If you don’t know less than 50% of Americans have a passport. The ones who don’t, I really see the limitation in their thinking. They never saw that most of the world is in fact freer than them, has a better system in place for their people, and doesn’t have some of the major problems that America has. I’m currently in a country where over 90% of items are made in that country. America (made in China) can’t comprehend this efficiency. P.S. I’m American
The thing that gets me though is how dangerous many Americans say other parts of the world is without having ever been there lol. I travel and I’ll tell you America is the MOST dangerous country outside of warzones. Yes even more dangerous that Arab countries for women. Lol I know that propaganda is in a lot of Americans minds.
OK so who’s actually been outside the country and can talk geopolitics and actually know from experience what they are talking about?
I’ve only just joined lemmy.ml communities, is it US only or something?
As an European, just driving from Toronto to Montréal, you’ll already be in a vastly different environment and may even experience culture shock. The same can be probably said of going from any of the US states to Mexico.
Have you ever traveled inside of america?
I’ve been lucky enough to travel! I’ve been to France twice for work, Italy, Greece, Croatia, U.K, ABC Islands, Costa Rica, Columbia and Panama.
As someone who has ridden Mexico City’s and Istanbul’s metros, Americans should be fucking embarrassed of mass transit back home.
Atlanta ripped up their street cars and I’m still angry about it. So many towns in Georgia have old train stops that have been converted into museums or restaurants. My parents and I both have one, but there’s no way for me to take a train to them. It’s upsetting.
They destroyed the railroad networks because they tried to force people to buy cars lol only America could do something that short sighted
It is a lot more complicated than that.
Most early 20th century mass transit networks were private businesses subject to government regulation. Most of the government regulation focused on controlling fares, so there was a lot of deferred maintenance. This was made worse as some mass transit systems were built to be a loss leader to support selling real estate.
Several mass transit networks went bankrupt due to the combination of fares not covering expenses and reduced demand due to completion with cars. Most American cities weren’t equipped to take on subsiding or taking over mass transit, so they let the existing networks die.
Fair point about the nuance but this was a dumb mistake the government should have put development into them and expanded now they are regretting it. They think the solution to traffic was going to be Musk boring tunnels for Tesla’s. It’s like they forgot railroads exist
It was a dumb mistake, but it was a dumb mistake that had broader political support than the narrative that “car companies destroyed mass transit” suggests. It is important to recognize how a broad base of support was created in order to fight it in its current interations.
And I completely agree that Musk tunnels are a shit technology and that actual trains need to be built. I just think it requires understanding how politics functions rather than just accepting a corporate bogeyman.
GM did play a very large role in it though so you can say both but it def was pushed by the car industry to dismantle
I’ve had a passport for about five years now but have been perpetually poor and have never had the money to travel hahaha
You’re just going to keep tolerating that?
Nah, been in school to get a job which is eligible for a skilled worker visa in several countries. Hoping to get out that way.
Good strategy
ITT: OP Asks thought provoking question, then acts like an ass in the comments.
If you think my personality is ass i can’t help that sugar bear
My brother has the time and money to travel right now, but I’m having a hard time convincing him to go somewhere. He’s one of the people who think every country except the US is dangerous. Oh, and also, only the US has “safe” food. 🤦♂️
The brainwashing is real. I had a friend like that. They asked me if I was going to eat dogs in Japan lol damn. It’s like they had a propaganda switch activated everytime they had a discussion about anything foreign
During high school I did a summer study program in France and also briefly went to Amsterdam for a weekend.
In college I took a vacation with some college friends in Japan, going to several cities across the country. It’s kind of funny, we’re all weebs, but one of my friends learned Japanese in college and he’s pretty much fluent. He actually speaks better Japanese than Chinese despite being from a family that immigrated over here from China this generation lol.
It was definitely nice seeing the different kind of things they had in those countries as well as a lot of the similarities. That said, I don’t know that I know enough about them to talk intelligently about their modern politics.
I find other countries modern politics to be some alternate version of USA politics unfortunately. There is a steady increase to try and mimic it. This is why countries like Japan are failing, and they are to go extinct soon. I like Japan. But that’s not even the name of the country. They allow the west to dictate their decisions. I was disappointed when i learned they were just a vassal state for USA. But it made sense about their slave work culture and other flaws they are suffering from
Japan’s politics are very different from American politics. While the USA has a two party system with one party who is generally dominant, Japan has had effectively a one party state since World War II. The NDP is so entrenched that factions within the party have greater power than other political parties.
Yeah, you can make the argument that Japan is a vassal state of the USA. However, the demilitarization of Japan was relatively popular amongst Japan’s neighbors.
That’s actually funny. They were FORCED to demilitarized because their new master USA walked into the room and didn’t want their military getting any funny ideas about Japan being used as a big military base for US troops. Which still happens till this day. South Korea is just as bad. They are the main Asian puppets of America
Japan was forced to be demilitarized, but the US could have easily let Japan militarize as a US vassal state under the control of an American alliance, but it didn’t.
In regards to South Korea, it could choose to open negotiations to merge with North Korea. We even saw a conservative South Korean President impeached; the political implication bring a more pro-North Korean president taking power.
That’s in a world where America is defeated. You’re underestimating how evil USA is
Pax Americana has led to the dismantling of empires and the bimodal economic distribution disappearing. It was an improvement over the older world order.
I haven’t been outside of the US, but it’s not really because I want to stay in America, it’s more than I don’t really experience a strong urge to travel in general. I live ear Atlanta Georgia. I’m roughly within driving distance of a lot of nice locations. I can fly to the west coast. If I really wanted to go to an island I could go to somewhere like Hawaii or Puerto Rico without a passport. Though if I wanted to go somewhere specific I would get a passport, it’s not like I refuse to get one. I just haven’t needed to get one yet and haven’t bothered to.
Yeah I went to Japan for work.
I was supposed to go to Europe when I graduated high school, but my mom got cancer instead. And by the time my sister graduated I was disowned so our father and her went without me.
I still want to go to Europe, but unfortunately it’s very far away. And I’d love to go back to Japan and see more than just factories in small cities. Tokyo was gorgeous but I only saw the airports and trains.
If the middle east were to stabilize and get really cool about a lot of things really fast I really want to see Iraq and Iran. I’d love to see Babylon and other early cities.
I don’t have any money, but I’ve lived along both the Mexican and Canadian borders (San Diego and Detroit) so I’ve been to both many times. If we’re talking outside of those two though I was lucky enough to have my dad bring me along on a couple business trips growing up so I got to spend some time in Costa Rica and Germany.
I’ve never even been to the US and agree with what you say. But travel dosn’t necessarily make you have good takes. Tourism is often very destructive and ignorant.
Also, among people from outside the imperial core, who travel a lot, there is a different bias: they are more likely to be comprador capitalists, because you need money to travel. For example in Egypt, I’ve only met people critical of the military. Outside Egypt, I’ve only met Egyptians who support it and whose families have high status because of positions in the military. Or take Cuban or Venezuelan exiles, who hate their home countries socialist politics. I’m also not sure, if the trend to move to Dubai to work a high profile job for one or two years in a totally artificial setting broadens anyone’s cultural horizon.
Dubia is a artificial paradise the country is on a time limit to implosion. Also capitalst will forever rule until people stop caring about money so much.
I’ve been to England and Scotland, and agree with you, this was in the 1980s and their idea of a dangerous neighborhood cracked me right up. London had no areas equivalent to what counted as a dangerous area in my city (though we have made great strides in the US since then in reducing violence, believe it or not. And in my city even more so, we went from so rough to relatively safe).
I don’t think I would have called it free-er though? Safer for sure though, and healthcare so much better.
I love to travel and I’ve been very fortunate to visit many countries outside the US. I just spent 3 weeks in Iceland.
I think it’s a shame that more people don’t have the interest or means to travel outside the country more frequently because I think it provides a lot of perspective about the reality of other countries and America vs the image that America portrays of itself and other countries.
When Americans free themselves collective I’m sure they will start to explore
