[silent thunder]

I've traveled most of the US by car and the ratio of good to bad encounters is astronomically in favor of the good. I mean, for thousands and thousands of encounters, there are a handful of negative. I'd have to scrape hard to find even ten. (edit to add: this is increased in magnitudes for the seven years I lived in NYC and the fourteen I've spent in LA...)

 

This goes for anywhere I've visited. I think the problem is that the tiny percentage of the population that makes the vast majority of the trouble, gets so much attention, precisely because it's so rare, it stands out. That, and we seem to love to obsess on negative spectacle as a species. It's one of the most common addictions in modern humans, we just don't recognize it as such because you can't get fat or drunk off of it... but its influence is intense.

 

On any given, mundane/boring day, there are literally thousands and thousands of small events that go completely unnoticed. Near misses, almost dropped somethings, nearly clipped a car but both stopped in time. These are so common, they are most entirely forgotten and disregarded as 'normal'. But recently for me, there is nothing normal about a completely boring, average day. They are bliss and amazing. It's those rare occasions where we stub the toe, or don't catch the falling cup that stand out, because they are so rare and because we like to share, nasty, scary or sinister stories. We love the reaction it gets...

Edited November 22, 2014 by silent thunder

[dust]

In case anyone failed to notice, that's a piece of satire. Andy Borowitz (stand-up comic & creator of The Fresh Prince of Bell-Air, among other credits) writes a comedy column in the far-left liberal-elite The New Yorker magazine.

 

Personally, I thought it was pretty funny!

 

I was beginning to wonder if anyone else had noticed..

 

 

Vmarco, why the sudden rampage of anti-USA topics? Not "Why do you hate America?" (you've covered that fairly well so far) but "Why the sudden need to rant about it?"

No problem with it, just wondering.

[BaguaKicksAss]

not sure where in usa ya'll are at or visited; saying there are no friendly or helpful people ?

everywhere i have traveled in usa total strangers were willing to lend a helping hand with a smile on their face.

i have never once traveled inside the usa to a place i would consider unfriendly,

 

some threads on ttb mention mirrors or reflecting,, maybe sth to that afterall

 

I'm assuming *compared with other countries*, was meant... Awesome, and not so awesome people everywhere. It's more a matter of how awesome, and % of awesome compared to the other .

[BaguaKicksAss]

I've traveled most of the US by car and the ratio of good to bad encounters is astronomically in favor of the good. I mean, for thousands and thousands of encounters, there are a handful of negative. I'd have to scrape hard to find even ten. (edit to add: this is increased in magnitudes for the seven years I lived in NYC and the fourteen I've spent in LA...)

 

This goes for anywhere I've visited. I think the problem is that the tiny percentage of the population that makes the vast majority of the trouble, gets so much attention, precisely because it's so rare, it stands out. That, and we seem to love to obsess on negative spectacle as a species. It's one of the most common addictions in modern humans, we just don't recognize it as such because you can't get fat or drunk off of it... but its influence is intense.

 

On any given, mundane/boring day, there are literally thousands and thousands of small events that go completely unnoticed. Near misses, almost dropped somethings, nearly clipped a car but both stopped in time. These are so common, they are most entirely forgotten and disregarded as 'normal'. But recently for me, there is nothing normal about a completely boring, average day. They are bliss and amazing. It's those rare occasions where we stub the toe, or don't catch the falling cup that stand out, because they are so rare and because we like to share, nasty, scary or sinister stories. We love the reaction it gets...

 

Hmmm, I've never judged a place by the number of bad things that happen to me; I had never thought of it that way for some reason. More like the bad things which happen to others, or just the vibe in general, how people get fired from their jobs for their religious beliefs for example. But most importantly which place has more awesome things .

 

However, people in excruciating pain for years only because they can't afford health care (one example) is abhorrent to me. I'm glad there are some slight improvements in this.

 

USA's yelp rating: "was alright to live in, many financial opportunities, but watch out if you do not fit the standard population's idea of who you should be and how you should act. I would instead recommend Europe." 3 stars.

 

LOL