I was considering going to the States with my wife once we get this covid-shit behind us. I have a good friend who lives in Seattle with her family and want to visit her since a long time. But when reading some of the first-hand reports above from our US-residents, I’m seriously considering to change my plans. Shit-bat crazy doesn’t even start to cover what happens in this country. An absolute train-wreck.
I know that a lot of Americans are nice people on an individual level, I was there already in the past, and have met a lot there and in Europe. But I’m afraid that collectively, you’ve lost your shit.
Look at what these islands went through from the 60s till the 90s,didn’t stop us or your lot travelling back and forward across the Irish Sea.
For all the slagging we do, the USA is full of welcoming people and its very unlikely that should you travel there that you’ll get caught up in anything as violent and no more likely than most other countries.
I’m hoping to visit Chicago next march and if I see as many cops as I have when I’ve been to Boston or New York then I will feel as safe as most anywhere else I’ve been. They are everywhere.
But what would be the reason for not visiting? You’d feel in danger? Statistically you’re still very unlikely to be the random target of a mass shooter or weaponised nutjob, even if the risk is higher than in Europe. You’d be uncomfortable with the culture? More likely, but the vast majority of US citizens are friendly and generous, as are most people worldwide in my experience. I have family in the US and avoided visiting during the Trump years, because I found it sickening, but now I’d be happy to go when it becomes possible again. It’s a large and beautiful country with lots of things to see and do. The food culture outside the major cities is pretty bad, but there are some jewels if you look hard
This is a story about a party that won a state election despite the courts determining over and over again that their voting system was a civil rights violation (and then didn’t intervene because it was "too late and would appear political) who then used that power to double down on further voter disenfranchisement using Trump’s big lie as a justification.
The mainstream media - GOPs says this but Dems say that.
I was once stopped by a ranger/traffic police (not sure what you call that in the US) driving from LA to Vegas. It was all fine, I understood the drill, I waited in my car, he came over, ask a few questions as I did not clear the lane earlier when there was an emergency vehicle on the side of the road. He then asked me to step out of the vehicle and follow him to his vehicle behind and that was when I saw a number of firearms from pistols to rifles in his vehicle and it was quite unsettling to be honest.
It is quite daunting, coming from a country where the only guns I handled or seen is in my army conscription days and where anyone having firearms illegally can have the maximum punishment on them.
I think that my malaise isn’t so much about thinking that I or my family could got caught up in a mass shooting or something. It’s rather that I find this whole culture of violence distasteful. The idea that during my three-weeks stay, a number of mass shootings would take place in the country, maybe in the same county or city, isn’t something appealing to me. I don’t want to be a part of that.
I already said that I acknowledge that from my own experience, a large part of Americans are friendly and welcoming. But on the other hand, there must be a reason why a majority of Americans refuse any reduction in fire-arm possession, why a majority voted for Trump at the time, and why their society, already violent and utterly unequal, is devolving into something even more unfriendly, to say the least.
You could console yourself in the fact that they would happen (we average more than 1 a day nationally), but they are unlikely to be covered nationally so you probably wouldn’t hear it about.
Get the flights booked, still very cheap for this summer You’re not skiing but £500 return to LA is a bargain! We’re booked for August, don’t tell the wife though, anniversary present. Booked in January @ £199 each. Kind of conditional on a few restrictions being lifted first though…
Saw a guy car-jacked and shot in New Mexico about 13 years ago, scary stuff.
Having recently been to Florida, I can confidently say that it is ranked too high. Florida is weird because it’s natural elements are incredible - great beaches, weather (apart from the hurricanes obviously) and crazy wildlife but the governance is ridiculous. I was in Tampa and just a few miles to the North a toxic water reservoir was cracked and leaking radioactive waste into the ocean… it’s apparently been listed as “urgent” with the state since 2013 because of the condition it was in and no one did anything about it.
A beautiful place ruined by the types of people who run it (and somehow still get elected).
I also know three different people trying to move out of Georgia as quickly as they possibly can so I doubt that rating too.
Also, Maine is obviously top 3.
Alabama and Mississippi at bottom makes sense though.
Yeah, I mean DC is one of the best places in the US, at least if you have the money to live there. But it has such a bad reputation based on politics and congress that there is no way this ranking is based on what DC actually has to offer as judged by the people who have spent time there.
You’re not skiing but £500 return to LA is a bargain! We’re booked for August, don’t tell the wife though, anniversary present. Booked in January @ £199 each. Kind of conditional on a few restrictions being lifted first though…