really jarring coming back to the US after traveling to Asia for the last three weeks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, echoing that experience. I hadn't traveled since COVID, and going to places and just noticing that ... they had nice stuff, and it works.

Everything here just feels so broken. The metro is broken and we can't fix it. The postal system is broken. Schools are starved for what they need.

I can't figure out if we aren't funding it properly, or maybe we are just poor and don't know it.

Have you noticed all the trash along the roads in the DMV lately? It’s truly looking awful. Fairfax County Parkway near I-66 looks like a garbage dump. We just don’t fund infrastructure or maintenance in this country. So sad.

[Anonymous]

I just love the order of rich east Asia

The west has too much freedom

I was rewatching Star Wars with my kids (their first time) and I was thinking to myself that the empire was way better than the rebel alliance if we are being honest

[Anonymous]

It’s our American behaviors and lifestyle that creates the mess you are all complaining about. We consume too much and create too much waste. We don’t want to pay the taxes that are required to fund those infrastructure projects. We don’t want to cut our aid to other countries or limit immigration like others do. We don’t think or behave collectively as a country. Independent thinking and living is good and bad. We vote the politicians into power so we are the problem. That’s right. OP, you are not innocent in all this. If you are an American living in the US, you can’t criticize without taking some responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need another Eisenhower.

Yup

[Anonymous]

I was just in Vietnam & Cambodia and was overall impressed with how much a strong sense of family structure impacts the overall society. There is very little visible homelessness (there is lots of visible poverty everywhere), and there is great pride in the family.
Social services are much fewer yet people seem more secure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Well that’s one narrow part of Asia. Visit Bangladesh and you’ll kiss the linoleum at JFK.

So your point is that America can only make the cut when you compare the US ro some of the least developed poorer countries and cannot hold water when you compare to other 1st world developed countries? I'd agree, we seem more like a developing 2nd world country now after you get back traveling through other modern advanced economies in Europe and Asia. Our infrastructure is horrendously poor and embarrassing compared to our so called peers.

“Traveling to Asia” is the subject line. “Traveling to Japan” is the subject. That’s not just the developed world. That’s the absolute pinnacle of train travel worldwide. Anyone truly well-traveled knows that.

Except it's not just trains. You can see how much better their roads are, the connectivity of the internet and speeds, the quality of their bridges, how well their major airports work, the lack of homeless people anywhere, the lack of panhandlers harassing you, and the ability to walk for miles completely underground in the event there is crap weather and so pedestrians can avoid stupid cars.

Again. Japan is the global exception to every rule. And literally everyone knows this. Except apparently it was a surprise to you. Spend some time in the rest of Asia (Mainland China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal…) and they’ll all tell you how exceptional and unusual Japan is.

So America can only beat developing 3rd and 2nd world developing nations.and should not be compared to other 1st world countries. Thanks for reiterating your point.

Hey man you’re the one who wants to talk about “Asia.” And who TF still uses the terms 3rd and 2nd world?! Are you like 70??

Lmao. Even Thailand's airport is pretty much better than like 95% of US airports, especially given the volume of travelers it sees.

Did you really just say “Thailand’s airport”? LMAO

Lmao....because I didn't really feel like going out and looking up how to spell its complicated name for BKK. Keep nitpicking you stooge.

Oh look! Guess you’re a subpar, lazy American too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Vietnam & Cambodia and was overall impressed with how much a strong sense of family structure impacts the overall society. There is very little visible homelessness (there is lots of visible poverty everywhere), and there is great pride in the family.
Social services are much fewer yet people seem more secure.

The loss of a shared culture and moral and decay of America is at fault here IMO. I now live in a micro-niche US locale that has a subtly oppressive, homogenous shared culture with strong families and, despite the drawbacks associated with that, it’s an incredibly clean and orderly place like something out of Scandinavia. To the extent that people lose their nerve and become lax in their moral life is when pockets of violence, despair, and poverty begin popping up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Vietnam & Cambodia and was overall impressed with how much a strong sense of family structure impacts the overall society. There is very little visible homelessness (there is lots of visible poverty everywhere), and there is great pride in the family.
Social services are much fewer yet people seem more secure.

The loss of a shared culture and moral and decay of America is at fault here IMO. I now live in a micro-niche US locale that has a subtly oppressive, homogenous shared culture with strong families and, despite the drawbacks associated with that, it’s an incredibly clean and orderly place like something out of Scandinavia. To the extent that people lose their nerve and become lax in their moral life is when pockets of violence, despair, and poverty begin popping up.

Mormon enclave?

[Anonymous]

Go back to Asia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Vietnam & Cambodia and was overall impressed with how much a strong sense of family structure impacts the overall society. There is very little visible homelessness (there is lots of visible poverty everywhere), and there is great pride in the family.
Social services are much fewer yet people seem more secure.

The loss of a shared culture and moral and decay of America is at fault here IMO. I now live in a micro-niche US locale that has a subtly oppressive, homogenous shared culture with strong families and, despite the drawbacks associated with that, it’s an incredibly clean and orderly place like something out of Scandinavia. To the extent that people lose their nerve and become lax in their moral life is when pockets of violence, despair, and poverty begin popping up.

Mormon enclave?

Hell no, LOL. An enclave of tiny niche Northern European ethnic group immigration who kept all their weird (but cute!) traditions and religious identity.

[Anonymous]

Lol, I waited an hour for my bag (marked priority) at NRT last time I was there, but do go off, I guess.

Also, NYC is not the whole of the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you never heard of the coffin homes in Hong Kong or Guryong Village in S Korea? You were a tourist in a series of small countries and now you think you are worldly enough to criticize the place that gave you the opportunities and privilege to visit those countries to begin with?

Have you ever heard of Jackson, Mississippi or Flint, Michigan? Hell, many parts of the US look like Cambia, Laos, or the poorer parts of Thailand.

NP.. IMO, coffin homes are a lot better than being homeless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Vietnam & Cambodia and was overall impressed with how much a strong sense of family structure impacts the overall society. There is very little visible homelessness (there is lots of visible poverty everywhere), and there is great pride in the family.
Social services are much fewer yet people seem more secure.

The loss of a shared culture and moral and decay of America is at fault here IMO. I now live in a micro-niche US locale that has a subtly oppressive, homogenous shared culture with strong families and, despite the drawbacks associated with that, it’s an incredibly clean and orderly place like something out of Scandinavia. To the extent that people lose their nerve and become lax in their moral life is when pockets of violence, despair, and poverty begin popping up.

Mormon enclave?

Hell no, LOL. An enclave of tiny niche Northern European ethnic group immigration who kept all their weird (but cute!) traditions and religious identity.

DP.. I would get the upper NE? Like Maine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well that’s one narrow part of Asia. Visit Bangladesh and you’ll kiss the linoleum at JFK.

Bangladesh is a third world country.

US, S.Korea and Japan are first world countries.

OMG.

You DID NOT just use the bigoted, racist, discriminatory, classist term “third world country.”

You really need to be banned from DCUM forever.

dp.. is this a joke. Oh, no, it's not. DC in HS just told me how now they want to ban the phrase.

btw, I'm Asian American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you never heard of the coffin homes in Hong Kong or Guryong Village in S Korea? You were a tourist in a series of small countries and now you think you are worldly enough to criticize the place that gave you the opportunities and privilege to visit those countries to begin with?

Well said!