the "trump was elected when i was like 10" comment sent me into a spiral for a second, gotta be honest. i had to do some math bc it felt wrong that kids who were 10 when trump was elected were on the internet, commenting on stuff...but then....i realized....those kids are 18 now, what the actual fuck. time isnt real , i refuse to believe it
The passage of time doesn't feel real for a lot of us it seems. Born in 2004 here, each time I remember it's 2024 and I turn 20 in a few months I get ill.
Another kid who was 10 when Trump was elected, I'm pretty excited (terrified) to participate in my first election, but I know damn well who I'm not voting for.
im 18 now but i dont feel like reforms will do anything to help the us. its like keeping a comatose on life support, you have to pull the plug and i would rather have to bear the weight of that change than my children.
oh wow. a sign literally saying "its illegal to walk to this public thing a few hundred meters away, you could die bc we have made no effort to make any part of our infrastructure walkable. good luck", i have not seen that before. thats a new low for the US infrastructure/transportation i think?
@@banquetoftheleviathan1404 Metlife is actually an NFL stadium that's home for both the New York Giants and the New York Jets. It's just going to be used to play soccer for the 2026 World Cup. Also to reiterate, the stadium is the rare example of a sports venue that was privately funded which is honestly how things should be done.
I literally got stopped two days ago by cops while trying to walk home. I wasn't even five minutes away from my house, but they DEMANDED to know my business and why i was walking.
@@Jogjosmowwdkfs it wasnt until I told them my car is being repaired and that I live out of state on my own that they started to back off. I really wanted to be like, "if yall care so much, just give me a ride damn." But the last time I was around a police officer I was sa'd. It's crazy how just existing is grounds for them to dehumanize us.
@@kiyawilson3520 there's a lot of emphasis on driving a car where I'm from. If you don't, then you must be drunk or on parole or something. It's absolutely wretched that happened to you. I wish you nothing but the best.
i visited the us once and it's so weird how you don't have sidewalk everywhere, I had to leave my hotel and go to wallmart and i was almost walking in the street
even the cities with sidewalks aren’t very walkable cause of the multi-lane roads at every intersection. What could be a short walk in other countries is a long one here
@@srenapplegate4174 Americans may think it's a bit strange, which proves the point, but leaving the US for public commuting infrastructure is good enough reason. I was in Hungary once and saw some guys running like crazy after a soccer ball... at the ripe old ages of 70+. I asked them how they could possibly do this. "Walk. Just walk."
Totally. There are some towns or areas that are more walkable than others of course, but a lot of America/The US has a really big issues with a lack of walkability. And not only does this make it more hazardous to walk, but it also makes it nearly impossible for wheelchair uses and people with strollers or disability scooter aids to get around.
My mother used to say this as a Caribbean immigrant; "being poor back home, and being poor in the US are two different things. Being poor in the US is way worse."
It sucks, especially growing up poor in one of the top 3 richest counties in the country. You're surrounded by wealth, but often don't have enough to eat. it takes several buses and hours just to get to a doctor, a hospital, college, and/or job. I hate it here!
It's the same problem in every country in the world. Poverty is bad in general, but poverty with social inequality is the worst feeling. I'm from Brazil and I see this in my country and city every day, with more inequality, more problems including psychological. It's revolting to see the other in the best place of society who made sometimes nothing too special than you did.
Being in poverty in most of the global south at least just means being left to your own devices. Being in poverty in the US means being targeted for scapegoating, harassment, and abuse
as useful as the internet is for finding community, it'll never compare to the feeling of sitting with friends in a communal space. that factor was easily the main reason why i miss living on a college campus. people underestimate the feeling of existing in a community space that doesnt require you to spend gas or buy food just to exist outside for an hour or two
One of the reasons why most Cyberpunk stories cast the US as a collapsed former super-power or a regional power is because cyberpunk writers saw the writing on the wall with the rise of austerity and neoliberalism in the late 70s and early 80s, they realized that the widening economic gap between the wealthy and the poor would only grow and inevitably accelerate. Neoliberalism was going to destroy the country. And honestly? They were right. The US was never perfect. But the economic situation for countless families was far better mere years ago, nevermind decades ago.
Tbh, its probably because the authors are in the US. If you read foreign sci-fi, its often based in those countries; because thats where the authors are from.
@@MasterGhostfwell that makes sense, I don’t think an Italian born and living in Italy would make a better or more believable U.S. cyberpunk world, but then again, I’ve seen stranger things
And most cyberpunk stories also cast Japan as the largest superpower by far. Why do these writers seem to have incredible foresight into the decline of the US, but they were completely off in their predictions about Japan?
While I do agree w your thesis. I do disagree when you mentioned people in the US are immune to its propaganda. Individuals in the US are the biggest victims of their propaganda, given that it doesn't affect the point of view but rather the mechanisms to formulate a pov. An example would be the inclination to think in binaries. If it's Democrat, its republican, if it's not black, it's white. In my time here, a good amount of the citizens find it difficult to fathom nuances and/or grey areas.
The propaganda in the United States is so pervasive and so widely accepted that its kind of disturbing. I don't know where this idea that Americans are "immune" to it comes from. All of the MSM is literal propaganda.
im 39 and her perspective was def propagandized by the 2010s self hating liberal view.. whites oppressing natives, men paying for sex, wealthy people ruining a native peoples around the world.. to be fair, natives were cut throats - read Comanche Moon.. they wiped out other tribes men then raped the surviving women, basically everywhere but the US prostitution is very normalized including europe and Japan where I live, and when i recently reflected about my fears of rich americans coming and shitting on the beautiful Japanese regular people whom I respect for so many reasons, Then my father in law said they were wealthy Japanese who owned land and all around them the people who worked the land gave 10% of all their food to them just because they were wealthy and Japanese wealthy still own the stocks, real estate, etc.. WTF was my point, Japanese arent nice to Japanese either now get on with it and make my grandkids strong like youre supposed to... I think Americans are seeking utopia but it doesent exist. I was almost murdered in Brazil and local peoples are far worse to their own people than most of the worst bitcoin bros, european sex tourists in thailand, and entrepreneurs who go to every corner of the underdeveloped world are.. With that said, I want to make the world peace thing happen and I want a more symbiotic world, but the advantages we have in the world dont look to be ending any time soon and I share your frustrations of ignorant traver types not just from the US but all over. Ive been in Japan close to 10 years total and lived about 2 years in other countries as well and bhuddism of the shinyoen sect showed me that much of this chaos is actually in balance. the world is entering an unparalleled exposure as these liberal kids, crypto bros, retiring ex government works, and ranges of other not just Americans but westerners in general leave the problems of their home country to try different lifestyles and cultures.
Completely agree. If anything, after living in other countries for a few years, it seems Americans are the MOST convinced of their propaganda. I think it comes from never having collapsed or nearly collapsed as a society yet. When I talk to someone from ex-Yogoslavia, they immediately understand the mechanisms of propaganda. Americans seem like children in comparison, even in the way they respond upon discovering some of the mechanisms.
i really appreciated you bringing up how u.s. americans will use living abroad as like their own personal self-actualization. i experienced that as a u.s.-born latina who studied abroad in mexico with a group of mostly white american students--many of them saw mexico as a place that existed to serve their own personal development. even the professors acted like i was just an extension of the "latino perspective" or whatever, also there to "broaden the horizons" of the white kids. the situation ended up with a white student complaining to the group leaders that i was "making him uncomfortable" by talking about race--which i was repeatedly *asked* to do. it was such a weird position to be treated that way even as a u.s. american with tons of privilege, and it was just a small taste of how "locals" must be treated every time a u.s. american visits their community, as a tourist or expat or whatever they want to call it.
Call them what they are, "immigrants". It's crazy how badly they refuse to admit that this is what they are. The way that they try to sanitize their escape out of America, as if they're just on holiday perusing the country. Don't let them get away with euphemisms like Expat or Tourist. If they've lived there for years, they're immigrants (some of whom are undocumented). Gringos like that are so annoying.
@@rishabhanand4973i always hated that word and thought we already have the word "immigrant", but it became pretty clear why they made it after noticing who the word applies to
@@Pwn3540 expat = temporary, immigrant = permanent. expatriate as a word has existed for at least 200 years, only 100 years younger than immigrant. there's a conversation to be had about how the two words are perceived but white people didn't invent "expat" to avoid calling themselves immigrants.
Fr. I went on a kayak trip in Puerto Rico bioluminescent bay, where many people in our group who fit this description were inappropriately drunk and obnoxious. They act like everything is one big playground cruise ship outside of home.
Mahalo. Thank you for mentioning Hawai'i's overthrow and treatment of Natives. Your pronunciation of Native words was terrific. I'm so used to people loving Hawai'i and Hawaiian culture, but not giving a damn about Hawaiians and never bother to learn how to pronounce things appropriately. Keep it up!
I visited Hawai’i twice years ago before I knew the history and that locals were begging people to stop coming. Both of my cats have Hawaiian names. While I absolutely loved learning local culture (especially from Lanai) I will never be back. I hope Hawai’i will see freedom again
It's so weird being a black woman in America and knowing that I live with privilege while at the same time I don't. The U.S. is such a shit show. Great video to help keep an open mind!
there are more black millionaires and billionaires in American than anywhere else in the world. Yes racism is bad, but you have more of a fighting chance here being born working class than most places.
I mean, have you ever been to a developing nation? Its terrible. The US has its own problems but the actual "3rd World" is like one of Dante's circles of hell. And there is plenty of racism in other countries, too. Not to mention almost non existant social safety nets.
As a Us citizen I’ve never considered travel and passports privilege because I’ve grown up in poverty and I’ve never traveled very far and I’ve never had a passport, I’ve never considered that as an option because I don’t have that kind of money so I just don’t even think about it. Glad this brought it to my attention
Yeah you're $100 away from being able to book a flight to anywhere you want to go. That's not true if you come from, say, Kenya. You have to beg and plead and pay people off to get to go some places. Why? You're kenyan.
I think it is normal what you said, being able to buy a passport AND travel is a luxuary for so many people. it cant be a privilage for somone who cant even pay the day to day costs let a lone an airplane ticket (which is very costly)
@@Jeebus-un6zz100 dollars can maybe get you a cheap ticket on a cheap airline to somewhere within the continental United States, and that’s not even taking into consideration the return flight, a hotel, rental, etc.. That’s like telling a Kenyan they aren’t poor bc they can afford a bus ticket from lamu to Nairobi.
@@Jeebus-un6zz I’ve never seen a plane ticket for only $100, and even if that were true I can’t get off work, I can’t afford to just drop $100, and even if I could I’d need money to buy a passport, and even if I could I’d need money for somewhere to stay and sleep. And then I’d need money to leave. And I don’t have it. So what exactly is your point?
@@Jeebus-un6zz $100 flight for anywhere I want to go? The cheapest I’m getting is $1000. Where’s the $100 flight? Send me links to those. I don’t see them. Also, with what free time will we get to travel? Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and have to be deliberate with planning vacations. Usually can only be a weekend or a week at most. Idk where you got the information you did about America, but it’s SOOOO wrong. Looool.
I'm a black woman who's lived in Arkansas my whole life (24 years give or take). It sucks but it could be worse. I could be trapped in West Virginia. It's fascinating how West Virginia is a whole other world compared to Virginia. Anyway, my state is very rural so if you didn't have a car, you were basically isolated from the larger world. I had books and the internet, so I was more aware than my classmates.
Books and internet are amazing for information, but that's a bit harrowing to think that's the main way people are "informed." Nothing substitutes the realities of the real, physical world. Often being more grounded than the internet and most books published in the past decade.
Careful with what you find in the internet because either they can be an exaggerated truth or an all-out lie. So take information from all kinds of sources to take a better picture.
@@carpediem44 why you so butthurt?? AKSHUALLY the genocide in Arkansas is B on B street crime and "plannedUNparenthood" "You stepped on my Jordan's....why you disrespectin' ?? Bang💥☠️Bang💥☠️ You know I ain't lying....
I live in Mexico and I found that the quality of fruit and vegetables is way better. Also, it's extremely cheap..for Mexicans. This is because most of us cook at home and it's part of the culture to make and eat fresh food. Even tacos in here are way healthier than their cousins in the US. They include veggies and whole meats, plus the tortillas are fresh and soft. I've never seen a hard taco here. This means that you have to wait for your food to be made but no one seems to mind as it gives us an opportunity to talk to each other and the food vendor.
That may traditionally be true but México is one of the most obese countries in the world also with a massive diabetes problem as many Mexicans now eat mostly highly processed foods and sodas.
The point about privilege abroad as a POC is so interesting too. I used to live in South Korea and would experience so much casual and at times really harmful xenophobia. In the airports my checked luggage would always be flagged for further review or when I was flying domestically I would be taken out of the regular line and told I had to go through a separate foreigner line. Which is insane for domestic travel. Xenophobia would affect the treatment I’d receive at the doctors office. My friends and I would get extremely inappropriate comments from people we worked with our students our bosses. And just generally too. Being American doesn’t always insulate you from racism and xenophobia abroad. It’s also very wild how much passport privilege Americans have. I was born in the global south and moved to the states when I was young and we couldn’t visit relatives who were sick and dying in our home country because of visa issues. And then we became American citizens and got American passports. I just traveled to the United Kingdom,where Americans can stay on a tourist visa for 6 months, and passport control consisted of me scanning my passport and took less than five mins total where I didn’t even have to speak to anyone on the broader. Its crazy how powerful these documents are. But really great job parsing through a super complex topic!!!!
i think it's kind of crazy how thoroughly advertising and cultural norms have convinced so many usians that cars are the ultimate symbol of freedom and any country that isn't extremely carbrained hates freedom. and it's just extremely weird to me that people think that it's freedom when you need to pass a test and some kind of eye exam at minimum and have a govt issued id and register your car and PAY for your car and insurance and gas and parking and lose your ability to drive if you have a medical procedure or get injured or are too young or too old?? how is this freedom to them?
@K.C-2049 is this a reply to me? I don't want to drive. I also can't. but that means I don't qualify for most jobs where I live. I'm not complaining about driving laws. I just want accommodations that allow me to get around without a car in my community.
it's the easiest test in the world unless you arer like a retard. it should be highly gate kept and regulated tho. Cars shouldn't be for everyone I agree
in México you usually have a store or buisness just around the block and it´s nor rare to just put on some flipflops and go to the store in pijamas either in the morning or at night.
It used to be that way here, too, until the whole white flight thing she mentions. The streets weren't yet a place only for cars, and you lived in a community admittedly of other immigrants who spoke your native tongue, which is how we get "little italy" and the like. But every community had a grocer and a tradesman of every type you can imagine. It's just that rich men in the 19th and 20th century had a huge boner for the Roman Empire and decided to apply the model of empire to everything, including business. Take for example Sherwin Williams, our big paint company, which was founded in 1866. Their motto is "cover the world in paint" and their logo is of a bucket being poured over the globe, doing just that. It's kind of creepy, actually, lol.
Same in Brazil. The one time i went there well dressed, the girl in the balcony was like "wow, you're well dressed, going to party?" hahaha becus we go to this places everyday we pratically become friends to everyone :P
Also here in Colombia. The streets are adapted for cars, don't get me wrong, but still it isn't uncommon to have most of what you need covered by stores and shops in your immediate neighborhood. No need for a car if you're going shopping, there's probably a medium-sized supermarket like 3 streets ahead of you. And even when you do need cars, you can always find the streets adapted for them proper. This country's still a shitty hellhole and most of what I described isn't well-maintained but it's there. And it works. That's the bare minimum.
ya that is something i missed, in the U.S. when I was studying there, there were barely any stores around the area i lived and everything was all dirt and empty lots.
I'm from Ireland and I moved to Portugal a month ago. Since both countries are in the EU, it was all a matter of getting on a plane and securing a place to rent. There was a guy in my college from El Salvador and he told me about the ridiculous guidelines he had to fulfil just to stay in Ireland. And a Brazilian I worked with said he can't even go on vacation to the USA because they're so paranoid about people staying past their Visas.
They say it’s a “serious issue” but by what metrics? If the concern is with documentation and having people pay taxes, then the blame can be set squarely on our government’s atrocious immigration policies. Apparently this is only a problem that “developed” countries have, and not even all of them have this supposed problem. Make it easier to stay while documented, and the problem disappears.
@@Evamaster456 The video above actually discussed why things are the way they are, and we don't really need to track people that intensely. So long as there is a mechanism for the IRS to get taxes, the census to track numbers of immigrants, and the proper infrastructure to house them, there isn't much of an issue. The bigger issue for America is not immigrant crime or tracking or whatever, but rather our shitty infrastructure that has led to a housing crisis and us spending all our extra money that we could use to solve that and most of our other problems on the military.
10:19 As a Kanaka Maoli wahine, it was incredible to see Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask's iconic speech marking 100 years of illegal occupation by the american empire in relation to this topic. For those who want to learn more, please go read her book "From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereigntyin Hawaiʻi." Mahalo nui loa for drawing attention to Ke Ea Hawaiʻi. 🤙 Kū kiaʻi ʻāina! Kūʻē! 🔥
Hawaii can't make claims to independence while they have such a cringe state flag. Begging the British for help from the Americans is not independent behavior.
@@Praisethesunson Collaboration, not colonization. Kamehameha's and Kalakāua's alliance were formed to improve the islands' knowledge and innovation. The US had intentional greed with all Native relations. They did not give a damn about recognizing Hawai'i's independence.
I got so much $h!t for pointing this out back in high school… I had more travel experience than my peers at that point. I found it difficult to accept the close-mindedness of my American peers… the rest of the world doesn’t look like your suburb…
Friendly reminder that 1st world privilege is a different hierarchy from the hierarchy you got in a 1st world nation. You can struggle, marginalized, and suffer in america and still benefit on the ounces/crumbles of 1st world privileges as a 1st world citizen against most working and esp. impoverish classes in 3rd world countries esp. when you travel there. A sample of that would be a 3rd world person with a college degree and a stable job who migrates to a 1st world nation alone (no sponsorship, not through outsource hiring etc) would risk a higher chance to struggle double time to be able to get back on their feet again. A 1st world marginalized or struggling person starting a new life in a 3rd world would have a higher chance to gain a decent house and even a small business to run. No matter how a 3rd world nation works so hard to make their country better, how they produce and manufactured majority of both world's and foreign goods, how rich their biodiverse resources are, and how they seem progressively convenient than the ones in the 1st world countries, controlled economic factors, money-exchange wise, powerful passports, and other things that contributes to the benefit of your world status, 1st world citizenship will still be favored regardless. You can blame that on centuries of colonization, geopolitical racism, overexploitation, planted coups, and imperialism that made this rigged world hierarchy possible. These seemingly contradicting situations do exist, can coexist and that's not hard to understand. P.S: this is not to say that struggles of the marginalized ppl in the 1st are not serious. It is also a big deal and should be taken seriously especially more ppl had to crawl through mud nowadays in 1st world nations. It just so happens that the benefits you have as a 1st world citizen, no matter how small that benefits are, would have a higher chance to become ur leverage on most 3rd world countries. This may not cancel your issues back home but you are most likely won't be able to carry that struggle in 3rd world either, depending on it's sociopolitics.
Thats not true at all... First its expensive to travel. Those from "3rd world" who can emigrate are often better off than the poor in the "1st world". Those immigrants often are educated and have student visas. A 1st world marginilized would not be able to afford or able to travel to a 3rd world country.
Illegal immigration is mostly people overstaying their visas. Which should be fixed tbh, but that would mean expanding our social services, and also expanding tracking of people. But, tbh it doesn't sound like a good life for an illegal immigrant. @@emilzapata4282
@@MasterGhostf "First its expensive to travel." If you think about how expensive it is to afford plane tickets with your 1st world currency, imagine how much more expensive it is with a 3rd currency. The poor folks of a 1st world country has a better life, or at least a better opportunity of bettering their lives more than the poor folks of a 3rd world country. I would prefer being a garbage collector in a 1st world country than an office worker in a 3rd world country.
@@MasterGhostfit sucks to be poor anywhere but you forgot the US has some of the highest percentage of middle and upper class on earth. Yes the lower class is literally a minority.
The big thing that (the desirable parts of) America has always had is very high wages compared to even most other developed countries. I used to work remotely with a lot of people from the UK and it was pretty shocking to find out that their housing prices are almost as high as ours but the wages are dramatically lower. I also until recently was working as a waiter at a moderately nice restaurant where I was averaging like $35-45 an hour, and my coworkers were mostly older Mexican men who immigrated for work, rented the cheapest housing possible, rode their bikes to work, and sent back as much money as possible to build entire HOUSES in their hometowns. Seems like nowadays the money is the ONLY thing the US has going for it, so Americans want to take their US paychecks and move to countries with better quality of life, and people from poorer countries want to come here for the money but often times don't want to stay.
Our minimum wage is higher, however. There is a reason tipping is the default in the US but only optional in Europe. Also the first £12,570 of income is not taxed, so most working class people don't pay income tax.
Just to be clear, this is a universal thing that's happened for millennia. It's called factor migration. This is why I totally try to hook someone up in another country for an American job. And they've hooked me up with places to stay in their country. All this being said, you have to look at purchasing power, not salary. The US purchasing power has been declining for decades, accelerating first after the 09 recession, then taking a nose dive after covid. Considering the US keeps weaponizing the dollar, the currency doesn't have much longer itself either. You can't expect the world to trust a currency that becomes a sword.
@@alfredfreedomjones5105 Just to be clear, this is a universal thing that's happened for millennia. It's called factor migration. This is why I totally try to hook someone up in another country for an American job. And they've hooked me up with places to stay in their country. All this being said, you have to look at purchasing power, not salary. The US purchasing power has been declining for decades, accelerating first after the 09 recession, then taking a nose dive after covid. Considering the US keeps weaponizing the dollar, the currency doesn't have much longer itself either. You can't expect the world to trust a currency that becomes a sword.
Regarding how people in the US dress in public. I’m older so I’ve lived through the transition from everyone dressing “respectably” in public, to what we have now. I think this is a form of rebellion. It’s like “Up the Down Staircase.” (1967 film whose title I hope makes it clear what I’m saying) We are powerless over so much of our lives, but this one thing claps back at power. For years, the rich still dressed up to go out so we who were poor stood out. Now, the rich have adopted it so that power dynamic is not as obvious (except in the brands of clothing worn) as it used to be. PS bless the algorithm gods for putting this in my feed. Really great work here. I was at 1:05:00 and thought “it’s already been an hour?”
People from other parts of the world don't understand what the "sixties" meant for the US and many other Western countries. Society went almost upside-down.
you have no idea how infuriating it was that tiktok of the Ameciran guy saying how cheap is to live here in Spain, meanwhile, we can't buy houses, people can't find jobs, people have to cut the groceries the buy because of inflation, it's not cheap. If anything it's getting worse for people here. No country is perfect, you either are just ignorant of their problems or you are so well off that those problems don't matter to you.
Those Americans most likely are trust fund babies who are form extremely rich families and saying to to their other rich friends bc they are so removed from most other peoples reality. Or they could be scammers or trying to get clicks so that too haha
Same issue for Thailand. A lot of old Australian men buying land and building mansion houses for $4k AUD to retire in, while not paying any tax to live there.
Not True under these new rules, Thai tax residents who earn income from abroad will be subject to personal income tax on such income upon bringing it into Thailand in any calendar year from 1 January 2024 onwards. Also foreigners help the Thai economy they want them there because they spend so much more money than the average Thai born citizen ever could I'm talking billions of dollars a year foreigners bring in.@@tan89284
Eggs are refrigerated in the US and Canada because in the industrial production process the eggs are washed in a way that removes a natural membrane which protects the interior of the egg from microbes -- in countries that do not treat eggs this way, refrigeration is not required. It is truly bonkers !!
it’s just how countries choose to manage their agriculture & people preferences. shelf stable milk is super common in europe as they are also industrially processed, making it safely shelf stable, but this wouldn’t appeal to most north americans
"in countries that do not treat eggs this way, refrigeration is not required" In fact, refrigeration is prohibited, at least in the EU. I think it's because it can result in condensation, though I'm not 100% sure. (Of course, this only applies to stores etc. No one prevents you from putting the eggs you bought into the fridge.)
As an American immigrant in Japan, I think there are ways the experience in Japan is different (and ofc ways where it’s similar). I’ll apologize for the long comment because I have a lot of thoughts and I’ll stick to Japan just because that’s where my expertise and experience is. But one of the things I’ve found both in my daily life and in my professional life is that in Japan, English is a privilege if you visit temporarily as a tourist or even a 1 year study abroad program, but it can quickly become a major hindrance living here permanently. In fact, while past research have found that Japanese language ability increases immigrant socioeconomic, mental health, and integration outcome, actually accessing effective Japanese education/resources and having opportunities to actually practice Japanese conversation is still difficult a lot of times. Japan has fairly low levels in English education compared to countries like Taiwan or South East Asia, which means navigating life in Japan in English often leads to a lot of blocks where you need Japanese, but Japanese people often default to English the moment they know your an English speaker or look distinctively not Japanese. This can often be at best othering where you find yourself constantly being spoken to in English or talked down to in an almost baby like level in Japanese to at worst outright discrimination when housing applications and work promotions are withheld for you because of language. Naturally when you find yourself constantly removed from Japanese speaking context due to English dominance, it makes acquiring Japanese skills much more difficult. I don’t know how much of this extends into the rest of East Asia, but it’s a thing that really becomes even more harmful to immigrants of low SES background or have to work full time (given most Japanese language classes are only available in business hours). In fact there’s even a term called “gaijin trap” referring to immigrants who come here as English teachers (blend of both South and North Americans, Europeans, Australians, and South Africans). Essentially the idea is they come here in their early 20s on an English teaching job, but at work Japanese use is completely banned. Often they live in international housing, in areas with many other foreigners, or married to either an English speaking Japanese person or another foreigner which leads them to make friends only with other English speakers. After five or ten years they are at a point where they cannot get any more promotions or increase of pay at work (becoming a problem when they’re now at the age where they want children), but because they lived exclusively in an English bubble with low Japanese skills(even if they originally desired to study), they are in a position where their resume makes it hard to change their position even if they go home to their own countries. There are similar experiences with foreigners working in international English speaking companies or trade skill jobs where most their coworkers are from their own home country, but they tend to have a slightly different set of struggles. Though with all that said, I do think the nuance of race does still affect experiences. There is still a lot of implicit biases existing in Japan coming from a blend of its own history of imperialism and colorism as well as influenced by American influence throughout the American occupation that does create their own complications when discussing immigrants and experiences different between say African or Indian or Chinese or even African American/European American immigrants experiences. But it is in many ways distinct from how race and those type of power dynamics develop in America given Japan’s own history. I think the most difficult thing in all of the discussions is both America and the country being immigrated to are very diverse in experiences and backgrounds. I can’t speak much for the experiences of going to Europe, but I think Japan and South Korea are very interesting case studies because they are another first world, economically developed countries with very strong social infrastructure like health care and public transportation, but they are also cases of countries that aren’t in the same exact cultural sphere as European and Frontier nations. Of course as Americans you get some benefit from Japan’s strong relationship to US and the influence of US military presence as well as the history between the two, but in my experience that influence is only really felt in places like Okinawa (for more complicated historical reasons related to Japanese colonization and American occupation) and maybe Tokyo where cultural diversity is so massive there, but in all the places I’ve lived in Japan, things like nihonjinron are so strong it makes for a very distinct experience for all immigrants.
I did a short stint as an English teacher in Korea but the experience is a bit different there because schools and the like are only allowed to hire foreigners for English teaching positions if they are native speakers. Because of that you have a number of non-native speakers who take up "volunteer" positions in exchange for basic housing. The one where I lived for instance was like a busy dorm, rooms stuffed with bunkbeds and a small communal kitchen and sitting room. For me it was a good deal, I just wanted to visit the country and this was a way for me to do that while 1) not paying for my stay beyond my flight and food and 2) get to speak to locals through the English teaching bit but for many of my colleagues they needed to take up second or third jobs, illegaly, in order to keep on living, leaving the country every three months to be able to renew their visa and come back and do their teaching and off the book waitressing etc. I think South Korea generally is more curious and outward interested in the rest of the world than Japan is but it was like Japan a very isolated country for a long time and is only recently opening up, bit by bit. Funny anecdote; I once went to a traditional restaurant in the palace neighbourhood in Seoul and when I came in and took off my shoes, the lady working there welcome me and brought me inside. There were mostly private tables for up to 5 people maybe, but there was one big table in the middle of the room for large groups and there was one person sitting at that table as the lady brought me over and directed me to sit with him at the big table. The guy sitting there was a foreigner, like me. We smiled at each other awkwardly and then focused on our own thing. But not long after, two others were brought over, once again foreigners, who were put with us at the big table. And once again later on. At that point it becomes more awkward not to say something so we laughed about it together and made some conversation. I only remember that one of them was from Germany, and that everyone else in the restaurant, besides the people sitting at our big foreigner table in the middle, was Korean (or at least looked Korean). When we were done eating, we left independently. I still don't understand the motivation of putting us all together. Did not many foreigners visit and did she assume we belonged together? But why assume with the first guy already by putting him at the large table? Or did she want to keep the regular tables for "real" visitors? Or did she just get flustered? It was very funny but it was also strange and one of my experiences in Korea where I felt a bit like I was a spectacle to the Koreans.
@@littlemissmello That sounds like a funny experience! I personally find those types of little interactions hilarious. Sometimes I've noticed workers get flustered just because they don't know how to handle foreigners. I can't speak for Korea, but in Japan, there is a huge difference between life as a temporary resident on a specific program and life as a long-term resident living here full-time. I've been a foreign exchange student and a full-time resident, and I noticed they are very difficult levels. Japan is very complicated because, from what I've experienced, there are clearly two distinct categories of Japanese and non-Japanese. When you're in non-Japanese contexts, they are incredibly forgiving, and I think in many ways life here is easier than in other countries. Like when I go to international conferences in Japan or work with foreign companies, it's really easy to navigate things as a foreigner regardless of whether I use Japanese or English. But the moment you enter the very Japanese side of the country, the barriers of entry are incredibly difficult, and you face a lot more difficulties depending on your level of Japanese-ness in appearance and integration into Japanese norms (like language and mannerisms). For example, if I use Japanese to introduce myself, I will get praised even for saying very simple phrases (basically what foreign communities call "getting nihongo-jouzu-ed), but when I actually use Japanese in professional settings, like submitting research applications or publishing, the Japanese is scrutinized to such a high level and criticized for not "sounding native enough" even when I have multiple native speakers proofread the work beforehand. In fact, I had one section of an application I sent that was actually originally written and already accepted by a Japanese native speaker who let me use their writing in my application since we were doing the same thing, and still, it got proofread with the comment I should have a native check my writing. This is a common experience from multiple foreign peers regardless of background and language proficiency level. So Japan is very easy to live in on the surface level (with some minor but manageable difficulties), but incredibly difficult the moment you start integrating into its society. The moment you live here full time, you can hit a wall trying to navigate things and you face barriers like being actively rejected from housing applications or finding certain fees going up because you're a foreigner. But I've also heard from other foreign friends who've visited and stayed in Korea for a while that Korea has much higher levels of English proficiency than Japan, which also might change things. Japan still, generally speaking, lacks a lot of basic English, which means you often have to rely on Japanese unless you happen to live in a specific English bubble in a major city like Tokyo. So that also might make a big difference, but I can't say from personal experience since I've never been to Korea.
i can't drive due to neurodivergence and trauma, and when i lived in Seattle, it was challenging but doable. now i don't live in a city, and cannot get a job because of it. the us is set up to make people pay money and help them die faster. that's what I've learned living here. when i lived in California, a 20 min drive would be a 3 hr bus ride (one way). 😢
That's why I prefer living abroad. Many countries have better transportation so I don't have to drive. Taipei was heaven. A clean metro system that even extends to the boardwalk and airport, and buses that go everywhere else. It's a well planned city that is walkable between metro and bus stops. When I visit family, they live in the suburbs. There is no public transportation here. It's awful. Living in other countries comes with its own challenges, but being neurodivergent isn't as anxiety inducing because being a foreigner is already considered unusual. The language barrier is the main issue, but if you learn to read menus, it's not bad!
Having immigrated to Singapore and then immigrated back to the USA after a few years, you do a great job of putting into words what I've felt, love the vid❤
The part about losing weight when outside the us is kind of crazy really. I stayed a year in Italy back in high school and I did lose weight. It was a mix of the food I ate and living in a very walkable city. I walked everyone and even walked up to the 13th floor where my host family lived (got a bad fear of super cramped elevators.) Ever since returning home, I've gained that weight + extra back. Thw city I live in is beyond unwalkable without risk of heatstorke majority of the year. Can't afford going to the gym or any actual good workout stuff either...
1:02:03 farm fresh eggs don’t need to be refrigerated. Once the egg has been washed, though, it does need to be refrigerated because you’ve removed the natural barrier that normally protects a growing chicken. Butter never needs to be refrigerated, but some people prefer it that way
@@AL-lh2htlol yeah actually I do Do you because it doesn’t sound like it *edit I see now that my use of never must have confused you. Obviously butter won’t keep indefinitely. But leaving butter on the counter so it’s room temp is perfectly safe
Don't be, just follow the lead and buy weapons as you can and build a massive underground shelter, same as some of those country folks or rich people. @@sunnysunflowers328
The American privilege-abroad as a non-white American is very interesting and I think it depends on where you are. I feel like when I was in Lisbon, Portugal, I passed pretty well as there's a decent immigrant population especially Brazilian and African population there. Most people assumed I was Portuguese or could speak it (as if I was from Brazil), though they'd quickly switch to English upon their surprise that I wasn't Portuguese. Most people were pretty nice and hospitable as far as not being racist. This was mostly in cities like Lisbon and Porto though. In the rural parts, maybe not so much. I live in Ireland now. If I'm not with a group of white people, if I go into a retail store, I am always followed around. Or I might get stared at if I'm the only non-white person at a pub. It's only when they hear my accent that they switch up their demeanor and act right. This goes for immigrant shop owners there too, whether they're from central/eastern Europe (usually Polish or Ukrainian), or a Global South country, they'll follow me around or act weird around me until they hear my accent. Though, I've had non-native English speakers mistake me for Irish because I can speak fluent English, so I'm not sure if they mistook me for Irish rather than actually being American. Anyhow, there is immense privilege for being able to natively speak English. I kind of have to use it as a shield almost to escape any racism. Sometimes an Irish person will greet me in a slow accommodating manner assuming English isn't my first language, but then quickly normalize their speech upon realization that I speak English fluently. Irish people are amazing though otherwise.
@@boyblue3270Trust me, I'm realistic; I'm not going to escape racism in a capitalist system where anti-blackness is one it's largest exported goods. This "type" of racism is not unique to Ireland. I've heard people have similar experiences with other European countries. What I also mean is the Irish who aren't racist are way more hospitable and unconditionally welcoming than when I'm back in the USA. Like relative to white Europeans, I'd take my chances with them rather than some other places. And actually most of the racist experiences were with those immigrant groups I mentioned, even from Africans. And there is also a history of Irish solidarity with global liberation movements with others. Most recently Palestine-Irish solidarity is legendary.
There are a lot of racism towards Brazilians in Portugal. I feel like they respect americans a lot more. A lot of times when I spoke portuguese with a Brazilian accent, it earned me some frowned looks. The last times I went there I said I was american, and I felt they treated me much more enthusiastically than before.
Instant subscribe. I love how more creators like yourself are hitting the nail on the head when addressing our car culture as a main source of so many problems in our society. I didn't wake up to this until I discovered "Not Just Bikes" a couple years ago, and now I can't un-see how truly messed up the very fabric of our lifestyles has become. I rode my bike out for the first time in my young professional life couple years ago and never felt more alive and immersed in the world than when riding around my neighborhood. To truly break free of isolation for the first time felt extremely cathartic. I wish more people could experience it for themselves. Thank you for making this video
I think one thing that we're all forgetting in this conversation is self-identity. American culture has beaten us into nothing but consumers and workers. When you ask a child what or who they are, theyre descriptive. When you ask an adult who or what they are, their identities are often minimized into what they do for money, what they've done for money, and then the next identity factora are usually the things one consumes and how that shapes their identity. I think American culture has purposely erased our ideas of what a "self" can be and so Americans think they can find the spiritual self abroad.
An idea I’m surprise you didn’t mention in your video is American (along with other “westerns”) when they move to live in a different country, they don’t consider themselves as immigrants but as expats. We Americans typically use the word immigrants with a negative connotation that refer to people in “poor less superior 2nd to 3rd world countries” that move to such western countries but in all the word immigrant means a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country. The word expat usually gives American (again along with “westerns”) the idea of a non impoverished superior person who comes to a country to live in. But yet again the word expat just a person who comes to live in a foreign country. The word immigrant gives a negative idea while the word expat gives a positive idea, but in the end the two words mean the same thing.
I've known people who were actually 'expats' in the USA, because they planned to earn money and move back to their home countries. They didn't refer to themselves that way, and they generally stayed for decades rather than years. But they never intended to stay forever. Most expats move temporarily for an economic advantage, whether it's to stretch their dollar, or to earn in dollars.
My mom and most of my older relatives came to this country so that me and my cousins could have a better life. Now me and a good yonk of my cousins are considering moving elsewhere for the same reason, especially those who want to have children in the future. Immigration will only stall the problem, but it wont fix it. Eventually those immigrants, or their children, will also be effected by those issues as well because those issues are relative to the area one lives in. Its inevitable whether they were born there or not, they will all experience those issues regardless. Getting to the root of the issue will be the only effective solution.
@@MasterGhostfimmigration is the death of culture. It's just like treating people like Walmart knick knacks Seal the border and commence mass deportations
Seeing America your entire life from Canada is very strange. We end up adopting so many Americanisms just because of our proximity. So much of Canadian politics is specifically about being better than America.
As an American I can honestly say growing up I thought Canada was like an extension of the US, not a state but like some unofficial territory which is INSANE
Canadian politics also uses being better than America to skirt past its issues with racism though. It’s like comparing yourself to the dirt ground and being happy that you’re a tile floor.
Perspective is the issue. I live i the Bronx, NY. Most businesses are mixed with apartment buildings, a cab stand is less than a block away from my apartment and is under an elevated train. People in Manhattan sit around outside and block the sidewalk in some areas of wealth and privilege. I live below the official federal line of absolute poverty line but never drink, smoke or take drugs and am not lazy. Fresh vegetables and healthy food is too expensive. I get 291 dollars a month in food stamps (SNAP) less than 10 dollars a day in NYC. I am 54 years old. Scumbag Reagan cancelled my mother's check when I was 16 forcing me to drop out if high school to work 62-70 hours a week where I was mugged delivering food 13 times and my head was split open rendering me mentally disabled. I finally began college in 2016. I have two degrees and about to finish a third, an MA in History. I have a 4.0 GPA out if a possible 4.0 cumulative. I was denied admission into PhD programs 3 years in a row as they changed their entrance system due largely to budget cuts. I owe 101,000 dollars in student loans which I need to pay fr rent and some food because my SSI check is 1,030 dollars a month. I can always default so there is no risk to me. The only time it is a problem is if I work. Therefore, I want to work and get into a PhD program so I can use half the huge stipend they give to pay off the debt. Then I can work and make a smaller salary since I would not have to pay 1,500 dollars a month for the loans. I do not own a tv, any devices, this laptop is a loaner from the college library. My girlfriend bought my phone. I am 54 years old and sick of being blamed for my poverty, ridiculed for being old, disabled, and even a white male. I vote left because Republicans are an immediate threat to my survival, but Midwest transplants make the Bronx more expensive and buy buildings to build high rise condominiums for the rich which would render me homeless.
How is the situation, now that your vote has brought in Biden? You hurt more people than you can fear from what you see on the streets, Have the illegals and Hoodlums flood NY and don't complain when they come for you. If you managed to reply good luck the draft, with the coming war with China since that is what the current left wants?
Jesus man sorry to hear, that. It always makes me angry when I hear people say that poverty is due to laziness or stupidity. You are clearly neither, so the real problem is the system, and the people who benefit the most are the most opposed to progress. I do hope you get out of that situation, I’m sure it’s no easy feat, and I do hope people could be kinder to you.
Great video :D! On a more serious note, I am a product of a nationalist-American father. I am still a teenager/under 18, so my entire life there was school shooting drills, from preschool probably until I graduate high school. For me, shooting drills were “normal.” Being not able to afford basic necessities like healthcare or even food was “just a fact of life.” Why some classmates had tons of clothes while I only had a few was “that’s how it is.” I was never taught that other places are very ahead in America. I was told America was the best. It wasn’t until 2020-21 that I really got exposed to other places via seeing posts, videos from people and making friends across the world that I saw how truly shit America was. But my father is still indoctrinated into American nationalism. He’s never been outside the US his whole 50+ years, but he still thinks it’s the best. When I started implying america wasn’t that great, he got mad at me. I once didn’t won’t his American flag mousepad for my new PC, so he threw it on the floor and yelled at me. Needless to say, this line of thinking hurts everyone 👍🏻
I would suggest you to just play nice and nod along. The US is unforgiving and its a bit easier with parental support. Just nod along and pretend you agree, better than being kicked out and struggle. Play along till you're self sufficient.
@Devilishlybenevolent I couldn't agree more. People like this, cannot change, and cannot be convinced. Just tell him what he wants to hear, and continue to educate yourself. Well done to the OP. I understand it must be so very frustrating now, but in time, you will have the opportunity to surround yourself with people of your own choosing, whose views and values align more with your own. Ps. As an australian, I can honestly tell you, the rest of the world views the USA, as an absolute joke. A place we are GRATEFUL we don't have to live in. Yet, still have to align ourselves with, because of your military might. My country is hardy running on a perfect system. We have many, many areas that need improving, and many, many, things in our history to be ashamed of, but I would still NEVER want to live in the USA.
When i was in high school they teach us manifest destiny and explain us that that was an imperilastic doctrine to justify the expansion and stealign of half of Mexico. But it was only in reacent years in yt that i discovered the "excepsionalism" i was like "oh, so thats the reason why they behave like that".
Dude you went to a pretty bad school. Mexico never had control of Texas. Hell the native Americans controlled Texas and bordering regions even after the US annexed Texas for a long time.
@@cute_axolotl i had someone the other day claim that Portuguese invented colonialism and imperialism. I have no idea where these people get their education..
@@cute_axolotl México is a really diverse but mostly a mestizo country, mixed between spaniard and local culture. There are more than 60 native languages on use. Unlike the USA that partially destroy native american culture, Mexico has living culture and people that is not in human reservasions (wich are partial concentration camps) there is a lot to do to compensate past crimes against indigenous people of corse, but is much better than the USA for that matters.
My favorite part of living in the U.S is driving by dozens of homeless people on my mandatory commute to work. There are bombed out war torn nations with fewer homeless people than I pass on an average week.
Oh yea it’s great it’s like “be at the base level of wealth to afford car or immediately become an assumed criminal” “hide in metal box and avoid interaction with undesirables”
You CLEARLY have never been to a war-torn nation. There are far more homeless people there than here in America, it's just that they're called refugees. They live in tents or camps away from tourist spots, but each war-torn country certainly has them.
Try being one of those homeless folks. Shelters are usually full. Having to be around questionable people. And there's really no alternative besides parking your car, or setting up a tent somewhere. The only reason I don't have housing is because my line of work can't pay the rent. Can't live with family either because I came from an abusive home. The system just expects you to already have your life sorted out.
What country is "best" is all subjective. As an American in general places like southeast Asia, China, mexico and the carribean are generally way more affordable for me. People who are born there , however, we have to remember its not always so cheap for them. I understand why people still want to immigrate to the US. I personally want to leave the US. My quality of life is better elsewhere as my basic needs are very easily met elsewhere where that may be the opposite experience for someone from cuba for example. Personally I'm looking for somewhere warm where i can grow fresh fruits and veges and not worry about being followed by the police or some yt person wondering why I'm in their neighborhood everytime i step outside because I'm black. Being poor or even middle class and black in America is different from being yt. We don't always have the same freedoms and opportunities as yt people so this influences how i see the world and what countries i personally veiw as better or best.
The US is the best large population nation to live in and best in terms of business, tech, colleges, freedoms (you forgot most of europe and rest of the world freedom of speech is not protected), and a mixed culture.
@@AL-lh2ht --- YEAH, SURE . . . but the nonsense of which you speak does not put food on the table, just allows cocktail party chatter for poseur suburbanites.
I’m not very far in but on how the US government took the land from the native Americans - I live in New Zealand and there is a similar story with how the British took the land from the Māori and while the way the government tries to correct it now isn’t perfect and is sill lacking severely, they are having things given back to them, we are trying to use Te Reo more and more etc. it’s unreal to me that I haven’t seen a single indication to us government trying to give back to the native people. Or even just treating them as people at all. How horrific
This covered so much of what I had to study in year 11/12 US and Cold War history. Wish this video was around 2-3 years ago. Would have really helped with my exams and essays. I think about all of these tidbits in history whenever America is brought up. Just the atrocity of the US from its conception to now. I’m very passionate about it. This was a wonderful video
with regards to the "dressing up", having grown up in norway and lived here my entire life, i never considered wearing jeans etc to school "dressing up" until i got internet access and saw americans view it that way. ive always thought of it as not dressing up because i'm not putting that much thought into it, i'm just throwing on a random pair of jeans and the first sweater i see in my drawer lmao. sweats and otherwise relaxing clothes have to me always been more for practical wear; like going hiking in the mountain, working in the garden at my grandma's house, long travels by plane/train, or just relaxing at home.
Excellent research and video essay. Your unflinching retelling of the truth of this "great nation" is remarkably refreshing. The average, working class citizen of the United States needs to wake up and realize that we have been bamboozled and placed on a sinking ship. The initial colonies were comprised mostly of European convicts and proletarian looking for a better life. I am bumfuzzled how these "civilized" individuals subjugated so many. The United States is a young, dysfunctional country. We are quickly moving towards a caste system with oligarchies and serfdoms.
No nation is great in their own right. However, I have to disagree that the United States is a young dysfunctional nation. It was in fact one of the most mature countries in the world. It has shown time and time again that it can correct its mistakes and despite its flaws it is still thriving. The reason why I say was it because of its state it is now. It is heading to the path of communism which can lead to its downfall. However, there is still hope.
Funny to see how leftists call the US “dysfunctional” and bad in general while awkwardly ignoring fact that America is a superpower and largest economy in the world with high GDP per capita, and ranks high in most metrics.
Can't walk to a sports stadium in a free country make it make sense. At what point does a Police department become an armed group that protects/enforces private interests over the citizens in the territory which they control and collect taxes from. Strong case for 2a right here XD
The whole point of police forces is to protect owners of capital from thieves. The thing you are looking to say is "wealth repartition" or "wealth inequalities". When the wealth is in fewer hands, the police seems more oppressive to the rest...
Mais um ótimo video cheyenne! Quando você comentou sobre como as pessoas aq no brasil mudam de atitude quando descobrem que você é estadunidense eu acredito 1000% em ti,o average brasileiro tem quase uma "submissão" a todos e a tudo que é relacionado aos estados unidos,acham que o USA é "um céu na terra",numa perspectiva muito relacionada ao conceito que você tambem citou a "sindrome de vira lata".
Isso vem mudando com as novas gerações, eu vejo um sentimento antiamericano cada vez mais comum, a imagem dos estadunidenses como gordos incompetentes e burros demais pra funcionar fora do próprio país
Luna Oi's video on growing up in Vietnam and many like it are great resources for first worlders to understand just how much they take for granted and have in privilege, as well as many of the real human experiences and conditions they don't realize they are missing out on.
I have been vocal from my late teens about how screwed up the US is, how it games socio-economic mobility by class, how harshly it mistreats the poor and non-whites, and how it inflicts the same game on other nations. When traveling through other countries, I've had to listen to those people talk about how much non-white ethnicities and the poor were the sole source of all America's problems and basically echo the propaganda of US conservatism when they had never even visited the US. None of them wanted to listen to a perspective that challenged their programming from someone who actually LIVED here. They wanted the image of that golden "american dream" protected in their minds. Then 2016 happened and they all had their propaganda bubbles shattered.... again. This isnt the first time. It's a cyclical occurrence. New generations arise every 20 years without any observation of global politics, and people easily forget. The noise dies down, the propaganda ramps up once again, and with enough time, the pot boils over into another social crisis that shocks the world. Rinse and repeat.
Hollywood and “independent” films are part of the same system. What your experience is how big Hollywood films are designed to be enjoyed the world over with basic them like “family” instead of how smaller films are more character and specific issue driven.
Sheesh! I see why you said it’s been taking you awhile to make this video lol. Thanks for inviting me to share my thoughts 🤗 And in the last segment, heavy on the “Life is life is life is life” when it comes to living abroad. I wake up and clock in at 9:00 Monday to Friday just like many people I know back in the US. I need to be social at work so some weekends I don’t feel like going anywhere and I relax home and recover from my busy workweek and have my introvert time. I’d say Taiwan’s work culture is arguably just as bad as the US, in some ways worse. They luckily have more federal holidays. Changing your location can help for sure due to having access to things you never had before, but more often than not, the grass is greener where you water it. I know many people of many nationalities who moved to Taiwan and they quickly realized it’s not for them and they went back home. Wherever you go, there you are. I was content with moving to Taiwan despite hearing some horror stories about where I was going to work. And despite all of the “I hate ‘Murica” content these days, I’m also content with moving back 🤷🏾♀️ If you’re not fleeing from war, you have a moment to ask yourself why you want to move to xyz country. Ask yourself how you will support yourself financially, find the negatives about that place and see if you’re okay with it (travel/live abroad influencers already do an excellent job showing the positives) and ask yourself what you hope to gain from that experience vs listening to why an influencer chose to do so. There’s a lot those people are not telling you. The perfect country is often the place where the bs doesn’t personally impact you that much, hence why one can find mixed reviews of pretty much any place.
A revolution is upon us for better urban planning in North America seeing as how people are starting to see they've been robbed of a better life, myself included. I live in Seattle which is a significant improvement from where I lived the past decade, but the moment I get my bachelor's I'm leaving the country. It's hard to say whether we'll have to wait another lifetime until we see more Eurocentric design, but I can't afford to live my life while being treated as a second-class citizen if I'm not in a car.
Dude it’s not going to say anything about currently politics but just be a what if story that mostly shows how a civil war would suck. I mean Cali and Texas joining as one country? Really?
I had the reverse of the US citizen that dresses down. I am a black man and most black folks live by the casket sharp model. Where every outfit you step out in has to look like you could be buried in it. So when I moved to Hawaii I had my wife at the time get mad at me for over dressing every where. Walmart, block buster, the mall and the beach. Until one day i just gave in plain shirt, basketball shorts or swim shorts, and rubber slippers.... Well i cant say that i completely gave in. There was that time I dressing up and had a few people look at me funny while going to my ex mother-in-laws funeral
--- CORRECT, BECAUSE . . . a fake democracy can only be faked if everyone is in street-urchin uniform, pretending to be cinematically hip-and-happening and too-cool-for-school, whilst the adults wear adult clothes and eat at a table.
As a person who emigrated to Japan, I have to say it was the best thing I've ever done. That being said, it is not perfect. It is definitly the safest I have ever felt in my life, but I'm also a black woman so generally speaking I probably don't have much to fear from guys (I'm not the ideal) My friends and family often ask me when I will move back to America, but I honestly don't have much of a reason to. The food is better here, the air and noise quality is better, I have affordable access to quality healthcare and a bathtub that my whole body can fit in haha. I can walk to MULTIPLE markets in less than 10 min to get fresh high quality food. 2 minutes away from essential things like milk and eggs. Affordable simple foods.... Just good. Ultimately, moving away from America allowed me to see it from a different perspective. While I was always comfortable ENOUGH, I always had a looming fear of something there. Now I don't feel that anymore. That to me is more precious than whatever America has to offer.
You're for sure one of my favorite essayists on here. This was great and insightful. I'm a usamerican born and raised and you've brought a ton of stuff to my attention that I realized I just don't really think about. Thank you for making content!! Keep it up!!
Brazil mentioned 🎉🥳 No joke tho, here in brazil it’s so common to see a sort of mutt mentality in comparison to europe and the us. It’s common to see ppl talk about how much better the us is, and how brazil sucks in every way, it’s engrained in our culture, sadly. I hope we push in a more decolonial mentality in the years moving foward
So you literally are American living in South America while simultaneously claiming that the very act of Americans going to live in cheaper countries is exploitation...
Very little material analysis. Felt like it comes from a place of "anti-American" liberal nationalism than any genuine critique of American capitalism and imperialism. All of the issues of the United States are explained by its political system and the outsized influence the owning class has over its function. Its nothing to do with exceptionalism or the culture. Ageist remarks about baby boomers are not a substitute for actual class analysis. But of course, this would challenge the very foundations of capitalism, which Liberalism cannot do. Why doesn't the US have an NHS? Is it because they are fat and lazy and brutish? No, its because the government refuses to create one. Why doesn't the US have walkable cities? Is it because Americans hate walking? No, its because the government sided with automotive companies and helped bankrupt the traditional transportation companies. Why does the US engage in imperialism? Is it because Americans are bloodthirsty and nationalistic? No, its because the government wages war in service of large corporations and the military industrial complex. None of these things are a result of the culture or the attitudes of the people. They are a result of the social and material conditions, and the state that exists as a result of them. "But why don't Americans just VOTE for a better system?" Because as a bourgeois democracy, the United States is not particularly democratic on a top level. At the federal level, the United States is ruled as a oligarchy in service of large monied interests. "Voting" does nothing for the average person. Any changes usually occur slowly and at the lowest level. And Americans, like most people living in republics, are discouraged from participating in local politics. And, this should terrify people, but all of the Europeans et al who criticize the US for these things ALSO live in the same kind of bourgeois democracies. These nations have oligarchies just like the United States, and they are waiting for opportunities to cement themselves in government and undo the progress made by the social-democratic governments. Thatcher already got the ball rolling for the UK.
Agree with the second half. Many European countries have seen a rise in the far right recently. Netherlands, Italy, England etc. Are they so different after all?
@@user-fe8uq9zp2g I'm Italian and no, the US and most European countries aren't that different. Bourgeois democracies with imperialistic idealogies. But it's not hard to realize why there is SO MUCH anti-American sentiment throughout the world. Even in my country, they meddled in our elections, justifying it with the all so ironic phrase "we did it for the sake of democracy". And this is one of the most tame thing that they've done to impose their hegemony in the last 70-80 years.
@@user-fe8uq9zp2g With "they" I meant the US, sorry if I wasn't clear. The current Italian government is filled with incompetent nostalgics of the fascist era. We have seen a rise in police brutality, especially in the last days. I believe most Americans and Europeans are growing distrustful of the current neo-liberal type of economy, but the propaganda is quick to blame immigrants. The classic "nation vs foreigners" philosophy of fascism, instead of the class struggle that is typical of left-wing thought.
@@lucianofrancesco4742 I understood what you meant by they lol its a pretty known fact that America is usually involved in others affairs. Thats why Americans romanticize Europe to be almost a 'safe haven' while it is great, it also has faults country to country
It is crazy _just how expensive_ it is to NEED a car. The pattern of "finally feeling a bit more financially secure only to suddenly need to drop $1,500 on your vehicle" is a CONSTANT and I do not have a single friend who doesn't regularly experience that. And it's not like you have an alternative, even the largest city in my state has virtually no public transportation, if you don't have a car you're fucked. That, combined with the exorbitant cost of healthcare and housing, feels like such a massive disadvantage financially
As an argentinian the way i perceive the us now goes to "jajajaja they think they are the world champions, how cute" to "oh god they helped to kill 30.000 of us in the 70's via Operation Condor" but i have to admit that it wasn't always like that. Even tho i now hate the idea of travelling to the us like i wouldn't go even if i got paid for it, back when i was an overachieving kid that only consumed us shows and movies, i really loved the idea of us universities and college life there, the best to the best go there so for sure my dream was to be and study there. Then with time i realized people pay to go there, those are not public like ours (imagine how delusional i was that i didn't ever considered going to our PUBLIC universities here) not only that people get in massive debt bc of it and then also realizing that even tho i was smart i was also brown and people would not treat me well there (idk why i though it would not happen in the us since i was already being discriminated against here so again extremely delusional) alongside with the acknowledgement that they not only treat people like me like trash inside their country but also have actively made sure via their foreign policy to make our lives more difficult in my country. Us corporations that own parts of our land, the help offered to instaurate multiple dictatorships, their media soft power and the one i'm most focused now since i reconnected with my indigenous ancestry: those fucking "spiritual" trips that they do just to "find peace" Now knowing all that i just can't avoid feelings of rage and then shame bc of the way i used to think of the us. Memory is a big thing in our country, it has become our mantra since the last dictatorship ended and i started to feel proud about it when i learned how the world actually works and bc we were one of the very few countries that took to the court their ex-dictators, not military court but judiciary court. But i can't avoid the disappointment that came with the choice we made for a president. A guy that recently encountered with trump and basically kissed his ass, yeah the guy that also denies the amount of murders in our last dictatorship, that it's no coincidence and yet he was chosen to be our president. Anyways if any of you want to hear a funny anecdote related to this theme, here is one: as kid i used to have a toy register machine and various toy food goods to imagine i was a grocery store worker, once my dad played with me as a customer and when the time came for him to pay me i asked him to do it in dollars not in pesos, he laughed bc he realized i've been watching to many us cartoons and told me since its not our currency i should let him pay in pesos. Now I'm 24, my cousin had a daughter that i love so much and this one time i was watching her play with her dad selling him fake lemonade, he also ended up laughing bc the payment was in dollars. It's an innocent thing i know, funny as hell too but weird if you really think about it.
So you've rejected American nationalism in favor of anti-American nationalism? Two sides of the same coin, both ultimately serve imperialism one way or another.
@@gmodrules123456789 I guess what you want me to say is that my country is not that great either? Or the European involvement in argentinian affairs? Which I'm very aware of, believe me but it seems you want me to say it as if that would erase your wrongdoings. I also suppose what you are concerned about is our nationalism becoming so anti-american to the point where we are taught by our government to blindly hate the us and to be loyal to our country no matter what. Idk how you reached that extreme conclusion as if me criticizing the us (and not wanting to go there?) instantly makes me a radical "death to all Americans" type of foreigner, like the antagonist in an action Hollywood movie or something. In the case of Argentina's nationalism is quite the opposite, it has historically been tied to an ambition to be like the us. To erase all trace of the population that wasn't white as fast as possible and start building our nation's identity from there. Just like the us was doing. And I mention this not to blame the us but as to say that, due to our history, the contrary is less likely to happen and a collective critique of the us is not a sign of Argentinians wanting the absolute end of the us.
Don’t listen to the other comment. They don’t understand how so tied up other nations became at the hands of America or how it feels to have children indoctrinated to hate themselves. I agree w you. America isn’t as amazing as it is made out to be. I’m in university. It’s great. But it’s not cheap at all. I have to pay hundreds for a few months’ parking. Getting one bag of groceries costs over $50. There are not a lot of third spaces for people to hang out together that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Ppl are miserable. Corporations are constantly cutting back job openings and overworking staff as well as committing wage theft. Health insurance is a total joke. And ppl still want to come here for some reason. My best advice for anyone wanting to move here is to go ahead if they want to potentially end up homeless. Lol.
As a Brazilian that recently immigrated to the USA, I often think of moving back to Brazil and taking my wife with me (as she is a citizen and was the only reason I immigrated in the first place). There are a lot of benefits of being a USA citizen, of course, but I noticed my quality of life declining after living here for a bit. I specially fear what the long term effects of the bad food quality, over reliance on cars (and all it's health consequences) and lack of a social safety net may cause to me, my wife and our future kids. Thank you for the amazing video.
Shop at Aldi and Trader Joes, and if you can walk the several miles to get to the store. There is food in the US that is just as good of quality, it is just you have to wade through a sea of crap to get to it.
Thank you Cheyenne for your beautiful presentation. You have opened up the book of history that alot of people are not aware of. Your research is very detailed and incitful. To know the history the way you showed is very revealing and honest. Keep up the good work.
To be clear, we never adopted the metric system because the ship carrying the standards was blown off course and captured by pirates. And soccer came from Britain, which is called Association Footballers "Assocers."
Excellent video, but somethings I’ve noticed about videos on this subject “world security is hardly ever mentioned”. As an American I can speak on a plethora of issues with our country “ inequality, wealth gap, capitalism, racism, classism, etc, etc”, I’d be here all day trying to list all the wrongs, but no one ever speaks on world security. America spends an ungodly amount of tax dollars on our military complex , and other countries military complexes, and foreign aid. Yes America stays dictating to others countries, toppling governments, causing unrest when it benefit their Goals, “America is cruel”, but what if we were to adopt “isolationism” not on trade , but political & economic entanglements with other countries. All those tax dollars are spent on us? .. Many countries Americans flee to would they?!? .. Countries that depend on military & foreign aide what would they do?!? … Being poor in America sucks , but does it look the same in other places?!? ..These are things I never see discussed in videos like these. I want to live in an American that’s not cruel to its citizens, and the rest of the world , no meddling in foreign affairs, taking care of its citizens, free trade with other nations , a fair, and balanced immigration policy where we didn’t destroy another country , and their citizens are dying to cross the border, but if we create that America “how would the rest of the world react!?!” America isn’t a lone superpower, how would those countries treat the rest of the world if America isolates ?!? .. I suspect same shyt show not involving Americans .
It's Great to see your arguments are based on data, the document with the bibliography is properly done, the title has a propper headline and is not a clickbait. The conclusion was a bit short and it was only a quick summary, but still an amazing video essay. Lovely content, great to know you are enjoying your life in Brazil. Incredible work here.
58:48 the walkable city/losing weight thing is definitley true. at summer camp i ate twice as much as i did at home, and lost weight simply because i was walking and running up and down hills all day for weeks on end, vs home in the city we drove everywhere
I find the topic of American exceptionalism despite a weirdly poor standard of living really interesting, even as a non-American, because it effects my every day life! I'm British (and a POC). My partner is American (and white). Even though the UK and America are far more similar to each other than many other countries are to America, it's actually wild how many differences there were in our day to day lives and expectations growing up and which come up in our relationship. Obviously there's major things like the healthcare system and fear of gun violence, and us having different experiences as white vs non-white people. But even down to smaller things like the use of dryers being a given in the US, which you mentioned. Me and my family use ours sparingly and hang clothes out to dry most of the time, but when I go and stay with his family in the States, they use it for every single wash. Here, it's not a given that every home will come with a dishwasher built in. My family live in a house and have a dishwasher, but both of the flats I have lived in recently didn't have one, and I washed everything up by hand every day. He said that that was incredibly unusual to him. I also find that food in the US is much lower quality overall than in the UK. Though I also think that the UK has lower quality food than many other parts of Europe (and our cultural cuisine is hardly the best around lol). But even so, food in the US feels so cheap and artificial for me to eat. I am someone with a sensitive stomach due to medical issues, so I do feel it more than the average person, but I truly feel like I can taste the difference, and even feel different when I eat American food over a long period of time, especially food which we haven't prepared ourselves. He also says that he looks forward to being here in the UK because our bread and eggs are better and that the quality and breadth of available seasonings is better, for example. But he's also used to these massive portion sizes, like giant buckets of ice cream and giant cartons of juice, even massive vegetables, that simply don't exist here. A big area where I feel a cultural difference is over the need for cars, and the lack of third spaces. I am only just learning to drive in my early 30's. Now granted, I'm from London. But even in other UK cities or even some smaller towns etc, you don't HAVE to drive because there are still public transport options and third places you can go to even if you don't have a car. We also have the railway connecting the whole of the UK, so you can travel to other places without a car. When we're in the US, we are completely dependent on a car unless in very specific places like NYC. And he says that travelling via train is considered rare and even bougie/expensive. Rail prices have been going up here unfortunately, but for a long time travelling around the country by train or coach here was considered the cheap option, available to those who don't have a car. Add to that, shops, restaurants and third places in the US are often only accessible via car, and it doesn't feel like people go there to communally congregate as much as they do in Europe. I find strip malls so depressing, because in the UK you have shops, cafes, restaurants, parks etc intermingled with residential areas and it feels more like a community, especially in places with public squares. Even as someone who is Covid cautious, I can still go out and buy my food and then enjoy it in an outdoor space with friends if I don't feel comfortable to sit inside a restaurant. I remember expressing how weird and depressing I found stripmalls to my partner, and how I had to kind of figure out why I found it so depressing to see people only being able to drive somewhere to buy food and then not be able to spend time there with other people unless they were inside a specific restaurant. How it lacked that spontaneous socialising you described, which I'm very used to. I also don't really see big groups of young people hanging out in local parks for the day like I spent whole summers doing here. There's generally less of a culture of hanging out in public spaces compared to Europe's pub and cafe cultures (this is also exacerbated by the pandemic of course, but I experienced this in the US before the pandemic too). Doing some research, I found that this was of course linked to capitalism, racism and the desire to drive black people out of spaces that had previously been free or cheaper when only white people could use them, like swimming pools and theme parks, and even whole neighbourhoods. I try not to see any cultural differences as inherently better or worse, but I do feel weighed down by this major difference when I spend time in the US, about how much less communal and outdoors life is than in Europe. How much harder it is to just decide "I want to go out for the day and spend time somewhere nice" without expecting to spend a ton of money. How isolated people are in their cars and homes and how inaccessible the outside world can feel if you don't have a car. Especially given the origins of that phenomenon in capitalism, mass consumption and racism, I completely understand why so many Americans mourn a lack of third places and community. I think I would feel that loneliness too if I lived in America basically anywhere other than major cities with public transport. I don't believe that the UK is a great country that has the right to point a finger at America and mock it, especially right now, but even the cultural and social difference between the UK and the US is very stark to me. Then I compare that to the stretches of time I've spent in other countries like Spain and Bulgaria and the gulf is even wider.
The US gives you alot more choice than other countries, but often that means alot more bad choices. In Japan the country I have been to the most after the US, the snack foods and candies are often much worse and filled with more additives than the US. Although in both the US and Japan healthier choices are available, in the US they can be more expensive and harder to access. You can get food in the US that is higher quality than what is available in Europe, but you will likely have to pay more for it. Europe is a society obsessed with protecting people from bad decisions more than the US and Japan are. Which is why they are ban happy when it comes to food additives
Im from LATAM, moved to the US and lived in the UK for around 6-7 years. I find that I thought similarly when I first moved but the UK has gotten progressively worse and a lot of what you wrote here I can understand. For example, my friend lives in Enfield - you absolutely need a car there to live. You cant just walk to Tesco. The bus takes around 30 min outside of London or more and you will have to connect many times. I will say the public transport in London is great however recently TFL is EXTORTIONATE and the amount of strikes is crazy. Yes England has great parks (lovely in summer) but the weather is shit so who really goes out to enjoy it? We cant sit outside in the pouring rain for more than half of the year. Yes there is the NHS but Ive literally been stuck at the A&E various times for about 6-8 hours. Ive seen them not even have SEATS to offer people to sit and people vomiting in buckets. In America, while it's costly, you can walk right into the A&E and be served. Not to mention salaries in the UK with the cost of living are abysmal. Salaries are stagnant. You have doctors making awful money for the work they do which deserves higher yet our taxes go to the NHS but they cant afford housing? Im going to have to disagree about the food as well. You have shops like Trader Joes in America that provide pretty good food and not that costly. You even have health food stores like Whole Foods, Sprouts etc which are superior to a Planet Organic. Even within a normal store like a Publix you can shop pretty healthy. Thats like if I said the UK has processed foods and I only bought from Iceland and eat at fried chicken shops. Fruits in the US are way better than all the imported fruit (minus strawberries and apples) that England get because they cant grow much. The US has places like Florida for tropical fruit and California for others like grapes etc which grow great produce. I do think some food in the US is questionable like a majority of chains but the UK has their share of chains too like Pizza Express. The great part of the UK (specifically London) is the mix of cultures, openness to religions, and I will say sense of community is a stronger than the US. Also social services are good, but heavily underfunded.
@@user-fe8uq9zp2gOh yeah, the UK has abolsutely been going to shit. I'm always ready to criticise what the government has been doing to this country over the last decade (well, slowly since Thatcher and accelerated now, really). We are losing a lot of what was great about the transport systems and NHS here, and it fucking sucks bc you just know our government is salivating at the mouth at the thought of making everything more privatised like in the US (they have even been quoted saying stuff along these lines at points). At the very least, it does still exist in some form though, and people are used to expecting that it should exist and be better than what it is currently is. Compared to what my bf can access if he didn't have any form of health insurance in the US, I am still lucky to access what I can. But it should also be much better than it is. In fact, it's the direct comparison to how much more dire things can be in the US if you don't have the access that emphasises how important it is for the UK to not go down the same route. And of course we are also in a cost of living crisis. There is plenty to criticise about life in the UK currently, which I was pretty clear about lol. There is definitely shit processed food in the UK! It exists everywhere now. I was more saying that what's generally accessible in most average supermarkets and restaurants seems higher quality to me in the UK than in the US, same for my partner. But it's also lower quality than other parts of Europe. Also maybe it's just cus I grew up here and I'm more used to it, but I'm not adverse to spending time outside if it's not the 2 weeks of true summer we get a year. So long as it's not pelting rain 😂Brits really will just take any excuse to sit outside in the park tbh. Everyone I know who came here from hotter countries thinks we're unhinged for it. But you work with what you've got lollll
@@EvilCleverDog Yeah thats true it's interesting they are choosing the wrong direction. I moved right before Brexit and for me(personally) it seemed like a catalyst but I wasn't there before so Im not sure how it was. I do remember the Pound being almost double the Dollar which was crazy. My partner grew up in England and found America much more convenient? I guess is the word in comparison to England. I would love universal health care in America however there is medicare/medicaid but Im sure you know there are some requirements. It seems like England and other countries in the EU are moving towards pushing privatized health care anyway so who knows what will happen there. I just feel scammed in England knowing a huge chunk of taxes go to pretty much nowhere seeing that my friend is a doctor and makes like 30k...in London. In the states you are taxed less generally (they also probably go to - the military which I hate) but hey at least it's less especially with the state of the world atm. Also I genuinely feel sorry for Britains youth idk how they will buy houses. Im not sure where your partner is from in the US but the food is pretty subjective based on that too supermarket wise (id take TJ or Publix over a Tesco anyway), in Florida produce is pretty great and we have a variety of Latino and Caribbean food which is amazing however London def benefits from the multitude of cultures there for restaurants! 😅Yeah for an outsider the weather sucks tbh coming from somewhere where we have the beach but thats all subjective.
It’s not America that is the problem. Every country that adopts Capitalism all face the same issues more or less. In Singapore, I was called lazy and stupid for being American. I was further hindered by my Viet ethnicity because of their own views of national exceptionalism. Almost every country has their own story of taking land from natives who are usually darker skinned and live more egalitarian and in smaller tribes.
After living many places I can agree with this take. To Americans it seems like this problem exists only there or is the worst there. However it’s happening in a lot of places.
In what way does skin colour play a massive role in this exceptionalist attitude? Ironically the most of the comments here are a product of american exceptionalism except instead of typical american "conservatism" its american "liberalism"
someone who I won't specify in my life was walking home from a bar that was so close to their place of residence that they could see their apartment from the bar... they got stopped by the police and arrested for public intoxication even though they weren't stumbling or acting out or being weird, the cops were just harassing anyone who was walking. This exact scenario happened to another person in my life and then this exact thing would happen a second time to the first individual I mentioned... like, okay so they don't want you to drunk drive of course but you can't walk??? america hates when their citizens do anything that they can't be charged money to do. we can't even walk places in our own nation, because our infrastructure is disgusting trash and because our public transport it horrifyingly bad and because if they can't tax you for it because it was free, they don't like that.
America reminds me of one of my favorite quotes about perfection " to be perfect is to stagnate. To reach thebultimate end is to stop, to stop is to decay" was the general jist (not gonna quote a whole ass villain monologue) America in thinking it reached perfection, has alloeed itself to stagnare and rot from the inside out
My problem with that attitude. I hate the "america is best". We have done a lot of great things, but we're not the best. No one is. But, we can make more great things and reach new heights.
Haven’t finished the video yet(only 15 minutes in) but I love how your talking about Americas history with native Americans as a mixed girlie myself (white and Cherokee American) I feel very seen and heard with the struggles I’ve had in my life, even though I am white passing and “dont look very native” being forced to grow up without my culture has taken a large toll on me and made me feel less native almost and like I don’t deserve to call myself indigenous because of not growing up with the traditions,language,folklore,etc because of things like residential schools, the trail of tears, and trying to assimilate into whiteness
Great vid! When I am interacting with Americans online I will often use statistics from my own country, Namibia, to paint theirs in a bad light. A quick example being that there are approximately twice as many Americans living on 2.00$ per day as there are people in my entire country. As you say, everyone expects the US to be worse than most of Europe and some of Asia, but they are never expecting anywhere in Africa to do many things better than them. I think this can both be a way to help open eyes on just how desperate the US' situation is in some ways, as well as help people understand the reality of living in a middle-income country.
There’s two million people in Namibia. They’re more Americans living on two dollars a day, but they’re only .3% of the population. I wouldn’t be shocked if a lot of them were undocumented immigrants. That’s just population. I’m sure China has something similar going on. 82 million Chinese live on two dollars a day, but that’s a tiny part of Chinas popilation.
Then that means around 4 million Americans live on $2 per day. 4 million out of a population of over 330 million.... lol. How exactly does that make Namibia "better" than the US?
The Brazilian "mongrel complex" (complexo de vira-lata) you mentioned in the video is absolutely real. Brazilians learn from a very young age this perception that most of (if not everything) we create is downright inferior or just not as good as the things we import from the US, western Europe, Japan and the like. To many Brazilians, the things we ourselves do/create only seem to matter after they are validated by certain international institutions. I've always wondered if other countries in the Global South experience the same kind of collective low self-esteem. When it comes to tourists and immigrants, I believe Brazilian overtly welcoming hospitality (towards natives from the Global North, specifically) somewhat reflects the same yearning for recognition and validation. I suppose Americans tend to receive special treatment not only because of expectations regarding their purchasing power but also because they're mostly perceived as coming from a superior/aspirational place. Hollywood and the american music industry have made a hell of a job in shaping our sensibilities. Also, in a country with so many social inequalities like Brazil, being able to communicate fluently in English (or in any other foreign language) is a status marker. So I guess people like to flaunt their abilities whenever they can.
Thank You Very Much, I could not agree more just about everything you said. Here is also something, it’s about Freedom, people say that the U.S. has lots of Freedom even though the Freedom level index is NOT as high as other developed countries. Freedom is NOT Uniquely American, but Credit Scores, Mass Shootings , and Medical Loans are
I really wish most of us new generations would stop the apathy and act, I want to March with others across the nation and let Washington know we want change. It’s so sad to see how easily people just ignore extremely important events in our country and don’t come together to change it. We just vote for people that 9 out of 10 times never do anything. And thus the issues get worse.
Federal elections matter, but local elections are more important. If you expect federal elections to change much; it won't. Get involved in the local level. Talk to the community, thats where real change is. Real change takes years and decades. Talk to state representatives and senators.
Bc not enough of us are in the same boat. Also eventually things will have to be even worse for enough people. Do u know how revolutions start? Things have to get shitty beyond repair for people finally to do it unfortunately
Small nitpicks. But the term soccer is actually a British invention. The English first started use of soccer & returned to the use of football later on. Americans kept using soccer. Also the UK, Canada, etc aren't fully metric. For example England still uses stone to weigh themselves & not even Americans use that. A stone 🪨 is 14 pounds.
Yeah, the widespread adoption of the metric system is a result of French imperialism in Asia and Africa more than anything else. As well as German and Japanese imperialism. Ironic, considering the alternative is literally called "the imperial system".
I live in deep poverty in the US. When I speak with others around the world, it really hits home how much the average US citizen has in common with people our country derides as lesser. I cannot leave due to disability and being queer, both of which put me at risk living here. Ironically my health would likely improve if I ever did get to leave, but I'm stuck. And even if I did leave...I'd just be encroaching on resources that should go to local folks (of whichever hypothetical country.) When I learned about the right to roam and right to privacy that other countries had, I was shocked. How many US foods, medications, and household products are banned across the world and how that impacts our health. A lot of folks don't talk about this, so I'm grateful that you are.
In my opinion the best thing for usa and usa citizens is that the usa just becomes a normal country not an empire and for us people to be more nuanced when it comes for their world view
This is great. I'm a brown American guy from Philly, and I grew up in the hood. What's nice though is a short train ride into the downtown area and you see people from all backgrounds and countries. The suburbs are depressing to me. They always feel like I just don't belong. Now that I have money I'd rather have a lavish condo in the heart of any city near my workplace. I learned the ugly history of this country, but despite the past I still love America. It's great despite the problems. I can't wait to travel and possibly emigrate.
A lot of people think or say that the U.S has been in decline in the past 10 years, I’d say it has been longer than that, it was just not as noticeable to the average citizen. I have since left the U.S and gave never looked back, I was able to finally afford a house living abroad and feel that I’m actually living a life now as suppose to feeling like a modern slave in the U.S Hope more people do the same, America will not get any better in fact the decline both economically and socially, will just accelerate in the next few years until the ultimate collapse and dismantling of the United States, into what I see and becoming city states many becoming autonomously independent from one another.
I left the USA 11 years ago, I've had stable employment the entire time, a side business, access to gyms, beaches, martial arts, I have a house, I have a wife, I have a daughter and three cats, I definitely do feel like I'm living my life instead of laying down waiting to die in the USA. I was smart enough to figure this out at the young age of 28.
Doesn't the quality of life depend on which state you live in? Some states are way poorer than underdeveloped countries. West Virginia and New Mexico are two examples of some pretty poor states that pretty much could some underdeveloped countries to the test. Am I mistaken? Could you also talk about Americans that are too poor to even emigrate outside the US but fantasize about life aboard?
i also agree, especially with things like access to medicare as a poor adult depending on your state, your quality of life varies greatly depending on which state you’re in, especially for those who are low income
I wish my families hadn't immigrated to the US. I'm constantly hungry and still waiting on disability money and, yeah, it sucks here. I've struggled in other countries due to disabilities and just don't really belong anywhere, though, and that's the true gift of being born in the United States
@@bevs9995Ireland/France and Ukraine. Honestly they should've moved elsewhere :( I see why they tried here though. I wouldn't want to live in Europe either at this point. Maybe South America? Anywhere where I can have the energy to make food I guess
@@bevs9995Maybe. Probably . It's hard to tell while uninsured and waiting years for any assistance from the government so that I can get any sort of proper diagnosis for anything. But yeah, probably
One of the main issues I have living in the US is how everything, from how primary school is structured to how acquiring benefits (such as healthcare/higher education) works, is designed to funnel most of the population into full-time/9 to 5 labor. It takes a lot of time and/or a strong mental base to undo that kind of conditioning. IMO one of easiest ways to undo this kind of programing is to see, with one's own eyes, what life is like outside of US borders.
It was a good start but you lost me at white capitalist patriarchy. As someone who had their family tree heavily pruned by communism I don't want that here. That isn't saying I want either the D or R fascist offerings. You are confusing capitalism, the ability to trade freely and keep the efforts of your labor for youself to spend as you see fit, and crony capitalism (fascism as per Mussolini's definition of merging corporate and state power) which is what we have now.
35:40 This argument makes no sense. Those exchange rates are essentially just arbitrary numbers. The Brazilian Real is about 30 Japanese yen but that hardly means that the Real is a "stronger currency".
This was such an amazing video. Glad i found your channel. You helped to put into place the things that seemed contradicting or confusing to me once. I was born and raised in Egypt. I remember there was a very popular movie that tells the story of an Egyptian American who returned to Egypt after 20 years in the US. It describes the manifestations of what this prevelige looks like, as your friend describes here 37:20
the "trump was elected when i was like 10" comment sent me into a spiral for a second, gotta be honest. i had to do some math bc it felt wrong that kids who were 10 when trump was elected were on the internet, commenting on stuff...but then....i realized....those kids are 18 now, what the actual fuck. time isnt real , i refuse to believe it
I was 10 then and 18 now, about to participate in my first election. Time flies. 😭
The passage of time doesn't feel real for a lot of us it seems. Born in 2004 here, each time I remember it's 2024 and I turn 20 in a few months I get ill.
Another kid who was 10 when Trump was elected, I'm pretty excited (terrified) to participate in my first election, but I know damn well who I'm not voting for.
im 18 now but i dont feel like reforms will do anything to help the us. its like keeping a comatose on life support, you have to pull the plug and i would rather have to bear the weight of that change than my children.
Humans measure time
oh wow. a sign literally saying "its illegal to walk to this public thing a few hundred meters away, you could die bc we have made no effort to make any part of our infrastructure walkable. good luck", i have not seen that before. thats a new low for the US infrastructure/transportation i think?
Yeah that must be deliberate... building a pedestrian overpass/underpass is so much easier than building a sports stadium
shouldn't have built that stupid soccer stadium in the first place. it's an inferior sport
@@lebaronmarcus In defense of Metlife Stadium, it's actually one of the only sports venues in the US that was actually funded by the owner of the team
@@banquetoftheleviathan1404 Metlife is actually an NFL stadium that's home for both the New York Giants and the New York Jets. It's just going to be used to play soccer for the 2026 World Cup. Also to reiterate, the stadium is the rare example of a sports venue that was privately funded which is honestly how things should be done.
"We made no effort to fix this. Good luck!"
Yeah.... That's pretty typical here.
I literally got stopped two days ago by cops while trying to walk home. I wasn't even five minutes away from my house, but they DEMANDED to know my business and why i was walking.
Our local cops are convinced anyone on foot or just sitting in public parks could be drunks.
@@Jogjosmowwdkfs it wasnt until I told them my car is being repaired and that I live out of state on my own that they started to back off. I really wanted to be like, "if yall care so much, just give me a ride damn." But the last time I was around a police officer I was sa'd. It's crazy how just existing is grounds for them to dehumanize us.
@@kiyawilson3520 there's a lot of emphasis on driving a car where I'm from. If you don't, then you must be drunk or on parole or something. It's absolutely wretched that happened to you. I wish you nothing but the best.
???
Crazy, I am 46 and dont even have a driving license, just because living in the Netherlands I never needed a car. 🤷🏼♀️
i visited the us once and it's so weird how you don't have sidewalk everywhere, I had to leave my hotel and go to wallmart and i was almost walking in the street
even the cities with sidewalks aren’t very walkable cause of the multi-lane roads at every intersection. What could be a short walk in other countries is a long one here
The majority of towns and cities dont have side walks and it only gets worse the further out you go from the town/city center. It is terrifying.
Im very spoiled here in Phoenix, which actually does have large sidewalks and bike lanes everywhere. Too bad its over 90 degrees for 8 months a year
@@srenapplegate4174
Americans may think it's a bit strange, which proves the point, but leaving the US for public commuting infrastructure is good enough reason.
I was in Hungary once and saw some guys running like crazy after a soccer ball... at the ripe old ages of 70+. I asked them how they could possibly do this. "Walk. Just walk."
Totally. There are some towns or areas that are more walkable than others of course, but a lot of America/The US has a really big issues with a lack of walkability. And not only does this make it more hazardous to walk, but it also makes it nearly impossible for wheelchair uses and people with strollers or disability scooter aids to get around.
When you are in poverty, living in the U.S. doesn't feel like a privilege.
My mother used to say this as a Caribbean immigrant; "being poor back home, and being poor in the US are two different things. Being poor in the US is way worse."
It sucks, especially growing up poor in one of the top 3 richest counties in the country. You're surrounded by wealth, but often don't have enough to eat. it takes several buses and hours just to get to a doctor, a hospital, college, and/or job. I hate it here!
latinoamerica, too. i imagine it's difficult but so is every poor lives?
It's the same problem in every country in the world. Poverty is bad in general, but poverty with social inequality is the worst feeling. I'm from Brazil and I see this in my country and city every day, with more inequality, more problems including psychological. It's revolting to see the other in the best place of society who made sometimes nothing too special than you did.
Being in poverty in most of the global south at least just means being left to your own devices. Being in poverty in the US means being targeted for scapegoating, harassment, and abuse
as useful as the internet is for finding community, it'll never compare to the feeling of sitting with friends in a communal space. that factor was easily the main reason why i miss living on a college campus. people underestimate the feeling of existing in a community space that doesnt require you to spend gas or buy food just to exist outside for an hour or two
I don't think this channel will give you a great community ._.
EXACTLY. The lack of third spaces is just sad. Also love your P5 profile pic!!
One of the reasons why most Cyberpunk stories cast the US as a collapsed former super-power or a regional power is because cyberpunk writers saw the writing on the wall with the rise of austerity and neoliberalism in the late 70s and early 80s, they realized that the widening economic gap between the wealthy and the poor would only grow and inevitably accelerate. Neoliberalism was going to destroy the country.
And honestly? They were right. The US was never perfect. But the economic situation for countless families was far better mere years ago, nevermind decades ago.
Tbh, its probably because the authors are in the US. If you read foreign sci-fi, its often based in those countries; because thats where the authors are from.
@@MasterGhostf Exactly
@@MasterGhostfwell that makes sense, I don’t think an Italian born and living in Italy would make a better or more believable U.S. cyberpunk world, but then again, I’ve seen stranger things
And most cyberpunk stories also cast Japan as the largest superpower by far. Why do these writers seem to have incredible foresight into the decline of the US, but they were completely off in their predictions about Japan?
@@Yku30The look and aesthetic of Cyberpunk is based on Japan
While I do agree w your thesis. I do disagree when you mentioned people in the US are immune to its propaganda. Individuals in the US are the biggest victims of their propaganda, given that it doesn't affect the point of view but rather the mechanisms to formulate a pov. An example would be the inclination to think in binaries. If it's Democrat, its republican, if it's not black, it's white. In my time here, a good amount of the citizens find it difficult to fathom nuances and/or grey areas.
The propaganda in the United States is so pervasive and so widely accepted that its kind of disturbing. I don't know where this idea that Americans are "immune" to it comes from. All of the MSM is literal propaganda.
Good thing more and more people are becoming progressive and are getting more aware of how such propaganda is affecting us. In other words, "leftism"
im 39 and her perspective was def propagandized by the 2010s self hating liberal view.. whites oppressing natives, men paying for sex, wealthy people ruining a native peoples around the world.. to be fair, natives were cut throats - read Comanche Moon.. they wiped out other tribes men then raped the surviving women, basically everywhere but the US prostitution is very normalized including europe and Japan where I live, and when i recently reflected about my fears of rich americans coming and shitting on the beautiful Japanese regular people whom I respect for so many reasons, Then my father in law said they were wealthy Japanese who owned land and all around them the people who worked the land gave 10% of all their food to them just because they were wealthy and Japanese wealthy still own the stocks, real estate, etc.. WTF was my point, Japanese arent nice to Japanese either now get on with it and make my grandkids strong like youre supposed to...
I think Americans are seeking utopia but it doesent exist. I was almost murdered in Brazil and local peoples are far worse to their own people than most of the worst bitcoin bros, european sex tourists in thailand, and entrepreneurs who go to every corner of the underdeveloped world are..
With that said, I want to make the world peace thing happen and I want a more symbiotic world, but the advantages we have in the world dont look to be ending any time soon and I share your frustrations of ignorant traver types not just from the US but all over. Ive been in Japan close to 10 years total and lived about 2 years in other countries as well and bhuddism of the shinyoen sect showed me that much of this chaos is actually in balance. the world is entering an unparalleled exposure as these liberal kids, crypto bros, retiring ex government works, and ranges of other not just Americans but westerners in general leave the problems of their home country to try different lifestyles and cultures.
Completely agree. If anything, after living in other countries for a few years, it seems Americans are the MOST convinced of their propaganda.
I think it comes from never having collapsed or nearly collapsed as a society yet. When I talk to someone from ex-Yogoslavia, they immediately understand the mechanisms of propaganda. Americans seem like children in comparison, even in the way they respond upon discovering some of the mechanisms.
40:00 Actually, she said ppl outside the US are somewhat immune, especially if you've been victimised by US foreign policy.
i really appreciated you bringing up how u.s. americans will use living abroad as like their own personal self-actualization. i experienced that as a u.s.-born latina who studied abroad in mexico with a group of mostly white american students--many of them saw mexico as a place that existed to serve their own personal development. even the professors acted like i was just an extension of the "latino perspective" or whatever, also there to "broaden the horizons" of the white kids. the situation ended up with a white student complaining to the group leaders that i was "making him uncomfortable" by talking about race--which i was repeatedly *asked* to do. it was such a weird position to be treated that way even as a u.s. american with tons of privilege, and it was just a small taste of how "locals" must be treated every time a u.s. american visits their community, as a tourist or expat or whatever they want to call it.
Call them what they are, "immigrants". It's crazy how badly they refuse to admit that this is what they are. The way that they try to sanitize their escape out of America, as if they're just on holiday perusing the country. Don't let them get away with euphemisms like Expat or Tourist. If they've lived there for years, they're immigrants (some of whom are undocumented). Gringos like that are so annoying.
expat basically just means "white immigrant" because they've spent so much time making "immigrant" a dirty word
@@rishabhanand4973i always hated that word and thought we already have the word "immigrant", but it became pretty clear why they made it after noticing who the word applies to
@@Pwn3540 expat = temporary, immigrant = permanent. expatriate as a word has existed for at least 200 years, only 100 years younger than immigrant. there's a conversation to be had about how the two words are perceived but white people didn't invent "expat" to avoid calling themselves immigrants.
Fr. I went on a kayak trip in Puerto Rico bioluminescent bay, where many people in our group who fit this description were inappropriately drunk and obnoxious. They act like everything is one big playground cruise ship outside of home.
Mahalo. Thank you for mentioning Hawai'i's overthrow and treatment of Natives. Your pronunciation of Native words was terrific. I'm so used to people loving Hawai'i and Hawaiian culture, but not giving a damn about Hawaiians and never bother to learn how to pronounce things appropriately. Keep it up!
I visited Hawai’i twice years ago before I knew the history and that locals were begging people to stop coming. Both of my cats have Hawaiian names. While I absolutely loved learning local culture (especially from Lanai) I will never be back. I hope Hawai’i will see freedom again
@@lesliejay4165 maybe, but i did not see that in Honolulu. Besides, many other ppl live there who aren't even native descent Hawaiians.
Side fact, it was going to be the us or some other country, because Hawaii is a major pit stop in the pacific ocean.
It's so weird being a black woman in America and knowing that I live with privilege while at the same time I don't. The U.S. is such a shit show. Great video to help keep an open mind!
same, its like a violent episode of twilight zone.
there are more black millionaires and billionaires in American than anywhere else in the world.
Yes racism is bad, but you have more of a fighting chance here being born working class than most places.
What does you happening to be black have to do with privilege? You're an American.
Privilege goes up when moving out and working remotely
I mean, have you ever been to a developing nation? Its terrible. The US has its own problems but the actual "3rd World" is like one of Dante's circles of hell. And there is plenty of racism in other countries, too. Not to mention almost non existant social safety nets.
As a Us citizen I’ve never considered travel and passports privilege because I’ve grown up in poverty and I’ve never traveled very far and I’ve never had a passport, I’ve never considered that as an option because I don’t have that kind of money so I just don’t even think about it. Glad this brought it to my attention
Yeah you're $100 away from being able to book a flight to anywhere you want to go. That's not true if you come from, say, Kenya. You have to beg and plead and pay people off to get to go some places. Why? You're kenyan.
I think it is normal what you said, being able to buy a passport AND travel is a luxuary for so many people. it cant be a privilage for somone who cant even pay the day to day costs let a lone an airplane ticket (which is very costly)
@@Jeebus-un6zz100 dollars can maybe get you a cheap ticket on a cheap airline to somewhere within the continental United States, and that’s not even taking into consideration the return flight, a hotel, rental, etc.. That’s like telling a Kenyan they aren’t poor bc they can afford a bus ticket from lamu to Nairobi.
@@Jeebus-un6zz I’ve never seen a plane ticket for only $100, and even if that were true I can’t get off work, I can’t afford to just drop $100, and even if I could I’d need money to buy a passport, and even if I could I’d need money for somewhere to stay and sleep. And then I’d need money to leave. And I don’t have it. So what exactly is your point?
@@Jeebus-un6zz $100 flight for anywhere I want to go? The cheapest I’m getting is $1000. Where’s the $100 flight? Send me links to those. I don’t see them. Also, with what free time will we get to travel? Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and have to be deliberate with planning vacations. Usually can only be a weekend or a week at most. Idk where you got the information you did about America, but it’s SOOOO wrong. Looool.
I'm a black woman who's lived in Arkansas my whole life (24 years give or take). It sucks but it could be worse. I could be trapped in West Virginia. It's fascinating how West Virginia is a whole other world compared to Virginia. Anyway, my state is very rural so if you didn't have a car, you were basically isolated from the larger world. I had books and the internet, so I was more aware than my classmates.
Yes....West Virginia although poor has VERY low violent crime rate. Unlike Arkansas which is poor and VIOLENT.
I wonder what could account for that🤨
Books and internet are amazing for information, but that's a bit harrowing to think that's the main way people are "informed."
Nothing substitutes the realities of the real, physical world. Often being more grounded than the internet and most books published in the past decade.
Careful with what you find in the internet because either they can be an exaggerated truth or an all-out lie. So take information from all kinds of sources to take a better picture.
@willbass2869 Oh look, a guy from Team GENOCIDE is here to lecture on crime and violence.
@@carpediem44 why you so butthurt??
AKSHUALLY the genocide in Arkansas is B on B street crime and "plannedUNparenthood"
"You stepped on my Jordan's....why you disrespectin' ??
Bang💥☠️Bang💥☠️
You know I ain't lying....
I live in Mexico and I found that the quality of fruit and vegetables is way better. Also, it's extremely cheap..for Mexicans. This is because most of us cook at home and it's part of the culture to make and eat fresh food. Even tacos in here are way healthier than their cousins in the US. They include veggies and whole meats, plus the tortillas are fresh and soft. I've never seen a hard taco here. This means that you have to wait for your food to be made but no one seems to mind as it gives us an opportunity to talk to each other and the food vendor.
The quality of food is one of the reasons so many people I know are interested in gardening and going to small sellers that are closer to farmers.
"Hard tacos" do exist in México, we call them "tacos dorados"
That may traditionally be true but México is one of the most obese countries in the world also with a massive diabetes problem as many Mexicans now eat mostly highly processed foods and sodas.
Mexico is quite literally one of the only countries with worse rates of obesity than America. People on the internet truly are stupid.
Your country's Obeisity rate is as bad if not worse than the US, so clearly you guys are doing something wrong too.
The point about privilege abroad as a POC is so interesting too. I used to live in South Korea and would experience so much casual and at times really harmful xenophobia. In the airports my checked luggage would always be flagged for further review or when I was flying domestically I would be taken out of the regular line and told I had to go through a separate foreigner line. Which is insane for domestic travel. Xenophobia would affect the treatment I’d receive at the doctors office. My friends and I would get extremely inappropriate comments from people we worked with our students our bosses. And just generally too. Being American doesn’t always insulate you from racism and xenophobia abroad. It’s also very wild how much passport privilege Americans have. I was born in the global south and moved to the states when I was young and we couldn’t visit relatives who were sick and dying in our home country because of visa issues. And then we became American citizens and got American passports. I just traveled to the United Kingdom,where Americans can stay on a tourist visa for 6 months, and passport control consisted of me scanning my passport and took less than five mins total where I didn’t even have to speak to anyone on the broader. Its crazy how powerful these documents are. But really great job parsing through a super complex topic!!!!
What country did u come from
i think it's kind of crazy how thoroughly advertising and cultural norms have convinced so many usians that cars are the ultimate symbol of freedom and any country that isn't extremely carbrained hates freedom. and it's just extremely weird to me that people think that it's freedom when you need to pass a test and some kind of eye exam at minimum and have a govt issued id and register your car and PAY for your car and insurance and gas and parking and lose your ability to drive if you have a medical procedure or get injured or are too young or too old?? how is this freedom to them?
They don't think about all that, which is why it's freedom to them. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.
i am an american who is too autistic to drive and at 25 it has almost ruined my life
@K.C-2049 is this a reply to me? I don't want to drive. I also can't. but that means I don't qualify for most jobs where I live. I'm not complaining about driving laws. I just want accommodations that allow me to get around without a car in my community.
Cars keep us isolated and dehumanize each other. I’d add the suburbs to that too.
it's the easiest test in the world unless you arer like a retard. it should be highly gate kept and regulated tho. Cars shouldn't be for everyone I agree
in México you usually have a store or buisness just around the block and it´s nor rare to just put on some flipflops and go to the store in pijamas either in the morning or at night.
It used to be that way here, too, until the whole white flight thing she mentions. The streets weren't yet a place only for cars, and you lived in a community admittedly of other immigrants who spoke your native tongue, which is how we get "little italy" and the like. But every community had a grocer and a tradesman of every type you can imagine. It's just that rich men in the 19th and 20th century had a huge boner for the Roman Empire and decided to apply the model of empire to everything, including business. Take for example Sherwin Williams, our big paint company, which was founded in 1866. Their motto is "cover the world in paint" and their logo is of a bucket being poured over the globe, doing just that. It's kind of creepy, actually, lol.
Same in Brazil. The one time i went there well dressed, the girl in the balcony was like "wow, you're well dressed, going to party?" hahaha becus we go to this places everyday we pratically become friends to everyone :P
Also here in Colombia. The streets are adapted for cars, don't get me wrong, but still it isn't uncommon to have most of what you need covered by stores and shops in your immediate neighborhood. No need for a car if you're going shopping, there's probably a medium-sized supermarket like 3 streets ahead of you. And even when you do need cars, you can always find the streets adapted for them proper. This country's still a shitty hellhole and most of what I described isn't well-maintained but it's there. And it works. That's the bare minimum.
When I was in ethiopia, it was normal to walk around in your house dress (mumu) and headwrap to get eggs 😅
ya that is something i missed, in the U.S. when I was studying there, there were barely any stores around the area i lived and everything was all dirt and empty lots.
The world "Why can't you be normal?"
USA *"Screams in freedom"*
Yet most tech and science has been developed in the US progressing the world further
@@AL-lh2ht So much progress that they can just shit on their citizens. so lucky.
I'm from Ireland and I moved to Portugal a month ago. Since both countries are in the EU, it was all a matter of getting on a plane and securing a place to rent.
There was a guy in my college from El Salvador and he told me about the ridiculous guidelines he had to fulfil just to stay in Ireland.
And a Brazilian I worked with said he can't even go on vacation to the USA because they're so paranoid about people staying past their Visas.
Majority of illegal immigrants don't cross the border but overstay. Its a serious issue.
The US is suffering from fake success. It projects the American dream and so many people get suckered into coming over for it.
They say it’s a “serious issue” but by what metrics? If the concern is with documentation and having people pay taxes, then the blame can be set squarely on our government’s atrocious immigration policies. Apparently this is only a problem that “developed” countries have, and not even all of them have this supposed problem. Make it easier to stay while documented, and the problem disappears.
@@bionodroid547 they don't want people to stay. that's the point.
@@Evamaster456 The video above actually discussed why things are the way they are, and we don't really need to track people that intensely. So long as there is a mechanism for the IRS to get taxes, the census to track numbers of immigrants, and the proper infrastructure to house them, there isn't much of an issue. The bigger issue for America is not immigrant crime or tracking or whatever, but rather our shitty infrastructure that has led to a housing crisis and us spending all our extra money that we could use to solve that and most of our other problems on the military.
10:19 As a Kanaka Maoli wahine, it was incredible to see Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask's iconic speech marking 100 years of illegal occupation by the american empire in relation to this topic. For those who want to learn more, please go read her book "From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereigntyin Hawaiʻi." Mahalo nui loa for drawing attention to Ke Ea Hawaiʻi. 🤙 Kū kiaʻi ʻāina! Kūʻē! 🔥
Hawaii can't make claims to independence while they have such a cringe state flag. Begging the British for help from the Americans is not independent behavior.
@@Praisethesunson go kick rocks
@@Praisethesunson Collaboration, not colonization. Kamehameha's and Kalakāua's alliance were formed to improve the islands' knowledge and innovation. The US had intentional greed with all Native relations. They did not give a damn about recognizing Hawai'i's independence.
@@Dave102693 I'll kick that terrible Hawaiian flag. The union Jack isn't worth Jack.
@@Praisethesunson Hūpō kēlā kanaka. Nā ākua hāʻawi akamai a naʻauao i kēia kanaka i ka ʻoluʻolu. 😂
I got so much $h!t for pointing this out back in high school… I had more travel experience than my peers at that point. I found it difficult to accept the close-mindedness of my American peers… the rest of the world doesn’t look like your suburb…
Friendly reminder that 1st world privilege is a different hierarchy from the hierarchy you got in a 1st world nation. You can struggle, marginalized, and suffer in america and still benefit on the ounces/crumbles of 1st world privileges as a 1st world citizen against most working and esp. impoverish classes in 3rd world countries esp. when you travel there.
A sample of that would be a 3rd world person with a college degree and a stable job who migrates to a 1st world nation alone (no sponsorship, not through outsource hiring etc) would risk a higher chance to struggle double time to be able to get back on their feet again. A 1st world marginalized or struggling person starting a new life in a 3rd world would have a higher chance to gain a decent house and even a small business to run.
No matter how a 3rd world nation works so hard to make their country better, how they produce and manufactured majority of both world's and foreign goods, how rich their biodiverse resources are, and how they seem progressively convenient than the ones in the 1st world countries, controlled economic factors, money-exchange wise, powerful passports, and other things that contributes to the benefit of your world status, 1st world citizenship will still be favored regardless.
You can blame that on centuries of colonization, geopolitical racism, overexploitation, planted coups, and imperialism that made this rigged world hierarchy possible.
These seemingly contradicting situations do exist, can coexist and that's not hard to understand.
P.S: this is not to say that struggles of the marginalized ppl in the 1st are not serious. It is also a big deal and should be taken seriously especially more ppl had to crawl through mud nowadays in 1st world nations.
It just so happens that the benefits you have as a 1st world citizen, no matter how small that benefits are, would have a higher chance to become ur leverage on most 3rd world countries. This may not cancel your issues back home but you are most likely won't be able to carry that struggle in 3rd world either, depending on it's sociopolitics.
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Thats not true at all... First its expensive to travel. Those from "3rd world" who can emigrate are often better off than the poor in the "1st world". Those immigrants often are educated and have student visas. A 1st world marginilized would not be able to afford or able to travel to a 3rd world country.
Illegal immigration is mostly people overstaying their visas. Which should be fixed tbh, but that would mean expanding our social services, and also expanding tracking of people. But, tbh it doesn't sound like a good life for an illegal immigrant. @@emilzapata4282
@@MasterGhostf "First its expensive to travel." If you think about how expensive it is to afford plane tickets with your 1st world currency, imagine how much more expensive it is with a 3rd currency. The poor folks of a 1st world country has a better life, or at least a better opportunity of bettering their lives more than the poor folks of a 3rd world country. I would prefer being a garbage collector in a 1st world country than an office worker in a 3rd world country.
@@MasterGhostfit sucks to be poor anywhere but you forgot the US has some of the highest percentage of middle and upper class on earth. Yes the lower class is literally a minority.
The big thing that (the desirable parts of) America has always had is very high wages compared to even most other developed countries. I used to work remotely with a lot of people from the UK and it was pretty shocking to find out that their housing prices are almost as high as ours but the wages are dramatically lower. I also until recently was working as a waiter at a moderately nice restaurant where I was averaging like $35-45 an hour, and my coworkers were mostly older Mexican men who immigrated for work, rented the cheapest housing possible, rode their bikes to work, and sent back as much money as possible to build entire HOUSES in their hometowns. Seems like nowadays the money is the ONLY thing the US has going for it, so Americans want to take their US paychecks and move to countries with better quality of life, and people from poorer countries want to come here for the money but often times don't want to stay.
This is the entire principle of the “passport bros” US income but wife, life & everything else of a “third world” country!
Our minimum wage is higher, however. There is a reason tipping is the default in the US but only optional in Europe.
Also the first £12,570 of income is not taxed, so most working class people don't pay income tax.
Just to be clear, this is a universal thing that's happened for millennia. It's called factor migration.
This is why I totally try to hook someone up in another country for an American job. And they've hooked me up with places to stay in their country.
All this being said, you have to look at purchasing power, not salary. The US purchasing power has been declining for decades, accelerating first after the 09 recession, then taking a nose dive after covid.
Considering the US keeps weaponizing the dollar, the currency doesn't have much longer itself either. You can't expect the world to trust a currency that becomes a sword.
@@alfredfreedomjones5105
Just to be clear, this is a universal thing that's happened for millennia. It's called factor migration.
This is why I totally try to hook someone up in another country for an American job. And they've hooked me up with places to stay in their country.
All this being said, you have to look at purchasing power, not salary. The US purchasing power has been declining for decades, accelerating first after the 09 recession, then taking a nose dive after covid.
Considering the US keeps weaponizing the dollar, the currency doesn't have much longer itself either. You can't expect the world to trust a currency that becomes a sword.
Don't look at salary. Look at purchasing power.
Regarding how people in the US dress in public. I’m older so I’ve lived through the transition from everyone dressing “respectably” in public, to what we have now. I think this is a form of rebellion. It’s like “Up the Down Staircase.” (1967 film whose title I hope makes it clear what I’m saying) We are powerless over so much of our lives, but this one thing claps back at power. For years, the rich still dressed up to go out so we who were poor stood out. Now, the rich have adopted it so that power dynamic is not as obvious (except in the brands of clothing worn) as it used to be.
PS bless the algorithm gods for putting this in my feed. Really great work here. I was at 1:05:00 and thought “it’s already been an hour?”
People from other parts of the world don't understand what the "sixties" meant for the US and many other Western countries. Society went almost upside-down.
Rich dressing in hoodies a conspiracy?
@@AL-lh2ht Why would it be a conspiracy? They saw it, they liked it, they did it. What? I have no idea how that’s a conspiracy, but enjoy your world.
@@AlloftheGoodNamesAreTaken Why would you say, "algorithm gods"? When the algorithm is just numbers. It's not a deity.
You think they dress down on purpose now as to not put a target on their backs
you have no idea how infuriating it was that tiktok of the Ameciran guy saying how cheap is to live here in Spain, meanwhile, we can't buy houses, people can't find jobs, people have to cut the groceries the buy because of inflation, it's not cheap. If anything it's getting worse for people here. No country is perfect, you either are just ignorant of their problems or you are so well off that those problems don't matter to you.
I think Americans would literally scream if they earned an average Spanish salary.
@@user-fe8uq9zp2g many can't even make 1K a month so yeah...
Those Americans most likely are trust fund babies who are form extremely rich families and saying to to their other rich friends bc they are so removed from most other peoples reality. Or they could be scammers or trying to get clicks so that too haha
Same issue for Thailand. A lot of old Australian men buying land and building mansion houses for $4k AUD to retire in, while not paying any tax to live there.
Not True under these new rules, Thai tax residents who earn income from abroad will be subject to personal income tax on such income upon bringing it into Thailand in any calendar year from 1 January 2024 onwards. Also foreigners help the Thai economy they want them there because they spend so much more money than the average Thai born citizen ever could I'm talking billions of dollars a year foreigners bring in.@@tan89284
Eggs are refrigerated in the US and Canada because in the industrial production process the eggs are washed in a way that removes a natural membrane which protects the interior of the egg from microbes -- in countries that do not treat eggs this way, refrigeration is not required. It is truly bonkers !!
it’s just how countries choose to manage their agriculture & people preferences. shelf stable milk is super common in europe as they are also industrially processed, making it safely shelf stable, but this wouldn’t appeal to most north americans
I wonder if it became like that to boost demand for refrigerators
Unwashed eggs last 2-3 weeks max. If refrigerated it’s months.
"in countries that do not treat eggs this way, refrigeration is not required"
In fact, refrigeration is prohibited, at least in the EU. I think it's because it can result in condensation, though I'm not 100% sure. (Of course, this only applies to stores etc. No one prevents you from putting the eggs you bought into the fridge.)
@@laymayrosey Yo you might be on to something 🤔
As an American immigrant in Japan, I think there are ways the experience in Japan is different (and ofc ways where it’s similar). I’ll apologize for the long comment because I have a lot of thoughts and I’ll stick to Japan just because that’s where my expertise and experience is.
But one of the things I’ve found both in my daily life and in my professional life is that in Japan, English is a privilege if you visit temporarily as a tourist or even a 1 year study abroad program, but it can quickly become a major hindrance living here permanently.
In fact, while past research have found that Japanese language ability increases immigrant socioeconomic, mental health, and integration outcome, actually accessing effective Japanese education/resources and having opportunities to actually practice Japanese conversation is still difficult a lot of times. Japan has fairly low levels in English education compared to countries like Taiwan or South East Asia, which means navigating life in Japan in English often leads to a lot of blocks where you need Japanese, but Japanese people often default to English the moment they know your an English speaker or look distinctively not Japanese. This can often be at best othering where you find yourself constantly being spoken to in English or talked down to in an almost baby like level in Japanese to at worst outright discrimination when housing applications and work promotions are withheld for you because of language. Naturally when you find yourself constantly removed from Japanese speaking context due to English dominance, it makes acquiring Japanese skills much more difficult. I don’t know how much of this extends into the rest of East Asia, but it’s a thing that really becomes even more harmful to immigrants of low SES background or have to work full time (given most Japanese language classes are only available in business hours).
In fact there’s even a term called “gaijin trap” referring to immigrants who come here as English teachers (blend of both South and North Americans, Europeans, Australians, and South Africans). Essentially the idea is they come here in their early 20s on an English teaching job, but at work Japanese use is completely banned. Often they live in international housing, in areas with many other foreigners, or married to either an English speaking Japanese person or another foreigner which leads them to make friends only with other English speakers. After five or ten years they are at a point where they cannot get any more promotions or increase of pay at work (becoming a problem when they’re now at the age where they want children), but because they lived exclusively in an English bubble with low Japanese skills(even if they originally desired to study), they are in a position where their resume makes it hard to change their position even if they go home to their own countries. There are similar experiences with foreigners working in international English speaking companies or trade skill jobs where most their coworkers are from their own home country, but they tend to have a slightly different set of struggles.
Though with all that said, I do think the nuance of race does still affect experiences. There is still a lot of implicit biases existing in Japan coming from a blend of its own history of imperialism and colorism as well as influenced by American influence throughout the American occupation that does create their own complications when discussing immigrants and experiences different between say African or Indian or Chinese or even African American/European American immigrants experiences. But it is in many ways distinct from how race and those type of power dynamics develop in America given Japan’s own history.
I think the most difficult thing in all of the discussions is both America and the country being immigrated to are very diverse in experiences and backgrounds. I can’t speak much for the experiences of going to Europe, but I think Japan and South Korea are very interesting case studies because they are another first world, economically developed countries with very strong social infrastructure like health care and public transportation, but they are also cases of countries that aren’t in the same exact cultural sphere as European and Frontier nations. Of course as Americans you get some benefit from Japan’s strong relationship to US and the influence of US military presence as well as the history between the two, but in my experience that influence is only really felt in places like Okinawa (for more complicated historical reasons related to Japanese colonization and American occupation) and maybe Tokyo where cultural diversity is so massive there, but in all the places I’ve lived in Japan, things like nihonjinron are so strong it makes for a very distinct experience for all immigrants.
I did a short stint as an English teacher in Korea but the experience is a bit different there because schools and the like are only allowed to hire foreigners for English teaching positions if they are native speakers. Because of that you have a number of non-native speakers who take up "volunteer" positions in exchange for basic housing. The one where I lived for instance was like a busy dorm, rooms stuffed with bunkbeds and a small communal kitchen and sitting room.
For me it was a good deal, I just wanted to visit the country and this was a way for me to do that while 1) not paying for my stay beyond my flight and food and 2) get to speak to locals through the English teaching bit but for many of my colleagues they needed to take up second or third jobs, illegaly, in order to keep on living, leaving the country every three months to be able to renew their visa and come back and do their teaching and off the book waitressing etc.
I think South Korea generally is more curious and outward interested in the rest of the world than Japan is but it was like Japan a very isolated country for a long time and is only recently opening up, bit by bit.
Funny anecdote; I once went to a traditional restaurant in the palace neighbourhood in Seoul and when I came in and took off my shoes, the lady working there welcome me and brought me inside.
There were mostly private tables for up to 5 people maybe, but there was one big table in the middle of the room for large groups and there was one person sitting at that table as the lady brought me over and directed me to sit with him at the big table.
The guy sitting there was a foreigner, like me. We smiled at each other awkwardly and then focused on our own thing. But not long after, two others were brought over, once again foreigners, who were put with us at the big table. And once again later on.
At that point it becomes more awkward not to say something so we laughed about it together and made some conversation. I only remember that one of them was from Germany, and that everyone else in the restaurant, besides the people sitting at our big foreigner table in the middle, was Korean (or at least looked Korean).
When we were done eating, we left independently.
I still don't understand the motivation of putting us all together. Did not many foreigners visit and did she assume we belonged together? But why assume with the first guy already by putting him at the large table? Or did she want to keep the regular tables for "real" visitors? Or did she just get flustered?
It was very funny but it was also strange and one of my experiences in Korea where I felt a bit like I was a spectacle to the Koreans.
@littlemissmello I think it must have been a combination of dining solo and being a foreigner. Sounds super awkward but manageable.
@@jessn.3851 it was absolutely manageable, but it was strange either way. There was plenty of empty tables and plenty of Koreans eating by themselves.
@@littlemissmello That sounds like a funny experience! I personally find those types of little interactions hilarious. Sometimes I've noticed workers get flustered just because they don't know how to handle foreigners.
I can't speak for Korea, but in Japan, there is a huge difference between life as a temporary resident on a specific program and life as a long-term resident living here full-time. I've been a foreign exchange student and a full-time resident, and I noticed they are very difficult levels.
Japan is very complicated because, from what I've experienced, there are clearly two distinct categories of Japanese and non-Japanese. When you're in non-Japanese contexts, they are incredibly forgiving, and I think in many ways life here is easier than in other countries. Like when I go to international conferences in Japan or work with foreign companies, it's really easy to navigate things as a foreigner regardless of whether I use Japanese or English. But the moment you enter the very Japanese side of the country, the barriers of entry are incredibly difficult, and you face a lot more difficulties depending on your level of Japanese-ness in appearance and integration into Japanese norms (like language and mannerisms).
For example, if I use Japanese to introduce myself, I will get praised even for saying very simple phrases (basically what foreign communities call "getting nihongo-jouzu-ed), but when I actually use Japanese in professional settings, like submitting research applications or publishing, the Japanese is scrutinized to such a high level and criticized for not "sounding native enough" even when I have multiple native speakers proofread the work beforehand. In fact, I had one section of an application I sent that was actually originally written and already accepted by a Japanese native speaker who let me use their writing in my application since we were doing the same thing, and still, it got proofread with the comment I should have a native check my writing. This is a common experience from multiple foreign peers regardless of background and language proficiency level.
So Japan is very easy to live in on the surface level (with some minor but manageable difficulties), but incredibly difficult the moment you start integrating into its society. The moment you live here full time, you can hit a wall trying to navigate things and you face barriers like being actively rejected from housing applications or finding certain fees going up because you're a foreigner.
But I've also heard from other foreign friends who've visited and stayed in Korea for a while that Korea has much higher levels of English proficiency than Japan, which also might change things. Japan still, generally speaking, lacks a lot of basic English, which means you often have to rely on Japanese unless you happen to live in a specific English bubble in a major city like Tokyo. So that also might make a big difference, but I can't say from personal experience since I've never been to Korea.
Venta la pureta
i had not considered public transit as a third place! always love to see you and your videos ^_^
i can't drive due to neurodivergence and trauma, and when i lived in Seattle, it was challenging but doable. now i don't live in a city, and cannot get a job because of it. the us is set up to make people pay money and help them die faster. that's what I've learned living here. when i lived in California, a 20 min drive would be a 3 hr bus ride (one way). 😢
thank you for making such a comprehensive video ❤
They refuse to run direct buses
seattle mentioned
Neurodivergent. Ah, yes another 2st C "affliction".
That's why I prefer living abroad. Many countries have better transportation so I don't have to drive. Taipei was heaven. A clean metro system that even extends to the boardwalk and airport, and buses that go everywhere else. It's a well planned city that is walkable between metro and bus stops. When I visit family, they live in the suburbs. There is no public transportation here. It's awful. Living in other countries comes with its own challenges, but being neurodivergent isn't as anxiety inducing because being a foreigner is already considered unusual. The language barrier is the main issue, but if you learn to read menus, it's not bad!
Having immigrated to Singapore and then immigrated back to the USA after a few years, you do a great job of putting into words what I've felt, love the vid❤
What made you move back to the USA?
The second amendment or some hard D.
The part about losing weight when outside the us is kind of crazy really. I stayed a year in Italy back in high school and I did lose weight. It was a mix of the food I ate and living in a very walkable city. I walked everyone and even walked up to the 13th floor where my host family lived (got a bad fear of super cramped elevators.) Ever since returning home, I've gained that weight + extra back. Thw city I live in is beyond unwalkable without risk of heatstorke majority of the year. Can't afford going to the gym or any actual good workout stuff either...
oooh so you don't move as much and you gained weight? magic...
1:02:03 farm fresh eggs don’t need to be refrigerated. Once the egg has been washed, though, it does need to be refrigerated because you’ve removed the natural barrier that normally protects a growing chicken. Butter never needs to be refrigerated, but some people prefer it that way
Objectively wrong. Like, holy crap you have no idea how long eggs or butter go bad do you?
@@AL-lh2htlol yeah actually I do
Do you because it doesn’t sound like it
*edit I see now that my use of never must have confused you. Obviously butter won’t keep indefinitely. But leaving butter on the counter so it’s room temp is perfectly safe
The older I get, the more poignant The Hunger Games becomes.
And it makes me so nervous about the future
Don't be, just follow the lead and buy weapons as you can and build a massive underground shelter, same as some of those country folks or rich people. @@sunnysunflowers328
we should do the hunger games but with every US politician, & anyone who makes more than 5-10 million dollars a year. hehehehe
lol
How edgy
The American privilege-abroad as a non-white American is very interesting and I think it depends on where you are. I feel like when I was in Lisbon, Portugal, I passed pretty well as there's a decent immigrant population especially Brazilian and African population there. Most people assumed I was Portuguese or could speak it (as if I was from Brazil), though they'd quickly switch to English upon their surprise that I wasn't Portuguese. Most people were pretty nice and hospitable as far as not being racist. This was mostly in cities like Lisbon and Porto though. In the rural parts, maybe not so much.
I live in Ireland now. If I'm not with a group of white people, if I go into a retail store, I am always followed around. Or I might get stared at if I'm the only non-white person at a pub. It's only when they hear my accent that they switch up their demeanor and act right. This goes for immigrant shop owners there too, whether they're from central/eastern Europe (usually Polish or Ukrainian), or a Global South country, they'll follow me around or act weird around me until they hear my accent. Though, I've had non-native English speakers mistake me for Irish because I can speak fluent English, so I'm not sure if they mistook me for Irish rather than actually being American.
Anyhow, there is immense privilege for being able to natively speak English. I kind of have to use it as a shield almost to escape any racism. Sometimes an Irish person will greet me in a slow accommodating manner assuming English isn't my first language, but then quickly normalize their speech upon realization that I speak English fluently. Irish people are amazing though otherwise.
Speaking native English is a privilege that English people greatly do not understand or appreciate.
This was my experience of Portugal (positive) and Spain (negative)
@@LucasDimoveo Portugal and Spain are similar countries in their cultural background, but this is one of the things where they're like day and night.
@@boyblue3270Trust me, I'm realistic; I'm not going to escape racism in a capitalist system where anti-blackness is one it's largest exported goods.
This "type" of racism is not unique to Ireland. I've heard people have similar experiences with other European countries.
What I also mean is the Irish who aren't racist are way more hospitable and unconditionally welcoming than when I'm back in the USA. Like relative to white Europeans, I'd take my chances with them rather than some other places. And actually most of the racist experiences were with those immigrant groups I mentioned, even from Africans.
And there is also a history of Irish solidarity with global liberation movements with others. Most recently Palestine-Irish solidarity is legendary.
There are a lot of racism towards Brazilians in Portugal. I feel like they respect americans a lot more. A lot of times when I spoke portuguese with a Brazilian accent, it earned me some frowned looks. The last times I went there I said I was american, and I felt they treated me much more enthusiastically than before.
Instant subscribe. I love how more creators like yourself are hitting the nail on the head when addressing our car culture as a main source of so many problems in our society. I didn't wake up to this until I discovered "Not Just Bikes" a couple years ago, and now I can't un-see how truly messed up the very fabric of our lifestyles has become.
I rode my bike out for the first time in my young professional life couple years ago and never felt more alive and immersed in the world than when riding around my neighborhood. To truly break free of isolation for the first time felt extremely cathartic. I wish more people could experience it for themselves. Thank you for making this video
I think one thing that we're all forgetting in this conversation is self-identity. American culture has beaten us into nothing but consumers and workers. When you ask a child what or who they are, theyre descriptive. When you ask an adult who or what they are, their identities are often minimized into what they do for money, what they've done for money, and then the next identity factora are usually the things one consumes and how that shapes their identity. I think American culture has purposely erased our ideas of what a "self" can be and so Americans think they can find the spiritual self abroad.
An idea I’m surprise you didn’t mention in your video is American (along with other “westerns”) when they move to live in a different country, they don’t consider themselves as immigrants but as expats. We Americans typically use the word immigrants with a negative connotation that refer to people in “poor less superior 2nd to 3rd world countries” that move to such western countries but in all the word immigrant means a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country. The word expat usually gives American (again along with “westerns”) the idea of a non impoverished superior person who comes to a country to live in. But yet again the word expat just a person who comes to live in a foreign country. The word immigrant gives a negative idea while the word expat gives a positive idea, but in the end the two words mean the same thing.
I've known people who were actually 'expats' in the USA, because they planned to earn money and move back to their home countries. They didn't refer to themselves that way, and they generally stayed for decades rather than years. But they never intended to stay forever. Most expats move temporarily for an economic advantage, whether it's to stretch their dollar, or to earn in dollars.
I believe the creator has a separate video about this! You should check it out 😊
My mom and most of my older relatives came to this country so that me and my cousins could have a better life. Now me and a good yonk of my cousins are considering moving elsewhere for the same reason, especially those who want to have children in the future.
Immigration will only stall the problem, but it wont fix it. Eventually those immigrants, or their children, will also be effected by those issues as well because those issues are relative to the area one lives in. Its inevitable whether they were born there or not, they will all experience those issues regardless.
Getting to the root of the issue will be the only effective solution.
Thats why I am frustrated when peopel say "falling birth rates?, just allow immgrants!". Immigration is a stop gap measure, but its sustainable.
@@MasterGhostfthis only makes sense if you pretend the last several hundred years didn’t happen
@@MasterGhostfimmigration is the death of culture. It's just like treating people like Walmart knick knacks
Seal the border and commence mass deportations
I've recognized this issue as a social scientist for years.
omg you're literally trump rn!
Seeing America your entire life from Canada is very strange. We end up adopting so many Americanisms just because of our proximity. So much of Canadian politics is specifically about being better than America.
As an American I can honestly say growing up I thought Canada was like an extension of the US, not a state but like some unofficial territory which is INSANE
I have to be honest as an American I always viewed Canada kinda similar but better
Canadian politics also uses being better than America to skirt past its issues with racism though. It’s like comparing yourself to the dirt ground and being happy that you’re a tile floor.
I used to think Canada was america but better. Now I think it’s ameirca but worse.
@@mythicalfelix I'm American too and I've never heard of anyone who thought Canada wasn't its own country. No offense, but you were a very dumb kid.
Perspective is the issue. I live i the Bronx, NY. Most businesses are mixed with apartment buildings, a cab stand is less than a block away from my apartment and is under an elevated train. People in Manhattan sit around outside and block the sidewalk in some areas of wealth and privilege. I live below the official federal line of absolute poverty line but never drink, smoke or take drugs and am not lazy. Fresh vegetables and healthy food is too expensive. I get 291 dollars a month in food stamps (SNAP) less than 10 dollars a day in NYC. I am 54 years old. Scumbag Reagan cancelled my mother's check when I was 16 forcing me to drop out if high school to work 62-70 hours a week where I was mugged delivering food 13 times and my head was split open rendering me mentally disabled. I finally began college in 2016. I have two degrees and about to finish a third, an MA in History. I have a 4.0 GPA out if a possible 4.0 cumulative. I was denied admission into PhD programs 3 years in a row as they changed their entrance system due largely to budget cuts. I owe 101,000 dollars in student loans which I need to pay fr rent and some food because my SSI check is 1,030 dollars a month. I can always default so there is no risk to me. The only time it is a problem is if I work. Therefore, I want to work and get into a PhD program so I can use half the huge stipend they give to pay off the debt. Then I can work and make a smaller salary since I would not have to pay 1,500 dollars a month for the loans. I do not own a tv, any devices, this laptop is a loaner from the college library. My girlfriend bought my phone. I am 54 years old and sick of being blamed for my poverty, ridiculed for being old, disabled, and even a white male. I vote left because Republicans are an immediate threat to my survival, but Midwest transplants make the Bronx more expensive and buy buildings to build high rise condominiums for the rich which would render me homeless.
How is the situation, now that your vote has brought in Biden? You hurt more people than you can fear from what you see on the streets, Have the illegals and Hoodlums flood NY and don't complain when they come for you. If you managed to reply good luck the draft, with the coming war with China since that is what the current left wants?
Jesus man sorry to hear, that. It always makes me angry when I hear people say that poverty is due to laziness or stupidity. You are clearly neither, so the real problem is the system, and the people who benefit the most are the most opposed to progress. I do hope you get out of that situation, I’m sure it’s no easy feat, and I do hope people could be kinder to you.
Great video :D!
On a more serious note, I am a product of a nationalist-American father. I am still a teenager/under 18, so my entire life there was school shooting drills, from preschool probably until I graduate high school. For me, shooting drills were “normal.” Being not able to afford basic necessities like healthcare or even food was “just a fact of life.” Why some classmates had tons of clothes while I only had a few was “that’s how it is.” I was never taught that other places are very ahead in America. I was told America was the best. It wasn’t until 2020-21 that I really got exposed to other places via seeing posts, videos from people and making friends across the world that I saw how truly shit America was.
But my father is still indoctrinated into American nationalism. He’s never been outside the US his whole 50+ years, but he still thinks it’s the best. When I started implying america wasn’t that great, he got mad at me. I once didn’t won’t his American flag mousepad for my new PC, so he threw it on the floor and yelled at me. Needless to say, this line of thinking hurts everyone 👍🏻
I would suggest you to just play nice and nod along. The US is unforgiving and its a bit easier with parental support.
Just nod along and pretend you agree, better than being kicked out and struggle. Play along till you're self sufficient.
@Devilishlybenevolent I couldn't agree more. People like this, cannot change, and cannot be convinced. Just tell him what he wants to hear, and continue to educate yourself. Well done to the OP. I understand it must be so very frustrating now, but in time, you will have the opportunity to surround yourself with people of your own choosing, whose views and values align more with your own. Ps. As an australian, I can honestly tell you, the rest of the world views the USA, as an absolute joke. A place we are GRATEFUL we don't have to live in. Yet, still have to align ourselves with, because of your military might. My country is hardy running on a perfect system. We have many, many areas that need improving, and many, many, things in our history to be ashamed of, but I would still NEVER want to live in the USA.
@Devilishlybenevolent I’ve learned to do that sadly. That incident was a couple years ago, so I learned to shut up 🤠
The US is the best, you’re just too naive to see it. If you don’t believe me, look at the GDP growth of the US relative to Europe
oh no not the mousepad lmfao
When i was in high school they teach us manifest destiny and explain us that that was an imperilastic doctrine to justify the expansion and stealign of half of Mexico. But it was only in reacent years in yt that i discovered the "excepsionalism" i was like "oh, so thats the reason why they behave like that".
Dude you went to a pretty bad school. Mexico never had control of Texas. Hell the native Americans controlled Texas and bordering regions even after the US annexed Texas for a long time.
"Stealing it from Mexico"....lol
That land didn't belong to Mexico, it belonged to the indigenous people. Mexico is also a "colonizer" country.
@@cute_axolotl i had someone the other day claim that Portuguese invented colonialism and imperialism. I have no idea where these people get their education..
@@cute_axolotl México is a really diverse but mostly a mestizo country, mixed between spaniard and local culture. There are more than 60 native languages on use. Unlike the USA that partially destroy native american culture, Mexico has living culture and people that is not in human reservasions (wich are partial concentration camps) there is a lot to do to compensate past crimes against indigenous people of corse, but is much better than the USA for that matters.
My favorite part of living in the U.S is driving by dozens of homeless people on my mandatory commute to work.
There are bombed out war torn nations with fewer homeless people than I pass on an average week.
Oh yea it’s great it’s like “be at the base level of wealth to afford car or immediately become an assumed criminal” “hide in metal box and avoid interaction with undesirables”
You CLEARLY have never been to a war-torn nation. There are far more homeless people there than here in America, it's just that they're called refugees. They live in tents or camps away from tourist spots, but each war-torn country certainly has them.
@@YourMajesty143 Living in tents or camps is still more guaranteed housing than the U.S offers it's homeless.
Try being one of those homeless folks.
Shelters are usually full. Having to be around questionable people. And there's really no alternative besides parking your car, or setting up a tent somewhere.
The only reason I don't have housing is because my line of work can't pay the rent. Can't live with family either because I came from an abusive home.
The system just expects you to already have your life sorted out.
Even if you are joking with the comment about war torn nations having less homeless people, it’s still incredibly stupid lmfao
What country is "best" is all subjective. As an American in general places like southeast Asia, China, mexico and the carribean are generally way more affordable for me. People who are born there , however, we have to remember its not always so cheap for them. I understand why people still want to immigrate to the US. I personally want to leave the US. My quality of life is better elsewhere as my basic needs are very easily met elsewhere where that may be the opposite experience for someone from cuba for example. Personally I'm looking for somewhere warm where i can grow fresh fruits and veges and not worry about being followed by the police or some yt person wondering why I'm in their neighborhood everytime i step outside because I'm black. Being poor or even middle class and black in America is different from being yt. We don't always have the same freedoms and opportunities as yt people so this influences how i see the world and what countries i personally veiw as better or best.
The US is the best large population nation to live in and best in terms of business, tech, colleges, freedoms (you forgot most of europe and rest of the world freedom of speech is not protected), and a mixed culture.
@@AL-lh2ht --- YEAH, SURE . . . but the nonsense of which you speak does not put food on the table, just allows cocktail party chatter for poseur suburbanites.
You might want to consider Brazil. I'm a Black American guy who moved here 11 years ago, and I'm very satisfied with my choice.
I’m not very far in but on how the US government took the land from the native Americans - I live in New Zealand and there is a similar story with how the British took the land from the Māori and while the way the government tries to correct it now isn’t perfect and is sill lacking severely, they are having things given back to them, we are trying to use Te Reo more and more etc. it’s unreal to me that I haven’t seen a single indication to us government trying to give back to the native people. Or even just treating them as people at all. How horrific
This covered so much of what I had to study in year 11/12 US and Cold War history. Wish this video was around 2-3 years ago. Would have really helped with my exams and essays. I think about all of these tidbits in history whenever America is brought up. Just the atrocity of the US from its conception to now. I’m very passionate about it. This was a wonderful video
with regards to the "dressing up", having grown up in norway and lived here my entire life, i never considered wearing jeans etc to school "dressing up" until i got internet access and saw americans view it that way. ive always thought of it as not dressing up because i'm not putting that much thought into it, i'm just throwing on a random pair of jeans and the first sweater i see in my drawer lmao.
sweats and otherwise relaxing clothes have to me always been more for practical wear; like going hiking in the mountain, working in the garden at my grandma's house, long travels by plane/train, or just relaxing at home.
Excellent research and video essay. Your unflinching retelling of the truth of this "great nation" is remarkably refreshing. The average, working class citizen of the United States needs to wake up and realize that we have been bamboozled and placed on a sinking ship.
The initial colonies were comprised mostly of European convicts and proletarian looking for a better life. I am bumfuzzled how these "civilized" individuals subjugated so many. The United States is a young, dysfunctional country. We are quickly moving towards a caste system with oligarchies and serfdoms.
We're already in technofeudalism
This makes sense unless you actually look at the data. Or compare to any other countries.
@@Ouranos369you don’t even know what that word means
No nation is great in their own right. However, I have to disagree that the United States is a young dysfunctional nation. It was in fact one of the most mature countries in the world. It has shown time and time again that it can correct its mistakes and despite its flaws it is still thriving. The reason why I say was it because of its state it is now. It is heading to the path of communism which can lead to its downfall. However, there is still hope.
Funny to see how leftists call the US “dysfunctional” and bad in general while awkwardly ignoring fact that America is a superpower and largest economy in the world with high GDP per capita, and ranks high in most metrics.
Can't walk to a sports stadium in a free country make it make sense. At what point does a Police department become an armed group that protects/enforces private interests over the citizens in the territory which they control and collect taxes from. Strong case for 2a right here XD
problem is all the gun owners in america love when the police serve capital instead of people. Cuz they feel they'll never be the people trampled on
getting ran down by 70 mph+ vehicles doesn't sound like a fun time.
@@Dave102693the point is that a walkable option is not present when it should be
@@Dave102693 Germany has the Autobahn, you can have fast cars and trains, but they must be kept away from pedestrians
The whole point of police forces is to protect owners of capital from thieves.
The thing you are looking to say is "wealth repartition" or "wealth inequalities". When the wealth is in fewer hands, the police seems more oppressive to the rest...
Mais um ótimo video cheyenne!
Quando você comentou sobre como as pessoas aq no brasil mudam de atitude quando descobrem que você é estadunidense eu acredito 1000% em ti,o average brasileiro tem quase uma "submissão" a todos e a tudo que é relacionado aos estados unidos,acham que o USA é "um céu na terra",numa perspectiva muito relacionada ao conceito que você tambem citou a "sindrome de vira lata".
Once a colony, always a colony. Ou algo assim. Nós ainda temos a mentalidade do primero mundo como esse ícone de tudo que é bom e foda-se o resto
Simmm
Isso vem mudando com as novas gerações, eu vejo um sentimento antiamericano cada vez mais comum, a imagem dos estadunidenses como gordos incompetentes e burros demais pra funcionar fora do próprio país
Luna Oi's video on growing up in Vietnam and many like it are great resources for first worlders to understand just how much they take for granted and have in privilege, as well as many of the real human experiences and conditions they don't realize they are missing out on.
I have been vocal from my late teens about how screwed up the US is, how it games socio-economic mobility by class, how harshly it mistreats the poor and non-whites, and how it inflicts the same game on other nations. When traveling through other countries, I've had to listen to those people talk about how much non-white ethnicities and the poor were the sole source of all America's problems and basically echo the propaganda of US conservatism when they had never even visited the US. None of them wanted to listen to a perspective that challenged their programming from someone who actually LIVED here. They wanted the image of that golden "american dream" protected in their minds. Then 2016 happened and they all had their propaganda bubbles shattered.... again. This isnt the first time. It's a cyclical occurrence. New generations arise every 20 years without any observation of global politics, and people easily forget. The noise dies down, the propaganda ramps up once again, and with enough time, the pot boils over into another social crisis that shocks the world. Rinse and repeat.
Bingo!
you have your own programming.
@@Godfrey544 Correct. Its opposing hypocritical, dogmatic, and ignorant bigotry. Nice powers of perception.
The Virgin “Proud for actual Reasons” vs. the Chad “Proud due to Amazing Propaganda.”
40:34 This is a huge reason why I prefer Independent films. Hollywood movies (with some exceptions) have always been so phony to me.
Hollywood and “independent” films are part of the same system. What your experience is how big Hollywood films are designed to be enjoyed the world over with basic them like “family” instead of how smaller films are more character and specific issue driven.
Sheesh! I see why you said it’s been taking you awhile to make this video lol.
Thanks for inviting me to share my thoughts 🤗
And in the last segment, heavy on the “Life is life is life is life” when it comes to living abroad. I wake up and clock in at 9:00 Monday to Friday just like many people I know back in the US. I need to be social at work so some weekends I don’t feel like going anywhere and I relax home and recover from my busy workweek and have my introvert time.
I’d say Taiwan’s work culture is arguably just as bad as the US, in some ways worse. They luckily have more federal holidays.
Changing your location can help for sure due to having access to things you never had before, but more often than not, the grass is greener where you water it. I know many people of many nationalities who moved to Taiwan and they quickly realized it’s not for them and they went back home. Wherever you go, there you are.
I was content with moving to Taiwan despite hearing some horror stories about where I was going to work. And despite all of the “I hate ‘Murica” content these days, I’m also content with moving back 🤷🏾♀️
If you’re not fleeing from war, you have a moment to ask yourself why you want to move to xyz country. Ask yourself how you will support yourself financially, find the negatives about that place and see if you’re okay with it (travel/live abroad influencers already do an excellent job showing the positives) and ask yourself what you hope to gain from that experience vs listening to why an influencer chose to do so. There’s a lot those people are not telling you.
The perfect country is often the place where the bs doesn’t personally impact you that much, hence why one can find mixed reviews of pretty much any place.
A revolution is upon us for better urban planning in North America seeing as how people are starting to see they've been robbed of a better life, myself included. I live in Seattle which is a significant improvement from where I lived the past decade, but the moment I get my bachelor's I'm leaving the country. It's hard to say whether we'll have to wait another lifetime until we see more Eurocentric design, but I can't afford to live my life while being treated as a second-class citizen if I'm not in a car.
Ah yes, some relaxing Sunday viewing 😌 lol. Thanks Cheyenne 😁
I'm not gonna lie, I'm really looking forward to that civil war movie. It definitely feels like it's tapping into the cultural climate today.
every new movie is about racism, sexism, immigration, blah blah blah
Dude it’s not going to say anything about currently politics but just be a what if story that mostly shows how a civil war would suck.
I mean Cali and Texas joining as one country? Really?
Predictive programming
I had the reverse of the US citizen that dresses down. I am a black man and most black folks live by the casket sharp model. Where every outfit you step out in has to look like you could be buried in it. So when I moved to Hawaii I had my wife at the time get mad at me for over dressing every where. Walmart, block buster, the mall and the beach. Until one day i just gave in plain shirt, basketball shorts or swim shorts, and rubber slippers.... Well i cant say that i completely gave in. There was that time I dressing up and had a few people look at me funny while going to my ex mother-in-laws funeral
Isn’t this a southern thing?
--- CORRECT, BECAUSE . . . a fake democracy can only be faked if everyone is in street-urchin uniform, pretending to be cinematically hip-and-happening and too-cool-for-school, whilst the adults wear adult clothes and eat at a table.
How is Hawaii Maui? Just asking wtf happen in there?
@@AL-lh2ht Yes and no I had a couple of friends that were from far up north that did the same thing
@@leekah9981 I honestly don't know I have been trying to get in contact with some of my friends that were on Maui but I have not had any luck
As a person who emigrated to Japan, I have to say it was the best thing I've ever done.
That being said, it is not perfect. It is definitly the safest I have ever felt in my life, but I'm also a black woman so generally speaking I probably don't have much to fear from guys (I'm not the ideal)
My friends and family often ask me when I will move back to America, but I honestly don't have much of a reason to. The food is better here, the air and noise quality is better, I have affordable access to quality healthcare and a bathtub that my whole body can fit in haha. I can walk to MULTIPLE markets in less than 10 min to get fresh high quality food. 2 minutes away from essential things like milk and eggs. Affordable simple foods.... Just good.
Ultimately, moving away from America allowed me to see it from a different perspective. While I was always comfortable ENOUGH, I always had a looming fear of something there. Now I don't feel that anymore. That to me is more precious than whatever America has to offer.
You're for sure one of my favorite essayists on here. This was great and insightful. I'm a usamerican born and raised and you've brought a ton of stuff to my attention that I realized I just don't really think about. Thank you for making content!! Keep it up!!
Brazil mentioned 🎉🥳
No joke tho, here in brazil it’s so common to see a sort of mutt mentality in comparison to europe and the us. It’s common to see ppl talk about how much better the us is, and how brazil sucks in every way, it’s engrained in our culture, sadly. I hope we push in a more decolonial mentality in the years moving foward
Also hey 52:09 thats from my city, Belém ! It’s called praça do relógio which means “clock square”, it’s close to my favorite thrift shop haha
Incredible research! Great job Cheyenne!
So you literally are American living in South America while simultaneously claiming that the very act of Americans going to live in cheaper countries is exploitation...
Sounds hypocritical to me
Every man for them self right? I think it’s unbiased coverage.. not hypocrisy
Very little material analysis. Felt like it comes from a place of "anti-American" liberal nationalism than any genuine critique of American capitalism and imperialism.
All of the issues of the United States are explained by its political system and the outsized influence the owning class has over its function. Its nothing to do with exceptionalism or the culture. Ageist remarks about baby boomers are not a substitute for actual class analysis. But of course, this would challenge the very foundations of capitalism, which Liberalism cannot do.
Why doesn't the US have an NHS? Is it because they are fat and lazy and brutish? No, its because the government refuses to create one.
Why doesn't the US have walkable cities? Is it because Americans hate walking? No, its because the government sided with automotive companies and helped bankrupt the traditional transportation companies.
Why does the US engage in imperialism? Is it because Americans are bloodthirsty and nationalistic? No, its because the government wages war in service of large corporations and the military industrial complex.
None of these things are a result of the culture or the attitudes of the people. They are a result of the social and material conditions, and the state that exists as a result of them.
"But why don't Americans just VOTE for a better system?"
Because as a bourgeois democracy, the United States is not particularly democratic on a top level. At the federal level, the United States is ruled as a oligarchy in service of large monied interests. "Voting" does nothing for the average person. Any changes usually occur slowly and at the lowest level. And Americans, like most people living in republics, are discouraged from participating in local politics.
And, this should terrify people, but all of the Europeans et al who criticize the US for these things ALSO live in the same kind of bourgeois democracies. These nations have oligarchies just like the United States, and they are waiting for opportunities to cement themselves in government and undo the progress made by the social-democratic governments. Thatcher already got the ball rolling for the UK.
Agree with the second half. Many European countries have seen a rise in the far right recently. Netherlands, Italy, England etc. Are they so different after all?
@@user-fe8uq9zp2g I'm Italian and no, the US and most European countries aren't that different. Bourgeois democracies with imperialistic idealogies.
But it's not hard to realize why there is SO MUCH anti-American sentiment throughout the world. Even in my country, they meddled in our elections, justifying it with the all so ironic phrase "we did it for the sake of democracy". And this is one of the most tame thing that they've done to impose their hegemony in the last 70-80 years.
@@lucianofrancesco4742 Oh I completely understand. Its frustrating. The current PM in Italy is......frightening
@@user-fe8uq9zp2g With "they" I meant the US, sorry if I wasn't clear.
The current Italian government is filled with incompetent nostalgics of the fascist era. We have seen a rise in police brutality, especially in the last days. I believe most Americans and Europeans are growing distrustful of the current neo-liberal type of economy, but the propaganda is quick to blame immigrants. The classic "nation vs foreigners" philosophy of fascism, instead of the class struggle that is typical of left-wing thought.
@@lucianofrancesco4742 I understood what you meant by they lol its a pretty known fact that America is usually involved in others affairs. Thats why Americans romanticize Europe to be almost a 'safe haven' while it is great, it also has faults country to country
We will be the generation that achieves peace in our time. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but we can do it!
What do you mean peace? Achieving that also means a lot of different things, there are horrible people who say their goal is peace.
Achieve peace by committing Genocide you mean?
It is crazy _just how expensive_ it is to NEED a car. The pattern of "finally feeling a bit more financially secure only to suddenly need to drop $1,500 on your vehicle" is a CONSTANT and I do not have a single friend who doesn't regularly experience that. And it's not like you have an alternative, even the largest city in my state has virtually no public transportation, if you don't have a car you're fucked. That, combined with the exorbitant cost of healthcare and housing, feels like such a massive disadvantage financially
I knew from that poll a few weeks ago that you were cooking up something good
As an argentinian the way i perceive the us now goes to "jajajaja they think they are the world champions, how cute" to "oh god they helped to kill 30.000 of us in the 70's via Operation Condor" but i have to admit that it wasn't always like that. Even tho i now hate the idea of travelling to the us like i wouldn't go even if i got paid for it, back when i was an overachieving kid that only consumed us shows and movies, i really loved the idea of us universities and college life there, the best to the best go there so for sure my dream was to be and study there. Then with time i realized people pay to go there, those are not public like ours (imagine how delusional i was that i didn't ever considered going to our PUBLIC universities here) not only that people get in massive debt bc of it and then also realizing that even tho i was smart i was also brown and people would not treat me well there (idk why i though it would not happen in the us since i was already being discriminated against here so again extremely delusional) alongside with the acknowledgement that they not only treat people like me like trash inside their country but also have actively made sure via their foreign policy to make our lives more difficult in my country. Us corporations that own parts of our land, the help offered to instaurate multiple dictatorships, their media soft power and the one i'm most focused now since i reconnected with my indigenous ancestry: those fucking "spiritual" trips that they do just to "find peace"
Now knowing all that i just can't avoid feelings of rage and then shame bc of the way i used to think of the us.
Memory is a big thing in our country, it has become our mantra since the last dictatorship ended and i started to feel proud about it when i learned how the world actually works and bc we were one of the very few countries that took to the court their ex-dictators, not military court but judiciary court. But i can't avoid the disappointment that came with the choice we made for a president. A guy that recently encountered with trump and basically kissed his ass, yeah the guy that also denies the amount of murders in our last dictatorship, that it's no coincidence and yet he was chosen to be our president.
Anyways if any of you want to hear a funny anecdote related to this theme, here is one: as kid i used to have a toy register machine and various toy food goods to imagine i was a grocery store worker, once my dad played with me as a customer and when the time came for him to pay me i asked him to do it in dollars not in pesos, he laughed bc he realized i've been watching to many us cartoons and told me since its not our currency i should let him pay in pesos. Now I'm 24, my cousin had a daughter that i love so much and this one time i was watching her play with her dad selling him fake lemonade, he also ended up laughing bc the payment was in dollars. It's an innocent thing i know, funny as hell too but weird if you really think about it.
So you've rejected American nationalism in favor of anti-American nationalism? Two sides of the same coin, both ultimately serve imperialism one way or another.
@@gmodrules123456789 I guess what you want me to say is that my country is not that great either? Or the European involvement in argentinian affairs? Which I'm very aware of, believe me but it seems you want me to say it as if that would erase your wrongdoings. I also suppose what you are concerned about is our nationalism becoming so anti-american to the point where we are taught by our government to blindly hate the us and to be loyal to our country no matter what. Idk how you reached that extreme conclusion as if me criticizing the us (and not wanting to go there?) instantly makes me a radical "death to all Americans" type of foreigner, like the antagonist in an action Hollywood movie or something. In the case of Argentina's nationalism is quite the opposite, it has historically been tied to an ambition to be like the us. To erase all trace of the population that wasn't white as fast as possible and start building our nation's identity from there. Just like the us was doing. And I mention this not to blame the us but as to say that, due to our history, the contrary is less likely to happen and a collective critique of the us is not a sign of Argentinians wanting the absolute end of the us.
Don’t listen to the other comment. They don’t understand how so tied up other nations became at the hands of America or how it feels to have children indoctrinated to hate themselves. I agree w you. America isn’t as amazing as it is made out to be.
I’m in university. It’s great. But it’s not cheap at all. I have to pay hundreds for a few months’ parking. Getting one bag of groceries costs over $50. There are not a lot of third spaces for people to hang out together that don’t cost an arm and a leg. Ppl are miserable. Corporations are constantly cutting back job openings and overworking staff as well as committing wage theft. Health insurance is a total joke. And ppl still want to come here for some reason.
My best advice for anyone wanting to move here is to go ahead if they want to potentially end up homeless. Lol.
Thanks for the facts about the superiority of El primer mundo.
That last antidote is really scary on how kids AND adults can just over-consume other countries’ media, ESPECIALLY the U.S’.
Great and very detailed video. Keep up the great work
As a Brazilian that recently immigrated to the USA, I often think of moving back to Brazil and taking my wife with me (as she is a citizen and was the only reason I immigrated in the first place).
There are a lot of benefits of being a USA citizen, of course, but I noticed my quality of life declining after living here for a bit.
I specially fear what the long term effects of the bad food quality, over reliance on cars (and all it's health consequences) and lack of a social safety net may cause to me, my wife and our future kids.
Thank you for the amazing video.
Shop at Aldi and Trader Joes, and if you can walk the several miles to get to the store. There is food in the US that is just as good of quality, it is just you have to wade through a sea of crap to get to it.
Make your money invest and go.
Thank you Cheyenne for your beautiful presentation. You have opened up the book of history that alot of people are not aware of. Your research is very detailed and incitful. To know the history the way you showed is very revealing and honest. Keep up the good work.
To be clear, we never adopted the metric system because the ship carrying the standards was blown off course and captured by pirates. And soccer came from Britain, which is called Association Footballers "Assocers."
Excellent video, but somethings I’ve noticed about videos on this subject “world security is hardly ever mentioned”. As an American I can speak on a plethora of issues with our country “ inequality, wealth gap, capitalism, racism, classism, etc, etc”, I’d be here all day trying to list all the wrongs, but no one ever speaks on world security. America spends an ungodly amount of tax dollars on our military complex , and other countries military complexes, and foreign aid. Yes America stays dictating to others countries, toppling governments, causing unrest when it benefit their Goals, “America is cruel”, but what if we were to adopt “isolationism” not on trade , but political & economic entanglements with other countries. All those tax dollars are spent on us? .. Many countries Americans flee to would they?!? .. Countries that depend on military & foreign aide what would they do?!? … Being poor in America sucks , but does it look the same in other places?!? ..These are things I never see discussed in videos like these. I want to live in an American that’s not cruel to its citizens, and the rest of the world , no meddling in foreign affairs, taking care of its citizens, free trade with other nations , a fair, and balanced immigration policy where we didn’t destroy another country , and their citizens are dying to cross the border, but if we create that America
“how would the rest of the world react!?!” America isn’t a lone superpower, how would those countries treat the rest of the world if America isolates ?!? .. I suspect same shyt show not involving Americans .
It's Great to see your arguments are based on data, the document with the bibliography is properly done, the title has a propper headline and is not a clickbait. The conclusion was a bit short and it was only a quick summary, but still an amazing video essay. Lovely content, great to know you are enjoying your life in Brazil. Incredible work here.
58:48 the walkable city/losing weight thing is definitley true. at summer camp i ate twice as much as i did at home, and lost weight simply because i was walking and running up and down hills all day for weeks on end, vs home in the city we drove everywhere
I find the topic of American exceptionalism despite a weirdly poor standard of living really interesting, even as a non-American, because it effects my every day life! I'm British (and a POC). My partner is American (and white). Even though the UK and America are far more similar to each other than many other countries are to America, it's actually wild how many differences there were in our day to day lives and expectations growing up and which come up in our relationship. Obviously there's major things like the healthcare system and fear of gun violence, and us having different experiences as white vs non-white people. But even down to smaller things like the use of dryers being a given in the US, which you mentioned. Me and my family use ours sparingly and hang clothes out to dry most of the time, but when I go and stay with his family in the States, they use it for every single wash. Here, it's not a given that every home will come with a dishwasher built in. My family live in a house and have a dishwasher, but both of the flats I have lived in recently didn't have one, and I washed everything up by hand every day. He said that that was incredibly unusual to him.
I also find that food in the US is much lower quality overall than in the UK. Though I also think that the UK has lower quality food than many other parts of Europe (and our cultural cuisine is hardly the best around lol). But even so, food in the US feels so cheap and artificial for me to eat. I am someone with a sensitive stomach due to medical issues, so I do feel it more than the average person, but I truly feel like I can taste the difference, and even feel different when I eat American food over a long period of time, especially food which we haven't prepared ourselves. He also says that he looks forward to being here in the UK because our bread and eggs are better and that the quality and breadth of available seasonings is better, for example. But he's also used to these massive portion sizes, like giant buckets of ice cream and giant cartons of juice, even massive vegetables, that simply don't exist here.
A big area where I feel a cultural difference is over the need for cars, and the lack of third spaces. I am only just learning to drive in my early 30's. Now granted, I'm from London. But even in other UK cities or even some smaller towns etc, you don't HAVE to drive because there are still public transport options and third places you can go to even if you don't have a car. We also have the railway connecting the whole of the UK, so you can travel to other places without a car. When we're in the US, we are completely dependent on a car unless in very specific places like NYC. And he says that travelling via train is considered rare and even bougie/expensive. Rail prices have been going up here unfortunately, but for a long time travelling around the country by train or coach here was considered the cheap option, available to those who don't have a car.
Add to that, shops, restaurants and third places in the US are often only accessible via car, and it doesn't feel like people go there to communally congregate as much as they do in Europe. I find strip malls so depressing, because in the UK you have shops, cafes, restaurants, parks etc intermingled with residential areas and it feels more like a community, especially in places with public squares. Even as someone who is Covid cautious, I can still go out and buy my food and then enjoy it in an outdoor space with friends if I don't feel comfortable to sit inside a restaurant. I remember expressing how weird and depressing I found stripmalls to my partner, and how I had to kind of figure out why I found it so depressing to see people only being able to drive somewhere to buy food and then not be able to spend time there with other people unless they were inside a specific restaurant. How it lacked that spontaneous socialising you described, which I'm very used to. I also don't really see big groups of young people hanging out in local parks for the day like I spent whole summers doing here. There's generally less of a culture of hanging out in public spaces compared to Europe's pub and cafe cultures (this is also exacerbated by the pandemic of course, but I experienced this in the US before the pandemic too). Doing some research, I found that this was of course linked to capitalism, racism and the desire to drive black people out of spaces that had previously been free or cheaper when only white people could use them, like swimming pools and theme parks, and even whole neighbourhoods.
I try not to see any cultural differences as inherently better or worse, but I do feel weighed down by this major difference when I spend time in the US, about how much less communal and outdoors life is than in Europe. How much harder it is to just decide "I want to go out for the day and spend time somewhere nice" without expecting to spend a ton of money. How isolated people are in their cars and homes and how inaccessible the outside world can feel if you don't have a car. Especially given the origins of that phenomenon in capitalism, mass consumption and racism, I completely understand why so many Americans mourn a lack of third places and community. I think I would feel that loneliness too if I lived in America basically anywhere other than major cities with public transport.
I don't believe that the UK is a great country that has the right to point a finger at America and mock it, especially right now, but even the cultural and social difference between the UK and the US is very stark to me. Then I compare that to the stretches of time I've spent in other countries like Spain and Bulgaria and the gulf is even wider.
The US gives you alot more choice than other countries, but often that means alot more bad choices. In Japan the country I have been to the most after the US, the snack foods and candies are often much worse and filled with more additives than the US. Although in both the US and Japan healthier choices are available, in the US they can be more expensive and harder to access. You can get food in the US that is higher quality than what is available in Europe, but you will likely have to pay more for it. Europe is a society obsessed with protecting people from bad decisions more than the US and Japan are. Which is why they are ban happy when it comes to food additives
Im from LATAM, moved to the US and lived in the UK for around 6-7 years. I find that I thought similarly when I first moved but the UK has gotten progressively worse and a lot of what you wrote here I can understand. For example, my friend lives in Enfield - you absolutely need a car there to live. You cant just walk to Tesco. The bus takes around 30 min outside of London or more and you will have to connect many times. I will say the public transport in London is great however recently TFL is EXTORTIONATE and the amount of strikes is crazy. Yes England has great parks (lovely in summer) but the weather is shit so who really goes out to enjoy it? We cant sit outside in the pouring rain for more than half of the year. Yes there is the NHS but Ive literally been stuck at the A&E various times for about 6-8 hours. Ive seen them not even have SEATS to offer people to sit and people vomiting in buckets. In America, while it's costly, you can walk right into the A&E and be served. Not to mention salaries in the UK with the cost of living are abysmal. Salaries are stagnant. You have doctors making awful money for the work they do which deserves higher yet our taxes go to the NHS but they cant afford housing?
Im going to have to disagree about the food as well. You have shops like Trader Joes in America that provide pretty good food and not that costly. You even have health food stores like Whole Foods, Sprouts etc which are superior to a Planet Organic. Even within a normal store like a Publix you can shop pretty healthy. Thats like if I said the UK has processed foods and I only bought from Iceland and eat at fried chicken shops. Fruits in the US are way better than all the imported fruit (minus strawberries and apples) that England get because they cant grow much. The US has places like Florida for tropical fruit and California for others like grapes etc which grow great produce. I do think some food in the US is questionable like a majority of chains but the UK has their share of chains too like Pizza Express. The great part of the UK (specifically London) is the mix of cultures, openness to religions, and I will say sense of community is a stronger than the US. Also social services are good, but heavily underfunded.
@@user-fe8uq9zp2gOh yeah, the UK has abolsutely been going to shit. I'm always ready to criticise what the government has been doing to this country over the last decade (well, slowly since Thatcher and accelerated now, really). We are losing a lot of what was great about the transport systems and NHS here, and it fucking sucks bc you just know our government is salivating at the mouth at the thought of making everything more privatised like in the US (they have even been quoted saying stuff along these lines at points). At the very least, it does still exist in some form though, and people are used to expecting that it should exist and be better than what it is currently is. Compared to what my bf can access if he didn't have any form of health insurance in the US, I am still lucky to access what I can. But it should also be much better than it is. In fact, it's the direct comparison to how much more dire things can be in the US if you don't have the access that emphasises how important it is for the UK to not go down the same route.
And of course we are also in a cost of living crisis. There is plenty to criticise about life in the UK currently, which I was pretty clear about lol.
There is definitely shit processed food in the UK! It exists everywhere now. I was more saying that what's generally accessible in most average supermarkets and restaurants seems higher quality to me in the UK than in the US, same for my partner. But it's also lower quality than other parts of Europe.
Also maybe it's just cus I grew up here and I'm more used to it, but I'm not adverse to spending time outside if it's not the 2 weeks of true summer we get a year. So long as it's not pelting rain 😂Brits really will just take any excuse to sit outside in the park tbh. Everyone I know who came here from hotter countries thinks we're unhinged for it. But you work with what you've got lollll
@@EvilCleverDog Yeah thats true it's interesting they are choosing the wrong direction. I moved right before Brexit and for me(personally) it seemed like a catalyst but I wasn't there before so Im not sure how it was. I do remember the Pound being almost double the Dollar which was crazy.
My partner grew up in England and found America much more convenient? I guess is the word in comparison to England. I would love universal health care in America however there is medicare/medicaid but Im sure you know there are some requirements. It seems like England and other countries in the EU are moving towards pushing privatized health care anyway so who knows what will happen there. I just feel scammed in England knowing a huge chunk of taxes go to pretty much nowhere seeing that my friend is a doctor and makes like 30k...in London. In the states you are taxed less generally (they also probably go to - the military which I hate) but hey at least it's less especially with the state of the world atm. Also I genuinely feel sorry for Britains youth idk how they will buy houses. Im not sure where your partner is from in the US but the food is pretty subjective based on that too supermarket wise (id take TJ or Publix over a Tesco anyway), in Florida produce is pretty great and we have a variety of Latino and Caribbean food which is amazing however London def benefits from the multitude of cultures there for restaurants! 😅Yeah for an outsider the weather sucks tbh coming from somewhere where we have the beach but thats all subjective.
I don't think I've watched a video essay with this amount of research before, wow.
It’s not America that is the problem. Every country that adopts Capitalism all face the same issues more or less.
In Singapore, I was called lazy and stupid for being American. I was further hindered by my Viet ethnicity because of their own views of national exceptionalism.
Almost every country has their own story of taking land from natives who are usually darker skinned and live more egalitarian and in smaller tribes.
After living many places I can agree with this take. To Americans it seems like this problem exists only there or is the worst there. However it’s happening in a lot of places.
The funny thing is the US is in fact capitalism, socialism, and state controlled economy. Like, there is no magic alternative system.
In what way does skin colour play a massive role in this exceptionalist attitude? Ironically the most of the comments here are a product of american exceptionalism except instead of typical american "conservatism" its american "liberalism"
Agreed, most of the countries have bloody history of occupation and colonialism.
@@lukashradecky5492exactly can u explain ecepslily the liberl excponsltims 😊
someone who I won't specify in my life was walking home from a bar that was so close to their place of residence that they could see their apartment from the bar... they got stopped by the police and arrested for public intoxication even though they weren't stumbling or acting out or being weird, the cops were just harassing anyone who was walking. This exact scenario happened to another person in my life and then this exact thing would happen a second time to the first individual I mentioned... like, okay so they don't want you to drunk drive of course but you can't walk??? america hates when their citizens do anything that they can't be charged money to do. we can't even walk places in our own nation, because our infrastructure is disgusting trash and because our public transport it horrifyingly bad and because if they can't tax you for it because it was free, they don't like that.
Your videos are extremely needed right now. ❤
America reminds me of one of my favorite quotes about perfection " to be perfect is to stagnate. To reach thebultimate end is to stop, to stop is to decay" was the general jist (not gonna quote a whole ass villain monologue)
America in thinking it reached perfection, has alloeed itself to stagnare and rot from the inside out
My problem with that attitude. I hate the "america is best". We have done a lot of great things, but we're not the best. No one is. But, we can make more great things and reach new heights.
I gobble down everything you post & I look forward to your next posts. Thank you for your efforts
Haven’t finished the video yet(only 15 minutes in) but I love how your talking about Americas history with native Americans as a mixed girlie myself (white and Cherokee American) I feel very seen and heard with the struggles I’ve had in my life, even though I am white passing and “dont look very native” being forced to grow up without my culture has taken a large toll on me and made me feel less native almost and like I don’t deserve to call myself indigenous because of not growing up with the traditions,language,folklore,etc because of things like residential schools, the trail of tears, and trying to assimilate into whiteness
Great information! More people than ever are learning TRUE history, not the lies we were told.
Great vid! When I am interacting with Americans online I will often use statistics from my own country, Namibia, to paint theirs in a bad light. A quick example being that there are approximately twice as many Americans living on 2.00$ per day as there are people in my entire country.
As you say, everyone expects the US to be worse than most of Europe and some of Asia, but they are never expecting anywhere in Africa to do many things better than them. I think this can both be a way to help open eyes on just how desperate the US' situation is in some ways, as well as help people understand the reality of living in a middle-income country.
Bet that makes your day.
i love america
That's interesting I had no idea
There’s two million people in Namibia. They’re more Americans living on two dollars a day, but they’re only .3% of the population. I wouldn’t be shocked if a lot of them were undocumented immigrants. That’s just population. I’m sure China has something similar going on. 82 million Chinese live on two dollars a day, but that’s a tiny part of Chinas popilation.
Then that means around 4 million Americans live on $2 per day. 4 million out of a population of over 330 million.... lol. How exactly does that make Namibia "better" than the US?
The Brazilian "mongrel complex" (complexo de vira-lata) you mentioned in the video is absolutely real. Brazilians learn from a very young age this perception that most of (if not everything) we create is downright inferior or just not as good as the things we import from the US, western Europe, Japan and the like. To many Brazilians, the things we ourselves do/create only seem to matter after they are validated by certain international institutions. I've always wondered if other countries in the Global South experience the same kind of collective low self-esteem.
When it comes to tourists and immigrants, I believe Brazilian overtly welcoming hospitality (towards natives from the Global North, specifically) somewhat reflects the same yearning for recognition and validation. I suppose Americans tend to receive special treatment not only because of expectations regarding their purchasing power but also because they're mostly perceived as coming from a superior/aspirational place. Hollywood and the american music industry have made a hell of a job in shaping our sensibilities. Also, in a country with so many social inequalities like Brazil, being able to communicate fluently in English (or in any other foreign language) is a status marker. So I guess people like to flaunt their abilities whenever they can.
Thank You Very Much, I could not agree more just about everything you said. Here is also something, it’s about Freedom, people say that the U.S. has lots of Freedom even though the Freedom level index is NOT as high as other developed countries. Freedom is NOT Uniquely American, but Credit Scores, Mass Shootings , and Medical Loans are
I really wish most of us new generations would stop the apathy and act, I want to March with others across the nation and let Washington know we want change. It’s so sad to see how easily people just ignore extremely important events in our country and don’t come together to change it. We just vote for people that 9 out of 10 times never do anything. And thus the issues get worse.
You are whining over nothing
Federal elections matter, but local elections are more important. If you expect federal elections to change much; it won't. Get involved in the local level. Talk to the community, thats where real change is. Real change takes years and decades. Talk to state representatives and senators.
“And this is why we should become communist”
Bc not enough of us are in the same boat. Also eventually things will have to be even worse for enough people. Do u know how revolutions start? Things have to get shitty beyond repair for people finally to do it unfortunately
@@AL-lh2ht Fellas, is it really communist for asking BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS TO NOT BE CONTROLLED BY A PRIVATE COMPANY???
Small nitpicks. But the term soccer is actually a British invention. The English first started use of soccer & returned to the use of football later on. Americans kept using soccer.
Also the UK, Canada, etc aren't fully metric. For example England still uses stone to weigh themselves & not even Americans use that. A stone 🪨 is 14 pounds.
Yeah, the widespread adoption of the metric system is a result of French imperialism in Asia and Africa more than anything else. As well as German and Japanese imperialism. Ironic, considering the alternative is literally called "the imperial system".
I live in deep poverty in the US. When I speak with others around the world, it really hits home how much the average US citizen has in common with people our country derides as lesser. I cannot leave due to disability and being queer, both of which put me at risk living here. Ironically my health would likely improve if I ever did get to leave, but I'm stuck. And even if I did leave...I'd just be encroaching on resources that should go to local folks (of whichever hypothetical country.)
When I learned about the right to roam and right to privacy that other countries had, I was shocked. How many US foods, medications, and household products are banned across the world and how that impacts our health. A lot of folks don't talk about this, so I'm grateful that you are.
What countries specifically
In my opinion the best thing for usa and usa citizens is that the usa just becomes a normal country not an empire and for us people to be more nuanced when it comes for their world view
This is great. I'm a brown American guy from Philly, and I grew up in the hood. What's nice though is a short train ride into the downtown area and you see people from all backgrounds and countries. The suburbs are depressing to me. They always feel like I just don't belong. Now that I have money I'd rather have a lavish condo in the heart of any city near my workplace. I learned the ugly history of this country, but despite the past I still love America. It's great despite the problems. I can't wait to travel and possibly emigrate.
What ur background and where will u emgarite too
A lot of people think or say that the U.S has been in decline in the past 10 years, I’d say it has been longer than that, it was just not as noticeable to the average citizen.
I have since left the U.S and gave never looked back, I was able to finally afford a house living abroad and feel that I’m actually living a life now as suppose to feeling like a modern slave in the U.S
Hope more people do the same, America will not get any better in fact the decline both economically and socially, will just accelerate in the next few years until the ultimate collapse and dismantling of the United States, into what I see and becoming city states many becoming autonomously independent from one another.
I left the USA 11 years ago, I've had stable employment the entire time, a side business, access to gyms, beaches, martial arts, I have a house, I have a wife, I have a daughter and three cats, I definitely do feel like I'm living my life instead of laying down waiting to die in the USA. I was smart enough to figure this out at the young age of 28.
Doesn't the quality of life depend on which state you live in? Some states are way poorer than underdeveloped countries. West Virginia and New Mexico are two examples of some pretty poor states that pretty much could some underdeveloped countries to the test. Am I mistaken?
Could you also talk about Americans that are too poor to even emigrate outside the US but fantasize about life aboard?
i also agree, especially with things like access to medicare as a poor adult depending on your state, your quality of life varies greatly depending on which state you’re in, especially for those who are low income
I wish my families hadn't immigrated to the US. I'm constantly hungry and still waiting on disability money and, yeah, it sucks here. I've struggled in other countries due to disabilities and just don't really belong anywhere, though, and that's the true gift of being born in the United States
what country are your parents from?
@@bevs9995Ireland/France and Ukraine. Honestly they should've moved elsewhere :( I see why they tried here though. I wouldn't want to live in Europe either at this point. Maybe South America? Anywhere where I can have the energy to make food I guess
@@r.nicogorodetzky3084 do you have autoimmune disease ?
@@bevs9995Maybe. Probably . It's hard to tell while uninsured and waiting years for any assistance from the government so that I can get any sort of proper diagnosis for anything. But yeah, probably
One of the main issues I have living in the US is how everything, from how primary school is structured to how acquiring benefits (such as healthcare/higher education) works, is designed to funnel most of the population into full-time/9 to 5 labor. It takes a lot of time and/or a strong mental base to undo that kind of conditioning. IMO one of easiest ways to undo this kind of programing is to see, with one's own eyes, what life is like outside of US borders.
It was a good start but you lost me at white capitalist patriarchy. As someone who had their family tree heavily pruned by communism I don't want that here. That isn't saying I want either the D or R fascist offerings. You are confusing capitalism, the ability to trade freely and keep the efforts of your labor for youself to spend as you see fit, and crony capitalism (fascism as per Mussolini's definition of merging corporate and state power) which is what we have now.
What country did u come from and what did she say about capitalist patriarchy, I didn’t watch the video straight through and skipped around
35:40 This argument makes no sense. Those exchange rates are essentially just arbitrary numbers. The Brazilian Real is about 30 Japanese yen but that hardly means that the Real is a "stronger currency".
This was such an amazing video. Glad i found your channel. You helped to put into place the things that seemed contradicting or confusing to me once.
I was born and raised in Egypt. I remember there was a very popular movie that tells the story of an Egyptian American who returned to Egypt after 20 years in the US. It describes the manifestations of what this prevelige looks like, as your friend describes here 37:20