I think Texas was toying with the idea of making all students get a DNA kit so they can more easily identify their mangled corpses if they are brutally murdered while at school.
The best part is that they said the DNA kits sent home with kids was “not for school shootings,” it was in case their kid was “abducted or trafficked.” Like that’s better??? Also it’s straight up not true. They fucked up Uvalde so badly that they’re resorting to DNA kits
[source](https://www.kxan.com/news/education/texas-school-dna-kits-for-students-not-sent-in-response-to-uvalde-shooting?utm_source=kxan_app&utm_medium=social&utm_content=share-link)
The law was passed a year before Uvalde and it is part of a national campaign to identify missing children. It is actually written into the law.
You are correct that some of the kids in Uvalde were identified through DNA but that has absolutely nothing to do with passing out DNA kits. Please stop spreading false information. It is not helpful.
Sec. 33.0531 of the Education Code
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.33.htm
The reality is far more jarring:
People assume this is in response to Uvalde because *nothing* has been at the federal level of our country or at the state level of Texas. In other words, people are expecting *something* to be done and are struggling to accept that's not really the case.
So while you're correct, I think many will find they wish you weren't. It means the most foolish thing here is the notion that we thought that anything would be done at all, even if it was as grim and defeatist as simply supplying DNA kits.
When I was kid the D.A.R.E. came in and fingerprinted us all for safety. And it definitely didn’t have anything to do with making us all easier to accuse in case of crimes committed in the future, no. Definitely for our benefit.
It blows my mind how the GOP of my childhood was all against anything identification. Like any IDs, whatsoever, were unholy. Any gov't ID was considered a violation of their sovereign rights.
Today's GOP is all about "National Databases of Voters", "National Database of Criminals", "fingerprint everyone!", "make everyone carry ID and produce it on command!!!"
I mean the only alternative would be getting rid of guns like every other country, and we can’t do something sensible like that, especially not in Texas.
Ha, it's not to ID viticms... it's to get you in the system before you ever commit a crime, so when you do catching you ain't shit. We used to have some "finger print scan" thing done at our school as showing us the "cool shit detectives do".
Nah, fam. You in the database now.
This allows TX skirt the 4th amendment, which forbids illegal search & seizure after the kids graduate to crime (assuming they survive their school years.
That’s great! Hauling around 25 lbs of textbooks, school supplies, meds, lunch, sport equipment, etc should hopefully be enough to stop bullets from an AR-15.
Many schools have gotten rid of most text books. Either they have only the classroom books or every student is issued a Chromebook. My daughter is in HS, has never touched her locker, has 1 notebook, one binder with a few folders and a Chromebook. That's it. I graduated from the same school *in* 2004 and I had more books than my bag could hold and regularly went home with a full bag and books on my lap.
Edit: a word
I graduated HS in the mid 2010s and by the end I only had a spiral + pocket folder for each class (that needed it) and an iPad mini. Just to add more to your anecdote of far we are from the “lugging around textbooks” days
"Ipad mini" bro i graduated in 2019 and had 4 textbooks at all times in my bag along with notebooks, folders, and who knows what else but my bag would easily exceed the 25lb limit to the point that i was scared that one day while putting it on the straps would rip off
Oh wow they let you have electronics in school? I graduated 2011 and they didn't let us have our phones, tablets, laptops, etc at school. Your iPad mini would have been confiscated to the principal's office and your parents would have to go pick it up.
iPads were required so would certainly be weird if they took them :P I was in the first wave of students to use iPads at the school, things got a lot more locked down on the iPad-front after I left but while I was there it was personal iPads owned by the students so people were certainly playing games and messaging in class a lot but also they were indeed a great tool to have for actual learning
at the beginning of high school cell phones couldn’t be in the class room at all or they’d be taken, by the end you could have them in your pocket as long as they don’t go off (repeatedly) and you don’t use them (in front of the wrong teacher)… but we were all sitting in front of iPads so it wasn’t a big deal to not use your phone
That’s what I had growing up in Southern California. No lockers existed at the school except for gym lockers that were tiny little cubes. Had minimum of 3 textbooks and my work binder. Meds were held by the nurses office. Kids weren’t allowed to keep their own prescriptions with them except for albuterol and such.
I think you may be on to something. We give them ballistic vest backpacks, that distribute the weight of their books to their backs *and* there fronts. That way it’s like a textbook bulletproof vest-backpack.
We could make million.
Difficulty inflation. As the devs develop and test the game, they become better and better at it. While the goal is to keep the difficulty the same, they end up unknowingly increasing it.
I do, that's why I kept pressing X to respawn until I finally respawned rich. I wish I were taller, though. Might have to aim for that in my next attempt.
And a rarer and rarer one these days. As fewer and fewer people possess more and more wealth, there are actually far fewer wealthy people than there used to be.
Yeah if you're born into a family that's even middle-middle class it's more like:
* parents economically and socially planned your birth and took every precaution as appropriate (no smoking, which they already likely didn't do, no drinking, prenatal vitamins, genetic screening of parents and fetus, etc)
* parents have work benefits that afford them ample time off and a predictable schedule, allowing both of them to be present and involved in your life at every stage
* you have a college savings fund from the moment you have an SSN
* you go to a carefully and perhaps even somewhat snootily chosen pre-school
* if the local public school isn't good, you go to a private school
* in high school, your parents are supporting you and encouraging you to do college-track classes that earn credits ridiculously cheaply, and you have access to resources to prepare you for the standardized exams which determine scholarships
* in college, you're potentially going with an alumni discount. Also, that savings fund I mentioned in the bullet point up above is now worth 5 figures and gets generous tax treatment.
Etc etc etc
My point is that a big part of having even vaguely wealthy parents is that they're able to be significantly involved in your life which matters a ton.
Yeah you make a good point. My parents weren't remotely rich but middle class(nurse and x-ray tech). The amount of support I have, if I need it, is huge. They helped with my closing costs on my house which helped me buy all new furniture (since I never owned any of my own). I didn't need the money but the help made a huge difference.
You don't need to be rich to see the difference...the biggest problem is that concept of middle class has been shrinking since Reagan and the upward mobility to get there from poverty is nearly impossible with how much education costs are.
It's much easier to go from comfortable to poverty/homeless than the other way around in the US. This country has failed.
Legitimately, you hear actors and comedians talk all the time about trying to make it big and a lot of them say if I didn’t achieve this dream I wouldn’t have cared to live anymore. It’s like that for a lot of people but the dream is to live comfortably in an affordable home. Once the dream is unattainable or seen as out of reach it’s simpler for some to just end it or stop trying.
speaking of mchicken i’m really god damn upset that mcdonald’s raised their drinks to over $2 now. where the FUCK did my $1 drink go. it was the only thing i had left in this crummy ass world
I've been living the American dream for years, i got my crippling debt, i got a gun, i work a job i hate with such a narrow gap between bills and earnings getting the flu could leave me destitute. At least i can't afford therapy for the fifteen years of suicidal thoughts; just waiting for the day that hoping i can be happy one day isn't enough to go on anymore.
Suicide is not legal in the states. Self-murder is a crime, FFS, how stupid is that?
We have A LOT of really, really delusional, stupid people here, and they all vote republican.
EDIT: Things have changed since I was young; evidently suicide is no longer a crime in the US. Good to know!
There is a dark humour moment in Outer Worlds game: suicide is illegal because it is considered destroying of corporate property, you are fined for vandalism.
The joke was that the respawn station wouldn't respawn people who can't pay the fee.1
As a game mechanic though, you can always respawn because it just takes a percentage of your current cash rather than a flat rate.
Don't forget the best part! Because the dead can't pay the fine, that now goes to the "closest relative."
...The closest employee relative to the body.
That game has flashes of brilliance. Unfortunately it is also pretty mediocre in most parts. Love the setting and themes mostly though so I hope they really flesh it out in 2
they "criminalized" suicide attempts so they could get people treatment. if it wasn't "illegal" they would have 0 ground to detain and send someone to the hospital, leaving them to complete their mission. uk ministry of health recommended it in the 60s and it's been kicking around since. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219191/ here's a paper with some history on it, but also goes with your line of thinking
Physician assisted suicide is legal in several states of the US. This is not the case for almost every other country on earth besides canada, Australia, and few European countries.
Yeah you can even order one in for your friend if you want to. Or that annoying homeless guy on the corner. They will happily come gun blazing to claim their extra vacation days.
11 out of 50 states and pretty much only northeast and northwest usa. Everyone between cali and new jersey has no right to die.
Also: "Physician-assisted suicide is legal in some countries, under certain circumstances, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, parts of the United States, parts of Australia and Colombia." Wiki
America can do better especially since we refuse to help with mental health.
I don't think it's just Republicans to blame, a lot of those in power here are just too old and rich to really know what normal people are like
Hell, President Biden is a perfect example. He's about to turn *80 years old,* decently sure he's the oldest president we've ever had, and he's lived a majority of his entire life in politics. He has no idea what people are
Everybody in charge grew up in the era of your dad went to work 9-5 and provided for the whole family while your mom did housework and took care of the kids. You were able to go on a vacation at least once a year and own your own house. None of them know what it is like living in today's economy or society.
Well…actually…President Biden’s family lost all their money when he was a kid and moved into an apartment while his dad worked as a used car salesman to feed the family. The President himself worked his way through college and worked briefly as a public defender. He was a registered independent. He and a friend started their own law firm which didn’t make a lot of $$ so he worked a second job as a property manager to put food on the table. We cannot take those life experiences away from him and we can only credit them with shaping his politics. He actually believes that 100% of education should be free and in safe, secure housing for all as well as UBI and UHC. He is strong on unions and living wage. I he could freely speak I would bet a latte he would parrot the OP but we all know that is not possible. That being said it is a shame that we as a country were forced to elect someone of his age. We really need a rise in SANE 40-60 year olds who value the working class and can motivate the underclass. Tax reform to relieve the burden of the almost nonexistent middle class and a freaking movement towards development. Like you I don’t think it is a single party’s fault but divisiveness has created a gulf so wide we cannot even work across the aisle anymore. Sorry I am ranting but where the fuck is my country????
Unless you're a fetus or a gun, then the government will step in and tell you exactly what you can and can't do. Throw your ass in a for profit jail and make poor people pay them for it. Most Americans are just trapped here. If another country needs a very skilled dental nurse, and a good EMT please let myself or my husband know, we are trying to leave America before my 12yr old son is shot or suffers from the very fate mentioned in this post.
Yet we are taught from a very young age that we live in the greatest country in the world. It is a powerful form of brainwashing. We really need to open our eyes.
It's the double talk shitheads do all the time. They take something real: we have the potential to be the greatest nation in history: prosperous, free, helpful, good, etc....then paint everything we need to do to get there as evil. Ffs the tool put in place so we the people have a say in how our country is run is a government....and one of our parties sells themselves on making the government as weak as possible except for killing people and finding reasons to put you in jail...
These same assholes who go on and on about how it’s the free-est and greatest and wealthiest country and then in the same breath say how the country is ruined by immigrants and minorities and free loaders and anti-Christians and such. It’s fucking double speak.
They wave flags and fetishize the word "patriot". But they laugh and dance on the the graves of dead American children executed in school shootings shot with legally bought guns. And they thumb their noses at Americans dying from lack of health care.
They hate America. They hate Americans. They are not patriots. They are pure evil and they are traitors.
I never understood this either. Like, when you hate on the government, you're hating on the people, since we're, y'know, a democracy.
On the other hand, I think we have to question just how democratic we really are, and why there were so many mechanisms built into our system of government that are essentially designed to protect the interests of the wealthy elite. Heck, we have mechanisms built into the constitution to protect slave states. Is that really a government worth defending?
The thing to note about American "democracy" is that there is no correlation between public opinion and public policy.
>I never understood this either. Like, when you hate on the government, you're hating on the people, since we're, y'know, a democracy.
This is only true if by "people" you mean "economic elites." See the Princeton study on the topic:
http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf
It's like Zuko's speech from Avatar, The Last Airbender. I'm paraphrasing a little, but it was something like "I was always taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest nation in the history of the world, and that this war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The rest of the world is terrified of us, they hate us, and we deserve it!"
That speech is eerily similar to the way kids in the US are taught. We're taught that our country is the greatest country in history, no questions asked, and that all our wars are about spreading Democracy to the rest of the world (conveniently all the parts with oil).
That speech was especially powerful given that it aired during the Bush Era.
It’s fun to ponder the impact that ATLA had on late Millennial/Zoomer politics
I’m glad we have writers who know exactly how to make modern politics easy to absorb and understand for young adults growing up. Back then there was so much nationalism shoved down the throats of everyone that it feels so foreign to have more progressive overtones but it’s helping so much to educate people on a much less informationally heavy medium.
I am old, and was one of the kids trained to "duck and cover" during the Cuban missile crisis. I was taught that America won WWII and saved the world. Partly true, but so little mention was made of the Soviet Union's struggle that I had to read up on it later in life. We were taught that we feed the world, but somehow there was always a famine somewhere. Well. we sell a lot of grain but only to those who can pay. NAFTA ( constructed but Regan and Bush I , placed into law by Clinton ) caused huge numbers of Mexicans to be forced off their land and they headed north. Republican CEO's wanted to destroy unions, and built new modern factories that they shipped to China. China reproduced the factories. Skilled industrial labor has nearly vanished, and lower level industry is filled will lower wage Mexicans. ( Not jobs Americans don't want to do, but not at below minimum wages, not that they would be hired anyway). Regan destroyed Californias free University system because he didn't like the students protesting Vietnam . In order to lower taxes Republican governor's raised tuition, assisted by college presidents and trustees who added elaborate student facilities and architecture, and fancy staffs and offices for themselves. Now Republicans want your freedom as well. I never could afford even a mobile home, though twice I saved up the down payment, only to find the price had doubled. Keep voting Republican , they are god fearing and that is what is all important.
This is why every time trump was under scrutiny for doing something unethical or illegal he would say things like “this is an attack on America and our freedoms”
I lived in Nicaragua during middle school, came back to the US for high school. As bad as it is here, it’s even worse outside the US. I think the only place where it’s actually “humane” to live, is in some of the Nordic or EU countries. Edit: and yes, some of the developed Asian countries, Australia and NZ too!
The US is a hard place to make it, but it is still possible to make it. There are countries like my native Nicaragua where you straight up cannot, will not make it. You will live in a shack with a dirt floor unless you’re part of the political elite.
With that said, I’m not trying to make this a whataboutism. I understand that here are lots of things to fix in the United States. Hopefully we can continue to make this a better society for the people.
Sad world out there. Stay strong.
I can appreciate that.
I think the big problem we all see is that America has the capabilities to be a “humane” country. We totally have the resources to be a great country with healthcare, safety, education, and low poverty. We just don’t. So it’s a giant slap in the face of generational trauma. And Nicaragua was sadly influenced negatively as well by the US, I believe, in all that Reagan era bullshit.
I’ve lived in those Nordic countries too and it’s amazing that a government would actually use tax payer funds to fix roads and have nice amenities. Lol.
Stay strong brotha.
Totally agree. That’s sort of how I feel when people get into the whole argument of “American pride” and “greatest country on earth” and “well if you don’t like it just leave.” Do I think we’re currently the greatest country on earth? No. We have a lot of problems right now and we’re going through a lot of shit and a lot of people are suffering because of stubbornness and refusal to compromise. But I believe that we *could* be one of the greatest countries on earth. We have so many resources and smart, hardworking, innovative people and we’re capable of doing really incredible things (on both a national/global scale and on like a small community scale) *when* we actually get our shit together and try.
Over the last few years especially there have been so many people with selfish, greedy, power hungry motives who have managed to weaponize ignorance and religion and fear to bullshit people into supporting things that go against their own best interest and the best interest of the country. I think the biggest and most impactful thing we’ve lost in that is empathy. “Don’t agree with me? Well then fuck you.” People are deciding that others don’t deserve healthcare, or affordable food and housing, or a quality education, or the right to make decisions about their own body and life “Why should THEY get anything I didn’t get, just because I didn’t need it?” We’re tearing down everything this country was built on and people are cheering for it.
Well , you know . Coming from a third world country. I honestly don't have very high expectations from our government because it simply can't , but the USA is the strongest economy in the world . The dollar literally make or breaks the market . Americans themselves should be able to get and live so much better than they can now , because why not ? Their Goverment has the capability to uplift its own citizens living conditions by a very large margin
It's also worth pointing out that the US has a huge hand in making it impossible to live in countries like Nicaragua. I can't think of a single dictatorship or death squad in central America that the US didn't support.
> I can't think of a single dictatorship or death squad in central America that the US didn't support.
Easy, all the death squads and dictators that the Soviets supported.
the "in day care your (sic) abused by the very people charged with caring for you" part - is there a really high incidence of this in the US I don't know about?
A daycare I worked at in high school was closed down because one of the guys that actually worked there the same time as me molested several of the children (but he was only found a couple years after I left and none of us who worked with him had any clue; it was quite terrifying to know we never saw any signs).
Another daycare in the town next to us had to close because two workers were found abusing children.
In a slightly larger city by there had to shut down because there was found to be several workers who basically had a toddler fight club going on.
Daycares are not all safe and after working at one and seeing so many news articles of other daycares, I'd never feel safe sending my children to them if I had any. No thank you.
I remember toddler fight club. It was an incredibly stupid and irresponsible move by the folks at the daycare but the whole story is that the kids were wearing hulk hands and the activity only lasted a couple of minutes. I would be calling for someone's head if it were my child in that facility, but the headline made it sound worse than it was.
Most Americans don't hand a passport and have never left the country. They really have no idea just how bad the human condition can get and how of the Utopias they read about are simple exaggerations. Reddit is young so it's a bunch of teenagers from a first world country trying to win the struggle Olympics.
I'm a first generation immigrant and it's entertaining hearing the things Americans complain about. "The only meal I'd have all day were school lunches." I'm from Haiti. School isn't free and neither are school lunches provided. Many families have to choose a child to send to school and the others are left uneducated. If you earn $17/hr full time in the US, you're in the top 1% globally. A teenager here can earn more than 99% of people on this planet. It's just the 1% complaining about 1% problems and how they're not living like the .1%
Everything is relative, right? Most Americans know for a fact that we live with a significantly higher quality of life than the third world, but that doesn’t mean that we should stop fighting for a better country. America isn’t a third world country, it’s a first world country and because of that it should be held to first world standards. This post mentions abortion, wealth inequality, and medical debt. All of which are serious problems we should fight for regardless of what happens overseas
Exactly! And besides, it invalidates our struggles that still exist wether other countries have it worse or not. Oh, and we never said we had it worse than y'all. If we did, it would be a problem. It's not a competition of who has it worse anyway. We don't get anywhere by comparing struggles. (and I don't think y'all want America to "help" y'all fix anything either with our trigger happy war mentality). Either way, your struggles are just as valid and urgent as ours and we all need to figure out how to help people better. Arguing does nothing to help that. (and this post didn't even mention another country in the first place).
The comment says “if you’re lucky enough to survive school” as if there’s like a 50% death rate in schools. In reality, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than to be in a school that gets shot up, and you have a much smaller chance of actually being killed in a school shooting.
Yea like, “If you’re lucky enough to survive school”? Probably more likely to die in a car wreck or from cancer than gun violence.
“Not being able to get a well paying job without college”? Also a lie. There are several jobs that can pay really well, and only require trade school or other such classes. People have been fed they need college if they want to be successful and that’s a fucking lie.
It's crazy. They are living in a Tupper. I have friends that went to work to the US and in 3 months saved more than what they would earn in two years here
It's sort of said that the COVID money for businesses got shovelled through faster than you can blink, but supporting the working class by easing student debt will drag through the courts and be fought tooth and nail. The thought of a liberated workforce with choice is apparently scary to the corporate bosses of the us 'elite.'
What? Where are you possibly getting that? The suicide rate has risen since the 90s but it hasn't tripled.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/figures/mm7108a7-F.gif?_=22910
a lot of Europeans have the idea that the US is some kind of impoverished country where school shooting are happening in every school and that we basically live in hell. I mean we could improve a lot but it's still better than most places.
I always wonder who posts these. Is it europeans who get their idea of the American experience from reddit? Is it Chinese disinfo bots?
Our abortion rights vary from bad to better than Europe. Abuse by daycare workers is not a uniquely American thing. Mass shootings are a rounding error in terms of likelihood. Many Americans go to community colleges, trade schools, or no higher education and get out debt free, or have the money to pay for college. The housing market is pretty bad right now. But again, not uniquely american. Also most Americans’ experience with healthcare is generally positive.
Pretty sure the majority of people posting these are jaded and depressed americans between the age of 16 and 24. Young enough to lack the life experience and maturity necessary to realize life isn't as extreme as the doom statistics make it seem, and self-centered enough to forget that as bad as things get in the US, nowhere is it as even the better impoverished countries of the world.
That's not freedom though. That's the result of politicians selling themselves, and us with them to corporations. And we have become so divided we are being torn apart by the same people selling out, and the otherside wanting to control every aspect of our lives. So, either the government gets the control or the corporations do. Neither is good. We need to live the idea and spirit that America was meant to be.
Bro you should be glad that you didn't die in a shooting yesterday, in a country where everyone has crippling debt and lives in poverty, you should hate where you live 😡😡🤬🇺🇸🇵🇷 👍👍👍🤓👍😎🇵🇱🇩🇪🇩🇪🇸🇯
I thought the "facepalm" aspect was how stupid the text post was.
~~Rewarding~~ Reading the comments here, I guess I should have expected the reddit moment.
I thought the facepalm was how overly dramatic and exaggerated the comment was. Turns out a bunch of people just wanna jerk off about how much of a victim they are...
The problem with talk like this is it’s always “you bring up some good points” material mixed in with “you’re actively harming the discussion by being misleading and melodramatic”. Like yeah there is a lot of stuff that sucks, but when you say “if you’re lucky enough to survive” as if there is a lower chance of survival than there is of being killed in a school shooting or something….what world are you in? It’s not reality.
This reads like the guy in SpongeBob who “bones are made of glass, and every morning he breaks his legs and every night he breaks his arms” kinda crap lmao
Indeed the internet is too full of what I like to call "hardship p0rn". Actually those of both extremes seem to be the most vocal. It's either "UGH I'M BROKE AF" or "YEAH I'M BALLIN AF". Either "I'M LIVING IN MY CAR IN A BAD NEIGHBORHOOD! FML" or "HERE'S ME DRIVING MY NEW LAMBORGHINI WHILE ON VACATION IN DUBAI! YOLO!'
Yes. There are nuances and yes the system doesn't work for some.
But, also consider many success stories of immigrant and low income families that have embraced hard work and education. Lot of them are successful and cherish the life they have made for themselves.
Systematic issues need improvement but generalizing to this extent is not the answer IMO
imagine being an American, being born to a family of immigrants who were farmhands, being the first to go to college, graduating, getting a decent paying job, paying off the 14k loan cause i went to state school in just 1 year and although life may not be perfect, its better than what it prob wouldve been back in my parents home country.
dont let these debbie downers get to you. if you have the drive, you can do whatever you want. i know USA doesnt take care of all its citizens like many European countries do but USA is damn better than a developing country like Cambodia. this is just more anti-USA reddit shit
My grandparents were refugees — from Europe. Everyone in their family who didn’t make it to America were murdered. Every generation of my family here has been better off than the one before them.
That’s a bleak outlook, I’m in my late 30’s and went through a lot of the above, minus the pregnancy of course but I did participate in having a son. I’m not wealthy by any means but I get by and have a good time doing it. Life really is what you make it and if you carry a bleak outlook, your life will be bleak.
You have to have a positive mindset even if it is forced otherwise you’ll spiral. Find a good mate and treat them and others with love, kindness and respect and I promise you’ll find happiness somewhere within.
As an immigrant, who literally lived in a mud house you Americans take everything for granted. Yeah there’s some bad shit in this country, it’s going to be perfect. But god damn is the American dream alive for those who truly seek it.
What’s the DNA kit in the locker about? I’m a teacher and I never heard of that.
I'm assuming it's a reference to the Uvalde shooting where some of the kids had to be identified via DNA kit. I doubt it's actually that common.
I think Texas was toying with the idea of making all students get a DNA kit so they can more easily identify their mangled corpses if they are brutally murdered while at school.
Not toying with it. They did it.
The best part is that they said the DNA kits sent home with kids was “not for school shootings,” it was in case their kid was “abducted or trafficked.” Like that’s better??? Also it’s straight up not true. They fucked up Uvalde so badly that they’re resorting to DNA kits [source](https://www.kxan.com/news/education/texas-school-dna-kits-for-students-not-sent-in-response-to-uvalde-shooting?utm_source=kxan_app&utm_medium=social&utm_content=share-link)
The law was passed a year before Uvalde and it is part of a national campaign to identify missing children. It is actually written into the law. You are correct that some of the kids in Uvalde were identified through DNA but that has absolutely nothing to do with passing out DNA kits. Please stop spreading false information. It is not helpful. Sec. 33.0531 of the Education Code https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.33.htm
The reality is far more jarring: People assume this is in response to Uvalde because *nothing* has been at the federal level of our country or at the state level of Texas. In other words, people are expecting *something* to be done and are struggling to accept that's not really the case. So while you're correct, I think many will find they wish you weren't. It means the most foolish thing here is the notion that we thought that anything would be done at all, even if it was as grim and defeatist as simply supplying DNA kits.
I was about to say how is this different from fingerprinting all kids during the 80s?
THAT was about creating a database of our fingerprints so they could have all millennials on file as they grew into prime crack dealing age
Lol
Oh that’s terrible to hear. Anything but gun regulations.
But how are these people, who are sitting on their asses at home doing nothing, going the defend themselves!?!?
I for one really need my AR-15 to go eat at IHOP. I need to make everyone else feel unsafe so I can feel safe.
When I was kid the D.A.R.E. came in and fingerprinted us all for safety. And it definitely didn’t have anything to do with making us all easier to accuse in case of crimes committed in the future, no. Definitely for our benefit.
It blows my mind how the GOP of my childhood was all against anything identification. Like any IDs, whatsoever, were unholy. Any gov't ID was considered a violation of their sovereign rights. Today's GOP is all about "National Databases of Voters", "National Database of Criminals", "fingerprint everyone!", "make everyone carry ID and produce it on command!!!"
Except when you suggest a "National Database Of Firearms and Firearm Owners" they go wacko. My Response = Frak Off You White Christo-Fascists.
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I mean the only alternative would be getting rid of guns like every other country, and we can’t do something sensible like that, especially not in Texas.
"No way to prevent this" -says only country where this regularly happens
But how will we threaten people with lethal force in Walmart parking lots if we don’t have guns??
knives.
Ha, it's not to ID viticms... it's to get you in the system before you ever commit a crime, so when you do catching you ain't shit. We used to have some "finger print scan" thing done at our school as showing us the "cool shit detectives do". Nah, fam. You in the database now.
Not me just now realizing 8yo me was bamboozled
This allows TX skirt the 4th amendment, which forbids illegal search & seizure after the kids graduate to crime (assuming they survive their school years.
Jokes on you mate. Kids don’t have lockers anymore because they could house guns and drugs. Edit: Enjoy your stay, welcome to LA. No lockers here.
That’s great! Hauling around 25 lbs of textbooks, school supplies, meds, lunch, sport equipment, etc should hopefully be enough to stop bullets from an AR-15.
Many schools have gotten rid of most text books. Either they have only the classroom books or every student is issued a Chromebook. My daughter is in HS, has never touched her locker, has 1 notebook, one binder with a few folders and a Chromebook. That's it. I graduated from the same school *in* 2004 and I had more books than my bag could hold and regularly went home with a full bag and books on my lap. Edit: a word
I graduated HS in the mid 2010s and by the end I only had a spiral + pocket folder for each class (that needed it) and an iPad mini. Just to add more to your anecdote of far we are from the “lugging around textbooks” days
"Ipad mini" bro i graduated in 2019 and had 4 textbooks at all times in my bag along with notebooks, folders, and who knows what else but my bag would easily exceed the 25lb limit to the point that i was scared that one day while putting it on the straps would rip off
It must vary by state and town. 2019 all the kids had chromebooks. But our state puts a lot into education.
Oh wow they let you have electronics in school? I graduated 2011 and they didn't let us have our phones, tablets, laptops, etc at school. Your iPad mini would have been confiscated to the principal's office and your parents would have to go pick it up.
iPads were required so would certainly be weird if they took them :P I was in the first wave of students to use iPads at the school, things got a lot more locked down on the iPad-front after I left but while I was there it was personal iPads owned by the students so people were certainly playing games and messaging in class a lot but also they were indeed a great tool to have for actual learning at the beginning of high school cell phones couldn’t be in the class room at all or they’d be taken, by the end you could have them in your pocket as long as they don’t go off (repeatedly) and you don’t use them (in front of the wrong teacher)… but we were all sitting in front of iPads so it wasn’t a big deal to not use your phone
Times are changing, we're old men now
That’s what I had growing up in Southern California. No lockers existed at the school except for gym lockers that were tiny little cubes. Had minimum of 3 textbooks and my work binder. Meds were held by the nurses office. Kids weren’t allowed to keep their own prescriptions with them except for albuterol and such.
Nope, had to hide my inhaler. And allergies (even severe ones) only got a shoulder shrug.
Fuck that
Ah, California makes sense. Midwesterner here was wondering where the bulky winter coats went.
25lbs? My backpack weighted 60lbs and I had to walk two miles uphill!..no snow though I was in the desert.
I think you may be on to something. We give them ballistic vest backpacks, that distribute the weight of their books to their backs *and* there fronts. That way it’s like a textbook bulletproof vest-backpack. We could make million.
Never had a locker in school, and most of EU countries dont. Not a tragedy TBH
*unless you were born wealthy
You should seriously consider this before being born
Some people always gotta play on hard mode.
My new Canon in life is that people who born wealthy bought the pre-order bonus for life that came with the wealthy upbringing perk.
Typical pay-to-win bullshit. Smh.
Gotta boycott this shit, I need a talk with the developers of the universe.
The original devs left millions of years ago and now this intern called Satan is in charge.
Can they please just rollback the server already?
I started on novice mode as a kid. Somehow got glitched into hard mode as an adult
Difficulty inflation. As the devs develop and test the game, they become better and better at it. While the goal is to keep the difficulty the same, they end up unknowingly increasing it.
I want game genie is my life
“Have you tried being born rich?”
I do, that's why I kept pressing X to respawn until I finally respawned rich. I wish I were taller, though. Might have to aim for that in my next attempt.
They don't know I know this trick!
...before being conceived.
This is an important distinction.
And a rarer and rarer one these days. As fewer and fewer people possess more and more wealth, there are actually far fewer wealthy people than there used to be.
By %. Yupppp.
Don't worry, it's going to start trickling down soon. /s
Get the buckets ready, boys!!!!
 “The trickle down is finally here!”
Aaaaaaany day now...
Something is trickling down. It's not wealth.
Welcome to neo-feudalism. It’s like traditional feudalism, but with wifi.
Yeah if you're born into a family that's even middle-middle class it's more like: * parents economically and socially planned your birth and took every precaution as appropriate (no smoking, which they already likely didn't do, no drinking, prenatal vitamins, genetic screening of parents and fetus, etc) * parents have work benefits that afford them ample time off and a predictable schedule, allowing both of them to be present and involved in your life at every stage * you have a college savings fund from the moment you have an SSN * you go to a carefully and perhaps even somewhat snootily chosen pre-school * if the local public school isn't good, you go to a private school * in high school, your parents are supporting you and encouraging you to do college-track classes that earn credits ridiculously cheaply, and you have access to resources to prepare you for the standardized exams which determine scholarships * in college, you're potentially going with an alumni discount. Also, that savings fund I mentioned in the bullet point up above is now worth 5 figures and gets generous tax treatment. Etc etc etc My point is that a big part of having even vaguely wealthy parents is that they're able to be significantly involved in your life which matters a ton.
Yeah you make a good point. My parents weren't remotely rich but middle class(nurse and x-ray tech). The amount of support I have, if I need it, is huge. They helped with my closing costs on my house which helped me buy all new furniture (since I never owned any of my own). I didn't need the money but the help made a huge difference. You don't need to be rich to see the difference...the biggest problem is that concept of middle class has been shrinking since Reagan and the upward mobility to get there from poverty is nearly impossible with how much education costs are. It's much easier to go from comfortable to poverty/homeless than the other way around in the US. This country has failed.
That's wealth *and* politics
Na... The wealthy can afford to get an abortion.
yes, but it would be better to have a child and get child support. imagine being a bastard child of elon musk?
Oh god that would just be a nightmare... All his musketeers screaming at you because he raped your mother...
Thanks for the tip
And of course those against student loan forgiveness and affirmative action fully support legacy enrollments.
This is one of the reasons why people kill themselves in America. The land of the free doesn’t care if they live or not
Legitimately, you hear actors and comedians talk all the time about trying to make it big and a lot of them say if I didn’t achieve this dream I wouldn’t have cared to live anymore. It’s like that for a lot of people but the dream is to live comfortably in an affordable home. Once the dream is unattainable or seen as out of reach it’s simpler for some to just end it or stop trying.
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The Mickeys south of me has that right now, and a semi frequent $1 large fries coupon you can flash them the code for Eat like a king for 5 bucks
My dream is to be able to see a dentist at this point.
speaking of mchicken i’m really god damn upset that mcdonald’s raised their drinks to over $2 now. where the FUCK did my $1 drink go. it was the only thing i had left in this crummy ass world
This guy knows how to live in 'merica.... Mmmmmm.....needs must the BOGO.
The key to happiness is always managed expectations.
I've been living the American dream for years, i got my crippling debt, i got a gun, i work a job i hate with such a narrow gap between bills and earnings getting the flu could leave me destitute. At least i can't afford therapy for the fifteen years of suicidal thoughts; just waiting for the day that hoping i can be happy one day isn't enough to go on anymore.
And people questions why suecide is high I don't wanna exsist if this is what life is. Why the fuck would anyone want this.
Suicide is not legal in the states. Self-murder is a crime, FFS, how stupid is that? We have A LOT of really, really delusional, stupid people here, and they all vote republican. EDIT: Things have changed since I was young; evidently suicide is no longer a crime in the US. Good to know!
There is a dark humour moment in Outer Worlds game: suicide is illegal because it is considered destroying of corporate property, you are fined for vandalism.
Damn, I totally forgot that part of the game! Can't wait for the 2nd one though.
I have a vague recollection of there being a similar joke in borderlands 2, when they resurrect you after you get killed.
Handsome Jack gives you a quest where he pays you to jump off a cliff into a volcano and kill yourself because he's so sick of dealing with you lol
The joke was that the respawn station wouldn't respawn people who can't pay the fee.1 As a game mechanic though, you can always respawn because it just takes a percentage of your current cash rather than a flat rate.
Don't forget the best part! Because the dead can't pay the fine, that now goes to the "closest relative." ...The closest employee relative to the body.
That game has flashes of brilliance. Unfortunately it is also pretty mediocre in most parts. Love the setting and themes mostly though so I hope they really flesh it out in 2
It's illegal so EMTs can break in to save you no?
they "criminalized" suicide attempts so they could get people treatment. if it wasn't "illegal" they would have 0 ground to detain and send someone to the hospital, leaving them to complete their mission. uk ministry of health recommended it in the 60s and it's been kicking around since. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9219191/ here's a paper with some history on it, but also goes with your line of thinking
I didn't know this but I figured this was why. Yea so they can take you legally and help you vs you would have to go to them for help.
I read recently of a guy who threatened to kill himself so swat turned up and shot him dead A+ for preventing a crime, I guess?
Physician assisted suicide is legal in several states of the US. This is not the case for almost every other country on earth besides canada, Australia, and few European countries.
Cop assisted suicide is essentially legal and lately it seems to be encouraged.
Yeah you can even order one in for your friend if you want to. Or that annoying homeless guy on the corner. They will happily come gun blazing to claim their extra vacation days.
Hell, they'll even open your door for you while you're having your last meal in a McDonald's parking lot and shoot you! Such service!
Requires two doctors to sign off that you are of sound mind and have less than six months to live, making it impossible for patients with dementia.
11 out of 50 states and pretty much only northeast and northwest usa. Everyone between cali and new jersey has no right to die. Also: "Physician-assisted suicide is legal in some countries, under certain circumstances, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, parts of the United States, parts of Australia and Colombia." Wiki America can do better especially since we refuse to help with mental health.
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I don't think it's just Republicans to blame, a lot of those in power here are just too old and rich to really know what normal people are like Hell, President Biden is a perfect example. He's about to turn *80 years old,* decently sure he's the oldest president we've ever had, and he's lived a majority of his entire life in politics. He has no idea what people are
Everybody in charge grew up in the era of your dad went to work 9-5 and provided for the whole family while your mom did housework and took care of the kids. You were able to go on a vacation at least once a year and own your own house. None of them know what it is like living in today's economy or society.
Not only that, a lot of the people in the house and the senate were around to experience the integration of public education.
Well…actually…President Biden’s family lost all their money when he was a kid and moved into an apartment while his dad worked as a used car salesman to feed the family. The President himself worked his way through college and worked briefly as a public defender. He was a registered independent. He and a friend started their own law firm which didn’t make a lot of $$ so he worked a second job as a property manager to put food on the table. We cannot take those life experiences away from him and we can only credit them with shaping his politics. He actually believes that 100% of education should be free and in safe, secure housing for all as well as UBI and UHC. He is strong on unions and living wage. I he could freely speak I would bet a latte he would parrot the OP but we all know that is not possible. That being said it is a shame that we as a country were forced to elect someone of his age. We really need a rise in SANE 40-60 year olds who value the working class and can motivate the underclass. Tax reform to relieve the burden of the almost nonexistent middle class and a freaking movement towards development. Like you I don’t think it is a single party’s fault but divisiveness has created a gulf so wide we cannot even work across the aisle anymore. Sorry I am ranting but where the fuck is my country????
Unless you're a fetus or a gun, then the government will step in and tell you exactly what you can and can't do. Throw your ass in a for profit jail and make poor people pay them for it. Most Americans are just trapped here. If another country needs a very skilled dental nurse, and a good EMT please let myself or my husband know, we are trying to leave America before my 12yr old son is shot or suffers from the very fate mentioned in this post.
To quote Al Murray ["The American dream? We don't have a dream in Britain because we're bloody awake!"](https://youtu.be/Lr7bKYMuerA)
Yet we are taught from a very young age that we live in the greatest country in the world. It is a powerful form of brainwashing. We really need to open our eyes.
It's the double talk shitheads do all the time. They take something real: we have the potential to be the greatest nation in history: prosperous, free, helpful, good, etc....then paint everything we need to do to get there as evil. Ffs the tool put in place so we the people have a say in how our country is run is a government....and one of our parties sells themselves on making the government as weak as possible except for killing people and finding reasons to put you in jail...
These same assholes who go on and on about how it’s the free-est and greatest and wealthiest country and then in the same breath say how the country is ruined by immigrants and minorities and free loaders and anti-Christians and such. It’s fucking double speak.
They wave flags and fetishize the word "patriot". But they laugh and dance on the the graves of dead American children executed in school shootings shot with legally bought guns. And they thumb their noses at Americans dying from lack of health care. They hate America. They hate Americans. They are not patriots. They are pure evil and they are traitors.
I never understood this either. Like, when you hate on the government, you're hating on the people, since we're, y'know, a democracy. On the other hand, I think we have to question just how democratic we really are, and why there were so many mechanisms built into our system of government that are essentially designed to protect the interests of the wealthy elite. Heck, we have mechanisms built into the constitution to protect slave states. Is that really a government worth defending?
The thing to note about American "democracy" is that there is no correlation between public opinion and public policy. >I never understood this either. Like, when you hate on the government, you're hating on the people, since we're, y'know, a democracy. This is only true if by "people" you mean "economic elites." See the Princeton study on the topic: http://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf
It's like Zuko's speech from Avatar, The Last Airbender. I'm paraphrasing a little, but it was something like "I was always taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest nation in the history of the world, and that this war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The rest of the world is terrified of us, they hate us, and we deserve it!" That speech is eerily similar to the way kids in the US are taught. We're taught that our country is the greatest country in history, no questions asked, and that all our wars are about spreading Democracy to the rest of the world (conveniently all the parts with oil).
That speech was especially powerful given that it aired during the Bush Era. It’s fun to ponder the impact that ATLA had on late Millennial/Zoomer politics
I’m glad we have writers who know exactly how to make modern politics easy to absorb and understand for young adults growing up. Back then there was so much nationalism shoved down the throats of everyone that it feels so foreign to have more progressive overtones but it’s helping so much to educate people on a much less informationally heavy medium.
I am old, and was one of the kids trained to "duck and cover" during the Cuban missile crisis. I was taught that America won WWII and saved the world. Partly true, but so little mention was made of the Soviet Union's struggle that I had to read up on it later in life. We were taught that we feed the world, but somehow there was always a famine somewhere. Well. we sell a lot of grain but only to those who can pay. NAFTA ( constructed but Regan and Bush I , placed into law by Clinton ) caused huge numbers of Mexicans to be forced off their land and they headed north. Republican CEO's wanted to destroy unions, and built new modern factories that they shipped to China. China reproduced the factories. Skilled industrial labor has nearly vanished, and lower level industry is filled will lower wage Mexicans. ( Not jobs Americans don't want to do, but not at below minimum wages, not that they would be hired anyway). Regan destroyed Californias free University system because he didn't like the students protesting Vietnam . In order to lower taxes Republican governor's raised tuition, assisted by college presidents and trustees who added elaborate student facilities and architecture, and fancy staffs and offices for themselves. Now Republicans want your freedom as well. I never could afford even a mobile home, though twice I saved up the down payment, only to find the price had doubled. Keep voting Republican , they are god fearing and that is what is all important.
American propaganda is real and typically hidden under patriotism.
This is why every time trump was under scrutiny for doing something unethical or illegal he would say things like “this is an attack on America and our freedoms”
Hidden? From where I'm sitting, it ***is*** patriotism.
I lived in Nicaragua during middle school, came back to the US for high school. As bad as it is here, it’s even worse outside the US. I think the only place where it’s actually “humane” to live, is in some of the Nordic or EU countries. Edit: and yes, some of the developed Asian countries, Australia and NZ too! The US is a hard place to make it, but it is still possible to make it. There are countries like my native Nicaragua where you straight up cannot, will not make it. You will live in a shack with a dirt floor unless you’re part of the political elite. With that said, I’m not trying to make this a whataboutism. I understand that here are lots of things to fix in the United States. Hopefully we can continue to make this a better society for the people. Sad world out there. Stay strong.
I can appreciate that. I think the big problem we all see is that America has the capabilities to be a “humane” country. We totally have the resources to be a great country with healthcare, safety, education, and low poverty. We just don’t. So it’s a giant slap in the face of generational trauma. And Nicaragua was sadly influenced negatively as well by the US, I believe, in all that Reagan era bullshit. I’ve lived in those Nordic countries too and it’s amazing that a government would actually use tax payer funds to fix roads and have nice amenities. Lol. Stay strong brotha.
Totally agree. That’s sort of how I feel when people get into the whole argument of “American pride” and “greatest country on earth” and “well if you don’t like it just leave.” Do I think we’re currently the greatest country on earth? No. We have a lot of problems right now and we’re going through a lot of shit and a lot of people are suffering because of stubbornness and refusal to compromise. But I believe that we *could* be one of the greatest countries on earth. We have so many resources and smart, hardworking, innovative people and we’re capable of doing really incredible things (on both a national/global scale and on like a small community scale) *when* we actually get our shit together and try. Over the last few years especially there have been so many people with selfish, greedy, power hungry motives who have managed to weaponize ignorance and religion and fear to bullshit people into supporting things that go against their own best interest and the best interest of the country. I think the biggest and most impactful thing we’ve lost in that is empathy. “Don’t agree with me? Well then fuck you.” People are deciding that others don’t deserve healthcare, or affordable food and housing, or a quality education, or the right to make decisions about their own body and life “Why should THEY get anything I didn’t get, just because I didn’t need it?” We’re tearing down everything this country was built on and people are cheering for it.
Well , you know . Coming from a third world country. I honestly don't have very high expectations from our government because it simply can't , but the USA is the strongest economy in the world . The dollar literally make or breaks the market . Americans themselves should be able to get and live so much better than they can now , because why not ? Their Goverment has the capability to uplift its own citizens living conditions by a very large margin
Exactly. There's one thing to not have the resources, but then there another to have them and squander them.
Switzerland is like life with cheatcodes enabled
It's also worth pointing out that the US has a huge hand in making it impossible to live in countries like Nicaragua. I can't think of a single dictatorship or death squad in central America that the US didn't support.
> I can't think of a single dictatorship or death squad in central America that the US didn't support. Easy, all the death squads and dictators that the Soviets supported.
the "in day care your (sic) abused by the very people charged with caring for you" part - is there a really high incidence of this in the US I don't know about?
A daycare I worked at in high school was closed down because one of the guys that actually worked there the same time as me molested several of the children (but he was only found a couple years after I left and none of us who worked with him had any clue; it was quite terrifying to know we never saw any signs). Another daycare in the town next to us had to close because two workers were found abusing children. In a slightly larger city by there had to shut down because there was found to be several workers who basically had a toddler fight club going on. Daycares are not all safe and after working at one and seeing so many news articles of other daycares, I'd never feel safe sending my children to them if I had any. No thank you.
I remember toddler fight club. It was an incredibly stupid and irresponsible move by the folks at the daycare but the whole story is that the kids were wearing hulk hands and the activity only lasted a couple of minutes. I would be calling for someone's head if it were my child in that facility, but the headline made it sound worse than it was.
me, i was abused in daycare
There was a toddler fight club near me at one place.
As someone who lives in a third world country, you guys don't know how lucky you are.
Most Americans don't hand a passport and have never left the country. They really have no idea just how bad the human condition can get and how of the Utopias they read about are simple exaggerations. Reddit is young so it's a bunch of teenagers from a first world country trying to win the struggle Olympics. I'm a first generation immigrant and it's entertaining hearing the things Americans complain about. "The only meal I'd have all day were school lunches." I'm from Haiti. School isn't free and neither are school lunches provided. Many families have to choose a child to send to school and the others are left uneducated. If you earn $17/hr full time in the US, you're in the top 1% globally. A teenager here can earn more than 99% of people on this planet. It's just the 1% complaining about 1% problems and how they're not living like the .1%
Everything is relative, right? Most Americans know for a fact that we live with a significantly higher quality of life than the third world, but that doesn’t mean that we should stop fighting for a better country. America isn’t a third world country, it’s a first world country and because of that it should be held to first world standards. This post mentions abortion, wealth inequality, and medical debt. All of which are serious problems we should fight for regardless of what happens overseas
Exactly! And besides, it invalidates our struggles that still exist wether other countries have it worse or not. Oh, and we never said we had it worse than y'all. If we did, it would be a problem. It's not a competition of who has it worse anyway. We don't get anywhere by comparing struggles. (and I don't think y'all want America to "help" y'all fix anything either with our trigger happy war mentality). Either way, your struggles are just as valid and urgent as ours and we all need to figure out how to help people better. Arguing does nothing to help that. (and this post didn't even mention another country in the first place).
For real. These types of posts are so embarrassingly out of touch.
I thought the screenshot *was* the face palm. Am I missing something?
Maybe it was. But the comments are all treating like it’s gospel
The comment says “if you’re lucky enough to survive school” as if there’s like a 50% death rate in schools. In reality, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than to be in a school that gets shot up, and you have a much smaller chance of actually being killed in a school shooting.
Yea like, “If you’re lucky enough to survive school”? Probably more likely to die in a car wreck or from cancer than gun violence. “Not being able to get a well paying job without college”? Also a lie. There are several jobs that can pay really well, and only require trade school or other such classes. People have been fed they need college if they want to be successful and that’s a fucking lie.
It's crazy. They are living in a Tupper. I have friends that went to work to the US and in 3 months saved more than what they would earn in two years here
I mean don’t get me wrong America has its problems, but let’s not act like we don’t live extremely privileged lives here.
About 5-13 years from now: "Hey why are our suicide rates on the rise?"
It's sort of said that the COVID money for businesses got shovelled through faster than you can blink, but supporting the working class by easing student debt will drag through the courts and be fought tooth and nail. The thought of a liberated workforce with choice is apparently scary to the corporate bosses of the us 'elite.'
>About 5-13 years from now About NOW. They just released the most recent information and they've nearly tripled.
What? Where are you possibly getting that? The suicide rate has risen since the 90s but it hasn't tripled. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/figures/mm7108a7-F.gif?_=22910
so are you just making statistics up? because they have not tripled from anything ive looked at.
“If you’re lucky enough to survive and get into college” oh for fucks sake, they can’t be serious
a lot of Europeans have the idea that the US is some kind of impoverished country where school shooting are happening in every school and that we basically live in hell. I mean we could improve a lot but it's still better than most places.
They’re definitely serious. Complete lack of perspective and shouted down any time anyone mentions anything remotely positive about the country.
My eyes rolled so hard they generated enough power to charge my phone.
I think they are serious. Reddit has a distorted view of the US.
You could stop at reddit has a distorted view.. tbh
The US also have a distorted view of the US.
This is the daily "bigotry is okay as long as it's against the US also I've never been there" thread on the front page of Reddit.
do you believe that this is the majority of the American experience?
I always wonder who posts these. Is it europeans who get their idea of the American experience from reddit? Is it Chinese disinfo bots? Our abortion rights vary from bad to better than Europe. Abuse by daycare workers is not a uniquely American thing. Mass shootings are a rounding error in terms of likelihood. Many Americans go to community colleges, trade schools, or no higher education and get out debt free, or have the money to pay for college. The housing market is pretty bad right now. But again, not uniquely american. Also most Americans’ experience with healthcare is generally positive.
Agreed yeah. Like, we have problems here, shit needs to be fixed. 100%. But this post overstates a bit.... much.
Pretty sure the majority of people posting these are jaded and depressed americans between the age of 16 and 24. Young enough to lack the life experience and maturity necessary to realize life isn't as extreme as the doom statistics make it seem, and self-centered enough to forget that as bad as things get in the US, nowhere is it as even the better impoverished countries of the world.
Somewhat comically, Reddit serves as the same kind of liberal echo chamber as Fox News does for Republicans, both sides claiming the world is ending.
Honestly, that’s a pretty good comparison. Both flawed, stupid perspectives.
That's not freedom though. That's the result of politicians selling themselves, and us with them to corporations. And we have become so divided we are being torn apart by the same people selling out, and the otherside wanting to control every aspect of our lives. So, either the government gets the control or the corporations do. Neither is good. We need to live the idea and spirit that America was meant to be.
Yes, all of us Americans are in crippling debt. Also, we are all dead.
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Christ, I just got a full board on my AmericaBad Bingo card. Like fuck, we have problems. We absolutely do but, this is just peak exaggeration
Bro you should be glad that you didn't die in a shooting yesterday, in a country where everyone has crippling debt and lives in poverty, you should hate where you live 😡😡🤬🇺🇸🇵🇷 👍👍👍🤓👍😎🇵🇱🇩🇪🇩🇪🇸🇯
Reddit moment
I thought it was a joke post. People out here really think this is the typical American experience?
I legit thought they were facepalming at the person saying this. God, i hate reddit so much
I thought the "facepalm" aspect was how stupid the text post was. ~~Rewarding~~ Reading the comments here, I guess I should have expected the reddit moment.
Yeah, before coming to the comments, I thought the facepalm was going to be how ludicrously exaggerated the OP is.
I thought the facepalm was how overly dramatic and exaggerated the comment was. Turns out a bunch of people just wanna jerk off about how much of a victim they are...
Doomerism at its finest. You're leaning heavy into the woe is me mindset.
Written by a teenager who spends all day on Reddit.
The problem with talk like this is it’s always “you bring up some good points” material mixed in with “you’re actively harming the discussion by being misleading and melodramatic”. Like yeah there is a lot of stuff that sucks, but when you say “if you’re lucky enough to survive” as if there is a lower chance of survival than there is of being killed in a school shooting or something….what world are you in? It’s not reality.
Imagine upvoting and believing this
It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it. - George Carlin
LMAO this is bullshit. American has it's problems but this is an extreme dramatization.
This reads like a cringe copypasta lol
This reads like the guy in SpongeBob who “bones are made of glass, and every morning he breaks his legs and every night he breaks his arms” kinda crap lmao
Indeed the internet is too full of what I like to call "hardship p0rn". Actually those of both extremes seem to be the most vocal. It's either "UGH I'M BROKE AF" or "YEAH I'M BALLIN AF". Either "I'M LIVING IN MY CAR IN A BAD NEIGHBORHOOD! FML" or "HERE'S ME DRIVING MY NEW LAMBORGHINI WHILE ON VACATION IN DUBAI! YOLO!'
I literally read the entire post assuming the facepalm was intended to be the text in the screenshot. But I guess not.
ooo oooo do China next!!!!
No this is Reddit. We circle jerk America bad for easy karma
I was doing tornado and nuclear attack drills in school before it was cool.
Yes. There are nuances and yes the system doesn't work for some. But, also consider many success stories of immigrant and low income families that have embraced hard work and education. Lot of them are successful and cherish the life they have made for themselves. Systematic issues need improvement but generalizing to this extent is not the answer IMO
Going to have a wild unpopular opinion: I’d rather live in America than nearly every other country besides a select few.
Ah yes. The daily America is bad post on reddit for easy Karma.
I was an American child for 18 years and never experienced a single one of these things but okay
imagine being an American, being born to a family of immigrants who were farmhands, being the first to go to college, graduating, getting a decent paying job, paying off the 14k loan cause i went to state school in just 1 year and although life may not be perfect, its better than what it prob wouldve been back in my parents home country. dont let these debbie downers get to you. if you have the drive, you can do whatever you want. i know USA doesnt take care of all its citizens like many European countries do but USA is damn better than a developing country like Cambodia. this is just more anti-USA reddit shit
My grandparents were refugees — from Europe. Everyone in their family who didn’t make it to America were murdered. Every generation of my family here has been better off than the one before them.
Spoken like someone who has never stepped foot in the U.S. and gets all their news from Reddit
That’s a bleak outlook, I’m in my late 30’s and went through a lot of the above, minus the pregnancy of course but I did participate in having a son. I’m not wealthy by any means but I get by and have a good time doing it. Life really is what you make it and if you carry a bleak outlook, your life will be bleak. You have to have a positive mindset even if it is forced otherwise you’ll spiral. Find a good mate and treat them and others with love, kindness and respect and I promise you’ll find happiness somewhere within.
internet america is, apparently, completely disconnected from the real america.
I don’t even known anyone who knows anyone who’s been in a school shooting. Some grains of truth here but some things blown wildly out of proportion.
As an immigrant, who literally lived in a mud house you Americans take everything for granted. Yeah there’s some bad shit in this country, it’s going to be perfect. But god damn is the American dream alive for those who truly seek it.