A Boring Dystopia

But I think we can criticize our government without acting like we live in a 3rd world country. America is among the highest quality of life for the average citizen. Imagine how we must sound to someone in an actual 3rd world country. Like a BMW driving trust fund kid complaining that daddy is a billionaire and we're only millionaires. I agree that policies here affect the rest of the world. So we should do everything in our power to make this place better. But it's disingenuous to act like we don't still have a lot of opportunities.

It also sucks to live in the US. A lot of Americans repeat the same "best country on Earth" line without ever having left or only having been out of country as a soldier. You know what other countries make children do some kind of allegiance pledge? North Korea... China has something similar. Good luck naming another one. Oh yeah, and that salute? Go google the "Bellamy Salute." My dad was forced to do that shit in the 50's like they were still doing that shit after the Nazis lost the war.

I left after I got shot by a fascist terrorist for protesting a Nazi collaborating transphobe. A few months before I left there was a shoot out with the cops across the street. I lived in the nice neighborhood. The US is fucked. If you're a cis white man, you still have opportunities. If you're not, you probably live in fear every day. The average income is higher than most of the world, but the income disparity is like the developing world. There are massive houseless camps because rents keep going up. Fascists regularly talk about rounding up houseless people and murdering them.

The US is rapidly becoming like Brazil or Costa Rica, where rich people drive around in armored SUVs and poor people get run over by those SUVs and shot. Some people still have opportunities, but a lot of people are legitimately fleeing for their lives and should be accepted as refugees. The fact that countries issue travel warnings for their citizens to avoid parts of the US should give you a hint that things are not OK. And migration among middle and upper class folks is reversing. Europeans and Canadians used to want to come to the US, now they're going back and Americans are moving out.

The American dream is dead for most people. It's been dead for almost everyone born after gen X for a long time. People used to come to the US for a better life, now they're leaving it. The only people who want to be in the US are people escaping climate crisis and political instability (often created by the US), people who are well enough off to take advantage of the collapse, and people who still believe the propaganda.

I don't expect the US to still exist in 20 or maybe even 10 years. This is just the beginning. I just wish those who can't escape didn't have to suffer though what's happening now.

The Canadian government is so nice but fucking complicit in some bullshit. Sure our society isn't as fucked as the US but we shouldn't be free from criticism either. Our track record on indigenous issues is shameful.

Yeah, buy a bullet proof vest if you're staying. I decided to stay and fight after Trump got elected and I got shot. A lot of people got shot, some for just being brown or queer. They will bring the violence to you and if you try to stop them from hurting other people, they will try to kill you. That's their scam. It's always been abuse others and claim the victim, all the way back to Hitler.

I wish you the best of luck. The Pacific Northwest would be a wonderful place if it wasn't part of the US. It was incredibly hard to leave, but there's absolutely no way I could stay. I hope you win the fight. I'd love to come back some day if it's ever worth coming back to.

That's an extremely wild take, and one I'm surprised to see voted highly.

While I don't think America is a bad place to live, you definitely don't have the best reputation across the world when it comes to your standard of living. You have to pay obscene amounts for healthcare, your food safety standards are below other countries, your school system is known not for education but for target practice, you have religious nutjobs everywhere, you worship a constitution that basically every other country has, and you have a huge wealth divide.

The latter is why immigration numbers are high. America is a very hard country to migrate to, but people will try because for many you can earn enough in a few years in the US to retire in your home country.

Or there is valid criticism of the US and Texas. Source born and raised in the lone star.

Ah, so it must be the American majority calling for nuking the USA on hexbear pages. Makes perfect sense.