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Is America losing its allure?

  • 02-06-2020 2:11pm
    #1
    mr_fegelien
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭


    When I first came to Ireland in 2009, many teachers, classmates, and adults always talked about moving to the States in the future for a better life. People even envied me for living there and asked "Why the **** did you come to this kip called Ireland?".

    Fast forward 11 years now, it seems the tone has completely changed. Sure, people still go there, but the numbers are fewer. After the mass shootings like Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Isla Vista, the spying revelations by Snowden, the police brutality etc... has America became a first world nation relegated to third world status?


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Comments

  • #2
    Dravokivich
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Music Moderators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,360 CMod ✭✭✭✭Dravokivich


    Snowden only cared about Americans being spied on. He didn't care about anyone else.


  • #3
    Obvious Desperate Breakfasts
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,474 ✭✭✭Obvious Desperate Breakfasts


    In the past, I thought it might be cool to live in the US for a few years. Now, I don't feel so inclined at all. No interest.


  • #4
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    I think it has lost some of its allure, too many social problems, the version of capitalism is too winner takes all and the health system would be a worry if you got sick. Not to mention the guns, murders and crimes.

    If I was very rich America would be great. But for an ordinary worker I wouldn't fancy it.


  • #5
    LessOutragePlz
    Registered Users Posts: 1,358 ✭✭✭LessOutragePlz


    I can't wait to visit definitely going to go do a tour of the White House and hopefully Donald is still the president when I get there because I would love to meet him in person.


  • #6
    Gretas Gonna Get Ya!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,245 ✭✭✭Gretas Gonna Get Ya!


    Trump will make America great again!

    You just wait and see... :D


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  • #7
    Seth Brundle
    Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 38,785 Mod ✭✭✭✭Seth Brundle


    "Is America losing its allure?"
    What allure?


  • #8
    Good jib!
    Registered Users Posts: 97 ✭✭Good jib!


    I think people are starting to realise that we actually have it quite good here in our neck of the woods. Decent healthcare, proper food standards, and none of that divisive Red vs Blue stuff.

    Obviously given the size of the place there are still many great places to visit in the US, but apart from that I feel overall the average Irish person has a higher quality of life than the average American.


  • #9
    c.p.w.g.w
    Registered Users Posts: 4,994 ✭✭✭c.p.w.g.w


    I just find America fascinating for all the wrong reasons...

    Bernie was seen as some far left commie...were as in Europe he'd likely be seen as a left-centric politician.

    A fairly sizeable portion of the population work multiple jobs, crazy hours just to struggle by.

    Employment protection & rights are pretty much not existant. I mean holidays in the states are at the discretion of the employer, not like our statutory minimum here.


  • #10
    Harry Palmr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    The United States fooled us in the past with sparkling trinkets like Dallas, ET and rock music but at home the core of the economy and society has been in a continual squeeze for decades with the "middle classes" put to the pin of their collar and lately seen driving to car parks to have food thrown in the back of their SUVs. Meanwhile the rich have just got ever richer, live in gated compounds with cheap third world staff and a view that anyone who isn't white and rich is not worth a damn. That cohort found its dream leader in Donald Trump but even some of them might just be starting to wonder if the whole house will have burnt down by 2024. Rich and privileged but in a way that feels more like apartheid era South Africa's white population than anywhere else.


  • #11
    raehogan
    Registered Users Posts: 39 ✭raehogan


    Definitely lost it. When I spent a summer there in 2002 it was pretty great but a teenage boy from the area I was living in was ambushed while out for a jog and shot dead by his father as revenge against his ex wife for winning custody of him. That and a few other incidents got me, like being rough handled by the police for simply kicking a football about in a field after 9pm, or seeing the 'uniforms' a lot of young women wore in a lot of bars, clubs and restos.

    The racism was shocking too. Really shocking. I know we have a problem with racism in Ireland but I was not in the least prepared for some of the things I heard and saw over there.

    Trump is a puppet despot in the making. He is not handling either of the current crisis with good leadership.

    We are very lucky to be on this little rock of ours at this time. We'll go through a tough year or three but we'll recover from covid and Brexit. Europe is old world, old money and not as prone to being swallowed up by paranoia and aggression. We're ok where we are, for now.


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  • #12
    J. Marston
    Registered Users Posts: 23,102 ✭✭✭✭J. Marston


    Best way I've seen it described over the last few days is a third world country wearing a Gucci belt.


  • #13
    ka2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭ka2


    c.p.w.g.w wrote: »
    I just find America fascinating for all the wrong reasons...

    Bernie was seen as some far left commie...were as in Europe he'd likely be seen as a left-centric politician.

    A fairly sizeable portion of the population work multiple jobs, crazy hours just to struggle by.

    Employment protection & rights are pretty much not existant. I mean holidays in the states are at the discretion of the employer, not like our statutory minimum here.
    That's a huge thing. The Democrats would be considered "left" in the US whereas they'd probably still be further to the right than Fine Gael.

    Also, the work culture over there is very much "live to work" rather than "work to live".


  • #14
    Rodney Bathgate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,445 ✭✭✭Rodney Bathgate


    J. Marston wrote: »
    Best way I've seen it described over the last few days is a third world country wearing a Gucci belt.

    Which is why so many people from south and central america want to go there - to a third world country.


  • #15
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,728 ✭✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Never saw the appeal of America tbh ......... it's grand if you are very wealthy but most folk aren't that. There's a sad amount of wannabe Americans in Ireland ....... greet each other and others ( :eek: ) with "dude" etc etc ... and dress themselves in crap bought over in the great USofA on some sh1tty trip of a lifetime they can't stop talking about back in '97..... clowns.


  • #16
    Rodney Bathgate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,445 ✭✭✭Rodney Bathgate


    mr_fegelien wrote: »
    When I first came to Ireland in 2009, many teachers, classmates, and adults always talked about moving to the States in the future for a better life. People even envied me for living there and asked "Why the **** did you come to this kip called Ireland".

    Fast forward 11 years now, it seems the tone has completely changed. Sure, people still go there, but the numbers are fewer. After the mass shootings like Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Isla Vista, the spying revelations by Snowden, the police brutality etc... has America became a first world nation relegated to third world status?

    What country are you from Mr Fegelien? The US?


  • #17
    Mango Joe
    Registered Users Posts: 1,179 ✭✭✭Mango Joe


    Its so funny that OP waited until the US had been especially hard hit by the ongoing Pandemic and then rocked to its core and set alight by widespread civic unrest before asking this question.

    Yes OP, just a tiny little bit of allure being knocked off right now. A smidgeon, hardly even noticable really.


  • #18
    strandroad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,676 ✭✭✭strandroad


    You need to have this dog eat dog mentality to enjoy living there even if successful. So much misery to witness, and it's amazing to see how people affected by lack of healthcare, violence etc will still defend the system as the best country in the world.

    Great for holidays though. Can't beat a good roadtrip there.


  • #19
    jrosen
    Registered Users Posts: 1,629 ✭✭✭jrosen


    I lived in the US for a few years and loved it, the experience was great. We made some amazing friends. But its very different than the picture they try to paint. I couldn't think of a worse place to live if you were unwell, short of money or not white.


  • #20
    Edgware
    Registered Users Posts: 5,875 ✭✭✭Edgware


    mr_fegelien wrote: »
    When I first came to Ireland in 2009, many teachers, classmates, and adults always talked about moving to the States in the future for a better life. People even envied me for living there and asked "Why the **** did you come to this kip called Ireland".

    Fast forward 11 years now, it seems the tone has completely changed. Sure, people still go there, but the numbers are fewer. After the mass shootings like Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Isla Vista, the spying revelations by Snowden, the police brutality etc... has America became a first world nation relegated to third world status?

    "numbers are fewer"
    Of course they are. Booming economy in Ireland, no J1, problems getting Visas.
    When things go belly uphere we will be on the planes again. Give us Visas and we will be there. Far better attraction than Australia.


  • #21
    20silkcut
    Registered Users Posts: 2,539 ✭✭✭20silkcut


    I went to Las Vegas last year. To be honest I felt like a pauper . Unless your mega rich you have no business in Vegas. They want thousands off you. And don’t think much of it.
    Value of money is just on a different scale.


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  • #22
    Rodney Bathgate
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,445 ✭✭✭Rodney Bathgate


    Vegas is nothing like the rest of the US.


  • #23
    Danzy
    Registered Users Posts: 13,228 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    Augeo wrote: »
    Never saw the appeal of America tbh ......... it's grand if you are very wealthy but most folk aren't that. There's a sad amount of wannabe Americans in Ireland ....... greet each other and others ( :eek: ) with "dude" etc etc ... and dress themselves in crap bought over in the great USofA on some sh1tty trip of a lifetime they can't stop talking about back in '97..... clowns.

    Dude actually comes from Irish.

    A dudara, a over dressed, posery person.

    I ageee with you though


  • #24
    Morgans
    Registered Users Posts: 4,343 ✭✭✭Morgans


    Im surprised more diabetics dont emigrate from the states. Anyone with any chronic health condition for that matter.


  • #25
    realdanbreen
    Registered Users Posts: 8,066 ✭✭✭realdanbreen


    LessOutragePlz wrote: »
    I can't wait to visit definitely going to go do a tour of the White House and hopefully Donald is still the president when I get there because I would love to meet him in person.

    Wow!I didn't realise Donald stood at the door of the white house greeting the tour party's! Awesome, go USA.


  • #26
    TheBoyConor
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,292 ✭✭✭TheBoyConor


    The USA as a nation is almost totally degenerate from a social and political point of view. Some places along the west coast buck that trend though, and always have. Places like SF and Seattle. But they are vastly outnumbered by the hoards of miss educated religious fundamentalists and capitalist pigs.

    In terms of science and technology, it is still a world leader. But even that is under threat from the likes of the trumpites.


  • #27
    Geuze
    Registered Users Posts: 13,047 ✭✭✭✭Geuze


    mr_fegelien wrote: »
    When I first came to Ireland in 2009, many teachers, classmates, and adults always talked about moving to the States in the future for a better life.

    Given that it's not easy to immigrate into the USA, a lot of these people were simply day-dreaming.

    I day dream about having a 250 sqm house, and an Audi, but it ain't happening.


  • #28
    partyguinness
    Registered Users Posts: 8,207 ✭✭✭partyguinness


    The home of the best and of the worst.


  • #29
    Degag
    Registered Users Posts: 9,952 ✭✭✭Degag


    For years I've said to myself that i must go and visit the US sometime soon. Would have loved to go for a few months, rent a car and just travel through the country. Route 66 and whatnot. Visit all those amazing looking restaurants on Diners, Drivers & Dives etc.

    Now, not so much. In fact, not at all. It is a terrible country with a lot of terrible people and terrible leadership. I was watching one of the US news channels last night and I must have heard their great leader utter the phrase "Greatest Country in the World" umpteen times.

    I don't get how any same and reasonable person looking at it logically could say that the country was even close to being the greatest in the world. No matter what type of statistic you wanted to judge it against it wouldn't even be close i feel.

    Sad really.


  • #30
    Ulysses Gaze
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,570 ✭✭✭Ulysses Gaze


    Morgans wrote: »
    Im surprised more diabetics dont emigrate from the states. Anyone with any chronic health condition for that matter.

    Devil's Advocate here.

    If American's saw how much tax we paid here, but that we were still paying for private healthcare and still having to pay when we go to a GP, they'd ask.

    "So why are you paying all this tax then?"


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  • #31
    Queasy Tadpole
    Registered Users Posts: 219 ✭✭Queasy Tadpole


    The only allure the country ever had for me was it's absolutely amazing geography, it's national parks are absolutely mind blowing.

    Some of the places they have there are very hard to find anywhere else in the world.

    If I was a very rich man I would live there but I'm not so I don't.


This discussion has been closed.
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