• solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    it’s like every southern state is in a furious competition to be the worst place on the planet

    • BetaBlake@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      It’s not just the south, to use Idaho as an example of another state that is in a race to the bottom.

    • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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      2 days ago

      Please…

      No matter how much US Republicans and trump mess things up, the USA will still be a better place to live than 90% of the planet, even for the persecuted minorities.

      • Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        19 hours ago

        I think people tend to vastly underestimate the extreme poverty that is widespread in southern states especially. Very high homeless population with barely any services for them, people living in dilapidated buildings with slumlord landlords, no grocery stores, very high unemployment and wages well below the poverty level being the only jobs around. This is the case in parts of every inner city and many rural towns in the south.

        • Qwazpoi@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Maybe they were referring to the ocean and the poles, like 90% by surface area? Maybe even by volume, as the US is better than living at the Earth’s core?

          • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            How? We can’t afford healthcare or to own a home. After paying for rent and healthcare most of us make less. The inequality is heading for Saudi Arabia levels.

            Upward mobility is a joke. Education requires a 20 year debt which is required for no reason even for jobs that are now educated poverty.

            We are about to be led by idiots who are going to put our economy back in the toilet again. I’m only 44 and I’ve seen 3 major crashes and that was all in the last 25 years.

            We are the worst developed nation in the world.

          • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Really depends on your values and desired lifestyle. I think you’d be very surprised how the rest of the world lives. It’s not all terrible out there. Also very dependent on socio-economic status, there are some truly terrible living conditions in the USA for way more people than there should be.

            Stroll through your nearest city “ghetto” and see first hand how some live. Or take your pick of squalor. It’s not pretty and I’m not talking out my ass. I’ve slept in some questionable places in my life. Nothing that ever felt truly dangerous but very bad living situations.

            Anyways, I’m just saying we have a lot of room for improvement.

            • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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              1 day ago

              I don’t mean to minimize the problems of the US, and I’m sure there are plenty examples of squalor, and they should be treated seriously.

              But proportionally and relatively speaking, most ghetto people in the US live like kings compared to most of the planet.

              • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
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                1 day ago

                Like kings?.. so they have sheverants and no issues with food security and live in castles?

                Just because they have electricity hardly makes them kings…

                • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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                  1 day ago

                  I mean relatively.

                  Search for images of “favela”. Tens of millions of Brazilians live in those. The better ones are built with brick, many are just scrap wood and cardboard.

                  And Brazil is one of the “developing” countries.

                  • piccolo@sh.itjust.works
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                    1 day ago

                    Whats funny… if youre living in poverty youre probably better off in brazil. Atleast they have healthcare as a right.

                    The only reason the us isnt like brazil today was because the new dealers in the 30’s-50’s actually had the great idea of investing in the common people and had hundreds of billions of dollars poured into communities and all the shanty towns were torn down and affordable housing was built in their place. But since the progressives lost power, the us is quickly tipping away from wealth equality, and shantytowns are making their way back. We’re a single depression from having millions living in favela’s.

              • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                Then I guess we should start figuring out why the rest of the planet is being exploited for our gain and maybe cut that shit out. Capital gonna capital though.

      • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Tell that to all the minorities that Trump has rounded up and deported without even the most basic attempts at due process.

        • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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          1 day ago

          I agree that that’s terrible and USians should be furious with it.

          But living a little bit in the US, even if getting deported/killed later is still a better situation than most of the planet.

          • splinter@lemm.ee
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            1 day ago

            How is it better? Several people have pointed out that standards of living in the United States are well below most developed nations. There US ranks 48th in the world in life expectancy, and 66th in the world in maternal mortality, behind Egypt, Ukraine, Lebanon, Romania, and… the Gaza Strip.

            • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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              1 day ago

              “Developed Nations” is a small minority of the world.

              Maternal mortality, yes, you are right, but that’s just one metric.

              • splinter@lemm.ee
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                1 day ago

                The US ranks below many nations not considered developed as well. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.

                I cited two metrics, not one: maternal mortality and life expectancy. The US is also in the bottom 60 for income inequality.

          • Tanis Nikana@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Mm, yes. I should stay here for a bit before I get sent to prison for being trans.

            You’re absolutely correct and are probably very sane with no secret agenda or propaganda guidelines whatsoever.

            I will follow your advice and stay here before going to prison for being a crime.

            Thank you, random man on the internet. I have no reason to believe you don’t use toilet paper.

            • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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              20 hours ago

              I may be a cringy idiot, but I’m an ally.
              I genuinely hope you stay safe and if we ever crossed paths I would shelter you from the government without hesitation.

              I’m just pointing out that most likely you will still be better in the US than in most of the planet.

              I do have toilet paper and live in one of the most developed regions of my country. Even then my city only has 40% of sewage coverage.

        • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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          1 day ago

          I may live in a worse country, but at least we don’t have that silliness of people drinking raw milk.

      • queermunist she/her
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        1 day ago

        Yeah, because it feasts on the superprofits of the South through systematic underdevelopment and periodic warfare whenever they get to uppity with nationalization or promotion of domestic industry.

      • stembolts@programming.dev
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        1 day ago

        And is that a good standard, a bad standard, or neutral?

        Like, no one in a great situation goes, “Well at least I’m not…” That’s the type of thing one says when they are trying to cope with a poor situation.

        And I’d also argue that the dead minorities would disagree with your assessment, give that they are… dead.

        • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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          1 day ago

          Yes, it’s terrible.

          But living even a little bit in the USA and dying is still a better situation than most of the planet.

          • stembolts@programming.dev
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            1 day ago

            I don’t disagree, my only addition is that we should set our standards higher than that. We went from generations of “We’re the best!” (whether true or not) to “Well we aren’t the worst…”

            I just wish more people could notice the slow changes like that which I think are indicative of a need for systemic change.

            But yeah, while I don’t endorse your message, you aren’t wrong.

            • blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io
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              1 day ago

              Yes. I also don’t want to say that because there’s worse in other places that the US problems aren’t legitimate.