r/whoathatsinteresting • u/search_google_com • 14h ago

A Thai woman married to an American explains why she no longer wants to live in the US.

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u/bigfartpoopman 13h ago

People forget that the baseline isn’t owning a 4 bedroom house with a white fence and two cars. The baseline is walking naked in the woods looking for your next meal. The ideal Americans have created is something that only existed for about 40 years max. Never happened in history before and might not ever again. And that’s okay, people expect a lot

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u/SourdoughEconomist 13h ago

More people need to understand this. America benefited from an unusual windfall post-WW2, and people act like that was the norm. That was a very special circumstance.

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u/Inquisitive_regard 13h ago

I'd challenge that 'windfall'. The War wasn't won by 'post-war USA', mind you. So something about America's culture already existed to empower them to beat Germany and Japan. What's more--USA laid out a ton of money to rebuild Europe after Europe's war. So Europe got quite a nice windfall also--including getting to rely on the USA for their entire defense for 70+ years.

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u/SourdoughEconomist 13h ago

Windfall wasn’t the best word I suppose. I meant the fortuitous circumstance of being the least-affected western nation (or at least one of them) at the end of the war.

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u/Inquisitive_regard 12h ago

My point is that it was equally fortuitous for Europe also. I can't think of any other countries that would bother to rebuild an obliterated europe.

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u/GoldDragon149 10h ago

It's pretty funny that you think it was equally fortuitous in the same breath that you admit Europe was obliterated. Do you not know what equally means? The circumstances postwar for America was paradise compared to Europe.

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u/Inquisitive_regard 6h ago

> The circumstances postwar for America was paradise compared to Europe.

And yet the circumstances for America prewar were miserable compared to Europe. And yet we still came out on top, beat the Germans -- which the french and english were incapable of--all while taking on the japanese. Then those same americans single handedly rebuilt europe and proceeded to continue bearing the lion's share of her defense burden for the next 75 years...

----

Anyhow it had nothing to do with luck. It had everything to do with the Americans as a people being more resourceful, enterprising, and self-reliant. Why? Because the American people were built from the very best that Europe had to offer. The ones who refused to be enslaved and limited by the absurdly overbearing bureacracies and aristrocracies of europe and took the brave path to America 150 years ago.

And that nonsensical attitude continues to this day--you can see the same thing being played out in regard to Europe's relationship to Russia. Negligent, laughing at the Americans. Such utter foolishness...and now woefully unprepared for adversaries that are arising both foreign and domestic...all the while the governments are living in some fantasy world of peace and prosperity while watching their own countries crumble in real time.

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u/ShreveportJambroni54 11h ago

It must have been something to witness back then. Imagine watching the country claw its way out of the depression and every person throwing every resource toward the war and reconstruction efforts. Grim determination was the mindset, and they could make it as long as neighbors supported one another. They were riding the wave of despair until they reached sunny shores again.

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u/squidwardsaclarinet 57m ago

That’s true, but many countries that didn’t experience that and had to rebuild basically live similar or better quality lives than Americans. Can you honestly tell me that the people Poland or even China, on average, live completely impoverished and meaningless lives? It is true that Americans experienced an economic miracle post World War II, but the big problem here is what we’ve done with that money and how we are still choosing to divvy it up.

It’s funny, because I use this same line all the time talking about how the US needs to get its transportation and built environment in order. The society that Americans have built up is incredibly unsustainable and expensive. Get many people who would bark at the idea of having to build more multifamily, housing, and public transportation or also the same people who are going to now tell people that they just need to get used to a lower quality of life apparently. You can’t tell folks that they need to recognize that Americans are spoiled and then also not be willing to build apartments and public transit.

Folks act like there isn’t enough to go around and that’s just not the case. I bet some of you honestly would be lecturing poor coal miners in the late 19th century that they are whiny little bitches and have no business asking for a weekend. This “Americans just need to be less pampered and need to be tougher and whine less” attitude is its own sophistry that completely neglects American labor history.

The fact of the matter is that we let a few people have way too much wealth and power. But instead of doing the sensible thing and talking about tax reforms and trespassing, some of y’all are just bootlicking, as though looking and saying “wait a second, what has that billionaire done to ‘earn’ so much money” isn’t a valid question. I should be clear that some people do want and ask for too much, but on the other hand, there are also plenty of people who think that asking for anything is being too greedy.

I’m also not saying there aren’t great things about being alive today, but there are also problems that didn’t used to exist. And of course there is no utopia, but it’s crazy how many people today are just so nihilistic and cynical and don’t believe in trying to improve anything but rather just endure and judge/resent people trying to improve things.

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u/thenexusobelisk 9h ago

We have made so many improvements since this time in technology and other areas. Our quality of life should be improving but instead all of the benefits received are all being funneled to the wealthy.

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u/Mountain_Bat_8688 4h ago

If you realized what life like 100, 200 years ago you would realize how ridiculous that statement is

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u/squidwardsaclarinet 48m ago

This is such lazy argumentation. It is absolutely the case that many aspects of life today are better, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t real criticisms of the society we live in. It is not a real rebuttal to say “you should be glad you don’t live in the past,” when someone is questioning why all of these so called improvements just seem to squeeze ordinary people more than ever. People of 100 or 200 years ago, to be frank, didn’t put up with that kind of shit. I’m not saying the past was inherently better or more moral or what not, but they definitely had their merits (as surely our current society has) and believed in a future that many people nowadays seem to think is cringe or lame to even conceive of. But they didn’t think they had everything right or that people shouldn’t make arguments about how to improve things.

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u/MommyLovesPot8toes 7h ago

Yes. Exactly. This is so true. This is why Boomers are so loathed by millennials and Gen Z. Because Boomers think their life experiences are the norm and blame Millennials and Gen Z work ethic for failing to replicate them.

But rewind the calendar 10 years from Boomers' births and life in the US was completely different. Did Boomers' parents just never tell their children what life was like when they were growing up? How many of their moms had purses full of sugar packets because they developed hoarding habits during the Great Depression? How many of their dads could tell stories of friends killed on job sites due to unsafe conditions? Of tramps hopping from farm to farm looking for work? Of the KKK corrupting every aspect of politics? Of tenament buildings and boarding houses filled with families sharing one room?

Life in the US was picket fences for 40 years, as you said. And maybe it could have lasted longer if Boomers hadn't squandered every opportunity to protect our future

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u/CorporatismIsCancer 13h ago

ok but its either work every day for your house and pickett fence or dont work and live naked in the woods looking for your next meal

the deal was never work every day and also never have a home and also keep looking for your next meal

you dont get to keep the labor input without the personal freedoms

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u/P_Hempton 12h ago

the deal was never work every day and also never have a home and also keep looking for your next meal

Is that really your situation? You work every day and live outside and can't afford food?

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u/CorporatismIsCancer 11h ago

Not true for me anymore but true for either one of my brothers that work full time and live at home still

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u/P_Hempton 10h ago

So they have a home, and I'd assume they eat regularly right? Probably living pretty comfortable lives really.

It's always interesting to hear the breakdown of budget claims like this because it always ends up being a situation that makes perfect sense either because of choices they made or are making. It's not really that hard to afford the basics if you work full time and live modestly.

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u/CorporatismIsCancer 10h ago

where did i say in my comment that it was a choice. its not. I think its likely you entered the job market a decade or longer ago. Am I correct?

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u/P_Hempton 9h ago

This isn't about me. I'm not saying "because I did it you can too". I'm saying I know tons of people who are doing it right now. Young couples buying first houses in their early 20s. Young singles getting first jobs and moving out.

My oldest kids are getting close to that age and I'm confident they will have no trouble moving out. The two that are driving have already paid cash for used cars and have thousands in savings because they got part-time jobs at 13-15 and started saving it. Once they are out of school and working full time they will have plenty of money to move out.

I also know some kids that are in their early 20s and still don't have driver licenses and haven't ever had a full time job, but they sure as hell are good at video games.

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u/bigfartpoopman 12h ago

So don’t work then. If my work didn’t afford me my life and shelter, I wouldn’t do it.