[mistermumble]

If one wanted to overthink this, one could say there is a "calculus of privilege" that depends upon context.

In many contexts (geographical and social contexts), being white, male and America adds up to maximum privilege.

But in other contexts, white and male usually add up to a positive -- but being American can subtract (which is why backpackers are returning to the habit of sewing the Canadian flag patch on their gear, even if they are from the US).

In the era of Trump, the attribute of being American has turned negative, in many places.

I suppose the bottom line is that if you are placing yourself in different contexts, don't assume that that calculus of privilege works the same way on the Russian border as it does in Virginia or Indiana.

And if you are a Sikh in the United States, that calculus, which was at best neutral, has now turned sharply negative, sad to say.

[chatmasta]

> In the era of Trump, the attribute of being American has turned negative, in many places.

This is a wild generalization that in the past nine months of traveling, I have not experienced once. In fact you may be surprised to hear I found more Trump supporters in Morocco, of all places, than I did detractors.

Regardless, even if someone hates trump, for most people it does not also follow that they hate all Americans.

I would lose immediate respect for someone sewing the flag of another country on their backpack; it's so presumptuous, arrogant, and self absorbed.

[Frondo]

Your post also seems like a wild generalization, to be honest.

I spent some time living abroad in the Bush years, in a variety of places where Westerners almost never go. (I hate the beaten path...if I can see photos of it on Flickr, I don't need to go there myself. That should help you figure out where all I've been ;) )

Based on the anti-American sentiment I saw there, then, anti-American sentiment in many parts of the world would not at all surprise me now.

And I didn't sew any flag on my backpack, but I sure didn't tell people I was an American; I speak another language well enough (and with an indistinct accent) that I usually told people I was from a non-Western country entirely.

If for nothing else, the haggling. Just passing as a non-Westerner got my prices in North Africa cut by 90% every. single. time.

Hah, maybe they just liked your money!

[jsjohnst]

Don't mistake personal anecdata for fact. I've personally seen it happen recently to friends (and experienced it in the past the last time we had a president many outside the US hated). Not saying it's universally a constant (otherwise I'd fall in the same trap you did), but it definitely happens.

[microtherion]

Or, in a brief video illustration of said "calculus of privilege": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY_FRc__ZVQ