Topic: A foreigner’s view of USAmerica™
Anonymous A started this discussion 8 years ago #71,024
They don’t have health care - just some weird, inefficient, absurdly expensive, byzantine health insurance thing. Yet many Americans weirdly defend the system built against their best interest in mind.
Their school system isn’t that great, yet it’s extremely expensive, and a byzantine complex spaghetti mesh of weird admin and school rules at the college/university level. Yet many Americans weirdly defend the system built against their best interest in mind.
Their police system isn’t that great, they regularly kill a small number of innocent citizens every year by mistake or because of racism. Yet many Americans weirdly defend the system built against their best interest in mind.
Their tax system is really weird. You’re supposed to, every year, calculate and file your taxes. A lot of people pay other people to prepare their taxes. Yet many Americans weirdly never demand that the system is changed to something like in Europe where the taxes are calculated for you by the government, in most cases.
A great number of them does not know much about the rest of the world. Yet they are quick to condemn european countries as bastions of communism whenever some of the more-informed Americans points at Europe as an example of better uses of taxpayer’s money.
Their voting system is a weird complex set of rules designed contrary to what anyone thinks democracy is, so much so that a candidate can win an election even though they got a significantly smaller number of votes than the losing candidate. Yet there appears to be no chance of reforming this system anytime soon.
Many of their roads are in an abysmal state. Yet it seems to be accepted as a fact of life in the richest country in the world.
Their highway speed limit is 65 mph.
A whole town was poisoned with lead in town water, but years later, none of the obviously guilty officials is in jail.
They don’t recognize foreign degrees. Even my PhD in physics from the University of Cambridge is not generally recognized in USA unless I collect all kinds of documents and pay a private company to “certify” my degree as equivalent to an American one. One of the few exceptions is if you work as a postdoc researcher at a state university, where they’ll accept my PhD without certification.
A lot of their school tests are administered by private companies who charge significantly for it, and have little to no oversight in accuracy or quality of the tests.
They have the most absurd inordinately large military in the world, and pay a whole lot of money for it. They could get by very well with a smaller military, and still be the strongest in the world. Yet many Americans think that to even think of decreasing the military is treason.
Their school system isn’t that great, yet it’s extremely expensive, and a byzantine complex spaghetti mesh of weird admin and school rules at the college/university level. Yet many Americans weirdly defend the system built against their best interest in mind.
Their police system isn’t that great, they regularly kill a small number of innocent citizens every year by mistake or because of racism. Yet many Americans weirdly defend the system built against their best interest in mind.
Their tax system is really weird. You’re supposed to, every year, calculate and file your taxes. A lot of people pay other people to prepare their taxes. Yet many Americans weirdly never demand that the system is changed to something like in Europe where the taxes are calculated for you by the government, in most cases.
A great number of them does not know much about the rest of the world. Yet they are quick to condemn european countries as bastions of communism whenever some of the more-informed Americans points at Europe as an example of better uses of taxpayer’s money.
Their voting system is a weird complex set of rules designed contrary to what anyone thinks democracy is, so much so that a candidate can win an election even though they got a significantly smaller number of votes than the losing candidate. Yet there appears to be no chance of reforming this system anytime soon.
Many of their roads are in an abysmal state. Yet it seems to be accepted as a fact of life in the richest country in the world.
Their highway speed limit is 65 mph.
A whole town was poisoned with lead in town water, but years later, none of the obviously guilty officials is in jail.
They don’t recognize foreign degrees. Even my PhD in physics from the University of Cambridge is not generally recognized in USA unless I collect all kinds of documents and pay a private company to “certify” my degree as equivalent to an American one. One of the few exceptions is if you work as a postdoc researcher at a state university, where they’ll accept my PhD without certification.
A lot of their school tests are administered by private companies who charge significantly for it, and have little to no oversight in accuracy or quality of the tests.
They have the most absurd inordinately large military in the world, and pay a whole lot of money for it. They could get by very well with a smaller military, and still be the strongest in the world. Yet many Americans think that to even think of decreasing the military is treason.
Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 59 minutes later[^] [v] #855,618
Tl;dr
Svet !jzYkdX7lIw joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 1 hour later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,646
Can you give us the short version that's under 20 words?
..... !2Nu9nWUn.U (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 38 seconds later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,648
@previous (Svet !jzYkdX7lIw)
Short version: USAmericans think they have it so good, but since they nevcer travel, they do not know that they suck.
Short version: USAmericans think they have it so good, but since they nevcer travel, they do not know that they suck.
Big Daddy Derek !Uvm54ORbmo joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 21 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,652
..... !2Nu9nWUn.U (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 23 seconds later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,654
Big Daddy Derek !Uvm54ORbmo replied with this 8 years ago, 10 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,658
@previous (..... !2Nu9nWUn.U)
Whyfore, praytell, do you try to distance yourself from your fellow USAmericans, by referring to us as "they"? Don't you understand how pretentious that makes you sound?
Whyfore, praytell, do you try to distance yourself from your fellow USAmericans, by referring to us as "they"? Don't you understand how pretentious that makes you sound?
Anonymous E joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 1 hour later, 4 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,686
As written by a live long citizen of usamerica.
Anonymous F joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 4 hours later, 9 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,702
q. joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 1 hour later, 10 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,719
> 65 speed limit
heh.
heh.
Anonymous H joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 17 minutes later, 10 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,725
Anonymous I joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 7 minutes later, 11 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,726
@855,648 (..... !2Nu9nWUn.U)
> nevcer travel
25 years for a masters degree and you cannot even spell.
I cannot spell either but I do have spell chek
> nevcer travel
25 years for a masters degree and you cannot even spell.
I cannot spell either but I do have spell chek
Meta joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 50 minutes later, 11 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,734
> nevcer
39 years and $100,000 on a MAsters DEgree from Loserana State University ? ? ? ?
39 years and $100,000 on a MAsters DEgree from Loserana State University ? ? ? ?
Anonymous K joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 31 minutes later, 12 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,736
@previous (Meta)
With those 25 years and degree he is able to misspell in several useless languages.
With those 25 years and degree he is able to misspell in several useless languages.
Anonymous L joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 38 minutes later, 13 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,751
@855,726 (I)
@855,734 (Meta)
@previous (K)
In the rest of the world, when you get a degree, you never make a typo again. Take that, Americans
@855,734 (Meta)
@previous (K)
In the rest of the world, when you get a degree, you never make a typo again. Take that, Americans
Anonymous M joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 13 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,756
Anonymous L replied with this 8 years ago, 4 minutes later, 13 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,758
Anonymous N joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 7 minutes later, 13 hours after the original post[^] [v] #855,764
@previous (L)
lol
Matt's degree still is only useful when at work he can ask Fry's with that in more than one language.
lol
Matt's degree still is only useful when at work he can ask Fry's with that in more than one language.