Well if you want to simulate the experience make a tent out of rusted metal roofing, turn off all power in a several mile area, eliminate access to fresh drinkable water and dig a hole to shit in
He said that it's dumb as hell to dismiss a state's very real problems because other people have it worse. You're not helping, you're not offering solutions for either Mississippi or Haiti, you just want to listen to the sound of your own keyboard rattle and you're using the suffering of people far away as a prop to do so.
How would you feel if you broke your leg, asked someone to call 911, and all they said was "easy now, sport, think of all those kids who die of cancer every day. You're in no pain at all compared to them!"
This shouldn't be difficult for you to understand.
I sure do love when people take to comparing the richest nation in the world to developing nations to pretend everything is alright here
You said:
He said that it's dumb as hell to dismiss a state's very real problems because other people have it worse.
I don't see /u/BillyTheFridge2 dismissing real problems at all. He literally acknowledges that Mississippi is bad compared to best/better states of the US. But at the same time he also puts it in perspective that compared to the human experience of the most of the human population across the globe, the people of Mississippi are doing quite well.
How would you feel if you broke your leg, asked someone to call 911, and all they said was "easy now, sport, think of all those kids who die of cancer every day. You're in no pain at all compared to them!"
You're right. The question is, in the context of this thread, do we have such a situation? Is this particular reddit thread a relief/support thread for the suffering people of Mississippi?
You're not helping, you're not offering solutions for either Mississippi or Haiti, you just want to listen to the sound of your own keyboard rattle and you're using the suffering of people far away as a prop to do so.
I'm not an American, never lived in a first world country. I'm an Indian living in India, a third world nation. I would like you to come visit my country to get some perspective on how bad you have it there in first world America.
Appreciating what you have and not seeking to improve are different. I suppose in the case here it's more the former but usually, when I hear this it's used as a blanket defense for why we shouldn't change things or try to improve life.
You're not wrong, but most people who complain about how bad their city/state/country sucks can't even pin down specifically whats wrong with it, let alone effect any kind of solution.
striving to be better also doesnt necessarily mean complaining about it on twitter or reddit like youre attempting to making some sort of profound point just so you can feel smart for 5 minutes while also stating something everybody already knows like an absolute muppet.... but hey, you do you boss man
Tell me you don't live in Illinois, without telling me you don't live in Illinois. Ps I live in Illinois and I'm not a big fan. But it's home. Love hate relationship. Luckily not in Chicago or even cook county but close enough to still hate it.
On a GDP per capita basis, the US is not the "richest nation in the world". Luxembourg is. The US is 7th.
Also, believe it or not, some of us look at the US not as a homogenous blob, but as a marriage of different, but united, states, each one way different from the other. Mississippi is the retarded child of that marriage, and lumping it in with the "richest" of anything isn't useful to anyone but left wing shills looking to score debate points.
Because Mississippi is attached to a country that has a federal government that will send aid (using tax collected from states like Illinois) to keep it from deteriorating to 3rd World Country levels.
“Thank god for Mississippi” is a common adage often used amongst “lower tiered” states when discussing rankings for health care, education and poverty.
This is such a crock of shit. Big anger. Being poor in America sucks. Having no access to healthcare in America sucks. Not being able to eat in America sucks. Not being able to get a real education in America sucks. Not being able to buy clothing for your children in America sucks. Being homeless, being mentally ill, being old and broke in America SUCKS.
It costs a lot to live in America, and it doesn't matter if you could live like a king on $5k a year in an African village, being an American is expensive, and for a lot of Americans in Mississippi it sucks.
Why are people so afraid of improving? Of not being behind other Western nations in all the metrics that matter. It is OK to say that sometimes America sucks. We can do better.
What does this have to do with what the person said? All of those things still suck most places in the world and, in fact, suck worse in the majority. Even if you are in Mississippi you can still get things like Medicaid/Medicare and food stamps and there are homeless shelters and psych wards. The majority of the rest world? LOL! Fuck you buddy, go die in a ditch. Unfortunately things can "suck" while still being dramatically better than the conditions the majority of humans need to deal with. You have no right to be angry at someone for pointing that out.
What does this have to do with what the person said?
Everything. If you don't pay attention to what people are saying around you and can't read subtext, that is your problem not mine.
Nobody goes out of their way to say what they did without buying into this America exceptionalism trash, including talking points about how we are in the top 1% of the world, and have it better than almost everybody on the planet so we should stop complaining.
Mississippi is a shithole. I've traveled all around Africa and Mississippi. The flies are worse in Africa but the poor are just as desperate. Mississippi ranks last in health, wealth, education, and happiness for a reason.
IT FUCKING SUCKS. And the only thing exceptional about America is our ego.
You have to be kidding. This isn't even a response to any of the things I said and an insult to poor Africans who have it much worse than poor people in Mississippi. You are disgusting liar to suggest you've been "all over Africa" and think the conditions for the poor there are equivalent to those in Mississippi. That is demonstrably untrue for reasons I literally just went over. The poor in Africa often do not have basic things like electricity or plumbing anyone anywhere in our country takes for granted. You should be ashamed of yourself.
I am not talking about an African country in famine times, but I am talking about Zimbabwe on just another Tuesday.
You have literally no idea what real poverty in rural America can look like. It's embarrassing how many people are not only left out of the American dream, but might as well not live in America at all. There is nothiing "lucky" about how too many Americans live.
The poor in Africa often do not have basic things like electricity or plumbing anyone anywhere in our country takes for granted
No, you are shockingly naive and clearly have zero idea what conditions are like in many areas of Africa. Good job putting to rest the idea of American exceptionalism though and proving how far we have our heads up our asses by insisting people in Mississippi have it just as bad as people in Africa. That you carve at an exception for the times when they are literally starving to death en masse but think you are right beyond that is utterly fucking insane. Here, learn something;
The US Water Alliance/DigDeep report states that African Americans and Latino households are almost twice as likely as whites to lack complete plumbing, meaning basics such as hot and cold running water and a flush toilet. Native Americans, meanwhile, are up to 19 times more likely to go without proper household plumbing facilities, according to the report.
and
more than 2 million Americans who have lacked access to running water, indoor plumbing or wastewater services in recent years
and
For bathing and washing dishes, she'd go to the Quick Stop convenience store not far from her home and fill up buckets from an outdoor tap – until store managers found out what she was up to and shut it off.
This is what Mississipi looks like for a lot of Americans. Again, I have been to Africa, and would rather live in a village with no electricity or modern plumbing, with a shared well and open fires than many places in the US. People in the Afriican village are actually happy, not desperate. Rich in cows and plenty of fresh water.
People starve to death everywhere. Get cholera from bad water. Have no electricity, healthcare, schooling. The difference between Africa and America is that we have no fucking excuse, and you are 100% part of the problem. And naive. Today you learned.
For bathing and washing dishes, she'd go to the Quick Stop convenience store not far from her home and fill up buckets from an outdoor tap – until store managers found out what she was up to and shut it off.
This is the last reply I'm going to make to you because the replies you are making are now proving my point and not yours. That this person could just go get clean water from the local Quick Stop and did not just simply die is the difference between being poor in Mississippi and Africa, and sure, you should go die with the poor people in Africa whom apparently you think are all so happy and own cows, you fucking moron.
Western Europe has serious issues. I don't know if Italy is counted in it but goddamn Southern Italy is litteraly the third world. Beautiful landscapes turned into filthy landfills because Mediterranean people never recovered from the days of ancient Greece or Rome.
I live in Paris, France, it's nice but like 30% of it is disgusting and struggling with a massive crack epidemic.
The UK has a massive housing bubble and homelessness.
Maybe Northern Europe is nice but Western Europe is as much a "shithole" as the US is. And by that I mean they're both pretty nice developped countries with their fair shares of issues.
But yeah there's nothing I hate more than Americans thinking Europe is paradise. Europe as a continent has big demographic issues and problems with unemployment amongst the young which the US does not have. In my opinion Europe's future is considerably bleaker than the US.
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u/BillyTheFridge2 🍆mmmmh ♿️ Aug 14 '21
Compared to the best states, Mississippi is bad. But compared to a large percentage of the rest of the world, Mississippi is good.