Hacker News Reader

Comment by lambdaone | Hacker News Reader

I once aspired to American citizenship, and was dazzled by its wealth, opportunity, can-do attitude and freedom. Now I can't imagine wanting to go there - everything I see or hear, from both American and other sources, right or left, suggests a deeply unhappy country at war with itself.

View on HN

I agree that you should stay where you are (in general) - but America is not what you hear about on the news or online - unless you make it so.

I don't recommend moving here, but taking the time to travel for a good month across America on train or by RV could be interesting.

If you just don't partake in the omniscient, pervasive, manufactured negativity in the news cycle and online, America is objectively fucking awesome. I love living here.

Where else have you lived?

"If you ignore reality, reality is awesome!"

The internet isn't reality

This is like when I was in college and you'd think from the Facebook groups that everyone is depressed and failing classes. Then got a cushy tech job where the internal forums made it seem like it's slave labor.

Anyone with the opportunity to visit the US that hasn't done so absolutely should. Admittedly now maybe not the greatest time in history for that, but the place is almost nothing like how the media like to portray it, especially once you leave almost any major city.

Yes the land is beautiful but the media portrays it pretty accurately. I visted LA before covid ~2018 and it was dystopian. It was dirty, the infrastructure was very poor and the wealth divide was unlike anything id seen before. I had a great time still because I had money to spend.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com