Corporate rule? Izaak Hane
America is the greatest country in the world. Why would you want to live anywhere else?
Maybe to experience another culture. Maybe to do some traveling. Maybe for work.
Maybe to escape the hordes of morons in this country who don’t know anything about the world, and yet insist on characterizing it as bug-infested, crime-ridden and moments away from a coup.
You all can slave away the rest of your lives to afford your poorly made, vinyl-sided house in a featureless subdivision, fighting it out with everyone else to prove how much you have and just how good of a consumer you are.
Buy Humans Buy! sf slim
I’ll be sitting on my porch with my feet up, a drink in hand, listening to the sounds of nature and enjoying the simple life.
I’d love this country if it weren’t populated with total idiots…
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This post was a comment in response to the article What Can $150k Buy In Real Estate Around The World.
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I’m a firm believer that different strokes are for different folks. That is, the lifestyle the author touts is great for some people, but then, so is the lifestyle that the author insults. A big part of what the United States (and to a large degree, most of the developed world) has earned by being successful on an international stage is the benefit of its citizens not having to care about anything important. It’s not the lifestyle that I would choose, but I don’t think that I have any kind of moral authority over those who DO choose to live it.
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I left the States in 2001 to travel for a year. I have not been back since. Instead, I have been living and working in Budapest, Hungary, for the most part happily. However, now my partner feels it is time to return, so we are investigating possibilities for late summer 2010. Culture shock in reverse has me nervous, but it has been a good run.
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I really don’t like to generalize, but as an American living abroad for 15 years now I totally agree with Izaak’s Post. It’s really aggravating to see that the general view of Americans all over the World is that we are materialistic, ignorant, God fanatic, Gun Loving, War mongering, Ulta Capatilistic Honkeys who have no regard for other countries and think we are the best country in the World. Unfortunately I think 80% of American fit this description.
I have a solution to this: There should be some Law in the US which would require a 1 Year sabbatical trip around the World after college:)
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Just to clarify, the top photo is by Izaak, but the post itself is not.
I think your idea of sabbatical trips for college grads is terrific, but it would have to be driven by incentives, not mandatory.
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While I myself have no desire in pursuing the “American Dream” with 2.5 kids and a house in the suburbs, some people do want that. Just because we are doing something different that suits our lifestyle and ambitions does not mean that “American Dreamers” have chosen incorrectly just different. Travelers pride themselves on being tolerant and open to other cultures but we should also be the same way to our home country/culture
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Daniel, that’s a fantastic point. It reminds me of a wonderful travel quote:
“A wise traveler never despises his own country.”
-Carlo Goldini
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@Colin Wright: Different strokes for different folks. I agree totally. To a point. When others’ choices start affecting the environment (which we all share) or the well-being of others, well, that’s where I draw the line.
“Individual choices” like smoking, gambling, eating poorly, and not wearing a helmet can have big impacts on society…these things eat up tax payers money, so we all end up paying.
I think the issue is lack of the bigger picture. Not many people consider how their individual actions affect others. Consumerism, greed…these have led to the current GFC (global financial crisis…an acronym I just learned!), which of course is affecting everyone.
Do I agree with the commenter? Sort of. I just would have put it more eloquently
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I’m an American living in Australia and hopefully not returning anytime soon. I am proud of the change in direction and happy about the new leadership, but the author is right. While there are MANY smart people in American (mostly in urban centers like my home, SF Bay Area- and even a few liberal and intelligent people in rural areas) there is a MASSIVE proportion of stupids in the states. Maybe it’s because the population is so big. Every country has its version of “hicks” uneducated country folk who just reproduce and pass on their ignorance to future generations. England has them. France has them. Australia has them (they call them “bogans”). But the thing is, America has SOOOO many!! Like i said, maybe it’s just due to the massive population and more people living in rural areas. I’m not sure.
The post is very negative, but I think there’s truth in it, and who is going to argue him? An idiot?
The sad thing is that even with Obama in power and putting in place more socialist policies to fix our terrible health care and education systems, America is still extremely capitalist and consumer-driven and always will be. So keep on traveling, I suppose!!!
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I left American four and a half years ago and have had a great time abroad. The expat lifestyle definitely suits me, but that’s my own thing. I have friends who are family and mortgaged up back in The States, and most of them appear quite happy.
Despite my periodic frustrations, I definitely don’t hate my country, and I also don’t believe that it’s populated by “morons.” I’ve been all over America and love it very much. It’s a country diverse in landscape and people. There is a large segment of folks who haven’t traveled abroad and are ingorant about much of what goes on in the greater world, but a lot of the people are hard working and quite well-informed within their own world, as small as that may seem to a “traveler.” Any country as vast as the States has many “unworldly” people. Just go to China, India, or parts of Russia and talk to the people in the backwaters. Or even the UK, for that matter.
I don’t know. While I’ve been guilty of the author’s attitude from time to time, I find it small minded and juvenile at the end of the day.
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Very well said.
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I am materialistic.
I enjoy shooting guns and own several.
I realize that capitalism is the reason why we enjoy so many interesting and helpful things in this country. Money motivates people to invent, create, build and discover.I own a 3 bedroom ranch style house in the suburbs.
and I’ve traveled extensively throughout Central & South America.
Just because I like guns and nice things I’m a “moron” and a “hick”?
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Wow! I love what the writer had to say, yes I understand “different strokes for different folks,” but there’s no doubt about it, travelling should be required for all americans. We are a naive society who with all the monies we’ve made should spend a percentage of it on seeing another part of the world. America is great, but by far it is not the only place to admire or see. The cultures and the foods and the general behavior of others is well worth getting on a plane. I’ve known my neighbor for 5 years, although they are nice, they’ve never invited me over for dinner Just to get a lesson in benevolence would do most Americans good. People in mainland China are so friendly and nice that its almost scary. People in Brazil have friendships that seem to make friendships I’ve had for years here seem moderate. How about going to El Salvador and 6 and 7 and 8 year old kids (girls) coming up to talk with you and trying to speak English and laughing at your Spanish, and then shortly thereafter there father coming over and inviting you over for dinner. (hell that wouldn’t happen in America) Yes, I am downsizing now and selling my material possessions on Craigslist.com so I can live abroad. America’s cool, but I’m living proof that theres a better way of life elsewhere. Don’t kid yourself America. People riding around insulated in their fine Bimmers, and MB’s and gas guzziling SUV’s, not saying hi to one another and working till there 55 or 60 is not a quality way of life, in my humble opinion. Life is way too short for not knowing my neighbor across the street but with a surface “hi.” I want more. But to each his own….travel is so much fun. Peace
Terry
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Daniel mentioned the “American Dream”….house in the ‘burbs, and 2.5 kids… what does that mean, 2.5 kids? Two kids and an mentally/physically underdeveloped kid? 2 kids and one that has been split in half? Or is it the most reasonable yet completely uninteresting 2 kids and one and the way?
America has to be that way so we can have something to escape from. How boring life would be if everyone lived so simply. I just think to truly enjoy sitting on a porch in a foriegn country, drink in hand, listening to the oncoming swell of dusk, you have to have had experienced the crazy, superficial, narcissism that has a hold on the better part of the states.↵ -
2.5 kids refers to the national average…I don’t think that’s true anymore as families are getting smaller, but that’s besides the point. In other words, he’s saying “be like everyone else”.
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Do you agree with the author?
Do you think his aggressive, insulting tone is unhelpful regardless of the quality of his arguments?
the fact that the author has to resort to ad homenims actually deflates his arguments. However, i think the point he is trying to make is. Americans can benefit from what the rest of the world as appose to the other way around.
I can see where the author is coming from and partially agree.
I recall many times where i have close friends and family that can be described as the people that spout what the author is talking about. i do at times find it rather annoying. they can have such negative views of the rest of the world. yet if someone does the opposite they are anti-american. with this logic they can viewed as anti-world. The devalue the worth of the rest of the world, alot of times overlook facts as well. once, i become so frustrated with a friend that couldn’t even consider the wealth of experience you can obtain from going to mexico or any other country, that i had to attack him with factual data, that really pokes holes in his beliefs. I rarely do that. but anyway this is a tangent.Overall i have traveled mainly threw out the US ( 30 states) and i have plans to visit the rest of the world, learning cultures and langauges of others, during and after college. I generally like america, its not really much i find objectionable about this place, however i feel that experience life in completely different setting, can be very enriching, a once in a lifetime moment or a true life changing event.
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I have traveled extensively both in the US and other countries, and i have to say that there is a country and life style for everyone, what might be good for me may not be for another.
It has been my experience that American do tend to stand out in other cultures when they travel, not so much because of the skin color but because of their attitude towards the “natives’. We tend to think that because we are Americans we can take our ways were ever we go and expect the people of another culture to be just like us, we place our beliefs and standards and expect them to fall in line and be just like us because we are civilized and know everything. I have seen many Americans get upset if the natives do not speak English, eat the same food etc.
why travel if u want to be treated the same as back home.I remember living in Nepal and pretending not to be American when encountering a tourist because of the crass behavior and the disrespect to the ways of other cultures. i think that it is important to read something about the country that u are to visit, if the women do not wear short shorts then please do everything in your power to dress accordingly so as not to insult. When tourist come to our country we expect them to follow our rules, so have the same curtacy. i have lived most of my adult life overseas and that is the reputation that we Americans have.
Of course not all American tourist are this way there is always the exception.
As for Americans being spoilt and all that, well there is nothing wrong with it if that is the way u want to live your live, i know many spoiled Americans who give if not of their time at least of their wallets to help others less fortunate all over the world. I have notice that the more we travel the more compassionate and tolerant we are towards others. I have seen way to much poverty and intolerance in my life time and this is one of the best countries in the world.
Do i want to live here right now? No, but i will always be greatful to be able to return when ever i want. There are people in other country that don’t have a choice but to stay where they were born. I am glad that I am an American there aren’t many other countries that give u the right to travel to just about any where in the world and all u need is the ability to buy a plane ticket, without the hustle of having to spend hours in a line if not years waiting for “permission” from your government.Remember that The United States is a very young country compared with the rest of the world and we have a long ways to go but we are getting there one step at a time.
So as a traveler i thank my parents for having the foresight of making me a US citizen, and giving me a passport with a visa to experience this wonderful planet that we are very fortunate to live in.
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I can understand the frustration, but a saying that I made up many years ago, “grass is always greener… but it all need mowed”. I travel a lot and it is great to get to travel to see how lucky that we are in the US. But most of all I like to travel to get to know other people and how they live. So travel and return home with a better understanding of what you have and what you can do to make things better.
Jeff
motionPHR the travelers health record for the iPhone↵ -
So would that also apply to the Germans during the Hitler regime? Nonsense. A person doesn’t have to “love their country” and blindly accept the destructive influences or habits of its government or its people. That idea is the same as saying a spouse should love their partner and never criticize (implying no matter how bad it is). I don’t think any of us personally want to stick ourselves into a terrible situation. The facts are clear. Americans (well, at least about 40% of them) are ignorant, boorish but passive big mouth armchair war-mongers who blindly and passively allow our nation to become a third world economy and our nation-state to be bankrupt under the conservative ideology that does not work for anyone except the very uber-rich, who incidentally DO leave this country – often – to enjoy the bounties of other nations. They, unlike us poor working folks, experience other cultures, obtain the health care we cannot afford and that is not allowed in the U.S. and many are actually living in other countries and yes, very happy.
We are American, so yes, we are who we are, we are raised and cultured in our history, and the greatness which made us the ideal around the world. In fact, our ideals have been adopted by many nations, so that we no longer hold those ideal principles exclusively. Other nations are now way ahead of us, while we have been degenerating into a mean, cruel, hard place to live with people scrapping for the scraps while a small but powerful elite has risen similary to the royalty of the past, The new lords of the corporate executive class and the aristocracy of these new princes and kinds once again control most of the resourses, while the working people are similar to serfs.
We are mainly “owned” by our corporate masters. When a corporation is sold, we are “sold” along with the company, and how many really have a choice about leaving? We need the paycheck. It is nonsense to call ourselves free when we are slaves to those who “allow” us to draw a paycheck in order to live? We have become slaves because we have no health care and cannot afford to leave; cannot afford to retire, and cannot afford to chance starting a business without fear of a major illness (or even one small trip to the emergency room) destroying everything we have worked for.
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This is right on. I am in college and have found time to travel all around Asia, and I agree with this author.
I am more apathetic towards America as I travel more, and I can honestly say that come the day I finally get my degree, I will be off and settling somewhere else.
I am engaged to a Chinese national and we have unanimously agreed that to raise our family in America would be a mistake, for we do not want them to have such a materialistic upbringing, and yeah I recognize that we can choose to raise them differently, but that is not the point.
The environment is terrible and full of selfish love and egotism.
Too many peasants in king’s clothing here….
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Correction, America is the greatest racist country in the world. Not to mention, the most diabolical. It even engineered the virus for which they are forcing children to receive.
Just google:
Mexican Swine Flu Outbreak 2009: SPECIAL REPORT by Dr Leonard Horowitz
or
TERRORSTORM
Please get me out of this vile , soul-less nation.
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‘Do you think his aggressive, insulting tone is unhelpful regardless of the quality of his arguments?’
No, I did not think it was unhelpful, neither did I class the tone as aggressive or insulting.
The message gets across a fact, that many Americans, will never step foot out of the US.
There is a big wide world out there and so much history and culture to experience.
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