Quote: (01-06-2014 10:16 AM)BahamaPapa Wrote:
I got my American citizenship when I turned 18 so I think I'm speaking fairly objectively when I say that America is a great place. I laugh whenever I see complaints about it. The bottom line is this. People wouldn't be risking their lives jumping on rafts or paying $10,000 for sham marriages to go there if it sucked. I know that I will NEVER go back to the Bahamas to live. People are more critical on where they're from because it's what they know. When we travel to different places I believe we tend to romanticize the experience because it's something new and fresh.
Your opinion is perfectly valid but it's not objective, it's subjective to your experiences and you. I work with a lot of 1st and 2nd generation immigrants from poorer countries and their impressions are as varied as anyone's: some of them really enjoy it here, some are trying to keep one foot in the old country, some are planning to return home completely...and each of them have good reasons for those views. Laughing at anyone who has criticisms misses the point, each person's assessment is always going to be different based on what they know, that's just how it is.
By the way people risk their lives to get to China too...but that doesn't tell the whole story does it?
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Culture
I always see/hear people talk about how Americans don't "travel". No, they do travel, just not overseas. But from a geographic stand point what could you want that America doesn't offer? Why would the average American need a passport? If you want beaches with warm clear water, you can go to Florida. If you want to ski/snowboard champagne powder, you can go to Colorado. You don't even need to get on a plane. I don't know how many countries can offer that kind of flexibility. People also say "oh but America has no culture". Hmm, could it be that way because it's only been in existence for a couple hundred years? How long has Spain been a country, since the 15th century? America is still a baby compared to most European countries.
It's true we have exceptional geographic diversity...however, the "we're a baby" argument doesn't fly when you consider that every country in the Americas is more or less as young as we are and yet the US doesn't see nearly the cultural variation that you see in the rest of the new world. You can even do a fair comparison with younger parts of Europe: one street in St. Petersburg (built from scratch starting in 1703, decades after the American colonies were first settled) has as much if not more cultural/architectural value as you'll find in a dozen US cities put together. Other countries not only preserved their cities but took great pains to rebuild them after they were flattened by bombing...American cities were reduced to sorry shells surrounded by cookie-cutter developments in the 1960s and 70s just because it was good business (note that I'll be the first one to say that this country once had a vast collection of exciting, dynamic cities...but the suburban obsession put paid to that). Ironically the one boast of the American city, the skyscraper, has been lately overtaken by the gulf states and their oil money towers. In spite of all that the US does have great cultural offerings: our music and performing arts are top-notch if you know where to look and in the big cities you can find tons of activities to get involved in (to say the least)...but the aforementioned cultural shortcomings remain glaring.
Lastly, we have a great deal of diversity but the main of the country is pretty standardized. A mall in Cali and a mall in Mass could be switched tonight and few would notice a big difference tomorrow. Contrary to what you say, that's not because of youth it's mostly because of relatively recent post-industrial developments.
The rest of your post I don't disagree with and you make good points. I think it's dope you're getting a lot out of life in the US and that you enjoy it (I do too), it's just the idea that the US "has it all" that I don't really buy.