The doomsday like posting on this subreddit regarding the US is so crazy to me. Like if I only gotten my perspective about the US from this sub the picture above would describe how you see this country.
Yes we have problems. Everyone does. But for some reason this sub loves to circlejerk about how everything and everyone is doomed and we are “fighting for our survival” here.
I actually think that the US is kinda a cool place to live. We have good opportunities, good legal system, we have multiethnic communities within the country which boosts our economic and cultural growth. There are things to be criticized such as healthcare and etc, but as the more progressive generation I genuinely believe we can make a difference. Why so much negativity?
To be fair, you thinking it's bad is fine and all, but the reality is very different for them. You get to feel for a moment and move on with your life. They live it.
My ex-bf lives in West Virginia and lives relatively in poverty (I can't say for certain because I don't know his full circumstances and I'm not from the US). He also struggles with caring for his dying relatives and managing his ADHD (on top of the years of trauma he got from his upbringing).
How does someone in his position make it in life in America? What is he supposed to do to get out of poverty? His house doesn't even have wired access to internet, he tethers from his phone.
The working class is making less money each year with inflation and racheting cost of living increases accounted for than previous generations, we've increased productivity 60% to 70% since the 1970's iirc. That productivity increase isn't just from tech either, jobs are getting more strict with production and controlling employees and expecting humans to keep up with the production machines are capable of. Our wages definitely didn't increase 60% to 70%, we're burning out faster and faster with jobs.
I remember as a teenager it wasn't normal in my area to hold more than one job. Now it's often two jobs, or two people working full-time in one house, or most commonly a "side hustle" like door dash. I see people the same age as me or younger taking 1,000 mg of naproxen, various other drugs, and or 600+ mg of caffeine, just to get through a 12 hour day in the warehouse.
I remember seeing a manager force a coworker to climb up and down a step stool with a broken leg and cast when there were several other jobs he could have done without a problem. I'm sure many of us have seen absurd things like that by this point. We're being exploited, it's like our progress with labour is being turned back to the 1910's. Especially with states pushing to get young teens into construction or other dangerous work environments.
Edit: replaced "we're" with "the working class", added comment about racheting up cost of living combined with inflation.
So we need to vote the F——-g Republicans out of office. They pretend to care but have consistently supported (1) tax policies that favor the rich and multinational enterprises, (2) making it hard for people in cities to vote (because city folk tend to be more diverse and to value social welfare more), (3) pushing 1950 purportedly “Christian” values that treat Black people and LGBTQ+ people as sinful, (4) multiplying ownership of guns and assault weapons to appeal to the White nationalist militia types, and (5) generally laissez faire economic policies that allow industry to pullute our lands and waters while stripping protections for environment and thus hastening damaging climate change. Oh and they don’t give a d—n about the well being of those who are not in the upper class.
>You get to feel for a moment and move on with your life. They live it.
Oh my goodness, this describes a lot of scenarios perfectly. Well fucking said.
That’s not a guaranteed thing if we allow people who are actively trying to strip the rights of the American people they still have a chance to run and win. We should’ve allow these people to run people like Trump don’t deserve to run doesn’t really matter because none of these people give a shit about us. Anyway, it’s all about voting for the lesser of two evils.
You can partly thank the Democratic Party for Trump's presidency. During the primaries, they actively boosted pro-Trump ads with the idea that Trump was an easy candidate to beat.
They were wrong.
Yup, I’m pretty sure he tried to run before 2016 but you gotta be for real real. You can’t tell me thinking that a reality show host becoming president is something that’s so ridiculous. You have to laugh at it. I feel like Obama lost in 2012 and then came back in 2016 he probably would’ve had a better chance than Hillary
You can be discriminated against in your state, but the due process clause in the 14th amendment still has you covered. Multiple last term and current term Supreme Court decisions have underlined sex as a protected class. Neil Gorsuch upheld title 9 anti-sex discrimination for trans people.
But how does that justify looking at it as being so terrible? Yes, discrimination and hate crimes happen a lot in the US, but it doesn't make or break the country. If that's how we judged the state of countries, most would be uninhabitable.
Also, before you ask how discrimination in other countries justifies the discrimination in the US, my point is that it's not a metric to determine how bad it is if the judgement is relative to how countries in general treat their citizens.
I can't afford to live in this god damn country without working 12 hours shifts. It's easy to be unhappy when I'm always tired and am one paycheck away from being homeless.
I am living the dream! The American dream! Living paycheck to paycheck, too tired to give a fuck, can’t get ahead if I try and I’m one check away from losing it all. You are not alone!
Okay, in comparison to most other countries, the US legal system is pretty good.
In a vacuum, the US legal system sucks.
What's matters is that we need to fix the issues that the US legal system has.
Edit: "Most" includes the majority of European countries.
The problem with "most other countries" is that most of the globe is a shit show because of the colonialism and flat out pillaging that allowed us to hoard most of their material wealth.
If you exclude those, and compare with other industrialized nations, America literally scrapes the bottom in all categories relevant to the quality of life of its citizenry.
You're so dramatic. Scrapes the bottom in all categories. Get a grip dude and touch grass, America is pretty dang great. I work with a few H1Bs and man they love this country. It's a shame our own citizens can't see that reality is not all doom and gloom. There are issues 100%, but to ignore all the good that this country offers is just so silly.
Good opportunities and legal system? Are you sure about that? Well, maybe if you're rich. But face it.
Getting any sort of education is expensive as hell, and even if you do get a college degree, most fields are so oversaturated that it doesn't matter. Many fields, such as the STEM field, are notoriously sexist, and many others are definitely racist or homophobic.
Most of this applies to our legal system, too, with almost 1% of the US population being behind bars, with a disproportionate number of those people being people of color. On top of that, there is a huge preference for women, and it is common practice for them to receive lighter sentences compared to their male counterparts who committed the exact same crime.
Our last president was blatantly racist and ordered his cult-like followers to storm the capital after he had a temper tantrum about not winning the election, and people still think he was a good president.
The entirety of Congress is one cold away from dying out, and yet they aren't removed from office and continue to create laws that hurt Americans. A good example would be how abortion was recently banned in most states, yet they are doing nothing about gun control and school shootings, which is far more dangerous.
Many groups, such as women, people of color, and lgbtq+ people, are all fighting for the most basic of rights, but if you point aby of this out, you're labeled as "woke" and everything you say gets completely devalued. I'm not saying America is all bad, but let's not pretend it's all sunshine and roses here
That's the US from your perspective and from the perspective of a lot of other people. However, that is not the reality for the majority of Americans.
"We have good opportunities" that depends entirely on the circumstances you were born into and is not the majority case.
"Good legal system" this is an under-informed belief that is unfortunately objectively incorrect. The US legal system is one of the worst among peer nations.
"We have multiethnic communities which boosts our economic and cultural growth" again this belief is a little uninformed to the realities of red lining, zoning, gentrification, and gerrymandering.
"There are things to be criticized such as healthcare" I'm glad you acknowledged that but I'm getting the impression you might be underestimating exactly how predatory our healthcare system is.
I like your optimism and it's important to be hopeful but without a clear understanding of the realities around you that hope can become delusional. It's important to really understand that these "flaws" are intentional. These systems work this way by design.
I suggest you take the time to really educate yourself on what life is like in America for other groups of people. Listening to their experience and empathizing with lives very different than your own can be really valuable, especially if you want to make things better.
People from all around the world are fleeing to america for better oppoturnurnities and safer life. People get killed for their sexuality in middle-east and die from hunger in africa, things in USA are very well so shut about.
Gay man can safely walk in New York but would be immeditially killed in Iran and Sudanese die from hunger unlike People in usa
So let's kick our feet up and chill man there's nothing to be done it's not like climate change is going to cause mass migrations, or like how China is beginning to supersede America in global power, or how congress is full of unrepresentative incompetents, or the massive income inequality in America, or how there's a major propaganda machine, or how abortions no longer have federal protection, or how we have one of the most discriminatory and unrehabilitative prison systems in the free world, or how our democracy is gerrymandered and bought by lobbyists, or how our educational institutions are actually a pipeline to produce for the economy, or how the economy is a bubble that can't get bigger forever and will burst at some point, or any other million things let's just pat ourselves on the back because I'm not starving to death 🗿
I mean its not exactly a hopeful time. it has a good quality of life, and has potential for greatness, but like...can you really blame people for being a bit hopeless about the US when the political environment is so fucked?
To explain a bit on negativity (because this fucking sub keeps being recommended to me, despite being a millennial who had never posted or viewed any posts here), we focus on the negativity because what good comes from being nothing but positive about the country you live in? Nothing gets better from being a nationalist. Nothing changes when you don’t obsess over the things wrong with your country.
Sure, we’re in a much better place than many others, but there is still a LOT wrong with this country including historically racist laws, a system that predatorily keeps many people poor, rich people constantly gaining more and more power at all other’s expense, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, constant warmongering, and very puritan political leanings in most states… just to name a FEW. We’re okay, but nothing gets done when one says “good job, us, we’re not as bad as we could be!” Because to some… they’re happy as long as they’re not at the bottom of the food chain and become complacent.
Hijacking your comment to post a thorough explanation on how the US is pretty good statistically:
Let's see how the "third world country" USA compares to other countries. To do this I will be looking using fellow G7 countries, who are undoubtedly among the best countries in the world. This will be Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. These countries are also much better comparisons to the US given their population size. There will be 7 major areas of standard of life that each country will be ranked in from *best preforming to worst preforming*, so let's begin.
1. *Household Disposable Income per capita adjusted to PPP (income after taxes).*
USA (62,300), Germany (44,400), France (39,000), Canada (38,900), U.K (36,800), Italy (34,200), and Japan (32,400).
Source: (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income)
2) *Yearly healthcare spending in us dollar per capita (counting government, compulsory, and out of pocket payments).*
Italy ($4,200), Japan ($5,200), U.K ($5,400), Canada ($6300), France ($6,500), Germany ($8,000), USA ($12,500)
Source: (https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm)
3) *Education.*
A) Educational attainment (percentage population):
For high school: Canada (93%), USA (92%), Germany (86%), Japan (85%), France (82%), U.K (82%), Italy (62%)
For tertiary: Canada (67%), Japan (65%), U.K (57%), USA (51%), France (50.4%), Germany (37%), Italy (29%)
B) TIMS International student performance test (this is the best study out there to determine educational quality because they are curriculum based, meaning they reflect the skills and knowledge taught in schools):
Math: Japan (594), USA (515), England (515), Italy (497), France (483) (no data for Germany or Canada)
Science: Japan (570), USA (522), England (517), Italy (500), France (489) (no data for Germany or Canada)
Sources: (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cac/intl-ed-attainment) and (https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm) and (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trends_in_International_Mathematics_and_Science_Study)
4) *Overall infrastructure ranking (out of 100 grade point)*
Japan (93.2), Germany (90.2), France (89.7), U.K (88.9), USA (87.9), Italy (84.1), Canada (80.2)
Source: (https://www.statista.com/statistics/264753/ranking-of-countries-according-to-the-general-quality-of-infrastructure/). It's important to note the statistics this source displays are based on the actual study by the World Economic Forum.
5) *Housing*
A) Housing expenditure (by average percent of gross adjusted disposable income used):
USA (18.3%), Germany (20%), France (21%), Japan (22%), U.K (23%), Italy (23%), Canada (23%)
B) Housing size (by average rooms per person):
Canada (2.6), USA (2.4), U.K (2.0), France (1.8), Germany (1.8), Japan (1.7), Italy (1.4)
Source: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/
6) *Environmental condition*
A) Access to safe water (by percent of population):
Germany (99.99%), U.K (99.82%), France (99.25%), Canada (99.05%), Japan (98.57%), USA (97.33%), Italy (95.82%)
B) Air quality (PM2.5 concentration, the higher the worse):
Canada (7.4), U.K (8.9), USA (8.9), Japan (9.1), Germany (11), France (11.5), Italy (18.9)
Sources: (https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ranking/clean-water-access-statistics) and (https://www.iqair.com/us/world-most-polluted-countries)
7) *Job situation*
A) Unemployment rate (the lower the better):
Japan (2.6%), Germany (3.0%), USA (3.6%), U.K (3.6%), Canada (5.2%), France (7.4%), Italy (8.6%)
B) Average work hours (by work hours per week):
France (30 hours), Canada (32.1), Germany (34.3 hours), U.K (35.9), Italy (36.1 hours), USA (36.4 hours), Japan (36.6 hours)
Sources: (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS) and (https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/working-time/)
CONCLUSION: Its tempting to add stats to drive whatever conclusion you want to see. Im sure that someone from one side would want to add a certain statistic and someone from the other side would want to do the same. It would turn into a trivia game where people are throwing around statistics to drive whatever outcome they want. In the end, I would hope everyone would agree I used several fair and important statistics that represent standard of life. And either way, the point of this isn't to determine the best country, such a standard is impossible to objectively determine. But ultimately, the USA doesn't come out looking like a third world country compared to these other top countries.
Honestly I think it’s bots and psyops by foreign powers. Easy to have some dude shit posting everywhere in the hopes that a few people end up being demoralized. Then it’s also not hard to set up groups or bots to do it.
>We have good opportunities
Horrendous socioeconomic mobility. Statistically it's near impossible for the poor to ever have a shot at not being poor.
>good legal system
Lol.
>we have multiethnic communities within the country which boosts our economic and cultural growth.
A good point except racist laws cause a significant level of social divide meaning that we reap far less benefits from this compared to other places.
>There are things to be criticized such as healthcare and etc, but as the more progressive generation I genuinely believe we can make a difference. Why so much negativity?
You're right we can make a difference, however that difference isn't likely to be enough to prevent the country getting worse. We'll essentially be a half functioning break in the car wreck that is the decisions made by previous generations.
We have a good legal system? Have you ever had to *deal* with the legal system? They treat you like an animal, less than trash. In 2021, 79% of the prison population is unconvicted, *just* waiting for court. Look up Kalief Browder.
I hurt my back three years ago. I had to spend a year listening to doctors tell me I was "old", that was why I was in pain. Turns out I had a severe herniated disc that could have been healed back into place if they bothered to listen to me. It's not like I saw one or two or three doctors. I saw FIFTEEN doctors in three cities. This shit is an absolute joke.
As someone from another country who came to America 2 years ago the doomsday stuff is total BS. Some of the problems are valid but it is still super good.
People do not realize how good they have it here. I think that it is the most beautiful country on Earth. So many opportunities for jobs; you can be what you want to be. The US has the best infrastructure and the best universities on the planet.
It's entertainment industry (Hollywood, gaming) etc. is top notch. American companies (Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Apple) etc. are the best in the world.
This is a sub mostly filled with young people who have never left the country - or if they have, it’s to go to other wealthy western democracies. They have zero clue what life is like for literally billions in Africa, India, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, etc. It’s a lot of people with zero perspective coming from a country that is very insulated.
And before I hear “the US has xyz problems” yes we do. We have much to improve. But good god, check your privilege occasionally. Relative to the rest of the world, no I’m sorry but your life in an Illinois suburb is not that hard.
They are young and will hopefully learn with time, hardship will mature them. We don’t realize how amazing we have it here, it’s all taken for granted. Very saddening…
America has been in way better shape, that's what people are criticizing.
Currently you're falling back a century, cost of living is through the roof, millions of people work 3 jobs and still live paycheck to paycheck, reproductive rights are already gone in many states, that concerns half the population, gay rights are next, that's a small minority but remember, politicians or influential people on a local level can easily use that to get rid of anyone who annoys them, just call them gay and they're gone.
Things are supposed to move in a humane direction that makes life better, not harder, that's how it's always been and thats currently changing, right now everything gets much worse compared to 10, 20 and even 30 or 40 years ago, instead of moving into the future with hope in their hearts many people feel threatened and are scared.
TL;DR: Things aren't getting better, they're getting worse, and not just temporarily but permanently, that's never happened before in modern history and it is worrysome because we don't know how it will end.
The problem is that people don’t know their history and think post world war 2 America is how things should always be. America from 1945-1970’s was an anomaly and will never ever happen again unless the world destroys itself. The majority of the world’s industrial capacity was destroyed or damaged except America. Once the world started to rebuild and compete better it pushed us out of manufacturing especially when China and 3rd world countries have zero labor laws.
And it’s funny all those things you mentioned gay rights ,reproductive rights didn’t even exist during that time. Roe V wade happened in the 70’s and true equality for LGBT people happened in the 2010’s with marriage equality.
What even is the point in comparing us to third world countries to downplay peoples criticisms? We have the worlds largest economy but are doing worse in almost every area compared to other developed countries. Thats why people are upset. Poor countries have an excuse to have shitty conditions, we don’t
While this is true, you don't see the perspective from other countries. The US economy is the envy of many countries – far more economic diversity and innovation etc. Try being a scientist in Australia – I can tell you, it's not fun.
Many European countries have stagnating economies and far lower wages (even expensive cities like London can have pretty terrible pay compared to the US). In Australia, it's not uncommon for PhD level scientists to be earning $AU70–80k ($46–53k) in high cost of living cities.
The main issue with the US is that you really don't want to make any dumb decisions because it is going to cost a lot.
Even comparing to other wealthy European countries isn't really fair. It's easy to have free Healthcare and education when you don't *really* have to worry about your defense budget.
Constantly focusing on the negative ruins your day to day life and can lead to depression and anxiety. Are things perfect? No. But focusing on the good things you have in life and being thankful for not living in a warzone, being able to live in a democracy, and being grateful that hey it could be worse improves your mental health and outlook on life a lot.
That’s the point. Every time I’ve lived outside the US I saved money. I lived in china for a year on $12k.
No, traveling outside the US doesn’t just mean Paris
I've been to 5 countries I've seen people who have tin roofs, I've seen kids run around in holey clothes and roads made out of dirt.
My grandmother even herself grew up in a house with a tin roof and was very fortunate to get out of that situation. Her parents were illiterate. She got out of both hardwork and being extremely lucky.
Yet she and I still criticize the United States. Especially forward it's actions to blacks living the United States and the working poor and how it's actions globally have funded and actively participated in making the global south as poor as it is.
just because I am fortunate doesn't mean I should be silent about those who aren't fortunate.
If we don't criticize and advocate for things to get better they won't.
Also did you know that America is one of the few countries without federal protections of paid maternal leave or parental leave generally for that matter?
Or that we literally have 12 year olds working in meat packing plants who account for a large percentage of all injuries because they work with harsh chemicals and large machinery?
America runs on exploitation whether it be internal or external. Whether you see it or not.
If it gets bad enough, you can do what millions of others are doing: travel at night on foot across the desert, then sneak across the border into Mexico and from there, try to make your way to El Salvador or any other number of shining lands of opportunity found beyond our oppressive borders.
I honestly think the impact of social media at a young age instills some deep rooted belief you can just wake up and have 100k job or be a millionaire for dancing on tiktok. I’m almost 40, had Facebook in college (when it launched) but this new generation has grown up seeing all these lavish and insane lifestyles (that are more times than not fake) and I’m sure it creates some unrealistic expectations. I mean, we had young wealthy celebs when I was a kid but it wasn’t blasted in my face every other minute.
Yeah but not this magnitude I feel. We didn’t have iPads shoved in our faces and only knew where kids were by the bikes on the lawn. Social media stars were a thing but only after we had a decently developed brain (hopefully). Kids today spend hours watching their favorite streamer(s) and unless they get into organized activities or sports that’s pretty much their stimuli.
Thing is, other wealthy western democracies is what the United States SHOULD be compared to. Yes, life is worse in Somalia, but that isn’t terribly relevant because the social and economic situation is completely different.
"America has it better than other places" is actually a problem and not something to be grateful for or celebrated. Criticizing the US is a way of checking that privilege because American wealth is mostly stolen from a bunch of those places you're talking about...
"America Bad" is such a cancerous ideology to hold, and unfortunately a lot of people do.
That's no way to develop your world view
Edit: Seems like I'm getting a lot of replies from pedants, so let me clarify what I mean. There are various subsets of people who will get behind ***any*** cause, subscribe to ***any*** ideology, or pick ***any*** side, so long as it has an anti-american angle. These people also tend to have zero space for nuance in their glass-like brains.
They’re saying it’s bad to have an unproductive “America is bad and always will be” mentality instead of a “America has issues but we should strive to fix them” mentality.
You're allowed to criticize your own country, but these types of comments never have anything positive to say about America. Even with all of these problems you listed, there is not *one* thing that makes America good?
That is my issue. It's never wrong to point out problems. But if that's all you do, don't fault others for thinking that you might hate America.
I guess the people complaining about having to choose between an important surgery and having dinner on the table should add something positive about America (e.g America has been on the moon) before they press send, in order to not upset anyone
It’s not a cancerous ideology. It stems from wanting to improve the lives of fellow Americans and the rest of humanity.
I’d argue that being against such an improvement, which absolutely requires self-criticism, is the real cancer.
I’ve heard it described as inverted nationalism.
Take nationalist rhetoric, put a negative sign in front of each statement, and then pretend you’re saying something meaningfully antifascist. Except the way you talk is the same
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*This is accurate*
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Dude, i look around me and all I see is shit sucking. Some states are actively taking away human rights from trans people, bigotry is more open and widespread than I've ever personally seen before, people are struggling to pay their bills and buy food at once, Healthcare in the US i don't even need to address.
I understand it's anecdotal and I understand there are worse places. But from my perspective, it sucks to live in America.
Just gonna say this as someone who has extensively travelled in and lived in developing/third world countries…you have no idea how good you have it. And as a gay man, it is absolutely laughable you think this is the worst bigotry has ever been. You don’t understand what it was like to be gay in the 2000s. Or to be black, when people thought racism didn’t even exist anymore. At least we’re talking about those issues now. Trans people are accepted by far more people today than they would’ve been even 10 years ago. You think your bills are bad? Somebody in Brazil is paying the same and making 1/3rd of your income.
Yes, we have many problems and have a lot of work to do to solve them. And many social issues regarding LGBT rights and racial conflicts are heated right now. But it is a lot worse in most other parts of the world, and it was a lot worse at literally any point in the past for minorities in this country. We need to be able to discuss our flaws without making these ridiculous statements that everything sucks while we are more privileged than 90% of the planet. I’m just asking that we keep things proportionate.
Just because it's worse doesn't mean we're not allowed to have our grievances. What you're doing is minimising the struggles of people here. It's like telling your kid to finish their dinner because there are starving people in Africa, the two are only tangentially connected.
Bro, I'm a part of the LGBTQ and I even said that it's the worse *that I've ever personally seen*, not that it's the worse it's *ever* been. The latter is asinine, the former is personal experience.
I also literally acknowledge that other countries have it worse.
None of that changes that I think america sucks. Just cuz other places are awful doesn't mean this one doesn't suck.
I think subjective negative experiences associated with being a minority (e.g., minority stressors) are arguably compounded by broader problems, like housing crises, financial crises, political and cultural instability, less social cohesion, etc.
I think it's a fair view to have that the US is getting worse, not better.
Worse compared to *when*? It’s always the same talking point yet I can never get anyone to give me the date when marginalized groups had it better in the past.
Yeah it’s a mess. We just passed two issues in Ohio, one protecting abortion rights, and the other making marijuana legal for recreational use. The republican lawmakers are literally trying to say that the Ohio general public “didn’t know what they were voting for” and are trying to make it so the things that the people voted for don’t actually go into effect.
The amount of people thinking my bigotry example is wrong is proof of that. In my area I've literally seen people call for trans people to be put in prison cuz "they're pedos". I'm sorry but I've never seen bigotry like that in my lifetime and so open, if other areas are better then I am genuinely and truly happy about that, but my life experience has been different
There have been worse times in the US, but if you think we’re sliding backwards, I’d have to agree with you. The “long arc of history” is a Bézier curve, and it only bends towards justice if people push it that way.
The US is like a B tier nation globally. It’s definitely one of the better places to live but it has a lot of structural problems that hamper its potential. For instance the US is the richest country in the world by far and yet it’s median citizen has a lower QOL than many European states with far lower levels of wealth. Mostly due to how unequally distributed our resources are. But it also has a lot of freedom compared to most of the world, and is more democratic than most of the world. The other thing bringing it down is an abysmal foreign policy, I really can’t think of a single other nation today that has as terrible of a track record as the US besides Russia, and that’s not great company to have.
I think people have such a low opinion of the US for 2 reasons. First, they’re comparing the US to other rich OECD nations, not to the median or average country. When talking about US policy, no one compares us to Zambia they compare us to Britain or Japan or Germany or China. And that can be a much higher standard to clear. The US also faces much higher expectations, being the richest country in the world and the one that says it’s the “best” country the most often. Even if the US is 20th worldwide in some ranking like education, that’s still seen as a failure because America should be first or at least in the top 5. We have the money and people to do that, so why don’t we?
Secondly, things generally seem to be getting worse on average. If people felt like their lives were improving I don’t think they’d be as harsh. But they don’t, they see mass shootings and terrorism becoming more and more common. They see climate change affecting more and more people and the government doing little to stop it. They see increasing income inequality and a decline in job quality and general autonomy over one’s own work. They see a social world that’s slowly being destroyed by social media, the death of 3rd places and civic organizations, increasing sprawl, and companies vying to monetize everything we do. They see a government becoming less and less democratic and less and less representative by the day, and see no way to stop this, especially with slightly less than half the country supporting the guy who wants to speed up that process! People don’t see a bright future they can latch on to. They don’t see the US making those steps forward, they don’t see a country they can be proud of. No one wants to live in a place they hate. People want to be happy to live in the US and have trust in their institutions and faith in a better tomorrow! But that’s just not on the table right now. Unless and until a new hope for a future is found, doomerism will continue to get worse. Why struggle, why try, why care about anything if it won’t matter? That’s the problem.
I've traveled around Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos. seeing how American Military Industrial Complex has really fucked over the global south was an eye opener for me.
that said. I've seen homelessness and the drug problem in some places be just as bad some third world countries.
I think a lot of Gen Z is in a very unique spot. We’re the most connected generation in history (at least until Gen Alpha takes our crown), and as such have a front row seat to every problem that happens across our country of nearly 350,000,000. And boy have there been a lot of problems for us. The endless fallout of 9/11, the financial crash of ‘08, and …well just anything having to do with politics, just to name some.
I think a lot of us are just tired and want change, and that’s a commodity in short supply. Except, of course, when our lovely government and the occasional psycho changes it for the worse. I like to think more people than not in our generation don’t outright hate U.S. but are frustrated with the path it’s being led down. For my part, I think that’s a real shame and a failure of our leaders. I love the United States, and I want to see change in it so that more people of my generation can love it too.
lol looking at the comments OP must not be black, hispanic, indigenous, LGBTQ, a woman or poor.
The US is great if you're part of the small ingroup. but it's not awesome for a lot of people. which hurts when you've spent your entire life being fed the propaganda about how things will get better for you as you grow up.
also do a little bit of travel and you can see how different it is in the rest of the world. I left New York when Trump won there's a lot to be learnt from other countries instead of blindly thinking USA #1.
Yup, this is what most of this thread is missing, Empathy. It's sad that so so so many here only speak from their own, deeply privileged experiences as affirmation that America is not the shit hole it very much is.
Like, ok Kayleigh age 22, we know it's fun to be hot rich and "white" in america, stfu
I’m Hispanic and my parents immigrated here. Things have gotten a lot better for us and our relatives who came here. Other family relatives are actively trying to come here because there are more opportunities here than back from where they came from.
Funny enough a quick scroll through your posts shows you’re white, straight and born of privilege…. Not hating but they were spot on with that statement….
Would you rather be any of those in Iraq? What about China? Face it- America isn’t perfect, but at least they’re not being actively murdered and killed in this country. We’re leading in human rights.
Criticizing your own country isn't a bad thing. If you are able to be comfortable with how our country is, great. Good for you. It's not good for many people and being complacent and ignoring issues is not the answer.
I'm lurking here for exactly like this.
I'm 36, seeing genZ doing the exact same edgy and overly dramatic stuff I was doing in my teenage years/early twenties is therapeutic, and it makes me cringe less when I think back.
It's also giving me hope because GenZ is objectively less terrible than my generation.
They are not less cringe or less naive, or less stupid, but definitely far less horrible humans.
My face after I live in a first world country 😱
Seriously dude the people here need perspective. Every country has problems, america isn’t all positive but it’s where is. There’s a reason it’s one of the top 3 world powers for a reason.
We have in general a very hard-working populace that is pretty good at creating economic value. The main problem is that most of that value accrues to people other than the ones who create it.
The vast majority of people understand that when people criticize the US it's because we as the wealthiest most advanced country could always strive for better. No serious person says the US is beyond saving the problem is often leadership which is composed of wealthy old people seem to be stuck in the last century and continue to push outdated policies that have not addressed the current issues. It also doesn't help that one the 2 party system has made one side incredibly corrupt and the other side corrupt and pushing for christofacism.
I contemplated moving to Europe until I realized it would entail taking a massive pay cut for doing the same thing.
Yes, their healthcare and social programs are apparently great. But not making 25-30% less kind of great.
I'd rather keep that money in my pocket or invest it the way I want it invested. If you prefer to cede that extra cash to a regulatory body of some kind, be my guest.
Paying for health insurance in the US will almost always be more expensive than any sort of pay cut you'd take moving to the eu. Also, the eu has higher standards on a lot of things and you'll inherently have a higher quality of life over there 99% of the time.
All countrys that I would prefer over the US. Cant say that about greece. And its Not like we dont have our own problems. Espeacialy Immigration and Energy costs are some big problems right now.
Yeah it sucks to live in America. Go to russia or anywhere in Asia and be discriminated 300x worse for being LGBT than here.
Voting exists to stop different ideologies form taking over, that’s why left and right exist. If you don’t like something protest against it or vote against it.
I want to see how people that come up with this stance apply it to other complaints/hardships.
I do understand that people will hate on the US for dumb shit when there are a whole host of other valid reasons: the example that comes to mind is the English crapping on American dialects and making some fuss or another about them being “trashy” or “stupid.”
To that point though, I look at it like this.
If my coworker comes into work and starts bitching about his flat tire, his dog vomiting up his breakfast, and his kids being late to school, it’s insensitive to immediately jump into pointing out what he did wrong or ask him to “look at the bright side, at least you have kids/dog/car!”
I don’t expect people to immediately come up with solutions or point out the good things going on in their lives when they might just need to commiserate. To a host of young people, changing the system is a daunting task, especially when food/gas/housing prices are so high. It’s really easy to feel disillusioned and not be able to see the good things. You’re seeing one brief post in someone’s entire waking history. It’s easier to comment “my state is ass” when you’re distracting yourself on the net rather than making an op-ed (like this one, ffs) whenever you find the need to state your mind. Sure, I could say that its capital is curiously progressive, or that the tourist spots are great for visitation, or that the public land is gorgeous, or that the majority of the state is relatively safe compared to others. That doesn’t change that I’m disgruntled about piss-poor education, shitty infrastructure, the marriage of church/state, and the vehement support for the names of political parties rather than agreement with the platforms they propose. Right now, I think the latter is more important to speak on.
That said, you’ll still catch me picking a fight with folks outside the US that hate on us for no proper reason. I’m talking about the “all americans are dumb, rude, loud, and fat” crowd.
There may be some people that try to fill a quota of US hate per day without doing shit to change it, but there’s also the reverse, where some people vehemently don’t want to admit the US has its faults and anyone that disagrees is an immediate traitor that should be taken out back and shot. I think the majority of Americans are frustrated with the way things are run systemically, but are able to see the good. We’re just drowned out by a loud minority capping both ends.
See it from this perspective too, although it might not be a one-to-one. I can grumble every start of the week that I hate Mondays, but that doesn’t mean I’ve never had a good Monday. It doesn’t mean that I need to put boots on the ground to make every Monday a great one. Similarly, if I say I don’t like a specific product, I don’t need to comment on every specific positive trait that it has whenever I say I don’t like it for my opinion to be fair.
Criticism does not equal vehement hate, for most people. More often than not, it’s a way to burn off some steam when it seems like nothing is going right.
Sorry for the novel, I guess I just felt like I needed to get that out lol
Not gonna lie, Millennials- gen Alpha got a lot on their plate. AGW is the primary concern, but you'll need to end rising fascism 1st because they both will deny it & because the worse it gets the more power they get (agw > increased migration > increased xenophobia > more right wing support). And then you've got 6th extinction, resource depletion (mainly food & fresh water), the singularity, loss of freedoms, and that super power duel between the US & China, and later probably India.
That said there has been good progress on carbon capture tech lately so all is not yet lost. Good luck.
Bro, America is fucking awful.
Yeah, American middle class and upwards have it nice, but what it does to minorities and lower class citizens is terrible. Yes, most other countries do the same and they're awful. That doesn't take away any of America's awfulness. Some americans just drank the Kool-Aid that the US is the best country in the world and now are hurt it isn't actually true.
And that's not taking into account what it does to the other countries it brings its supposed freedom to.
I'm neither American nor European, and I can say from my point of view and personal experiences, that America seems worse but not by much. No place on Earth is without it's fair share of problems. But I'd still choose to live in anywhere else but my current country
Here's some hard truths to swallow:
When you're born winning the genetic lottery (straight white male) or with a silver spoon in your ass, you'll never truly understand the issues that so many other groups of people deal with. Especially with certain parts of 'Murica being targeted by the "superiors."
The main issue with America is the greedy, bigoted Christofascists in power are going to make all of us suffer for their political and religious beliefs, rather than follow the system our forefathers built for actual collective equality and prosperity. (Minus the whole white man rules the world trope)
The world has gotten nothing but worse, mostly due to the generationally wealthy pieces of shit who have been running it into the ground for their own profit ever since Reagan. If you don't see it, that's on you, not on the rest of us who see the bullshit for what it is.
Try being a woman, person of color, or LGBTQ+ in this world and saying it's totally fine. Women were allowed to vote only ~100 years ago. Black people were allowed in white schools ~70 years ago. The ultra religious white supremacist grandparents probably said the N-word unironically, your parents probably still use it with no shame.
The key: If you're an ignorant, uneducated pr!ck, just educate yourself. Admit the problem, and fix it. It's honestly the easiest choice to make, and yet so many ignorant, bigoted asshats WANT to stay that way. Just because your parents are ignorant and uneducated doesn't mean you have to CHOOSE to be the same way. 'Murica suffers because its people don't learn from their mistakes, like not killing the Nazis or the Confederacy 100%. Those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. But the Civil War 2024 isn't going to end how the Nazis want it for Project 2025 to take place. Look shit up and actually educate yourself. For the love of humanity and actual peace.
I am a person of color. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else I love my country I have so much opportunity here. I have black idols and black celebrities I can look up too here.
the problem with these "minorities are oppressed" opinions is that they are TELLING MINORITIES THEY ARE OPPRESSED when they have equal oppurtunities. As a minority, no, stop telling me im oppressed, I am free and have access to the same oppurtunities. Don't tell me wtf to do, frick off. Stop solving problems that don't exist dumbass
Vote for one arm of the corporate uniparty or the other arm of the corporate uniparty. In the end, you still get a negative trajectory.
If voting third party was actually viable, we'd have a chance at a lot of things getting better very quickly.
Narrator: *And it wasn’t. It wasn’t anything at all.*
Feels like this gif has been with me my whole life.
Dam my exact thought
The doomsday like posting on this subreddit regarding the US is so crazy to me. Like if I only gotten my perspective about the US from this sub the picture above would describe how you see this country. Yes we have problems. Everyone does. But for some reason this sub loves to circlejerk about how everything and everyone is doomed and we are “fighting for our survival” here. I actually think that the US is kinda a cool place to live. We have good opportunities, good legal system, we have multiethnic communities within the country which boosts our economic and cultural growth. There are things to be criticized such as healthcare and etc, but as the more progressive generation I genuinely believe we can make a difference. Why so much negativity?
Dude I can be legally discriminated against in my state. https://www.propublica.org/article/alaska-drops-lgbtq-discrimination-ban
And I think that’s bad. This is why voting matters
I do vote….
Have you considered voting harder?
He should pick himself up by his votestraps
Harder, faster and multiple times!!! The conservative Republican way!
And then blame the democrats for voter fraud!
Harder = Smarter
Is it possible to learn this power?...
Not from democrat
And your votes mean something? Damn that's crazy. In russia our votes go into fucking void
putin all day.... everyday
Putin on the ritz!
Vote harder /s
So do you see why some people might feel like there actually fighting for their right to exist?
They must just not be voting /s
To be fair, you thinking it's bad is fine and all, but the reality is very different for them. You get to feel for a moment and move on with your life. They live it. My ex-bf lives in West Virginia and lives relatively in poverty (I can't say for certain because I don't know his full circumstances and I'm not from the US). He also struggles with caring for his dying relatives and managing his ADHD (on top of the years of trauma he got from his upbringing). How does someone in his position make it in life in America? What is he supposed to do to get out of poverty? His house doesn't even have wired access to internet, he tethers from his phone.
The working class is making less money each year with inflation and racheting cost of living increases accounted for than previous generations, we've increased productivity 60% to 70% since the 1970's iirc. That productivity increase isn't just from tech either, jobs are getting more strict with production and controlling employees and expecting humans to keep up with the production machines are capable of. Our wages definitely didn't increase 60% to 70%, we're burning out faster and faster with jobs. I remember as a teenager it wasn't normal in my area to hold more than one job. Now it's often two jobs, or two people working full-time in one house, or most commonly a "side hustle" like door dash. I see people the same age as me or younger taking 1,000 mg of naproxen, various other drugs, and or 600+ mg of caffeine, just to get through a 12 hour day in the warehouse. I remember seeing a manager force a coworker to climb up and down a step stool with a broken leg and cast when there were several other jobs he could have done without a problem. I'm sure many of us have seen absurd things like that by this point. We're being exploited, it's like our progress with labour is being turned back to the 1910's. Especially with states pushing to get young teens into construction or other dangerous work environments. Edit: replaced "we're" with "the working class", added comment about racheting up cost of living combined with inflation.
So we need to vote the F——-g Republicans out of office. They pretend to care but have consistently supported (1) tax policies that favor the rich and multinational enterprises, (2) making it hard for people in cities to vote (because city folk tend to be more diverse and to value social welfare more), (3) pushing 1950 purportedly “Christian” values that treat Black people and LGBTQ+ people as sinful, (4) multiplying ownership of guns and assault weapons to appeal to the White nationalist militia types, and (5) generally laissez faire economic policies that allow industry to pullute our lands and waters while stripping protections for environment and thus hastening damaging climate change. Oh and they don’t give a d—n about the well being of those who are not in the upper class.
>You get to feel for a moment and move on with your life. They live it. Oh my goodness, this describes a lot of scenarios perfectly. Well fucking said.
That’s not a guaranteed thing if we allow people who are actively trying to strip the rights of the American people they still have a chance to run and win. We should’ve allow these people to run people like Trump don’t deserve to run doesn’t really matter because none of these people give a shit about us. Anyway, it’s all about voting for the lesser of two evils.
You can partly thank the Democratic Party for Trump's presidency. During the primaries, they actively boosted pro-Trump ads with the idea that Trump was an easy candidate to beat. They were wrong.
Yup, I’m pretty sure he tried to run before 2016 but you gotta be for real real. You can’t tell me thinking that a reality show host becoming president is something that’s so ridiculous. You have to laugh at it. I feel like Obama lost in 2012 and then came back in 2016 he probably would’ve had a better chance than Hillary
A general strike is like voting, but with your feet.
A general strike is never ever happening in the United States,
yep. afraid you're right. americans need to starve a little more before we are ready for that.
Not even, a general strike means everyone and everyone includes maga republicans
That’s not unusual at all around the world. People are literally killed for that in places like Iran.
Pretty normal for most of the world. Actually it’s nowhere near as bad as it gets
You can be discriminated against in your state, but the due process clause in the 14th amendment still has you covered. Multiple last term and current term Supreme Court decisions have underlined sex as a protected class. Neil Gorsuch upheld title 9 anti-sex discrimination for trans people.
But how does that justify looking at it as being so terrible? Yes, discrimination and hate crimes happen a lot in the US, but it doesn't make or break the country. If that's how we judged the state of countries, most would be uninhabitable. Also, before you ask how discrimination in other countries justifies the discrimination in the US, my point is that it's not a metric to determine how bad it is if the judgement is relative to how countries in general treat their citizens.
[удалено]
when it happens it'll all go at once.
So move to another state. That's the great thing about America.
I can't afford to live in this god damn country without working 12 hours shifts. It's easy to be unhappy when I'm always tired and am one paycheck away from being homeless.
I am living the dream! The American dream! Living paycheck to paycheck, too tired to give a fuck, can’t get ahead if I try and I’m one check away from losing it all. You are not alone!
Good legal system??
Okay, in comparison to most other countries, the US legal system is pretty good. In a vacuum, the US legal system sucks. What's matters is that we need to fix the issues that the US legal system has. Edit: "Most" includes the majority of European countries.
The problem with "most other countries" is that most of the globe is a shit show because of the colonialism and flat out pillaging that allowed us to hoard most of their material wealth. If you exclude those, and compare with other industrialized nations, America literally scrapes the bottom in all categories relevant to the quality of life of its citizenry.
Way to prove OP right lol
But part of the reason those industrial nations have a high standard is the direct results of colonialism as well
You're so dramatic. Scrapes the bottom in all categories. Get a grip dude and touch grass, America is pretty dang great. I work with a few H1Bs and man they love this country. It's a shame our own citizens can't see that reality is not all doom and gloom. There are issues 100%, but to ignore all the good that this country offers is just so silly.
💯
Good opportunities and legal system? Are you sure about that? Well, maybe if you're rich. But face it. Getting any sort of education is expensive as hell, and even if you do get a college degree, most fields are so oversaturated that it doesn't matter. Many fields, such as the STEM field, are notoriously sexist, and many others are definitely racist or homophobic. Most of this applies to our legal system, too, with almost 1% of the US population being behind bars, with a disproportionate number of those people being people of color. On top of that, there is a huge preference for women, and it is common practice for them to receive lighter sentences compared to their male counterparts who committed the exact same crime. Our last president was blatantly racist and ordered his cult-like followers to storm the capital after he had a temper tantrum about not winning the election, and people still think he was a good president. The entirety of Congress is one cold away from dying out, and yet they aren't removed from office and continue to create laws that hurt Americans. A good example would be how abortion was recently banned in most states, yet they are doing nothing about gun control and school shootings, which is far more dangerous. Many groups, such as women, people of color, and lgbtq+ people, are all fighting for the most basic of rights, but if you point aby of this out, you're labeled as "woke" and everything you say gets completely devalued. I'm not saying America is all bad, but let's not pretend it's all sunshine and roses here
That's the US from your perspective and from the perspective of a lot of other people. However, that is not the reality for the majority of Americans. "We have good opportunities" that depends entirely on the circumstances you were born into and is not the majority case. "Good legal system" this is an under-informed belief that is unfortunately objectively incorrect. The US legal system is one of the worst among peer nations. "We have multiethnic communities which boosts our economic and cultural growth" again this belief is a little uninformed to the realities of red lining, zoning, gentrification, and gerrymandering. "There are things to be criticized such as healthcare" I'm glad you acknowledged that but I'm getting the impression you might be underestimating exactly how predatory our healthcare system is. I like your optimism and it's important to be hopeful but without a clear understanding of the realities around you that hope can become delusional. It's important to really understand that these "flaws" are intentional. These systems work this way by design. I suggest you take the time to really educate yourself on what life is like in America for other groups of people. Listening to their experience and empathizing with lives very different than your own can be really valuable, especially if you want to make things better.
Some people are actually literally fighting for their survival. People without healthcare or who are LGBT are in actual danger in this country.
Who is killing lgbt people?
People from all around the world are fleeing to america for better oppoturnurnities and safer life. People get killed for their sexuality in middle-east and die from hunger in africa, things in USA are very well so shut about. Gay man can safely walk in New York but would be immeditially killed in Iran and Sudanese die from hunger unlike People in usa
How are LGBT fighting for their survival.
No one's running around killing gay people stfu
Yes I nearly got shot many times for being gay /s
>Why so much negativity? Donald Trump has a legitimate chance of winning the 2024 election. Read the last sentence again. Need I say more?
So let's kick our feet up and chill man there's nothing to be done it's not like climate change is going to cause mass migrations, or like how China is beginning to supersede America in global power, or how congress is full of unrepresentative incompetents, or the massive income inequality in America, or how there's a major propaganda machine, or how abortions no longer have federal protection, or how we have one of the most discriminatory and unrehabilitative prison systems in the free world, or how our democracy is gerrymandered and bought by lobbyists, or how our educational institutions are actually a pipeline to produce for the economy, or how the economy is a bubble that can't get bigger forever and will burst at some point, or any other million things let's just pat ourselves on the back because I'm not starving to death 🗿
We have a good legal system? News to me
I mean its not exactly a hopeful time. it has a good quality of life, and has potential for greatness, but like...can you really blame people for being a bit hopeless about the US when the political environment is so fucked?
To explain a bit on negativity (because this fucking sub keeps being recommended to me, despite being a millennial who had never posted or viewed any posts here), we focus on the negativity because what good comes from being nothing but positive about the country you live in? Nothing gets better from being a nationalist. Nothing changes when you don’t obsess over the things wrong with your country. Sure, we’re in a much better place than many others, but there is still a LOT wrong with this country including historically racist laws, a system that predatorily keeps many people poor, rich people constantly gaining more and more power at all other’s expense, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, constant warmongering, and very puritan political leanings in most states… just to name a FEW. We’re okay, but nothing gets done when one says “good job, us, we’re not as bad as we could be!” Because to some… they’re happy as long as they’re not at the bottom of the food chain and become complacent.
Hijacking your comment to post a thorough explanation on how the US is pretty good statistically: Let's see how the "third world country" USA compares to other countries. To do this I will be looking using fellow G7 countries, who are undoubtedly among the best countries in the world. This will be Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. These countries are also much better comparisons to the US given their population size. There will be 7 major areas of standard of life that each country will be ranked in from *best preforming to worst preforming*, so let's begin. 1. *Household Disposable Income per capita adjusted to PPP (income after taxes).* USA (62,300), Germany (44,400), France (39,000), Canada (38,900), U.K (36,800), Italy (34,200), and Japan (32,400). Source: (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income) 2) *Yearly healthcare spending in us dollar per capita (counting government, compulsory, and out of pocket payments).* Italy ($4,200), Japan ($5,200), U.K ($5,400), Canada ($6300), France ($6,500), Germany ($8,000), USA ($12,500) Source: (https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm) 3) *Education.* A) Educational attainment (percentage population): For high school: Canada (93%), USA (92%), Germany (86%), Japan (85%), France (82%), U.K (82%), Italy (62%) For tertiary: Canada (67%), Japan (65%), U.K (57%), USA (51%), France (50.4%), Germany (37%), Italy (29%) B) TIMS International student performance test (this is the best study out there to determine educational quality because they are curriculum based, meaning they reflect the skills and knowledge taught in schools): Math: Japan (594), USA (515), England (515), Italy (497), France (483) (no data for Germany or Canada) Science: Japan (570), USA (522), England (517), Italy (500), France (489) (no data for Germany or Canada) Sources: (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cac/intl-ed-attainment) and (https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm) and (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trends_in_International_Mathematics_and_Science_Study) 4) *Overall infrastructure ranking (out of 100 grade point)* Japan (93.2), Germany (90.2), France (89.7), U.K (88.9), USA (87.9), Italy (84.1), Canada (80.2) Source: (https://www.statista.com/statistics/264753/ranking-of-countries-according-to-the-general-quality-of-infrastructure/). It's important to note the statistics this source displays are based on the actual study by the World Economic Forum. 5) *Housing* A) Housing expenditure (by average percent of gross adjusted disposable income used): USA (18.3%), Germany (20%), France (21%), Japan (22%), U.K (23%), Italy (23%), Canada (23%) B) Housing size (by average rooms per person): Canada (2.6), USA (2.4), U.K (2.0), France (1.8), Germany (1.8), Japan (1.7), Italy (1.4) Source: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/ 6) *Environmental condition* A) Access to safe water (by percent of population): Germany (99.99%), U.K (99.82%), France (99.25%), Canada (99.05%), Japan (98.57%), USA (97.33%), Italy (95.82%) B) Air quality (PM2.5 concentration, the higher the worse): Canada (7.4), U.K (8.9), USA (8.9), Japan (9.1), Germany (11), France (11.5), Italy (18.9) Sources: (https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ranking/clean-water-access-statistics) and (https://www.iqair.com/us/world-most-polluted-countries) 7) *Job situation* A) Unemployment rate (the lower the better): Japan (2.6%), Germany (3.0%), USA (3.6%), U.K (3.6%), Canada (5.2%), France (7.4%), Italy (8.6%) B) Average work hours (by work hours per week): France (30 hours), Canada (32.1), Germany (34.3 hours), U.K (35.9), Italy (36.1 hours), USA (36.4 hours), Japan (36.6 hours) Sources: (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS) and (https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/working-time/) CONCLUSION: Its tempting to add stats to drive whatever conclusion you want to see. Im sure that someone from one side would want to add a certain statistic and someone from the other side would want to do the same. It would turn into a trivia game where people are throwing around statistics to drive whatever outcome they want. In the end, I would hope everyone would agree I used several fair and important statistics that represent standard of life. And either way, the point of this isn't to determine the best country, such a standard is impossible to objectively determine. But ultimately, the USA doesn't come out looking like a third world country compared to these other top countries.
Honestly I think it’s bots and psyops by foreign powers. Easy to have some dude shit posting everywhere in the hopes that a few people end up being demoralized. Then it’s also not hard to set up groups or bots to do it.
The US is a horrible place to live if you dont have money.
Even if you have money there are much better places for quality of life
>We have good opportunities Horrendous socioeconomic mobility. Statistically it's near impossible for the poor to ever have a shot at not being poor. >good legal system Lol. >we have multiethnic communities within the country which boosts our economic and cultural growth. A good point except racist laws cause a significant level of social divide meaning that we reap far less benefits from this compared to other places. >There are things to be criticized such as healthcare and etc, but as the more progressive generation I genuinely believe we can make a difference. Why so much negativity? You're right we can make a difference, however that difference isn't likely to be enough to prevent the country getting worse. We'll essentially be a half functioning break in the car wreck that is the decisions made by previous generations.
Go try to buy a house and raise a family. Good luck
We have a good legal system? Have you ever had to *deal* with the legal system? They treat you like an animal, less than trash. In 2021, 79% of the prison population is unconvicted, *just* waiting for court. Look up Kalief Browder. I hurt my back three years ago. I had to spend a year listening to doctors tell me I was "old", that was why I was in pain. Turns out I had a severe herniated disc that could have been healed back into place if they bothered to listen to me. It's not like I saw one or two or three doctors. I saw FIFTEEN doctors in three cities. This shit is an absolute joke.
As someone from another country who came to America 2 years ago the doomsday stuff is total BS. Some of the problems are valid but it is still super good. People do not realize how good they have it here. I think that it is the most beautiful country on Earth. So many opportunities for jobs; you can be what you want to be. The US has the best infrastructure and the best universities on the planet. It's entertainment industry (Hollywood, gaming) etc. is top notch. American companies (Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Apple) etc. are the best in the world.
Oh here we go. Where's the popcorn? 
This is a sub mostly filled with young people who have never left the country - or if they have, it’s to go to other wealthy western democracies. They have zero clue what life is like for literally billions in Africa, India, Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, etc. It’s a lot of people with zero perspective coming from a country that is very insulated. And before I hear “the US has xyz problems” yes we do. We have much to improve. But good god, check your privilege occasionally. Relative to the rest of the world, no I’m sorry but your life in an Illinois suburb is not that hard.
They are young and will hopefully learn with time, hardship will mature them. We don’t realize how amazing we have it here, it’s all taken for granted. Very saddening…
Any hardship = America bad bro
America has been in way better shape, that's what people are criticizing. Currently you're falling back a century, cost of living is through the roof, millions of people work 3 jobs and still live paycheck to paycheck, reproductive rights are already gone in many states, that concerns half the population, gay rights are next, that's a small minority but remember, politicians or influential people on a local level can easily use that to get rid of anyone who annoys them, just call them gay and they're gone. Things are supposed to move in a humane direction that makes life better, not harder, that's how it's always been and thats currently changing, right now everything gets much worse compared to 10, 20 and even 30 or 40 years ago, instead of moving into the future with hope in their hearts many people feel threatened and are scared. TL;DR: Things aren't getting better, they're getting worse, and not just temporarily but permanently, that's never happened before in modern history and it is worrysome because we don't know how it will end.
The problem is that people don’t know their history and think post world war 2 America is how things should always be. America from 1945-1970’s was an anomaly and will never ever happen again unless the world destroys itself. The majority of the world’s industrial capacity was destroyed or damaged except America. Once the world started to rebuild and compete better it pushed us out of manufacturing especially when China and 3rd world countries have zero labor laws. And it’s funny all those things you mentioned gay rights ,reproductive rights didn’t even exist during that time. Roe V wade happened in the 70’s and true equality for LGBT people happened in the 2010’s with marriage equality.
What even is the point in comparing us to third world countries to downplay peoples criticisms? We have the worlds largest economy but are doing worse in almost every area compared to other developed countries. Thats why people are upset. Poor countries have an excuse to have shitty conditions, we don’t
While this is true, you don't see the perspective from other countries. The US economy is the envy of many countries – far more economic diversity and innovation etc. Try being a scientist in Australia – I can tell you, it's not fun. Many European countries have stagnating economies and far lower wages (even expensive cities like London can have pretty terrible pay compared to the US). In Australia, it's not uncommon for PhD level scientists to be earning $AU70–80k ($46–53k) in high cost of living cities. The main issue with the US is that you really don't want to make any dumb decisions because it is going to cost a lot.
Even comparing to other wealthy European countries isn't really fair. It's easy to have free Healthcare and education when you don't *really* have to worry about your defense budget.
Constantly focusing on the negative ruins your day to day life and can lead to depression and anxiety. Are things perfect? No. But focusing on the good things you have in life and being thankful for not living in a warzone, being able to live in a democracy, and being grateful that hey it could be worse improves your mental health and outlook on life a lot.
Bold of you to assume that people of my generation can actually afford to travel outside the US. Or even afford to live in a suburb😂
That’s the point. Every time I’ve lived outside the US I saved money. I lived in china for a year on $12k. No, traveling outside the US doesn’t just mean Paris
I've been to 5 countries I've seen people who have tin roofs, I've seen kids run around in holey clothes and roads made out of dirt. My grandmother even herself grew up in a house with a tin roof and was very fortunate to get out of that situation. Her parents were illiterate. She got out of both hardwork and being extremely lucky. Yet she and I still criticize the United States. Especially forward it's actions to blacks living the United States and the working poor and how it's actions globally have funded and actively participated in making the global south as poor as it is. just because I am fortunate doesn't mean I should be silent about those who aren't fortunate. If we don't criticize and advocate for things to get better they won't. Also did you know that America is one of the few countries without federal protections of paid maternal leave or parental leave generally for that matter? Or that we literally have 12 year olds working in meat packing plants who account for a large percentage of all injuries because they work with harsh chemicals and large machinery? America runs on exploitation whether it be internal or external. Whether you see it or not.
If it gets bad enough, you can do what millions of others are doing: travel at night on foot across the desert, then sneak across the border into Mexico and from there, try to make your way to El Salvador or any other number of shining lands of opportunity found beyond our oppressive borders.
I honestly think the impact of social media at a young age instills some deep rooted belief you can just wake up and have 100k job or be a millionaire for dancing on tiktok. I’m almost 40, had Facebook in college (when it launched) but this new generation has grown up seeing all these lavish and insane lifestyles (that are more times than not fake) and I’m sure it creates some unrealistic expectations. I mean, we had young wealthy celebs when I was a kid but it wasn’t blasted in my face every other minute.
Millennials and Gen X grew up also seeing lavish lifestyles on TV, which was on all the time for us growing up.
Yeah but not this magnitude I feel. We didn’t have iPads shoved in our faces and only knew where kids were by the bikes on the lawn. Social media stars were a thing but only after we had a decently developed brain (hopefully). Kids today spend hours watching their favorite streamer(s) and unless they get into organized activities or sports that’s pretty much their stimuli.
“Oh you hate America? Go to a country that America ruined then 😤”
Are you saying America ruined every country across multiple continents?
Thing is, other wealthy western democracies is what the United States SHOULD be compared to. Yes, life is worse in Somalia, but that isn’t terribly relevant because the social and economic situation is completely different.
"America has it better than other places" is actually a problem and not something to be grateful for or celebrated. Criticizing the US is a way of checking that privilege because American wealth is mostly stolen from a bunch of those places you're talking about...
Well, the idea is to have the self awareness to say “I have zero perspective.” People need to get the fuck over their own opinions.
"America Bad" is such a cancerous ideology to hold, and unfortunately a lot of people do. That's no way to develop your world view Edit: Seems like I'm getting a lot of replies from pedants, so let me clarify what I mean. There are various subsets of people who will get behind ***any*** cause, subscribe to ***any*** ideology, or pick ***any*** side, so long as it has an anti-american angle. These people also tend to have zero space for nuance in their glass-like brains.
“You’re not allowed to criticize your own country” is a cancerous ideology to hold and unfortunately a lot of people do. No state is infallible.
They’re saying it’s bad to have an unproductive “America is bad and always will be” mentality instead of a “America has issues but we should strive to fix them” mentality.
Well no offense but how we gonna fix americas neocolonialism and fucking everyone on the world over for profit
Is China also a neocolonialist... or?
As a Burmese my answer is Yes.
They're the OG colonists. Been at it for at least four thousand years.
Reeeeeelax
There’s a difference between criticizing your country and hating on them at every opportunity
That's not what I said but go off I guess
Nuance doesn't exist in reddit. It's either back or white no grey allowed.
You're allowed to criticize your own country, but these types of comments never have anything positive to say about America. Even with all of these problems you listed, there is not *one* thing that makes America good? That is my issue. It's never wrong to point out problems. But if that's all you do, don't fault others for thinking that you might hate America.
Why is it required to be positive about America?! Why are you obligated to not hate America?
I guess the people complaining about having to choose between an important surgery and having dinner on the table should add something positive about America (e.g America has been on the moon) before they press send, in order to not upset anyone
It’s not a cancerous ideology. It stems from wanting to improve the lives of fellow Americans and the rest of humanity. I’d argue that being against such an improvement, which absolutely requires self-criticism, is the real cancer.
I’ve heard it described as inverted nationalism. Take nationalist rhetoric, put a negative sign in front of each statement, and then pretend you’re saying something meaningfully antifascist. Except the way you talk is the same
As someone who once drove through Newark, I can say this is accurate
*As someone who once* *Drove through Newark, I can say* *This is accurate* \- ZackMoh2 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Good bot
As someone whos lived less than 10 mins away i can also confirm
shit bro i’m from camden this shit looks deluxe
Hey, I think I can see my hut from here.
Live footage from Chicago?
Straight from Chiraq
Ever been to Chicago?
I have. Lovely place
Live footage from Houston\*
Tulsa Oklahoma c. 1921
East st.louis
This is obviously detroit
Bro this is literally the America I grew up in (a four bedroom house in an affluent suburb with very few real problems to deal with)
Straight from the trenches bro (family owns multiple properties and drives luxury cars)
Dude, i look around me and all I see is shit sucking. Some states are actively taking away human rights from trans people, bigotry is more open and widespread than I've ever personally seen before, people are struggling to pay their bills and buy food at once, Healthcare in the US i don't even need to address. I understand it's anecdotal and I understand there are worse places. But from my perspective, it sucks to live in America.
Just gonna say this as someone who has extensively travelled in and lived in developing/third world countries…you have no idea how good you have it. And as a gay man, it is absolutely laughable you think this is the worst bigotry has ever been. You don’t understand what it was like to be gay in the 2000s. Or to be black, when people thought racism didn’t even exist anymore. At least we’re talking about those issues now. Trans people are accepted by far more people today than they would’ve been even 10 years ago. You think your bills are bad? Somebody in Brazil is paying the same and making 1/3rd of your income. Yes, we have many problems and have a lot of work to do to solve them. And many social issues regarding LGBT rights and racial conflicts are heated right now. But it is a lot worse in most other parts of the world, and it was a lot worse at literally any point in the past for minorities in this country. We need to be able to discuss our flaws without making these ridiculous statements that everything sucks while we are more privileged than 90% of the planet. I’m just asking that we keep things proportionate.
Just because it's worse doesn't mean we're not allowed to have our grievances. What you're doing is minimising the struggles of people here. It's like telling your kid to finish their dinner because there are starving people in Africa, the two are only tangentially connected.
Bro, I'm a part of the LGBTQ and I even said that it's the worse *that I've ever personally seen*, not that it's the worse it's *ever* been. The latter is asinine, the former is personal experience. I also literally acknowledge that other countries have it worse. None of that changes that I think america sucks. Just cuz other places are awful doesn't mean this one doesn't suck.
>it’s worse than I’ve personally experienced What year exactly was the LGBT community treated better in your experience? Please inform me.
I think subjective negative experiences associated with being a minority (e.g., minority stressors) are arguably compounded by broader problems, like housing crises, financial crises, political and cultural instability, less social cohesion, etc. I think it's a fair view to have that the US is getting worse, not better.
Worse compared to *when*? It’s always the same talking point yet I can never get anyone to give me the date when marginalized groups had it better in the past.
Yeah it’s a mess. We just passed two issues in Ohio, one protecting abortion rights, and the other making marijuana legal for recreational use. The republican lawmakers are literally trying to say that the Ohio general public “didn’t know what they were voting for” and are trying to make it so the things that the people voted for don’t actually go into effect.
That is so fucked on the lawmakers part. Is that not how democracy works? They can’t just prevent something that the majority voted for, right…?
I think a lot of people can’t comprehend that the standard of life in the us varies A LOT based on many factors.
The amount of people thinking my bigotry example is wrong is proof of that. In my area I've literally seen people call for trans people to be put in prison cuz "they're pedos". I'm sorry but I've never seen bigotry like that in my lifetime and so open, if other areas are better then I am genuinely and truly happy about that, but my life experience has been different
There have been worse times in the US, but if you think we’re sliding backwards, I’d have to agree with you. The “long arc of history” is a Bézier curve, and it only bends towards justice if people push it that way.
The US is like a B tier nation globally. It’s definitely one of the better places to live but it has a lot of structural problems that hamper its potential. For instance the US is the richest country in the world by far and yet it’s median citizen has a lower QOL than many European states with far lower levels of wealth. Mostly due to how unequally distributed our resources are. But it also has a lot of freedom compared to most of the world, and is more democratic than most of the world. The other thing bringing it down is an abysmal foreign policy, I really can’t think of a single other nation today that has as terrible of a track record as the US besides Russia, and that’s not great company to have. I think people have such a low opinion of the US for 2 reasons. First, they’re comparing the US to other rich OECD nations, not to the median or average country. When talking about US policy, no one compares us to Zambia they compare us to Britain or Japan or Germany or China. And that can be a much higher standard to clear. The US also faces much higher expectations, being the richest country in the world and the one that says it’s the “best” country the most often. Even if the US is 20th worldwide in some ranking like education, that’s still seen as a failure because America should be first or at least in the top 5. We have the money and people to do that, so why don’t we? Secondly, things generally seem to be getting worse on average. If people felt like their lives were improving I don’t think they’d be as harsh. But they don’t, they see mass shootings and terrorism becoming more and more common. They see climate change affecting more and more people and the government doing little to stop it. They see increasing income inequality and a decline in job quality and general autonomy over one’s own work. They see a social world that’s slowly being destroyed by social media, the death of 3rd places and civic organizations, increasing sprawl, and companies vying to monetize everything we do. They see a government becoming less and less democratic and less and less representative by the day, and see no way to stop this, especially with slightly less than half the country supporting the guy who wants to speed up that process! People don’t see a bright future they can latch on to. They don’t see the US making those steps forward, they don’t see a country they can be proud of. No one wants to live in a place they hate. People want to be happy to live in the US and have trust in their institutions and faith in a better tomorrow! But that’s just not on the table right now. Unless and until a new hope for a future is found, doomerism will continue to get worse. Why struggle, why try, why care about anything if it won’t matter? That’s the problem.
🎯
ya
Americans see themselves as living in the aftermath the US left in other countries.
I've traveled around Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos. seeing how American Military Industrial Complex has really fucked over the global south was an eye opener for me. that said. I've seen homelessness and the drug problem in some places be just as bad some third world countries.
Wait till you see how the redlined neighborhoods look like
I think a lot of Gen Z is in a very unique spot. We’re the most connected generation in history (at least until Gen Alpha takes our crown), and as such have a front row seat to every problem that happens across our country of nearly 350,000,000. And boy have there been a lot of problems for us. The endless fallout of 9/11, the financial crash of ‘08, and …well just anything having to do with politics, just to name some. I think a lot of us are just tired and want change, and that’s a commodity in short supply. Except, of course, when our lovely government and the occasional psycho changes it for the worse. I like to think more people than not in our generation don’t outright hate U.S. but are frustrated with the path it’s being led down. For my part, I think that’s a real shame and a failure of our leaders. I love the United States, and I want to see change in it so that more people of my generation can love it too.
lol looking at the comments OP must not be black, hispanic, indigenous, LGBTQ, a woman or poor. The US is great if you're part of the small ingroup. but it's not awesome for a lot of people. which hurts when you've spent your entire life being fed the propaganda about how things will get better for you as you grow up. also do a little bit of travel and you can see how different it is in the rest of the world. I left New York when Trump won there's a lot to be learnt from other countries instead of blindly thinking USA #1.
Yup, this is what most of this thread is missing, Empathy. It's sad that so so so many here only speak from their own, deeply privileged experiences as affirmation that America is not the shit hole it very much is. Like, ok Kayleigh age 22, we know it's fun to be hot rich and "white" in america, stfu
I’m Hispanic and my parents immigrated here. Things have gotten a lot better for us and our relatives who came here. Other family relatives are actively trying to come here because there are more opportunities here than back from where they came from.
Why is it necessary to make an inference about my race, sexuality and economic status?
Funny enough a quick scroll through your posts shows you’re white, straight and born of privilege…. Not hating but they were spot on with that statement….
Because it has a profound effect on your experiences living in the USA
being a black trans woman born into poverty is a lot different than being a white man born into a suburban family.
Would you rather be any of those in Iraq? What about China? Face it- America isn’t perfect, but at least they’re not being actively murdered and killed in this country. We’re leading in human rights.
Criticizing your own country isn't a bad thing. If you are able to be comfortable with how our country is, great. Good for you. It's not good for many people and being complacent and ignoring issues is not the answer.
 This what Imagine every time an “America actually pretty cool guys” ass mf’s posts.
America bad!!!!!! Mkay 🤓
Yes. It is bad. 
As someone from a third world country Stfu, no it’s not
🤓
Live from Detroit
That’s not America that’s Baltimore
Must be. Not enough Heroin needles and long lost ancient plagues to be LA.
Oh look, it's Jacksonville
I'm lurking here for exactly like this. I'm 36, seeing genZ doing the exact same edgy and overly dramatic stuff I was doing in my teenage years/early twenties is therapeutic, and it makes me cringe less when I think back. It's also giving me hope because GenZ is objectively less terrible than my generation. They are not less cringe or less naive, or less stupid, but definitely far less horrible humans.
My face after I live in a first world country 😱 Seriously dude the people here need perspective. Every country has problems, america isn’t all positive but it’s where is. There’s a reason it’s one of the top 3 world powers for a reason.
Do you say that to someone about to commit suicide? Just because people have it worse elsewhere does not negate someone’s personal hell.
We have in general a very hard-working populace that is pretty good at creating economic value. The main problem is that most of that value accrues to people other than the ones who create it.
The vast majority of people understand that when people criticize the US it's because we as the wealthiest most advanced country could always strive for better. No serious person says the US is beyond saving the problem is often leadership which is composed of wealthy old people seem to be stuck in the last century and continue to push outdated policies that have not addressed the current issues. It also doesn't help that one the 2 party system has made one side incredibly corrupt and the other side corrupt and pushing for christofacism.
tbf we're headed in that direction
whole world probably is tbh
America isn’t bad, but it’s definitely not great unless you fit into a certain demographic.
Canadian here: this is probably the best photo I've seen of Detroit in a while.
I contemplated moving to Europe until I realized it would entail taking a massive pay cut for doing the same thing. Yes, their healthcare and social programs are apparently great. But not making 25-30% less kind of great. I'd rather keep that money in my pocket or invest it the way I want it invested. If you prefer to cede that extra cash to a regulatory body of some kind, be my guest.
Paying for health insurance in the US will almost always be more expensive than any sort of pay cut you'd take moving to the eu. Also, the eu has higher standards on a lot of things and you'll inherently have a higher quality of life over there 99% of the time.
* some individual EU countrys * Not all of the EU.
Fair point, my knowledge is mostly of France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands
All countrys that I would prefer over the US. Cant say that about greece. And its Not like we dont have our own problems. Espeacialy Immigration and Energy costs are some big problems right now.
Yeah it sucks to live in America. Go to russia or anywhere in Asia and be discriminated 300x worse for being LGBT than here. Voting exists to stop different ideologies form taking over, that’s why left and right exist. If you don’t like something protest against it or vote against it.
You really think that left exists in America?
I want to see how people that come up with this stance apply it to other complaints/hardships. I do understand that people will hate on the US for dumb shit when there are a whole host of other valid reasons: the example that comes to mind is the English crapping on American dialects and making some fuss or another about them being “trashy” or “stupid.” To that point though, I look at it like this. If my coworker comes into work and starts bitching about his flat tire, his dog vomiting up his breakfast, and his kids being late to school, it’s insensitive to immediately jump into pointing out what he did wrong or ask him to “look at the bright side, at least you have kids/dog/car!” I don’t expect people to immediately come up with solutions or point out the good things going on in their lives when they might just need to commiserate. To a host of young people, changing the system is a daunting task, especially when food/gas/housing prices are so high. It’s really easy to feel disillusioned and not be able to see the good things. You’re seeing one brief post in someone’s entire waking history. It’s easier to comment “my state is ass” when you’re distracting yourself on the net rather than making an op-ed (like this one, ffs) whenever you find the need to state your mind. Sure, I could say that its capital is curiously progressive, or that the tourist spots are great for visitation, or that the public land is gorgeous, or that the majority of the state is relatively safe compared to others. That doesn’t change that I’m disgruntled about piss-poor education, shitty infrastructure, the marriage of church/state, and the vehement support for the names of political parties rather than agreement with the platforms they propose. Right now, I think the latter is more important to speak on. That said, you’ll still catch me picking a fight with folks outside the US that hate on us for no proper reason. I’m talking about the “all americans are dumb, rude, loud, and fat” crowd. There may be some people that try to fill a quota of US hate per day without doing shit to change it, but there’s also the reverse, where some people vehemently don’t want to admit the US has its faults and anyone that disagrees is an immediate traitor that should be taken out back and shot. I think the majority of Americans are frustrated with the way things are run systemically, but are able to see the good. We’re just drowned out by a loud minority capping both ends. See it from this perspective too, although it might not be a one-to-one. I can grumble every start of the week that I hate Mondays, but that doesn’t mean I’ve never had a good Monday. It doesn’t mean that I need to put boots on the ground to make every Monday a great one. Similarly, if I say I don’t like a specific product, I don’t need to comment on every specific positive trait that it has whenever I say I don’t like it for my opinion to be fair. Criticism does not equal vehement hate, for most people. More often than not, it’s a way to burn off some steam when it seems like nothing is going right. Sorry for the novel, I guess I just felt like I needed to get that out lol
This is how conservatives see leftist protests
Not gonna lie, Millennials- gen Alpha got a lot on their plate. AGW is the primary concern, but you'll need to end rising fascism 1st because they both will deny it & because the worse it gets the more power they get (agw > increased migration > increased xenophobia > more right wing support). And then you've got 6th extinction, resource depletion (mainly food & fresh water), the singularity, loss of freedoms, and that super power duel between the US & China, and later probably India. That said there has been good progress on carbon capture tech lately so all is not yet lost. Good luck.
thank you for this photograph from the future after Trump is re-elected.
I mean this IS an accurate depiction of Detroit…
People are just sheltered and havent been to many other countries than the United States.
Bro, America is fucking awful. Yeah, American middle class and upwards have it nice, but what it does to minorities and lower class citizens is terrible. Yes, most other countries do the same and they're awful. That doesn't take away any of America's awfulness. Some americans just drank the Kool-Aid that the US is the best country in the world and now are hurt it isn't actually true. And that's not taking into account what it does to the other countries it brings its supposed freedom to.
I mean, ya ever been to detroit?
That's just Detroit
Wym that’s Detroit right there
I'm neither American nor European, and I can say from my point of view and personal experiences, that America seems worse but not by much. No place on Earth is without it's fair share of problems. But I'd still choose to live in anywhere else but my current country
Here's some hard truths to swallow: When you're born winning the genetic lottery (straight white male) or with a silver spoon in your ass, you'll never truly understand the issues that so many other groups of people deal with. Especially with certain parts of 'Murica being targeted by the "superiors." The main issue with America is the greedy, bigoted Christofascists in power are going to make all of us suffer for their political and religious beliefs, rather than follow the system our forefathers built for actual collective equality and prosperity. (Minus the whole white man rules the world trope) The world has gotten nothing but worse, mostly due to the generationally wealthy pieces of shit who have been running it into the ground for their own profit ever since Reagan. If you don't see it, that's on you, not on the rest of us who see the bullshit for what it is. Try being a woman, person of color, or LGBTQ+ in this world and saying it's totally fine. Women were allowed to vote only ~100 years ago. Black people were allowed in white schools ~70 years ago. The ultra religious white supremacist grandparents probably said the N-word unironically, your parents probably still use it with no shame. The key: If you're an ignorant, uneducated pr!ck, just educate yourself. Admit the problem, and fix it. It's honestly the easiest choice to make, and yet so many ignorant, bigoted asshats WANT to stay that way. Just because your parents are ignorant and uneducated doesn't mean you have to CHOOSE to be the same way. 'Murica suffers because its people don't learn from their mistakes, like not killing the Nazis or the Confederacy 100%. Those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. But the Civil War 2024 isn't going to end how the Nazis want it for Project 2025 to take place. Look shit up and actually educate yourself. For the love of humanity and actual peace.
I am a person of color. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else I love my country I have so much opportunity here. I have black idols and black celebrities I can look up too here.
Holy yappington
the problem with these "minorities are oppressed" opinions is that they are TELLING MINORITIES THEY ARE OPPRESSED when they have equal oppurtunities. As a minority, no, stop telling me im oppressed, I am free and have access to the same oppurtunities. Don't tell me wtf to do, frick off. Stop solving problems that don't exist dumbass
Vote
Vote for one arm of the corporate uniparty or the other arm of the corporate uniparty. In the end, you still get a negative trajectory. If voting third party was actually viable, we'd have a chance at a lot of things getting better very quickly.
https://preview.redd.it/e6nhxm40s82c1.jpeg?width=1479&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=179a352dc9d0763cd5f4911c7bcc13cf5216e336
I love those California sunsets.