4 ms·

I’ve been saying for a long time that the U.S. likes to treat all problems as if they just need money, when in reality a huge portion of our societal ills are c

I’ve been saying for a long time that the U.S. likes to treat all problems as if they just need money, when in reality a huge portion of our societal ills are cultural and thus “free.” Worse, most often money won’t actually solve them at all and just wastes everyone’s treasure and time. No one wants an honest debate or meaningful change, nor does it seem possible when everyone just wants to pick a team and parrot the teams opinions. Japan has many good and bad things about it. There is no utopia, and I’d rather live in the U.S., but I wish we had a bigger mix of harmony as a cultural North Star. Covid demonstrated to me over the past 3 years significant weaknesses of a individualist culture.

anigbrowl 4y ago
I think it's a cultural hangover from getting a thinly populated continent for free at a stage in the civilizational game when you have all the technology to settle and develop it, but still early enough to feel like it's infinite in extent and that there's enough for anyone who wants it. An interesting comparison is Saudi Arabia, which liberated itself from external rule just a few years prior to the discovery of its vast oil reserves (and just a few years after the realization that oil would fuel industry for the century to come).