The United States withdraws from UNESCO • Hacker News Board

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#341

Post by CrackerNews » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

There are several reasons. First, developers are threatened by foreign competition and that third feels that Trump would protect them. Second, this presidency represents a change from previous DEI policies and that third may benefit from it. Third, they feel previous administrations were too soft on crime around their neighborhoods, and their tolerance for permissiveness ran out. They want action done to benefit them at any cost.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#342

Post by kennywinker » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

TheBlight wrote: post #96

akashshah87 wrote: post #63

“The U.S. began defunding UNESCO under Obama after it admitted Palestine as a full member—and then withdrew entirely during Trump’s first term.” — [ New York Times ]( https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/world/europe/us-withdraw-... ) This isn’t just a blip, but part of a long-term downward trajectory in U.S. and UNESCO relations.

[flagged]

Some of the hate in the comments is directed at the current thief-in-chief - but mostly it looks to me like it’s directed at the longstanding US-israel relationship where the US gov does things that the US people don’t want because the israeli gov does want it.

The hypocrisy of saying “america first” while bending over backwards to support israel is just a new twist to an old pattern.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#343

Post by throwawaygmbno » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

I'm a black developer and have never had another developer tell me about their support for Trump. The past 10 years have made it plainly obvious why.

It has also made me realize how difficult life was for my parents and grandparents, who were all born before the civil rights act.

The civil rights act passed when Trump was in college so he and the other elderly members of the other branches also saw the lead up to it. Every action I see is to prevent anything like that again. Or to personally enrich themselves.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#344

Post by Apocryphon » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

glitchc wrote: post #150

lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

The online space (Reddit, HN, others) is so deeply embedded with groupthink that people have lost the ability to see other points of view or debate topics of interest. To me it's very clear why the government is leaving UNESCO (and over time the UN at large). The UN is dysfunctional and does not work. It used to be a source of soft power for the States, but hasn't been so for the better part of this century. Meanwhil…

You don’t think China, the Gulf states, hell, oil-rich Azerbaijan won’t pick up the slack for international legitimacy or national glory? And you think U.S. isolation from the League of Nations was the right move, too?

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#345

Post by soperj » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

dartharva wrote: post #317

Angostura wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say “the UN doesn’t work” apparently because “working” means it being a source of soft power for the US. It had several remits, but its most important is probably the one to prevent a world war. It’s designed specifically as a talking shop to help countries find other ways of resolving disputes than kill people - and promote international understanding . It’s far from perfect, but in general it does a pretty good…

> It’s far from perfect, but in general it does a pretty good job. The current state of the world would definitely beg to differ

Prior to the creation of the UN we had 2 world wars in 25 years.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#346

Post by slantedview » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

nerdjon wrote: post #238

jzb wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Love the fetus, hate the mother and child"

I can't find the exact saying now, but my favorite are the ones that are basically... "Will fight for your rights until your born and then just completely abandon you" (not the exact phrasing I remember seeing)

Pro birth, not pro life.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#347

Post by glitchc » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:39 PM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #286

glitchc wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Leaving a power vacuum, like dismantling the UN, will just open the door for places like China to step in. You think that country has any amount of give a crap about humanity as a whole? Not even a little, I would argue. If China wants to foot the bill, let them. As I pointed out, the US hasn't been getting anything in return for the last 25 years of footing the bill, basically since 9/11. China cares about its peo…

Would you really liken the recent US approach to international relations to a peloton? Seems rather more like the race leader stopping his bike, chucking it off a cliff whilst hurling insults at all the contestants a lap or two behind, including the teammates offering him an alternative bike Thoughtful, conservative isolationists don't mix up their questions about how important soft power is really with threats to an…

Throughout much of its history, the US has been conservative and isolationist. The post-WW2 era was an aberration, not the status quo. I see these actions as the US returning to its roots. Whether the US annexes Canada is up to the US and Canada. Other parties only get an opinion when either of those two decides to involve them.

And the Tour de France is not a Peleton. You are being disingenuous.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#348

Post by verall » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:40 PM UTC

redleader55 wrote: post #309

lvl155 wrote: post #40

And it’s wild to think that more than 1/3 of the devs I’ve met in my life support this admin. These are seemingly smart people. The past 10 years or so made me realize I don’t know anything about human nature or intellect. Edit: I am in no way saying conservatism is bad and liberalism is good. I have my values in both.

I think(lol) that assuming the other side stupid is one of the big failures of current political environment. Honestly, I'm baffled that is "ok" to say something like "the other side is stupid" without being called out harshly for it. Using weasel words expressions like "seemingly smart people" doesn't make it better, it makes it worse.

Do you mean it's a political failure as in it leads to electoral losses or it's a moral failure as in it shouldn't be "ok"?

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#349

Post by tehjoker » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:40 PM UTC

glitchc wrote: post #277

tehjoker wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UN is dysfunctional because the US blocks every good thing it tries to do like the abomination of the security council vetoing resolutions to stop the US backed genocide in Gaza.

Here's a list of vetoes at the UN Security Council: https://research.un.org/en/docs/sc/quick All parties seem to be exercising their right, the US does not have a monopoly on it.

I clicked on one of the ones where Russia and China vetoed.

Among other things, it called for Yemen to stop attacking Israeli shipping, which is one of the few acts by a country that is fulfilling its international obligation to intervene to stop genocide. Yemen has repeatedly stated that it will stop when Israel stops its genocide in Gaza and proved it when it stopped during the ceasefire.

Re: The United States withdraws from UNESCO

#350

Post by phkahler » Tue, Jul 22, 2025, 3:40 PM UTC

runako wrote: post #284

glitchc wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The online space (Reddit, HN, others) is so deeply embedded with groupthink that people have lost the ability to see other points of view or debate topics of interest. To me it's very clear why the government is leaving UNESCO (and over time the UN at large). The UN is dysfunctional and does not work. It used to be a source of soft power for the States, but hasn't been so for the better part of this century. Meanwhil…

> when funds are scarce The US budget is ~$7T annually. There is $50B to spend deporting critical parts of our workforce. There is $1T in defense spending to ensure that we spend more than the next 9(!) militaries combined*. Et cetera. The US spends ~$18B supporting UN programs. This is ~0.003% of the federal budget. The point here is funds are not scarce, and in any case to the extent that one is concerned about spe…

I think the parent post was saying the money is not well spent, not that the US can't afford it. We could clearly throw a lot more at the UN, but that would just be doubling down on a bad investment. At least thats how I read it - better to just pull the plug.