I was stationed in Europe for five years back when I was in the military. When I returned home to the US in 2015, I realized just how full of shit we are as a nation. There is this false sense...
I was stationed in Europe for five years back when I was in the military. When I returned home to the US in 2015, I realized just how full of shit we are as a nation.
There is this false sense that life is so much greater here and that we are somehow more free than other nations.
I’ll tell you what, I’d go back to Europe in a heartbeat.
It's unreasonably good for software engineers here. I graduated from college 2 years ago and almost make as much as my father who's a lawyer. I consider the financial side of my life a solved problem.
It's unreasonably good for software engineers here. I graduated from college 2 years ago and almost make as much as my father who's a lawyer. I consider the financial side of my life a solved problem.
I’m not an American, but doesn’t expenses with healthcare and education (both yours and with hypothetical children) kinda put that in perspective? And isn’t there a lot of inequality? I think...
job prospects and their salary
I’m not an American, but doesn’t expenses with healthcare and education (both yours and with hypothetical children) kinda put that in perspective? And isn’t there a lot of inequality? I think programmers and the like are over represented on Tildes. What about other people?
Even for programmers it's not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Programmers are a dime a dozen and every opening has a bunch of people applying. I've had terrible experiences looking for...
Even for programmers it's not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Programmers are a dime a dozen and every opening has a bunch of people applying. I've had terrible experiences looking for work in tech despite having a relevant degree and relevant work experience because it's hard to find a company that treats you well and at least for me isn't horribly unethical (works in marketing, with the military/ICE, etc) and then hasn't gotten a dozen applicants who live and breathe programming (which I don't, I put in my time at work and do my best but that's mostly it). Plus our healthcare is still stupidly expensive as you've noted and the cost of living is crazy in a lot of places that have jobs.
Edit: It's not at all easy to be financially stable enough to have a home and a family. If you don't have a college education it's going to be a lot harder to make good money, and unless you're rich / get as much of your education as you can at the local community college you're graduating with student loans, the payments on which are hundreds of dollars a month. Your health insurance is contingent on your job, and even a lot of white-collar people making good money don't have good health insurance. If you don't have good health insurance (and even if you do sometimes), an accident or emergency that requires healthcare will set you back a long way. And even if you have a well-paying job and good benefits, if you lose that job in a recession like we're having now you're just as vulnerable as everyone else. It's only easy or straightforward if you have advantages that a huge portion of Americans don't have. It bugs me when people say that it's easy to succeed here.
I went through almost the exact same experience in 2012. Stationed in Europe, and the exposure really made me look at the US differently. Funny how exposure and education changes your worldview.
I went through almost the exact same experience in 2012. Stationed in Europe, and the exposure really made me look at the US differently. Funny how exposure and education changes your worldview.
Could it be because many Americans don't (need to) go abroad? If all you've heard your country is the best, there isn't really a need to go outside of it. The US is also so big, you have pretty...
Could it be because many Americans don't (need to) go abroad? If all you've heard your country is the best, there isn't really a need to go outside of it. The US is also so big, you have pretty much everything in terms of different holiday locations.
The US also advertises itself well, by having so many big (mostly tech) companies, billionaires and what not. Sometimes it seems you can only get big or become rich in the US.
I’ll tell you what, I’d go back to Europe in a heartbeat.
Americans have shit vacation time. An average number of 10 days provided for vacation in 2012. And if you put in 20 years, you can double that to 20 days! (see Table 3.) We work too damn much and...
Could it be because many Americans don't (need to) go abroad?
We work too damn much and don't get the opportunities to go abroad. And when we do, we can't really afford it. My mother, for example, saves all her vacation hours and opts for a check at the end of the year which she'll use to pay off debt or possibly buy Christmas presents.
It's not exactly easy to gain residency in the EU. Unless you're extremely wealthy and have a couple 100 thousand to invest or can start a business, you have to find a job, and your employer has...
It's not exactly easy to gain residency in the EU. Unless you're extremely wealthy and have a couple 100 thousand to invest or can start a business, you have to find a job, and your employer has to prove that no one in the country as well as the entire EU can do that job. There is also the hurdle of learning a new language. You can also become a student, but if you want to stay you still have to find a job.
It generally is impossible as a non-European to apply for a job in a European Union country. The EU demands that employers find someone in Europe first before they can apply to get a work permit to employ someone from outside the EU.
(source 1)
Employers must understand how much time it can take to hire a foreign worker from outside the EU, writes lawyer Katrina Cooper at Management Today. A sponsor licence is needed, and you must show that the skillset you require for your business is not available from within the EU, she points out. There are strict advertising rules you must adhere to, as well as a cap on the number of new employer-sponsored skilled workers.
: It´s easier to enter the labour market. The qualified professional must possess an employment contract or a specific job offer, and a qualification recognised in Germany. No priority check is undertaken by the Federal Employment Agency (BA). This means that there are no check as to whether an applicant from Germany or the EU is available for the specific job. The Federal Employment Agency will still verify the employment conditions.
Coming to Germany to look for a job: Professionals with a vocational training qualification are also able to come to Germany to look for a job. They will be granted a residence permit for up to six months.
[...]
Professionals with a recognised academic qualification, who as before are permitted to come to Germany for six months to seek employment, are also allowed to work on a trial basis.
I live in South Korea and I can feel the death of American exceptionalism here. Some of my non-American friends have altered their opinions opinions of the US in a less than positive way. I’m...
I live in South Korea and I can feel the death of American exceptionalism here. Some of my non-American friends have altered their opinions opinions of the US in a less than positive way. I’m often having to attempt to answer questions such as “Why isn’t America taking this seriously?” “Why is it being called the Chinese virus?” “Why are there fat guys with guns protesting right now?” Essentially it went from the US is a great place to the US being a weird and messed up place.
Also this article really strays from the topic of the death of exceptionalism and moves more into recounting trumps partisan warfare
If it's a bubble, it certainly is a big bubble. My initial reaction to the title was "well, it was dead a lot longer, you guys just didn't seem to care." Certainly since bush II., it was getting...
If it's a bubble, it certainly is a big bubble. My initial reaction to the title was "well, it was dead a lot longer, you guys just didn't seem to care." Certainly since bush II., it was getting hard to believe that there was anything special about the US. Well, depends on your definition of SpEcIaL, I guess.
For an inside perspective, I’m feeling about the same these days.... I’m not surprised or especially disappointed. If you had pitched our anemic (and quickly trending towards economic class...
For an inside perspective, I’m feeling about the same these days.... I’m not surprised or especially disappointed. If you had pitched our anemic (and quickly trending towards economic class genocidal) response as the likely outcome of a global disaster, I would have have said “yup, sounds about right”. Another administration probably would have handled the initial response at least competently, but no matter who is in charge I have zero confidence that we would not eventually have made it to the point we are today, where it has been made clear to the entire world how completely capital trumps humanity in America, and that we as a people just don’t care.
I wouldn't compare obama to a rightwing conservative. Merz e.g. is quite a bit more to the right of obama, particularly if you consider the different climate they operate in. I have little doubt...
I wouldn't compare obama to a rightwing conservative. Merz e.g. is quite a bit more to the right of obama, particularly if you consider the different climate they operate in. I have little doubt that Obama would be more left than he is if he were german chancellor, while Merz would go even further to the right in the US. But even aside from that, I think Merkel and Obama are probably fairly similar, at least wrt. big-picture issues - foreign, fiscal and social policy. And merkel is -it seems to me- a leftie in her party.
I realize this is a perfectly normal use of the word "to trump", but that whole phrase I quoted also really does seem to capture just how much President Trump is an embodiment of that exact...
capital trumps humanity in America
I realize this is a perfectly normal use of the word "to trump", but that whole phrase I quoted also really does seem to capture just how much President Trump is an embodiment of that exact mindset. That other people are only valuable insomuch as they are useful to him personally, and whoever has the most money is clearly the best person. If other people suffer, it's probably their own fault and they should work harder to get what they want. While completely failing to recognize or acknowledge all of the privileges and societal support that allowed him to live his life the way he has while being a complete and utter shitbag.
Probably. IIRC over here in Brazil public opinion was largely shaped by how charismatic the president was and what showed up in the news about the US, short of the anti-imperialist far leftists...
Probably. IIRC over here in Brazil public opinion was largely shaped by how charismatic the president was and what showed up in the news about the US, short of the anti-imperialist far leftists who are pissed the FBI was probably involved in the coup of '64 and a lot of nonsense against leftist governments in latin America. Now it mostly depends on who your preferred politician tells you about US politics and most of the troubles going on in the US right now are amplified in Brazil given:
Our president does not need to appeal to the center-right if they exist and our Congress is unified under right-wingers so we got a three-time check of R$ 600. (~100-110 dollars and the original proposal was a third of this.)
I'm sure a lot of people have already seen it, but I've always loved this speech from the beginning of the series The Newsroom about why America isn't the greatest country in the world. That's...
I love the internal struggle of "how much bubble-bursting can I get away with in this audience" vs "how much honesty will be demanded of me". Great acting imo. Only point of criticism, the "worst....
I love the internal struggle of "how much bubble-bursting can I get away with in this audience" vs "how much honesty will be demanded of me". Great acting imo. Only point of criticism, the "worst. generation. ever." - too much "muh millenials" in my book. My experience, the now-28 year old ex-sorority girl is probably a member of a generation that is a lot more aware of this shit than the generations before.
But oh well, film's gotta appeal to the boomers too. Capitalism, yay!
Oh, and regarding the more positive monologue in the end, I'm not that convinced that the USA ever was the greatest country. I mean, when? Gotta be after 1940, and it sure as shit hasn't been since Reagan, so 1981. US wasn't exceptional before and was merely SpEcIaL after. So that leaves a questionable period. Internally, sure, I'm sure it was all fine. Ohh, wait, there was that MLK thing too. I guess then, 40s and 50s are out too. So that basically leaves you with the vietnam war...
But which one was the greatest country then? I dunno, and I don't think we can ever really agree on what "great" actually means, so not much point.
Agreed. The scene is stirring, but the actual content of the speech is classic chest-beating about only the parts of US history Americans are happy to talk about.
Agreed. The scene is stirring, but the actual content of the speech is classic chest-beating about only the parts of US history Americans are happy to talk about.
So American exceptionalism hasn't died by itself, it died because America itself has died. That doesn't seem too surprising but the end result of this doesn't seem good. (Read: it seems like an...
The end of American exceptionalism has many contributors. But there’s one I’d like to focus on. For our nation to be exceptional, it needs to actually be a nation: a community that sees itself, at least in part, as having shared aims and self-conception. American nationhood has become subordinate to partisan identity, party routinely trumping country. This division, in particular the partisan gamesmanship that has defined the Trump administration and the national Republican response, has played a notable role in many of the country’s current policy failures.
So American exceptionalism hasn't died by itself, it died because America itself has died. That doesn't seem too surprising but the end result of this doesn't seem good. (Read: it seems like an existential threat to the United States.)
I was stationed in Europe for five years back when I was in the military. When I returned home to the US in 2015, I realized just how full of shit we are as a nation.
There is this false sense that life is so much greater here and that we are somehow more free than other nations.
I’ll tell you what, I’d go back to Europe in a heartbeat.
It's unreasonably good for software engineers here. I graduated from college 2 years ago and almost make as much as my father who's a lawyer. I consider the financial side of my life a solved problem.
I’m not an American, but doesn’t expenses with healthcare and education (both yours and with hypothetical children) kinda put that in perspective? And isn’t there a lot of inequality? I think programmers and the like are over represented on Tildes. What about other people?
Even for programmers it's not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Programmers are a dime a dozen and every opening has a bunch of people applying. I've had terrible experiences looking for work in tech despite having a relevant degree and relevant work experience because it's hard to find a company that treats you well and at least for me isn't horribly unethical (works in marketing, with the military/ICE, etc) and then hasn't gotten a dozen applicants who live and breathe programming (which I don't, I put in my time at work and do my best but that's mostly it). Plus our healthcare is still stupidly expensive as you've noted and the cost of living is crazy in a lot of places that have jobs.
Edit: It's not at all easy to be financially stable enough to have a home and a family. If you don't have a college education it's going to be a lot harder to make good money, and unless you're rich / get as much of your education as you can at the local community college you're graduating with student loans, the payments on which are hundreds of dollars a month. Your health insurance is contingent on your job, and even a lot of white-collar people making good money don't have good health insurance. If you don't have good health insurance (and even if you do sometimes), an accident or emergency that requires healthcare will set you back a long way. And even if you have a well-paying job and good benefits, if you lose that job in a recession like we're having now you're just as vulnerable as everyone else. It's only easy or straightforward if you have advantages that a huge portion of Americans don't have. It bugs me when people say that it's easy to succeed here.
...Yeah, nothing has improved for most people.
I went through almost the exact same experience in 2012. Stationed in Europe, and the exposure really made me look at the US differently. Funny how exposure and education changes your worldview.
Could it be because many Americans don't (need to) go abroad? If all you've heard your country is the best, there isn't really a need to go outside of it. The US is also so big, you have pretty much everything in terms of different holiday locations.
The US also advertises itself well, by having so many big (mostly tech) companies, billionaires and what not. Sometimes it seems you can only get big or become rich in the US.
What's holding you back?
Americans have shit vacation time. An average number of 10 days provided for vacation in 2012. And if you put in 20 years, you can double that to 20 days! (see Table 3.)
We work too damn much and don't get the opportunities to go abroad. And when we do, we can't really afford it. My mother, for example, saves all her vacation hours and opts for a check at the end of the year which she'll use to pay off debt or possibly buy Christmas presents.
It's not exactly easy to gain residency in the EU. Unless you're extremely wealthy and have a couple 100 thousand to invest or can start a business, you have to find a job, and your employer has to prove that no one in the country as well as the entire EU can do that job. There is also the hurdle of learning a new language. You can also become a student, but if you want to stay you still have to find a job.
Hey, as someone with some interest in moving abroad (probably somewhere in EU) sometime in the future, what is your reference with that?
Sorry I couldn't find better sources but here are two:
https://www.eurojobs.com/blog/2018/04/06/find-job-eu-non-european/
https://www.currencyfair.com/blog/what-eu-companies-need-to-know-about-hiring-non-european-union-nationals/
The relevant parts are:
(source 1)
(source 2)
Also, this apparently doesn't apply to Germany as of a few months ago, so that might be something to look into.
[...]
Hope this helps!
Thanks!
I live in South Korea and I can feel the death of American exceptionalism here. Some of my non-American friends have altered their opinions opinions of the US in a less than positive way. I’m often having to attempt to answer questions such as “Why isn’t America taking this seriously?” “Why is it being called the Chinese virus?” “Why are there fat guys with guns protesting right now?” Essentially it went from the US is a great place to the US being a weird and messed up place.
Also this article really strays from the topic of the death of exceptionalism and moves more into recounting trumps partisan warfare
If it's a bubble, it certainly is a big bubble. My initial reaction to the title was "well, it was dead a lot longer, you guys just didn't seem to care." Certainly since bush II., it was getting hard to believe that there was anything special about the US. Well, depends on your definition of SpEcIaL, I guess.
For an inside perspective, I’m feeling about the same these days.... I’m not surprised or especially disappointed. If you had pitched our anemic (and quickly trending towards economic class genocidal) response as the likely outcome of a global disaster, I would have have said “yup, sounds about right”. Another administration probably would have handled the initial response at least competently, but no matter who is in charge I have zero confidence that we would not eventually have made it to the point we are today, where it has been made clear to the entire world how completely capital trumps humanity in America, and that we as a people just don’t care.
At least it’s Friday, I guess.
I wouldn't compare obama to a rightwing conservative. Merz e.g. is quite a bit more to the right of obama, particularly if you consider the different climate they operate in. I have little doubt that Obama would be more left than he is if he were german chancellor, while Merz would go even further to the right in the US. But even aside from that, I think Merkel and Obama are probably fairly similar, at least wrt. big-picture issues - foreign, fiscal and social policy. And merkel is -it seems to me- a leftie in her party.
I realize this is a perfectly normal use of the word "to trump", but that whole phrase I quoted also really does seem to capture just how much President Trump is an embodiment of that exact mindset. That other people are only valuable insomuch as they are useful to him personally, and whoever has the most money is clearly the best person. If other people suffer, it's probably their own fault and they should work harder to get what they want. While completely failing to recognize or acknowledge all of the privileges and societal support that allowed him to live his life the way he has while being a complete and utter shitbag.
Not gonna say the word choice was unintentional ;)
Probably. IIRC over here in Brazil public opinion was largely shaped by how charismatic the president was and what showed up in the news about the US, short of the anti-imperialist far leftists who are pissed the FBI was probably involved in the coup of '64 and a lot of nonsense against leftist governments in latin America. Now it mostly depends on who your preferred politician tells you about US politics and most of the troubles going on in the US right now are amplified in Brazil given:
Our president does not need to appeal to the center-right if they exist and our Congress is unified under right-wingers so we got a three-time check of R$ 600. (~100-110 dollars and the original proposal was a third of this.)
CIA, actually.
And the Emergency Relief is actually R$ 600 a month for three months.
The virus and the administrations poor response to it have yanked the curtain down, exposing the inept short sighted racist wizard behind it.
I'm sure a lot of people have already seen it, but I've always loved this speech from the beginning of the series The Newsroom about why America isn't the greatest country in the world. That's from 8 years ago now, and it's only gotten more relevant.
I love the internal struggle of "how much bubble-bursting can I get away with in this audience" vs "how much honesty will be demanded of me". Great acting imo. Only point of criticism, the "worst. generation. ever." - too much "muh millenials" in my book. My experience, the now-28 year old ex-sorority girl is probably a member of a generation that is a lot more aware of this shit than the generations before.
But oh well, film's gotta appeal to the boomers too. Capitalism, yay!
Oh, and regarding the more positive monologue in the end, I'm not that convinced that the USA ever was the greatest country. I mean, when? Gotta be after 1940, and it sure as shit hasn't been since Reagan, so 1981. US wasn't exceptional before and was merely SpEcIaL after. So that leaves a questionable period. Internally, sure, I'm sure it was all fine. Ohh, wait, there was that MLK thing too. I guess then, 40s and 50s are out too. So that basically leaves you with the vietnam war...
But which one was the greatest country then? I dunno, and I don't think we can ever really agree on what "great" actually means, so not much point.
Agreed. The scene is stirring, but the actual content of the speech is classic chest-beating about only the parts of US history Americans are happy to talk about.
So American exceptionalism hasn't died by itself, it died because America itself has died. That doesn't seem too surprising but the end result of this doesn't seem good. (Read: it seems like an existential threat to the United States.)
It was dead a long time ago.