this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Been seeing a lot about how the government passes shitty laws, lot of mass shootings and expensive asf health care. I come from a developing nation and we were always told how America is great and whatnot. Are all states is America bad ?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It depends on who you are, really.

If you're a poor, black woman living in Louisiana where the only work you can find is at a chemical plant, your life is going to fucking suck.

If you're upper-middle class living in a city, you're probably going to have a pretty good life.

There are some systems that are just awful by developed standards though. Education, medicine, policing, and politics come to mind. They're not likely to change, so you just have to cope with them. Basically just don't ever get sick or interact with the police. You'll probably die if you do either.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

There's a lot of opportunities here. There's a lot of money here. We also have a lot of racism and greed.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It depends. I'm a Canadian who frequently crosses the border.

The cities close by the border seem perfectly cromulent, everyone's super nice and accepting. The gas is definitely cheaper, and there is a wider variety of products on offer than in Canada.

There are certainly areas of the US that I'd want to avoid (Florida comes to mind, I would get hate-murdered the very millisecond I stepped there), but the good areas are good. Like someone else said, just don't get caught being poor or with medical issues.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Depends on the socioeconomic status of the city. I live in a city where it's odd to not hear gunshots every night...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

I come from a developing nation and we were always told how America is great and whatnot.

It's called soft power. Hollywood and US military and fiscal aid makes it seem that the US is friendly to your country and a prosperous land of freedom, when it's anything but.

Soft power is also why people think of Korea and Japan as more favourable and less conservative than countries with similar views on women, LGBT rights , etc that do not have the same level of soft power due to cultural and technological exports .

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

America is very nice if you do not really care about how your life negatively affects others.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

America definitely has its issues, but I think we have historically been good about surfacing problems and making sure they're at least talked about publicly, even if they're not fixed. This probably makes it look worse than it is. I feel like even in countries with reasonable free speech, there can be social taboos against talking about certain things.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

When doing world rankings, to me it’s a better visual to compare each US region/state to countries as the size of the US is a big factor. Each region has its own distinction. I live in the Pacific Northwest which is (I believe) comparable to most developed countries. If you’re in the southeast, the rankings drop and your probably better off in Eastern Europe. The Northeast US (I.e. New England) is also comparable to most developed countries but the Midwest is moving more towards a theocratic style of localized governance. The US isn’t in a position I’m any region to compete with Norway, Finland, Denmark, etc but that’s why they are ranked at the top.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Every state has its good and bad. We are out of control with the gun thing. There is a higher chance you will get shot and killed while minding your own business in America than most other countries. We are selfish and not much unity unless you are on one side or there and even then, we have become stupid and gullible. We are violent. We are much more violent in general than anyone I have ever encountered in other countries. Maybe England, but even there, it is not the same. Americans have no problem straight up killing each other. We are getting worse.

Is America great? Depends on who you ask. Is America a place where you still have some opportunities to make a better life for yourself. Sure. But it is not the same as that the pamphlet sold to everyone else. We are far from perfect and in many cases, other countries do things better.

Having said that, it is cool. Just keep your eyes open and pay attention.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Overall, no. In most places things are peaceful and nice. In some places there is a lot of crime and squalor. A lot depends on your location, perspective, and luck.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

We’re very vocal when we see a wrong. We’re also a big country, with different priorities in different places. Most importantly, media tends to publish most outrageous stories, for the shock value in attracting attention

My state has the fewest shootings, helped by the strictest gun laws until recently. We’re generally tops in education, near universal health insurance, and quality of life indexes on par with the best in the world. We are generally a safe place for various cultures and preferences, and we’re first in the US to embrace gay marriage We have a strong, innovation-based economy with among the highest pay. We even have a pretty good (for the US) transit system, walkable town centers, an emphasis on sustainability and renewable energy.

We don’t make the news as much because that’s not outrageous: it’s what we want. However I’m sure others may find it expensive, oppressive, or offend their sensibilities

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Shit country, great pay in a few fields.

If you're skilled labour and not a software engineer, just move to Canada tbh.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

No, but because it's the 4th largest country by landmass of course you're going to have more craziness, it's par for the course.

It's a lot safer then it used to be though, it just seems bad because we don't censor things here compared to other countries, so everyone sees the good and the bad as opposed to just the good

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not just America. It's the whole world right now.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

8'd say it's only bad by the standards of the first world. Not counting foreign policy here, mind you.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

It’s all relative, but no, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not.

The issue, whether it’s conscious or not, is what we were sold (work hard, be nice, and you can have everything you ever wanted) not matching up with reality for most of us. My parents are squarely in the dead middle of the boomer generation. My step father is a construction worker, and my mother hasn’t worked since I was in high school. So they are one income, and it’s probably not an exceptional lot good income. They own their own home, in a very nice area, have retirement options, the world wasn’t literally on fire, they didn’t have to go through multiple once in a lifetime collapses, etc. In contrast, I’ll probably never be able to afford a home (run down houses on tiny properties are easily 800k here) and husband and I are dual income, I’ll likely never retire, my money is worth far less than theirs was, the world is burning, etc.

I’m also the last generation that didn’t have to worry about school shootings. I was graduating the year columbine happened. Not a single thing has been done in over 20 years since. I’d actually say access has gotten so much worse. Plus the “gun culture”. It’s insanity. The worship is crazy.

Then watching government fall into the farce it is, that’s bought and paid for. With little help coming to those that need it. And being a woman, watching my rights slip further and further away across the country.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No. The US has its problems but it's not the hellhole people like to make it out to be.

It helps to look at the US in parts rather than as a homogeneous block. The country is huge and varied with 300M people in a land area larger than Europe. Laws can be wildly different from state to state, especially on hot topics like abortion or gun ownership or drug possession. Some states are filthy rich and others are depressingly poor. Some places are perfectly safe and others are dangerous.

For example, take a look at these maps comparing US states to European countries. Depending on the metric the US can look great or awful compared to Europe.

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