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You think that sensationalist view reflects reality for a vast majority of Americans? I've lived here for decades in 15 different states. I've been poor. I've

You think that sensationalist view reflects reality for a vast majority of Americans? I've lived here for decades in 15 different states. I've been poor. I've been middle class. I've been friends with the "elite". I've lived in big cities and small towns. I've never seen a car jacking. I've never seen an armed guard assigned to a gated community. I've never seen a mugging. I'm not sure I've ever witnessed a crime beyond traffic violations. I'm sure they exist. But to think they are common from watching YouTube?

spiderfarmer 10y ago
I've been to the states for three weeks, driving from cheap motel to cheap motel. As you say, most of the US is just fine. But even in my three weeks I have seen lots of homeless people at busstops and intersections. I've heard distant gunshots in the (very) cheap motel in LA, where the police sirens were so common that I mistakenly thought that we were really close to a police station. I saw so many people who were dangerously obese that I can't blame the people who repeat the "FAT MURICANS" meme. Some major roads were riddled with potholes and looked nothing like the images we saw in movies that supposedly play in LA. Let's just say the image I had beforehand (mostly instilled by Hollywood movies) was exactly the opposite.
- wil421 10y ago
  I was in Italy for 2 weeks and saw more homeless people and beggars than I see on a regular bases in the US. I also saw huge camps with people living out of tents on the Tiber in Rome and several camps of gypses living out of cars and RVs. Its all relative. There were just as many fat Germans or Brits as fat Americans touring. The Italians were mostly slim. The cobblestone streets in Rome and Florence had plenty of holes. You obviously for some reason don't like Americans. The biggest difference I saw was there was almost no opportunity in Italy. Young locals with college degrees bartending or waiting tables for 8-9 euros an hour because they can't get a job (same thing happens in America but the locals I spoke to had desirable degrees). I've been to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and Panama and heard sirens and gun violence in most of those places despite guns being illegal. Been to London and Scotland and heard ambulances at night in the big cities. It's all realitive but the one thing I've seen in America is more opportunity.
- jjnoakes 10y ago
  You've gone from armed guards in gated communities all over America to homeless people in the poor parts of cities and fat people? Moving the goal posts a LOT, aren't we?
- theandrewbailey 10y ago
  > I saw so many people who were dangerously obese that I can't blame the people who repeat the "FAT MURICANS" meme. It's not a meme. It's reality. -A fat (but not obese) American

spiderfarmer 10y ago

I've been to the states for three weeks, driving from cheap motel to cheap motel. As you say, most of the US is just fine. But even in my three weeks I have seen lots of homeless people at busstops and intersections. I've heard distant gunshots in the (very) cheap motel in LA, where the police sirens were so common that I mistakenly thought that we were really close to a police station. I saw so many people who were dangerously obese that I can't blame the people who repeat the "FAT MURICANS" meme. Some major roads were riddled with potholes and looked nothing like the images we saw in movies that supposedly play in LA. Let's just say the image I had beforehand (mostly instilled by Hollywood movies) was exactly the opposite.

wil421 10y ago
I was in Italy for 2 weeks and saw more homeless people and beggars than I see on a regular bases in the US. I also saw huge camps with people living out of tents on the Tiber in Rome and several camps of gypses living out of cars and RVs. Its all relative. There were just as many fat Germans or Brits as fat Americans touring. The Italians were mostly slim. The cobblestone streets in Rome and Florence had plenty of holes. You obviously for some reason don't like Americans. The biggest difference I saw was there was almost no opportunity in Italy. Young locals with college degrees bartending or waiting tables for 8-9 euros an hour because they can't get a job (same thing happens in America but the locals I spoke to had desirable degrees). I've been to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and Panama and heard sirens and gun violence in most of those places despite guns being illegal. Been to London and Scotland and heard ambulances at night in the big cities. It's all realitive but the one thing I've seen in America is more opportunity.
jjnoakes 10y ago
You've gone from armed guards in gated communities all over America to homeless people in the poor parts of cities and fat people? Moving the goal posts a LOT, aren't we?
theandrewbailey 10y ago
> I saw so many people who were dangerously obese that I can't blame the people who repeat the "FAT MURICANS" meme. It's not a meme. It's reality. -A fat (but not obese) American