6mo ago

Positive things about living in the US

Free water at restaurants
Free access to bathrooms in public areas
National parks
???

95 comments

Not being subject to US foreign policy.
- Mfw i'm not subject to u.s. foreign policy:
  
  Mfw i'm subject to u.s. domestic policy

It's very pretty. Like there are truly, wonderously beautiful places in the us. There's genuine wilderness. Not much, but there's some. The people can be very cool. There's a lot of good food.
- I drove through the Rockies a couple years ago (California -> Nevada -> Utah -> Colorado) and it was breathtaking. Every hour the terrain changed shape and color into something more beautiful. I never saw anything like it in the Bible Belt where I grew up. Literally all I did was drive on the interstate to get to my destination, yet it felt like a vacation.
  
  It's a gorgeous drive. You're in the desert the whole time, but I never knew there were so many kinds of desert.

If you enjoy sugar than oh boy are we the country for you
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_tea
  I hope sweet tea is as horrifying to non-Americans as it is to me.
  
  Stop the sweet tea bigotry !
  
  So it's just iced tea with a fuck load of sugar in it? Why?
  
  You've gotta try it though. Make some black tea. Pretty dark. While it's hot put like two spoonfuls of sugar in it. Then put some ice in it until it's cool. It's very good with lemon too
  It sounds really unhealthy and that's because it is. But damn it is good

the free access to public bathrooms is increasingly less true for parts of some cities that are trying to be hostile to the unhoused population.
lots of locked bathrooms and "CUSTOMERS ONLY" crap. very exciting stuff to experience if you've gotta go while walking around in an unfamiliar city.
when people complain about shit and piss on the streets of their city, as far as I'm concerned they are telling on themselves for living in a city that gate keeps extremely basic facilities.
- Having the privilege of running a business should mean having to offer a restroom. Full stop.

Public land. There is so much of it in yankieland and it really is so amazing. However, Native Americans should be in control of all public land as a part of landback.

Diversity, both of people and geography. You can find a much wider spectrum of people (ethnicities, etc.) than in many other countries, and experience almost every biome the planet has to offer with some truly spectacular natural features.
We are, of course, doing our best to get rid of both those positive things.

Ice with drinks without asking
Free flowing treats
The food is amazing bc of the diversity
I would challenge your bathroom claim, they may as well not exist and are disgusting

black american art and music

The level of junk food so much more advanced. I'm vegan, I went to the Northeast ten years ago, and the amount and quality of vegan ice cream, cakes, etc blew me away.
- Burgers

ITT: People listing things that aren't unique to America because they've never left and don't have any point of comparison
- The people saying the US has huge cultural diversity are killing me. The US has terrible cultural diversity for a country of its size. The fact that everyone speaks the same language with little differences between dialects should clue you in on the relative lack of cultural diversity. Mexico has more cultural diversity within it despite being a quarter of the US's size. An actual culturally diverse country would be something like Nigeria, which is culturally three different countries stapled together with hundreds of ethnic groups with their own unique culture and their own language within each of those three subcountries. Nigeria is also a tenth the size of the US.

I'm pretty sure nearly every country has those three to some extent.
???
NYC public metro is pretty cool, maybe it's just because I was raised in NYC but I still think it's a cool thing. Too bad they're going to sell it to some Israeli dumbfuck when Zionism collapses.
- Wait can you elaborate on that last bit
  
  NY Gov Kathy Hochul slashed congestion pricing which cuts Metro Transit Agency funding which will have a ripple effect throughout US's already aging infrastructure. Rightists in NYC have also been creating a moral panic around NYC's subway being unsafe and the cop mayor Adams is upping police presence in the subway dramatically. The only reason you'd continually beat your public infrastructure to death is if you want to privatize it. Who better to gobble up US public infrastructure than the Zionist ruling class whose capital flight is going to happen sooner rather than later?
  Like holy shit they spent billions on the OMNY payment system even though fares were never a real issue, they are ready to sell this dump to the highest bidder.

Honestly despite everything, the US is overall extremely diverse. If you're in a major city you have access to a huge amount of cultural diversity and it's all available to you. You can go to street festivals. You can go to restaurants. You can go to art shows and poetry slams and book readings and movies and music and anything and everything and it's all right around the corner from you if you just go look. It's one of the best parts of the US for sure.

Something I’m old enough to remember… it used to be that it was reasonably affordable to buy a high-mileage used car and just drive it until it couldn’t run anymore, then get another one. That’s why my dad did his whole life. Driving sucks I would infinitely prefer public transport but if you’re gonna make car ownership a requirement to live at least make it cheap.
Then Obama did the Cash for Clunkers program, which absolutely obliterated the cheap used car market and it hasn’t recovered since. It was a not-so-hidden giveaway to the car companies because it put a lot of people into situations where you had to buy a new car, thanks Obama.

indigenous nations
i get to live in a place with bears, wolves and lions
chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy
weed's more legal than in most countries
big enough that you can still disappear into the bushes
legally enshrined firearm worship inadvertently means you can defend yourself against fascists

you can turn right at red lights and stores are open at 11pm
- Right on red definitely kills people
  
  Yeah and it makes cycling/walking more dangerous
- and stores are open at 11pm
  Post covid this is increasingly less the case everywhere I've been.
- Do other places not have right on red?
  
  It's not universal. Europe usually doesn't have it. The UK doesn't have the left on red equivalent. Japan also doesn't permit left on red. South America usually doesn't have it either.
  Mainland China usually has right on red from what I've seen.

I remember that Americans were more upfront and friendly than other countries. I'm unsure if that's still true.
- It depends on the area I think. I've heard from multiple individuals that people are generally assholes on the east coast, one person told me when he visited California he felt like he was in a Disney movie.
  
  It's complicated. People on the east coast move fast and speak their minds. If they're mad at you they'll let you know. But at the same time, they can be very helpful and kind, they're just going to be assholes about it. I used to joke that you've finally adjusted to living in Philly when you can tell the difference between "I am going to stab you and then piss on your grave" fuck you and "hey do you want to come over for dinner and meet my mom" fuck you. It's a very aggressive, frank culture, but not necessarily a cruel one.
  Meanwhile, down south, there's a whole system of intense social violence built around cruel courtesy. Folks will use phrases like "bless your heart" the way we use "Deeply unserious". Then go over to Texas and you tend to get genuinely, weirdly friendly people. Up in the Midwest folks are superficially polite but really extremely cold and distant. In California everyone's friendly but the stereotype is that it's a superficial friendliness that doesn't reach the eyes. This is, of course, all dependent on race, class, gender, and a dozen other factors.
  Folks say there's no culture in the US, but there really is. Deep, complicated cultures with their own norms, problems, joys, dialects. And then you get in to PoC and other minority groups. Like, White Minnesotans have a totally different culture than Hmong Minnesotans, African American Minnesotans, or Somali Minnesotans. There's overlap, but also a huge amount of difference.
  
  Lived and traveled all over the US. CA has the broadest range of behavior in public. Biggest assholes I've ever seen in my life, who will literally mock complete strangers out loud to their face. Then the kindest, most generous, and caring people you'll ever meet standing right next to them. It's like all the jerks kept getting pushed west at the same time the people who they mistreated tried to migrate there to get away from them. Once they reached the west coast they all kinda settled in.
  
  This is absolutely a generalisation, but I notice that East coast people have some of that UK snarkiness and bitter sarcasm, and West coast people do that (often fake) positively.
  
  Were they white? Strangers talk to me way less in the Bay vs when I was in Canada (I'm east Asian)
- this depends on where you go and what you're expecting. The way I've always phrased it is like:
  People in the south are polite, but not nice.
  People in the north are nice, but not polite
  And people in the pacific northwest are somehow both nice and polite
  
  Disagree on PNW lol, Portland and Seattle are some of the most passive aggressive places I've ever been too
  
  Yeah hard disagree on the PNW. The west coast is extremely passive aggressive. They're neither nice nor polite, they're just couching their rage under
  passive aggression.
  
  People up north are not nice from my experience. People in the south are far nicer I think.
- Every american male ive met irl has ranged in personality from arrogant annoying fuckwad to detestable racist piece of putrid shit. Americans of other genders were ok.

People love to shit on the south, but the food is delicious. You'll need a nap afterwards, but it's unlike anything I've had elsewhere in the country.

My city is one of the best places on earth to be trans, as far as being normalized and culturally-supported. The rest of this country is very not, but this oasis is pretty rad.
- ... Mind pming what city?...

Free heavy metal poisoning

In some areas, there is an absence of the liberal poverty and imperialist violence that the US usually exports to other countries.
Also arent ~~most of~~ all those "national parks" on stolen land...
- Buddy the whole country is on stolen land
  
  youre damn right, so ALL those national parks are on stolen land

IME, and surprisingly, the public libraries here are better than other countries

being able to throw poopy toulet paper down the toilet is pretty nice, so that you don't have to see it all piled up in public restrooms whoch can be kinda gross.

Library density is unparalleled.
- You say that but all my American friends report a lack of libraries in their areas

I've never been to USA and I've never been in a restaurant that didn't offer free tap water, I feel like this myth comes from yankees going to the worst tourist traps available