't intentionally skip the Great Depression.

[@artcamp7]

That's a nice way of saying we're entitled

[@stfnphil]

Read "America" ("Amerique") by Jean Baudrillard. Beautifully written and very insightful. Tocqueville's famous "Of Democracy in the USA"--another great book that answers this question from a different angle.

[@lmrk5705]

Hum, normally I really enjoy your videos, particularly from a geographical and historical perspective. I failed to understand what point you are making here in relation to Australia and NZ. I don’t know if many Australians would consider the US to be our “cultural cousins”. Our politicians may promulgate that fiction for security, trade and economic purposes but I would wager the average Australian still sees Great Britain, Canada and of course our friends across the ditch as our cultural cousins. We are still part of the Commonwealth and that should not be discounted.

[@farnarkleboy]

I'd agree , There is just a common level of understanding that commonwealth countries have with each other , Singaporeans and Irish also get a nod as there are still lots in common

[@richardkent7369]

Peter is half Irish and likes to take any opportunity he can to be rude or dismissive of us Brits. Its kinda funny.

[@terrycole472]

I thought so too, till I went abroad and realized just how much we have in common.

[@terrycole472]

@@farnarkleboy : Indeed. In the case of the Irish they don't realize just how much like the hated Brits they are.

[@terrycole472]

@@richardkent7369 : Half a century ago, sitting in my best friends house in Wellington, we were discussing how uncouth some United Statesians could be. His mom quietly remarked that when the Marines landed in 1942, saving the country, everyone was disposed to think well of them, but they had some unusual habits. She recalled a convoy winding its way north up Grosvenor terrace, young men dangling cans on a string from the backs of trucks, making a huge din and yelling like indian braves. Yanks, she said, shaking her head. Can't live with them, can't live without them.