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USA believes it's better than everyone else, it's very inward-looking. It's been quite striking.
by quantified 1y ago
USA believes it's better than everyone else, it's very inward-looking. It's been quite striking.
- bdamm 1y agoIt really is. I keep wondering when some tiny bit of humility will show up, but it is increasingly like asking Russians to have some humility. Not likely, and sometimes, not possible.
- quantified 1y agoThere is too much religion in the states for the people to be humble.
- deepsun 1y agoYep. As an american I keep giving WTFs every time media discuss potential solutions to problems without even considering how other places solved them. It's like other countries don't exist, or hide their secrets. Not just broadband, but same with healthcare, homelessness, gerrymandering etc. Just copy-paste little by little.
- socalgal2 1y agoAs an HN viewer I keep giving WTFs every time HNers discuss potential solutions to problems without even considering how other places solved them. It's not just an american media problem. Plenty of people here calling for municipal broadband ignoring what worked in other countries.
- deburo 1y agoI was thinking the same thing until I learned about the high speed train plans California had (and still have?) and just how much of a disaster it is. It’s a red tape issue and nobody at the policy level seems to care to fix it.
- rsynnott 1y agoAmerican exceptionalism is odd, in that sometimes it is "we are better than everyone else", but sometimes it is "we can't have the nice things that all other rich countries have, because [nonsense reason]". A popular one is 'density', and, okay, maybe this is somewhat true if you're talking about, say, Wyoming (though I think not as true as people often think), but California, for instance, has an only slightly lower population density than _France_, and at that point "we can't have proper transport/telecoms/whatever because density" is just an excuse, and not a convincing one.
- vondur 1y agoThere are vast parts of California that are pretty much empty. However, the lack of competition in broadband at the consumer level does suck.
- rsynnott 1y agoI mean, same goes for France, tho.
- genewitch 1y agocalifornia is ~160,000mi^2 and france is ~244,000mi^2 (423 megameters squared, 632 megameters squared, metric), the population density, respectively, is 251/mi^2 and 281/mi^2. You're comparing an entire country to a single state (2% of the US states, in fact.) I like to point stuff like this out whenever someone compares an entire EU country to some US state. note: i edited the france density, as i did accidentally transcribe the wrong value. France is slightly denser per sqkm.
- gotoeleven 1y agoSorry can't hear you over my air conditioner.