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?
Been lucky enough to have been able to visit Hong Kong before the takeover, Germany, the Netherlands, India and my wife was able to go additionally France and Costa Rica.
Never had a problem with international travel and never felt unsafe in any of those places personally outside of trying to drive, just once, in India, was enough for me and took up my company’s offer for a driver. My wife had no issues with any of her traveling with or without me either.
The only traveling I’ve done outside of the US was to Canada, very briefly.
What countries are most friendly to a vegan lifestyle? Which ones are most walkable and bikeable?
In Belgium we hired bicycles at the railway station at Ypres, biked around the countryside all day, then dropped them off and got the train back to Brussels.
As for the Netherlands… this is a typical railway station bike park.
That looks like paradise.
Unfortunately most humans have been duped. So India for instance would be an answer that someone might give but they only have about 9% as vegans. That’s terrible because every other country gets lower in their percentage. As for biking I’m not sure I haven’t biked in years
I’ve heard a little bit about India having their own issues regarding animal rights. 9% is still a lot better than 1% though.
Biking is my freedom, which means I’m very unfree.
Although they use milk, they consider egg a meat. They treat their cows like gods, so if you’re vegan only for the reasons of animal suffering then I’d argue being vegetarian in India is philosophically identical
I’m in it for the health and benefits of plants
American here. I’ve traveled to Scotland and Italy. Both are amazing places that I would be proud to call home if I were a local. The only times I felt uneasy were when we traveled to areas known to have pickpockets. As opposed to my native red state wherein I have to worry that every person is concealed carrying and may “go off” for any slight annoyance.
I’ve only just joined lemmy.ml communities, is it US only or something?
Have you ever traveled inside of america?
Over 25 States. I’m American
I kinda ment that as a blanket statement for everyone. But 25 states is crazy!
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.
As someone who has ridden Mexico City’s and Istanbul’s metros, Americans should be fucking embarrassed of mass transit back home.
They destroyed the railroad networks because they tried to force people to buy cars lol only America could do something that short sighted
It happened in the UK too, in the 60s. Some of the lines have been reinstated in recent years, but most were gone for good. Cars were the future! Really dumb.
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
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
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.
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 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
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’ve visited Switzerland and was very impressed by their infrastructure, not just their public transit but what they built way up in the mountains. Lots of little things like dams, waterwheels, gondolas, little railways to small towns. Amazing stuff you’d never see in the United States
I’ve been to Korea multiple times and every time I come back I dislike the US a bit more. From what I could see, the quality of everything, from food products to infrastructure to safety to interpersonal interactions with strangers, was better in Korea. Oh did I mention healthcare, dental, and vision? I don’t have insurance there but all are super affordable and very fast.
The US is inferior in nearly every way and I don’t understand why Americans are okay with that. Even our food is largely bad for consumption, like what the hell is wrong with us?
American centrism aah post
Could you share the link to your post that doesn’t focus on the USA?
American here, currently sitting in the AFT cafeteria of a Norwegian cruise ship just off the coast of France. Saved for years to go on this once in a lifetime cruise.
I grew up on the edge of poor. Had basics and never went hungry, but our summer vacations were camping because it was cheap. Never went to Disneyland until I was in the Army and could afford it myself.
While I agree that going abroad is definitely eye opening, even traveling to other states increases your open-mindedness. I joined the Army and was stationed in Alabama, Georgia, Alaska and Washington. Going back home and reuniting with friends who never left the state or even left the general area was kind of shocking. Never being exposed to an even slightly different environment really showed in their attitude.
While I was in the Army, I was sent to Missouri and a couple of other states I can’t remember right now for a month or so for training or field problems, and short trips show how even though I was still in the same country, there were definitely societal, geographical and political differences in each place.
Expanding that to traveling other countries was also eye opening. The Army sent me to Thailand for a month. My current job sent me to Australia and S. Korea and a couple of other states for 2-3 weeks at a time. I liked hitting the tourist spots, but I really enjoyed just watching people wherever I am. Once you see that (for the most part) people are people, you start to get that just because someone’s idea is different than yours, doesn’t mean it’s wrong, it’s just different.
Honestly, even if Americans can’t afford to get a passport to travel, so many never leave the area they are born. Many don’t leave thier regions. Many also do, but I’ve met townies… I am a townie I guess, but even just living in a city myself for a time, opened my eyes.
Many of the bigoted people I’ve met have never left thier rural enclaves, and shockingly, they’re afraid of cities (big and small) and anyone not like them, they shit all over anyone not born the same hospital they were. Is it ignorance? Fear? Insecurity? I don’t know, I don’t understand the mentality.
The United States is so large, so diverse, of course traveling abroad would be cool, but I wish more could simply travel our own country for a start, hell even just different areas of their own state might help some people I know broaden their horizons.
