Moving to Europe is stupid*not my actual opinion*

It is my belief that people in the United States don't actually realise what a great country they live in. (Except I don't agree with this spelling realise with a Z business, the English invented english, why steal it from them?)

 

Holy hell. :biggrin:

hahahahhh

 

Europe as a whole is much more progressive than the states. There's not nearly as many corporate businesses (the only thing I saw was a few Mcdonalds in the bigger cities), and most their bakeries etc....are all local. People seem to be all around more genuine, very friendly, but they can become angered (especially Italians they take both to an extreme..interesting people). Naturally one cannot categorize even two people as everyone is different, but that's just what I've noticed as a generalized "whole" when I was there.

Is your brother the type of person that thinks "America is the best country in the world?" If so just ask him why he would think that....I mean seriously what constitutes that stupid thought, the fact that we have the best economy (probably not true these days anyways)...so we as a people have the ability to buy absolute shit and lots of it...wow something to be proud of (a consumerist nation that is). I don't wish any harm on others, but 9/11 wasn't enough to wake the people from the states up (regardless of whether it was an inside job or not) to the fact that people from all around the world hate their country because of their ignorance, vanity and inconsiderate nature. I don't think at this rate anything can wake the majority of people in the states up from this partially self induced blissful coma the government and corporations have them in.

I see many similarities between the past and present (I feel there's a lot to be learned by studying the past.) The U.S. is much like Rome but even more extreme, the government simply creates external strife for their own benefit (imperialism) and to prevent the people from seeing the massive internal problems it suffers from. In addition to foreign conflict they also have TONS of fabricated "entertainment" to blind people from what is really going on (just like the coliseum was used for). Just look at the news, most if not all of it is centered around celebrities, sports, petty robberies etc...What signified the end of Rome is taking place now in the States. What many view as the "greatest nation" (mostly "Americans" themselves) is perhaps on the verge of utter collapse....or we can only hope so.

 

I find the blindest people in America can be the 2nd generation immigrants.

I remember one on the one ( I think he was saluting the stars and stripes while he said it) said
"DO you love your country?" - as if to do otherwise was categorically impossible.

"I said , well I like bits of it ,but its run by vermin in just about every sphere.
Oh and half the population are subservient gimps , radical maniacs , or simple twats"

He was speechless

I'm sure he thought patriotism to the Anglo American Axis was an absolute ,immutable law of some sort.

 

to those who think that california is perfect... think again. lol. i just moved here, and it's not my favorite place by any means. in fact, i'm already looking to move away from california. not for a few years i'm sure, but hopefully in 2 years or less. why?

hmm. take all people you know who live for nice fancy stuff and think the dollar is god, then give them an attitude of "i'm better than you" and you've got californians. oh, and make them drive like they're drunk even if they're not. that's california.

and i'm even in the north bay area, where there's supposedly lots of enlightened hippies and such. well yeah... i've seen what they mean by that. everyone buys a lot of shit that supposedly makes you a hippy or enlightened. they visit crystal shops and do workshops with gurus and eat only organic or vegan foods and they buy lots of self help books and all drive hybrid priuses and protest the war. great! hmmm...

what about being nice to each other? how about not looking down on people who DON'T live as "perfectly" green and organic and whatever as them because hybrid priuses cost a LOT of money. how about being friendly and open to talking to new people? how about genuinely caring about others? so far i have seen SO little of it that it makes me sick.

maybe there were no hippies where i lived before. but at least when i ran my car off the road and into a ditch in the middle of the night in the pouring rain, the first person who drove by actually stopped to see if i was ok. that would NEVER happen around here.

california might have some very nice things about it. i won't deny that i enjoy fresh produce that came from a town just down the road, for not a lot of money. i do like a lot of the things that california has to offer. but it is not the center of enlightenment and nice people that it gets all hyped up to be. it's like a whole different country, lol!

and speaking of different countries. maybe i'm biased because i lived for a long time in europe, but as far as being progressive AND people being nice to each other and having less violent crime, europe is FAR ahead of the US. pretty much EVERYWHERE in the US. the only reason i'm staying in the US is because i really believe this country is capable of so much more good stuff than what is going on right now. and if all of us who have these ideas of how to make the country better give up and go live in europe or australia or somewhere else, then we're basically just handing the country over to the bushes and saying "here ya go, create a fascist regime for yourselves." i personally don't wanna do that, so i'm staying put. just hopefully not in california!

 

Come north to the land of Oregon! I personally think it's more chill than most of Cal, especially west of the cascades. Granted, it's not perfect by any means (there's assholes anywhere you go). To be honest the most "chill" people I've meet in my life are those that society regards as "homeless, bums, hobos etc..." and there's lots of people like that here where I live (Eugene). That's not to say there's not still people here who give others shit, like I said there's assholes everywhere you go ( at least everywhere I've been and heard of). I was just down in Arcata too (Humboldt area) which is suppose to be a "chill" area of Cal....there were some genuinely nice people, but those same ol popular societal norms when people over-judge, look down upon, and treat others negatively is still present. If you really want an interesting life and a chance at legitimately finding a place that is best suited for you (or at the very least more suited for you than where you've lived) then become a nomad. You meet a lot of genuine people, experience all kinds of different thoughts, opinions and beliefs with the added benefit of getting a better ideal of where it is you really belong.


Oh and by the way, I backpacked Europe last year and completely agree with what you had to say.

 

yes, i've heard that oregon, especially eugene, is really cool and would fit well with people like me/us. however it's further north, which means colder. if it snows, i don't wanna live there. picky, i know, lol!

we were kinda nomadic for three weeks on our trek out here (we moved from virginia), and we stayed in a bunch of different states. the trip wasn't supposed to take 3 weeks, but we had car troubles. so we got to see lots of places and meet lots of people we weren't expecting to. and so far, the place in the US that feels most like potentially home to me, was albuquerque new mexico. people were nice, the town was beautiful, it was a nice artsy vibe with an eco-consciousness, and the weather was gorgeous. with skiing/snowboarding/mountainbiking nearby when we want it.

obviously, no place is perfect. but i just wanna live somewhere people are more laid back, no one judges anyone else (at least a lot less anyways) and where i can raise children, knowing that they're less likely to grow up with a complex about how much money we do or do not have or whether or not they're skinny enough or wear the right clothes. and someplace we can live off very little money, lol!

and yes, europe rocks. if it weren't so damn expensive to live there, i'd go back. but it is, and i'm poor now. i don't have the fantastically well paying situations i had at the time i lived there, anymore. plus, like i said (i think), i still want to help the US get back to some good stuff. i know it can, so i'm not gonna jump ship. as much as i'd like to. australia looks so good to me right about now, lol!

 

Australian's are very laid back. once you come here you wont want to leave. we just know there's more important things to life than slaving away for the man. like barbies with friends and a few bevies at the pub after a swim in the surf

 

ahhhhh, see, now you have me wanting to go to oz again, dammit! not to mention the hottest women i think i've ever seen... with amazing accents. and lots of sun and ocean.... ok, i'm saving my money now!

 

if you move to the u.s you will greatly regret it

 

"Europe as a whole is much more progressive than the states. There's not nearly as many corporate business"

apart from half the industrial complex...

 

I don't particularly think Europe is less corporatized than the US, it just has progressive governments that aren't living in the companys' pockets, and if they are (like England or Australia for example) they are just not as blatantly obvious about it.

Food banks, REAL Co-ops, communes, a whole load of interesting alternative music, art and film, a rich, varied and interesting history, places of breathtaking natural beauty...these are things I think of when I think about the US. Maybe i'm wrong, but just because you're not canada doesn't mean you don't live in a great place.

 

Yep, every goddamn town in England is half industrial and full of SHOPS and I don't imagine France or any other European countries would be any better. Australia sucks too.

 

for an american, moving to europe isn't stupid.
it is self-conscious, affected and escapist.
I can't say I had a great time living there because I've been chronically depressed since I can remember, but it was great all the same. it was kind of pretty, I could get drunk in bar when I was 17, yeah.

 

why's that

 

If you haven't been there how can you say it's not overrated??

IMO it is over rated, I've been there literally too many times to count, have good friends out there and on average I visit at least twice a year. Much of it is pretty tacky and touristy, overrun with obnoxious groups of english northern pissheads and whiny clueless americans, you feel like you're being fleeced often and parts of it are outright horrible (RLD anyone? interesting the first time but plain nasty afterwards).

Don't get me wrong, I do love it and it does have a lot going for it but it's not as amazing as people think or make it out to be.. Yeah, you can smoke a joint, big deal. I can think of loads of other european cities where you can smoke hash and weed in a bar and no-one would bat an eyelid. Amsterdam's good but there's much better places to see if you're visiting europe IMO..

 

i think that's the coolest thing you've ever said.
:cheers2:

 

That's one thing I'll say the U.S. has over Europe as a whole....better music. But in terms of mainstream not at all....for the most part I think the mainstream in both is pretty shitty (especially country and rap in the U.S.). Reggae is great worldwide, good artists everywhere (Sean Paul, Shaggy etc...is not reggae, at least not to me) the blues in the states...WOW... some really good bluesgrass too in the south/southeast, good folk, great country (real country like Arlo guthrie, Hank Williams Sn. & Jn., Willie Nelson, Cash, David Allen Coe etc...)

The States do have some great nature, especially the North West (if I couldn't live in the NW I'd live in New Orleans/bayou area. I love the states geographically wise, and I love what the states were founded on (the constitution is beautiful), but it's not upheld today and the federal government has WAY to much power, unlike what was intended to be literally a Confederacy.

But honestly, you should move to Europe, at least over the States in my opinion. However I feel one should travel to many places and live amongst the locals before they choose a place to live. Same principle should be applied to religion, how can one know a specific one is best for them when they only read the bible and not the tora, Koran, Tao teh Ching, Holy Piby etc....etc....and do not experience other religions/mindsets.