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I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how you can say that with a straight face. I don't think living a life that "isn't so bad" is good enough for

I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how you can say that with a straight face. I don't think living a life that "isn't so bad" is good enough for the caliber of people that visit HN. And the fact that your country has "sane" and presumably "insane" political areas is creepy :(

michaelochurch 13y ago
I'm an American. There are some ways in which I like living here. Would I come here if I were a Swede? Hell no, except for a $300k+ job in banking or the Valley, and only then knowing that I could get on a plane and leave if I got sick. (You can get 100-200k in the EU; at the 300k level, the jobs start getting rarer in the EU relative to the US, which is why Wall Street gets a surprising amount of French, German, and Italian talent-- if probably not as much as The City.) If you look at the country in totality and taking into account its full history and what it has overcome, and how rapidly it can change itself when needed, the US is a great country. I don't mean to imply that I think it's better than others (I wouldn't begin to be competent in that comparison) and its history is all kinds of fucked up (genocide of native people, slavery, internment of Japanese-Americans) but there's a lot to be proud of, too. Would I live here if I were born European? Barring an unusually good job offer that couldn't be found elsewhere, no. And any patriotic pride I might be inclined to have as an American (and I don't have much, because this country is full of assholes, too) I would just as much have if I were born elsewhere. Patriotic pride is a weird thing. I'm from rural PA and it makes me smile every time I meet a successful person with a '717' area code, and I definitely take pride in my rivers and mountains (hills by West Coast standards) but I know there's no rational reason for it; people from central PA aren't superior to people from anywhere else in any way.
- pionar 13y ago
  I don't get all the apologies in this thread. The US is a great country! Has its warts, but I've lived in Europe, and I've been to Australia, and I wouldn't live anywhere else. It's the maverick, can-do entrepreneurial spirit that's more prevalent among Americans and the rich cultural diversity that comes with being a melting pot that I love about this country. Outside of a few bad spots in a few cities, it's one of the safest places in the world to live. Yeah, our history is kinda fucked up, but whose isn't? Bad people do bad things. Name one country in the world that doesn't have fucked up moments in their history. I just don't understand all the pessimism and self-hate that Americans seem to have lately.
  - digisign 13y ago
    It's because of the cancer I like to call the US government, not to mention corporate media which make a profit obfuscating the process of national theft. Everyone is angry but few know why.
  - pionar 13y ago
    I'm replying to digisign - I would argue that it's the media that's stirring that anger up and the fact that partisan hacks turn every small thing into an OUTRAGE more than everything truly being outrageous.
    - digisign 13y ago
      Thats what I mean by "obfuscating...", i.e. distracting.
bane 13y ago
Europe, and hell, the rest of world, have similar sane and insane political areas if I might remind you. Lots of the politics, especially the race/culture/nationalism politics, in Europe shock most Americans.

michaelochurch 13y ago

I'm an American. There are some ways in which I like living here. Would I come here if I were a Swede? Hell no, except for a $300k+ job in banking or the Valley, and only then knowing that I could get on a plane and leave if I got sick. (You can get 100-200k in the EU; at the 300k level, the jobs start getting rarer in the EU relative to the US, which is why Wall Street gets a surprising amount of French, German, and Italian talent-- if probably not as much as The City.) If you look at the country in totality and taking into account its full history and what it has overcome, and how rapidly it can change itself when needed, the US is a great country. I don't mean to imply that I think it's better than others (I wouldn't begin to be competent in that comparison) and its history is all kinds of fucked up (genocide of native people, slavery, internment of Japanese-Americans) but there's a lot to be proud of, too. Would I live here if I were born European? Barring an unusually good job offer that couldn't be found elsewhere, no. And any patriotic pride I might be inclined to have as an American (and I don't have much, because this country is full of assholes, too) I would just as much have if I were born elsewhere. Patriotic pride is a weird thing. I'm from rural PA and it makes me smile every time I meet a successful person with a '717' area code, and I definitely take pride in my rivers and mountains (hills by West Coast standards) but I know there's no rational reason for it; people from central PA aren't superior to people from anywhere else in any way.

pionar 13y ago
I don't get all the apologies in this thread. The US is a great country! Has its warts, but I've lived in Europe, and I've been to Australia, and I wouldn't live anywhere else. It's the maverick, can-do entrepreneurial spirit that's more prevalent among Americans and the rich cultural diversity that comes with being a melting pot that I love about this country. Outside of a few bad spots in a few cities, it's one of the safest places in the world to live. Yeah, our history is kinda fucked up, but whose isn't? Bad people do bad things. Name one country in the world that doesn't have fucked up moments in their history. I just don't understand all the pessimism and self-hate that Americans seem to have lately.
- digisign 13y ago
  It's because of the cancer I like to call the US government, not to mention corporate media which make a profit obfuscating the process of national theft. Everyone is angry but few know why.
- pionar 13y ago
  I'm replying to digisign - I would argue that it's the media that's stirring that anger up and the fact that partisan hacks turn every small thing into an OUTRAGE more than everything truly being outrageous.
  - digisign 13y ago
    Thats what I mean by "obfuscating...", i.e. distracting.

bane 13y ago

Europe, and hell, the rest of world, have similar sane and insane political areas if I might remind you. Lots of the politics, especially the race/culture/nationalism politics, in Europe shock most Americans.