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I know many American expats here in Berlin in the high-tech and academic worlds. Many say that the current political climate in the US greased the skids for the
by m_fayer 9y ago
I know many American expats here in Berlin in the high-tech and academic worlds. Many say that the current political climate in the US greased the skids for their expatriation. No one says that the impetus was only the political situation, or that they will never return, but rather that it's a major factor in reducing the resistance to expatriation. For many, even those who aren't particularly partisan, the US political situation has become a source of constant low-level anxiety at best, and that generates a kind of exhaustion that makes it easy to throw up your hands and think "to hell with all this."
- gozur88 9y agoI don't see how that's rational after what happened in Hamburg last month.
- tormeh 9y agoThere were 15 school shootings in the US last year, according to Wikipedia. Shure, Germany has revolutionary communists, anarchists and néonazis, but the US is a wild place too. I'm sure this image has been distorted by Hollywood et al., but I have the impression that the US is a particularly violent place, at least when compared to Western countries of similar development.
- dsfyu404ed 9y ago>but I have the impression that the US is a particularly violent place, at least when compared to Western countries of similar development. That impression is right and wrong. Violent crime is more common in Europe but murder is more common in the US Violent crime in the US (murder included) is mostly confined to drug trafficking and the downstream crime. Basically unless you or your neighbors associate with those kinds of people who derive their income from illegal drugs you're slightly less likely to encounter violent crime in the US. I'm summarizing a paper I bookmarked awhile back. I'll try and find the link.
- snoue798rcs 9y agoThe US is not a particularly violent place for the majority of people in it. There are certainly parts of it that are, but chances are someone reading hacker news would never end up in those parts. I've lived in Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, even Flint, Michigan and have even been to some of the less nice parts of those areas. I've never been mugged or beat up or even threatened really. I've had my car broken into once or twice in 50 years, but I was not in or near it at the time. The image Hollywood projects is extremely distorted. I've even known lots of people who owned or really loved guns, and none of them has ever done anything violent with them as far as I know.
- m_fayer 9y agoThe anxiety isn't rooted in simple personal safety. It's caused by the feeling that the state is erratic and unstable, and one can expect negligence and malice from all corners big and small at any time.