4 ms·

The States felt like an old place, .. I always felt that the States was "tatty", more "run down" than old. Public places were considered to 'belong to nobody',

The States felt like an old place, .. I always felt that the States was "tatty", more "run down" than old. Public places were considered to 'belong to nobody', so were often dirty or defaced because nobody took pride in them. Subway trains were covered in graffiti. In many countries overseas, public places are always well looked-after because they 'belonged to all of us' rather than 'belonged to nobody'. It's just a difference in national cultures.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
dimitar 3y ago
Yet in many places in Europe public spaces are also run down.
- lostlogin 3y ago
  Many look like they were already run down 500+ years ago. That adds a level of sophistication.
- lmm 3y ago
  Europe is not a single entity. There are definitely tired-feeling parts of Europe. What I've seen of the US felt like Ireland or the non-tourist parts of Poland to me.
baud147258 3y ago
> public places are always well looked-after because they 'belonged to all of us' Or mostly the local govs have the will and means to look after them. I don't really think people's attitudes regarding public places is that different in Europe compared to the US
- bongodongobob 3y ago
  I agree. For way to many people in the US "muh taxes" is their single voting issue and they wonder why infra is crumbling. Obviously you don't want to be overtaxed but people will vote for the guy who wants to reduce school funding so their property taxes go down 0.1%. It's insane.
grecy 3y ago
> I always felt that the States was "tatty", more "run down" than old Driving in and around the freeways in New York a foreign friend exclaimed "It's like everything is half finished". I've never been able to get that out of my head.