Do Nepali youth know more about American Politics than their own?

As the 2020 US presidential election rolled around, social media sites were full of comments made by Nepalese youths about it. Bewildered by this, many came to the point where they surged another layer in social media filling up with personal protests against this phenomenon. The phenomenon of knowing foreign politics more than our own native one. The question that haunted social sites the most was- how come Nepalese youth understand American politics much better compared to the Nepalese? Well, the answer is simple. Despite what it seems, they actually don’t!

Nepal has never participated in a football world cup. Yet, when it comes to the international tournaments, almost every one of the interested will pick up a random country and cheer like it their own. A similar phenomenon could have been seen in Nepal during the latest American Presidential election. Among a huge number of Nepalese comments on social media, almost all were supporting Joe Biden, while criticizing or making fun of Donald Trump. But the very fact that these comments were mostly shallow and limited shows how little we understand about American Politics. The reason why Joe Biden was picked by the Nepalese over Trump as their candidate is easily understood. It is by no means because Biden is better than Trump. Rather it’s because it looks so on the surface. Every one of us seems to “know” Trump is bad, Obama and Biden are good. But how much of the Nepalese youth know about Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s corruption, that fact that Joe Biden’s son was paid thousands of dollars by a Ukrainian company when Joe Biden was in charge of US’s Ukraine policy. How much Nepalese youth know about Tara Reid and her allegation that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her. How many Nepalese youths know that Nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama started more wars than the warmonger George W Bush. Everyone knows that Trump is racist, but how much Nepalese youth know Joe Biden was one of the main authors of the 1994 crime bill. This piece of law that Biden takes credit for disproportionately hurts the black and brown community of the US. And it was Trump who passed the first step act that tries to address some of the problems created by it.

This isn’t meant to say that Trump is the good guy. Far from it. Trump has his own faults that are more readily apparent. What’s being pointed out is, both of them have good and bad sides, and most of the Nepalese comments regarding the US election seems to have failed to see this. Though hard to digest, the fact is that politics in America is just as dirty, and it has its own share of corrupt politicians as well. Longingly looking at America and this false image we have of their politicians is not a solution to any of our problems.