America is one of the most toxic places I've ever been

[fattyflattie 4639]

Just now, Captainant said:

Just calling out that you're advocating for the termination of humanitarian programs that are fractions of pennies compared to what we spend on equipment the military doesn't need and gets handed off to Joe Chud the deputy after a few years of storage. And that taking aim at thinking """wasteful""" things like feeding the hungry of the world is less worth doing than blowing them up

No. I’m not advocating for that, I may have poorly conveyed what I meant.  What I meant is we don’t need some dickhead coming here and telling us how bad we suck when we could easily dump a lot of money into ourselves, and fix some of the issues.  But we don’t. Instead we keep large parts of the world fed and funded. I’d much rather have a Mexican/Central American/Indian list goes on that will come here and love it. 

[StruggleBus 3922]

I like America 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Just now, StruggleBus said:

I like America 

You must be racist.

[Brisketexan 105569]

Are you sure we're not 2nd marriage Al? I mean Peggy wasn't bad but

We wouldn’t let her brown ass across the border. Unless, of course, she was a model already fucking a rich American.

What other countries would better to raise a family?

Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

[ztejas 43741]

2 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

I like America 

I like America. My wife likes America. My customers like America. Because America is the real article. What you see is what you get.

[StruggleBus 3922]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

 

We wouldn’t let her brown ass across the border. Unless, of course, she was a mode already ducking a rich American.



Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

 

Fuck man, I disagree with every single one of those. Been to nine of them. To each their own. 

[lmao 178]

5 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I think a lot of our mobility has shifted upward. Lots of opportunity for the upper second and lower third quartiles to move into the  fourth.  And those groups are probably only a generation or two from lower second or upper first quartiles.

It's harder than ever to move out of the lowest quartile.

My alarm wakes me up at 6:45am. I wonder if I have set the wrong time on my alarm as I do not feel rested and it is dark outside. I stare at my phone bleary eyed and realize that actually yes, it is time to get up. I go to the kitchen and make a coffee to try and kickstart my brain, and eat bland scrambled eggs on toast. I treat myself to a bit of bacon and savor it as much as possible for I know it is one of the few fleeting moments of pleasure I will experience all day. I shower, get dressed, and walk 2 blocks to my parking spot where birds & homeless people sometimes use it as an object to shit on. I put on an audiobook on my drive and listen to a biography about someone who lived a better life than me. I arrive at work by 8:30am, wishing I was still in bed. I sit at my desk rotting, feeling my posture gradually deteriorating. I medicate myself with painkillers and a steady supply of coffee that ensures the boredom of my work will not fully send me to sleep. I tap away at a computer, realizing that if the company I worked for bothered or could afford to implement better software, 75% of my job would be done by the computer itself, faster and more accurately than I could hope to. I shoot the shit with my coworkers about projects or current events during my short breaks and lunch. After 8+ hours of drudgery, I make my way home. I workout for an hour then shove some food down my throat to keep me alive, so I can repeat the cycle of working day by day, year by year, ultimately so I can make more money for somebody else. If I am lucky I have one hour per evening where I am free to do what I like after although usually I am too tired to do much except watch the latest episode of whatever TV show is currently hot or maybe text with friends I will never have time to hangout with.

 

I go to sleep knowing tomorrow will be exactly the same.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8916]

Canada? Lmao kicked their asses in this oldie but goodie.

https://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/canadian-rednecks-vs-shanesworld-crew/82237268/


Plus Canadian ketchup sucks

[lmao 178]

9 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 

We wouldn’t let her brown ass across the border. Unless, of course, she was a model already fucking a rich American.



Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

 

Could a middle class American realistically move to these countries & become a citizen? 

[Guest Lobo]

12 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I like America. My wife likes America. My customers like America. Because America is the real article. What you see is what you get.

Pipe down Mr. Griffith.  You're Canadian..  And you died in Mexico. 

but damn if I don't miss you every single year. 

[Incredulity 11686]

12 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

Fuck man, I disagree with every single one of those. Been to nine of them. To each their own. 

He is completely full of shit

[ztejas 43741]

13 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

Fuck man, I disagree with every single one of those. Been to nine of them. To each their own. 

I mean I'm not going to quibble with Norway vs. America but you can't just sneak Uruguay in there like that. C'mon.

[Deej 77165]

 

[Incredulity 11686]

21 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 

We wouldn’t let her brown ass across the border. Unless, of course, she was a model already fucking a rich American.



Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

 

Then go apply for citizenship at any of them. 

 

 

 

 

We know.  
 

You wont.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Incredulity

[fattyflattie 4639]

20 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 

We wouldn’t let her brown ass across the border. Unless, of course, she was a model already fucking a rich American.



Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

 

If “we” is me, she’s moving her old fine ass to the top of the list.  
 

Also, for a guy with a bunch of race issues/hang ups, you picked one helluva list. Talk about some countries that arent down with brown holy shit.  

[DCA_HORN 725]

Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

So small homogeneous countries that frown on letting brown people in?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

8 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I mean I'm not going to quibble with Norway vs. America but you can't just sneak Uruguay in there like that. C'mon.

True on both counts, and their   populations fit in one state here. Small systems, easy to manage, regulate, maintain standards.

[MaybeACoordinator 8350]

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Your first bold statement -- actually true to some degree for many of us.  My mother was a child of abusive parents, was on gov't assistance.  My dad went to college solely because he had a teacher in his little border town who convinced some kids that yes, they could do this thing.  BUT.....I do want you to look back at timeframe.  My parents, and you and me, we're products of a time when college etc. was much more affordable and accessible.  Which gets to the second bolded statement....

Which is true.  And that's a key issue.  My dad, a nobody from a TX border town, was able to get a degree from a first class university for pennies.  As was I.  My kids....are not.  College is much pricier and less accessible these days (as just one example of the ladder being pulled up and made harder).  It's not IMPOSSIBLE....but it's harder.  The same kid who would have graduated from UT in 1990 with no debt now graduates with $50k or more in debt, having worked the same part-time job, etc.  That puts him behind from the beginning.

Your last bolded statement is the foundation of my entire point.  We're still a good place to pursue opportunity - we're not a hellscape.  But we're not the clearly exceptional place we once were.  And other places have come far.  For example, I would almost certainly NOT have become a barrister in the UK in the early 1990s -- the structure was still too class-based, and not merit-based, for me to have had a chance.  But that's one way that the UK has actually made progress -- today, a guy like me actually would have a decent shot at doing so.  They UK has made some progress at breaking through old class barriers (not nearly enough, mind you -- the UK classist mentality still disgusts me, and is still way too prevalent in many facets of their society).

We had a run as an exceptional country.  Other comparable nations had to play catch-up (mostly as a result of WWII).  We rested on our laurels while they played catch-up....and now, we're a lot more evenly matched.  We can and should do better.

Not sure about that. It had already softened some when I lived over there 1992-95....The BBC did away with only allowing "acceptable" accents on their airwaves, to a degree. You can now have a soft Northern accent, but not some ridic Scouse gabble or Geordie whirr and read the news. You can have those accents on arts programming and whatnot, though. 

My ex is deep working class Brit. Her first home in Preston, a shitty town in Lancashire whose heyday was 1885 or so, had no indoor toilet. Her mom has worked in factories most of her life and her dad took what jobs he could -- in good years, he would "work away" in West Germany or Saudi or the UAE. Half the men in northern England did that in the 1980s; for some reason, that's no longer an option. I think Indians have taken their place in Saudi, maybe Turks or eastern Euros in Germany. Anyway, one of her first cousins (from a very similar family) got plucked out of this muck and was given a full ride to Oxford, and is now a prize-winning author, and there are many, many more stories like that. 

If you do well on your exams nowadays, you can escape. You will have to endure a lifetime of not-so-microagressions from the old guard, but your kids will have it better than you did, and their kids, the same. At some point in time, even the oldest families have peasants in their background, and those old families totter and fall and are replenished with new blood all along the way.   

That said the ex hates going back over there because she is treated like crap in a way that just doesn't happen here. She was the first in her immediate family to graduate from college and has gone from teacher to HISD administrator. None of that means shit to the toffs in England and it drives her nuts, as it should. But had she duplicated those feats over there, she would be treated with a bit more respect. 

[MaybeACoordinator 8350]

3 minutes ago, longhornmatt said:

This.  Some of those are laughable given in the same post he laments  America being hostile to different ethnicities.   Others are “Yeah, it’d be nice if you’re already loaded and don’t need to work or concern yourself with the 60% effective tax rate” - i.e., anyone who can afford a Swiss chateau can be comfortable anywhere and is just choosing what scenery or food they like most when deciding where to park their rich ass.

European countries have more relaxed work-life balance than America, more history and better sights/architecture.  Some are friendlier cultures, and some are even more remote.  I truly believe most of the appeal for Americans (in most cases, not all) is ultimately touristic rather than really being more acclimated to live there than in America.  The real things that can be appealing are the different work-life balance and universal health care, but the average person has way less career opportunity, way less stuff and way less space as the trade offs.   You have to truly enjoy a simple life and a walk and a coffee, which Americans tell themselves they would in theory because we think we’re supposed to feel that way.  But Americans ultimately like having stuff and get bored easily.

Excluding Europe, Canada and Australia, every other country is so unlike America that I strongly believe most Americans wouldn’t really prefer living in those places.  Many Japanese schools still expel kids if they curl their hair or wear it in a color other than black.  And Japan would be one of the least “foreign” lifestyles out of the remaining countries.  The cultural melting pot and individualism aren’t things in much of the rest of the world, and trying to deal with that would be disastrous for most Americans.
 

WTF? Out of all the countries in the "first world," it is still one of the most "alien." I do agree with your larger point though. Other exceptions to Europe, Canada and Australia would be NZ, certain parts of South Africa (Cape Town/Jo'burg), Israel, Singapore, certain parts of MX/Costa Rica/Panama/Belize, and big cities in most South American countries. 

 

[Deej 77165]

48 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 

We wouldn’t let her brown ass across the border. Unless, of course, she was a model already fucking a rich American.



Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

 

New Zealand. Lulz. Just try to immigrate there. 

I have a friend who married a Kiwi and they still won't let him in unless he proves he has enough money. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Deej

[EuroHorn 3276]

 

[RDCanecutter 26550]

1 hour ago, lmao said:

What other countries would better to raise a family?

Mexico would be a great place to raise kids. Or at least produce kids. Or have lots of sex. Girls, pretty girls, will just walk up to you and spill a drink on you so they can start a conversation and hang out with you. At least, I think they were girls.

 

I don't get the England hate. I mean, it's no France, but bless their hearts, they try.

[Parliament 14368]

I was gonna neg the OP for starting a political thread in Bada Bing, but this thing has gone better than I expected.  Still though.  Brother you need to start these threads in the CR.

America is NOT a toxic place, and if it's "one of the most toxic places you've been..." then you need to visit more places.  The American people do so much good for the rest of the World.  More than everyone else?  Maybe.  Dunno.  But we as a group are a generally good people.

Now if you equate the American NATION with the American government you have a solid point.  I still disagree with you, but I follow your logic.

Lastly;  BT says we aren't as awesome as we used to be.  Perhaps.  But perhaps it's relative.  Have we fallen back in our awesomeness, or is the rest of the World simply catching up.  Call me naive, but I think they're catching up, and that's a good thing.

[staboner 5015]

lulz this thread is so 2001. 

[blacklab 11994]

5 minutes ago, Parliament said:

I was gonna neg the OP for starting a political thread in Bada Bing, but this thing has gone better than I expected.  Still though.  Brother you need to start these threads in the CR.

I split it off the private school thread

[blacklab 11994]

1 minute ago, staboner said:

lulz this thread is so 2001. 

Which do you like better Oz or the US?

Are you moving back or staying there?

[Telegraph_it 3370]

I would live in Australia or Argentina if I could not live in the US.

Argentina will always be my favorite because that’s where I learned about the uses for Bitcoin and how people down there used it to avoid the currency manipulation by their government. Good investment advice. 
 

[Brothahorn 10088]

3 minutes ago, Telegraph_it said:

I would live in Australia or Argentina if I could not live in the US.

Argentina will always be my favorite because that’s where I learned about the uses for Bitcoin and how people down there used it to avoid the currency manipulation by their government. Good investment advice. 
 

So you're a Nazi in real life?

[Armybrat 40988]

1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

Mexico would be a great place to raise kids. Or at least produce kids. Or have lots of sex. Girls, pretty girls, will just walk up to you and spill a drink on you so they can start a conversation and hang out with you. At least, I think they were girls.

 

I don't get the England hate. I mean, it's no France, but bless their hearts, they try.

They eat bland beans for breakfast for gawd’s sake!

[washparkhorn 9939]

1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

I don't get the England hate. I mean, it's no France, but bless their hearts, they try.

It's not us; it's them - after they were relegated to the minors.

 

[Telegraph_it 3370]

4 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

So you're a Nazi in real life?

If enjoying Malbec, bife de lomo, and Argentine women makes one a nazi, then no, still not one. 
 

Back in 2013-14 you could buy BTC for under $10 in Argentina at one point. Meet a walking BTC ATM, hand over US dollars, have BTC transferred to your wallet. 

[DCA_HORN 725]

So you're a Nazi in real life?

No no. To keep it within briskets rules only Uruguay and Germany count. If you want to live in Argentina you only have to like hot wimmenz, great wine, and the tenderest steaks. At a ridiculously cheap price.

[Sawbonz 27777]

2 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

 

We wouldn’t let her brown ass across the border. Unless, of course, she was a model already fucking a rich American.



Canada, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Uruguay, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand....to start, and I’ve got more.

 

None of them would let you immigrate

[CHIEF 5097]

Mrs. CHIEF always had a good analogy. It went like this, "I can say my sister is fat, because she is family, and she is fat. But if you say my sister is fat, I'll beat your ass". She is sometimes a Sage.

 

CHIEF

[StruggleBus 3922]

4 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

None of them would let you immigrate

Yeah, but it he could, everything would be totally better there

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

16 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

Yeah, but it he could, everything would be totally better there

Except for the fact he'd begin hating the perceived racism inherent in the system....

[The Dog 44180]

Re: COVID vaccines. Europe is fucked right now. They fucked the goat hard.

And good luck getting the shot in Canada - they’ve only administered at least one dose to a whopping 8% of their population. The gawd awful USA? 33%.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210316&instance_id=28100&nl=the-morning&regi_id=127595523&segment_id=53490&te=1&user_id=1c18ff40e7ac928484b54c7d01a2f342

[Incredulity 11686]

23 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

Mrs. CHIEF always had a good analogy. It went like this, "I can say my sister is fat, because she is family, and she is fat. But if you say my sister is fat, I'll beat your ass". She is sometimes a Sage.

 

CHIEF

[washparkhorn 9939]

 

[workswithseed 2139]

Brisket did call Texas a failed state.

[troph 24924]

Late to this party.  I think I could be the poster child for the American dream. Child of a civil servant / military dad and teacher mom, they both got their degrees later in life. We were lower middle class, sometimes food insecure even. Moved a lot but mostly because rent wasn’t paid or the landlord wanted to sell the place. Parents didn’t buy their first home until I was 11 years old.  And that first one they lost to the bank. They didn’t buy the house my mom lives in now until I was 13.
 

I went to college, law school, got the big time offer at a prestigious law firm and off the races. But I had the entrepreneur bug, now on my 7th business and my own law practice, I’ve won some, lost some. Had a sizable nest egg in 2007 but lost it all, recovered way beyond that now.  Trajectory is up, and I’ve got 20-30 more years to figure it out.

 

Not only that but I’m doing this as a trans woman who makes it happen without any harm or loss because I’m different.  That’s insane.  Shit like that doesn’t happen in a shithole country.  There are zero exceptions to jail, death or poverty for women like me in shithole countries. 

The US is still the single best country to get rich in, the problem is folks don’t learn the rules of the rich. Jobs are a part of it like education but you’ve got to move past both soon after becoming an adult and you have to take risk, you have to take lose it all risks. That’s the only way it happens.  But we have a system to allow you to recover if you lose it all. I was days away from filing bankruptcy in 2010 but didn’t - I didn’t because I snagged an equity deal that bankruptcy would take and I bet it would far out pay the debts I’d have to work out from under. For 5+ years I made great money but felt broke paying off old debts for companies long gone. It hurt. Bad. But it paid off eventually. 
 

knowing how to take risks, how to evaluate them, how to mitigate unnecessary risk and how to build a business are skills.  We can dream about selling a company one day but even that has a skill to it.  Very few folks learn this stuff but it’s the recipe for the American dream and why the US is and will be for the foreseeable future the place to start a company. 
 

now there are tons of areas we need improvement for those who can’t or won’t take these risks. I’ll be the first to say education, healthcare, equality and the list goes on - all areas that need significant help, but the US is the best sandbox for entrepreneurship and the next closest isn't in the same ballpark. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by troph

[staboner 5015]

1 hour ago, blacklab said:

Which do you like better Oz or the US?

Are you moving back or staying there?

probably staying at least a few more years for various reasons. 

(to the over simplified spirit of this thread) Oz is just a bit less toxic than modern day America, I would agree with that statement. Just less anxiety, less anger, and just less of a feeling there are generational problems just not getting solved. Whereas in America things feel stuck and artifically angry. It most definitely shows here in how people interact with each other, how relaxed they are, how they are happy to be more to themselves (versus getting outraged or angry at others). 

just some passing thoughts. Plenty of negatives here too of course. As with anything. 

[Captainant 27970]

15 minutes ago, workswithseed said:

Brisket did call Texas a failed state.

A failed state is a political body that has disintegrated to a point where basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly (see also fragile state and state collapse).

Signs

Common indicators include a state whose central government is so weak or ineffective that it has little practical control over much of its territory; non-provision of public services; widespread corruption and criminality; refugees and involuntary movement of populations; and sharp economic decline.

....

....

We don't cover all the bases, but just last month our entire state lost public utilities due to a complete lack of preparation or planning. We also have our fucking attorney general under multiple felony indictments for self dealing and corruption. 

So, he's not exactly wrong my dude

[MNLonghornFUKM 8916]

Re: COVID vaccines. Europe is fucked right now. They fucked the goat hard.

And good luck getting the shot in Canada - they’ve only administered at least one dose to a whopping 8% of their population. The gawd awful USA? 33%.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20210316&instance_id=28100&nl=the-morning&regi_id=127595523&segment_id=53490&te=1&user_id=1c18ff40e7ac928484b54c7d01a2f342

Fuck em. Merica

[GringoSalado 1652]

2 hours ago, StruggleBus said:

Yeah, but it he could, everything would be totally better there

 

[AeroHorn 781]

As a foreign "immigrant" (I put immigrant in quotes because I was just applying for graduate schools in a place known for good graduate schools, and more importantly, was getting paid in the process; never considered myself an immigrant because I felt, maybe naively, that I belonged equally here), I can unequivocally state that there are many things that make US an envy of the world, and why people like me want to come to US. The basic societal rules are the most important, and these are what make US great. The fact that there is, for the most part, essential equality in buying and selling, moving and settling, working and playing, being treated about the same regardless of how you look or talk, form own cultural/religious circles, shout on streets and stand for elections, etc. is very very very important. Even in the smallest of towns, there is essential camaraderie after a brief hesitation by the majority of people. There is relatively lot less exclusivity and exclusion. Only in US can you be very different, form your own circle of difference, and everyone will just let you be. For example, even though my ancestors have been in southern India for thousands of years, if I say or write a text that the government thinks is critical of them, they will throw my Muslim ass in jail without any recourse. 

Even the most liberal of western European countries do not tolerate, let alone celebrate diversity as US does, except of those "diverse" aspects that they have decided are part of their identity. Then they are not really diverse, is it? No country gives the same platform to so much diversity as this country. Of course, this country has the slavery history that it weaned out from in fits and starts, and continues to marginalize the Black community systematically. As an "immigrant", I owe my life experience in the US to the sacrifices of the Black community. They have paid and continue to pay a heavy price so that we can be doctors and CEOs.

I get Brisket's points, but his observations are not unique to US, but more a state of the world. Show me a place where intolerance, authoritarianism and inequity isn't on the rise. Whether the rich (US, east/west Europe, Australia, Israel), middle (Turkey, Saudi, Brazil, China, Russia), poor (India, Iran, Egypt) or insignificant (Myanmar, Sri Lanka, most of the Arab countries, central Asian *stans, Balkans, central America, sub-Saharan Africa), the world is hurtling towards organized fleecing and populist vigilantism. Ironically, the only country that is slightly limping in the other direction is Pakistan. Their PM is a good guy, but of course all the surrounding goons (Modi, MBS, Netanyahu) hate him. If he cannot survive for long, they will fall back to military rule.

tl;dr: I agree with Brisket's gloom, but it is worldwide, and US is still the best of the lot.

[Buzzrock 15026]

Sounds like Brisket just wants to make America great again.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

On 3/15/2021 at 1:19 PM, slorch said:

Weird.  Most everyone's wants to come here

That is, of course, a complete lie. Most everyone is content living their lives where they reside.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

That is, of course, a complete lie. Most everyone is content living their lives where they reside.

Except you doom and gloomers.  Y'all never content.

[deadshank 24653]

Brisket fatigue is real.