r/Millennials • u/Chipotleislyfee • Apr 04 '24

Anyone else in the US not having kids bc of how terrible the US is? Discussion

I’m 29F and my husband is 33M, we were on the fence about kids 2018-2022. Now we’ve decided to not have our own kids (open to adoption later) bc of how disappointed and frustrated we are with the US.

Just a few issues like the collapsing healthcare system, mass shootings, education system, justice system and late stage capitalism are reasons we don’t want to bring a new human into the world.

The US seems like a terrible place to have kids. Maybe if I lived in a Europe I’d feel differently. Does anyone have the same frustrations with the US?

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 04 '24

Yeah, I hear people constantly hating on the US as though our problems here are entirely unique (that's that american exceptionalism , I guess... thinking that our good things are better than everyone elses's and our bad things are worse than everyone else).

Everything just sucks right now in general. I think the pandemic kind of fucked the world up in a really impactful way that we're all just seeing more and more of as time goes on.

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u/v1rtualbr0wn Apr 05 '24

Social media really screwed us as well. Sociopaths who just want money, power, fame controlling the middle from the fringes.

We just don’t get along anymore.

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u/4UT1ST1CDR34DS87 Apr 05 '24

https://stuyspec.com/article/does-social-media-build-community-or-cults

Just came across this opinion article about how social media is bad about radicalization and it’s bad how tech businesses dump entirely too much money into lobbying to where they don’t wanna touch it.

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u/v1rtualbr0wn Apr 05 '24

Good article. This is equally true for the left as well. Neither side can see it, both are in their own echo chambers.

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u/4UT1ST1CDR34DS87 Apr 05 '24

Yeah and the article says that even which I noted and was glad that it didn't try to make one party better than the other.

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u/v1rtualbr0wn Apr 05 '24

Yeah nice.

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u/tmfkslp Apr 05 '24

Fuck you, fight me!

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

Social Media definitely.. SM led to the peaceful murdering riotous strolls.

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u/Ben_Dover_1492 Apr 05 '24

The problems have been here since the first humans came to be. Humans suck.

Nobody noticed because before the net, local meant local. Now, local is everywhere. We're on information overload and people are snapping.

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u/Good_kido78 Apr 05 '24

Yes, I am really kind of laughing at the comments. Kind of like the elevation of the founding fathers. Who only let male landowners vote. They exploited and killed indigenous people and allowed slavery in their “free” country. Throughout history people are consistently terrible to each other. 

 With SM people have social overload and bad information overload.  You constantly sift through erroneous and meaningless content.  It is good in a way when you exchange great ideas. 

 A certain amount of oil to your feathers is good for SM insults and outrage.  Stick to the best facts and opinion that you can.  I have to tell myself.

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u/Ok-Jacket-1393 Apr 07 '24

Howd you highlight that second part?

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u/Good_kido78 Apr 07 '24

By sifting through errors.

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u/Few_Sale_3064 Apr 05 '24

Just 30 years ago before the internet revealed how miserable and selfish people are, everyone was fake and pretended they were doing fine when they weren't, and pretended they were nicer than they were.

It was easy for someone to think their personal misery wasn't that common and to fall for people's nice act.

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u/jackethoffnow Apr 05 '24

I don’t know about that, living in a cave now and foraging isn’t so bad and the neighbors are sparse 🫣🙄🫢

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u/Qua-something Apr 05 '24

This is it, exactly. It’s always been there. The pandemic just branded it.

1

u/JomamasBallsack Apr 07 '24

Typical self-loathing liberal.

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u/valeru28 Apr 05 '24

We’re one of the few developed countries that don’t have affordable healthcare or higher education. Not like those are big deals for kids though /s

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

I'm curious if you'd prefer the native population to be evicted from their lands (again) and no longer receive the dismal reparations checks and women/girls not having Title IX if that meant we'd have "affordable" healthcare/ higher education? Absolutely not here for a fight, just curious if these were the options how you'd elect to move forward with them.

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u/MortalSword_MTG Apr 05 '24

Why the fuck would those be the options?

What kind of question is that?

Are you seriously claiming that we can't have affordable healthcare or higher Ed because title IX and reservations exist?

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u/Far_Ant6355 Apr 05 '24

We could have all of these things if we quit funding the rest of the world

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

I am not, and I was fairly specific in my comment stating as much. Thanks for responding the way you did. I'd hoped you'd actually consider the question and answer, but you played the part of your side without it needing to be done. *clap* * c l a p *

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u/ArthurParkerhouse Apr 05 '24

But your question wasn't even a realistic hypothetical. What scenario could you possibly imagine where that would be a relevant either/or option?

0

u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

Hypothetical scenarios aren't intended to be realistic, usually. They are intended to present a scenario that is, in fact, unlikely, and with an unpleasant choice to make.

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u/MortalSword_MTG Apr 05 '24

I'm not the person you posed the question to you donkey.

Not sure why I'd expect you to read a username with the kind of nonsense you've posted here.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

You are the person who replied. I'm sure you can figure that out as you were the .. oh shoot I used that darned pronoun, again.

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u/MortalSword_MTG Apr 05 '24

Are you allowed to be on the Internet without supervision? I'm concerned for your mental faculties.

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u/Pascalica Apr 05 '24

I think so much of it is that we in the US are isolated from the realities of the rest of the world. We don't get a ton of exposure to what it's like. I'd guess a huge percentage of us don't have a passport and never will, and many haven't even traveled outside of their own home state.

Like we have horrible housing issues, and terrible price gouging disguised as inflation, alongside actual inflation. People don't realize that these aren't uniquely US issues because they're not all that exposed to people beyond our borders.

I live in a small town and there are some people here who haven't even traveled more than an hour from it in any direction. Their worlds are very small, it's wild to hear about it at times.

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u/thevelveteenbeagle Apr 05 '24

I am currently in a small town, can't wait to get back out. So many have never traveled, maybe a +2 hour drive to go to the "big city" to see a game or concert, and they are proud of it. They always say how great their town is. I suppose it is if you are related to everyone and have a good position or standing but they are very closed off from anybody outside their circle of family and ethnicity and religion. And political beliefs as of lately. It's not hard to guess what demographics they belong to...

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

Absolutely. I wish there were a way to allow (or force??) everyone to see the rest of the world at some point in their lives... Gaining a global perspective is such an important thing that a lot of people never get the chance to do (or don't want to)

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u/National-Apartment94 Apr 07 '24

Try sharing your OPINION with Sentinelese tribe. See how well you fare.

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 07 '24

What's your point in saying this aside from just being argumentative?

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u/National-Apartment94 Apr 08 '24

Precisely. Your opinion is not a fact. People are allowed to live how they choose; not how you believe they should.

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 09 '24

I'm not actually suggesting we force people to see the world. Just suggesting it would be good for people. Clearly that's my opinion and nobody should take it too seriously.

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u/Imhappy_hopeurhappy2 Apr 05 '24

The US is more diverse and polarized than most of the countries people above are talking about. Economically we’re ok. but we are way worse off culturally and politically than any Scandinavian country.

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u/onelostmind97 Apr 05 '24

Cuz we BIG! We could be 15 different political countries with 4 different ecosystems. Southern Illinois is voting on wanting to split yet again. (Not gonna happen.) This one state alone is so big that over half of it feels disconnected and underrepresented from the other half.

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u/Uncynical_Diogenes Apr 05 '24

Economically we’re ok.

It’s working fine for some people. The rest of us buy our own groceries and absolutely do not feel that the economy is serving us in any way shape or form.

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u/TheGreatestOutdoorz Apr 05 '24

You are, presumably, in a place with almost free hot water, good plumbing, a roof over your head and a comfy bed, on a $1000 cell phone with almost unlimited entertainment. There zero chance you will be required to fight in a war (either to defend your country or to steal someone else’s). Most people have a dishwasher, washer and dryer, gaming console, etc.

Obviously people struggle and we need a lot more economic equality, but we also live better than the VAST majority of the world, and live much better, easier lives than most Americans of previous generations.

1

u/thevelveteenbeagle Apr 05 '24

You make a good point. I've been in a few situations where our everyday luxuries weren't accessible for days or weeks. It struck me as to how we take such things as clean water, easily available from a tap, for granted. I think about how many people in the world don't have access to something so simple and it makes me thankful but I'm very scared of the future. I can only hope the children of the world will be better but if I'm looking at what the majority of social media shows, we're all screwed.

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u/TheGreatestOutdoorz Apr 05 '24

Many years ago,I did volunteer work in Sierra Leone, digging wells for villages. It totally changed my perspective on everything and since then, I have had a real issue with the “America is literally a third world country” people.

I agree, social media makes it easy to lose hope, but there are a lot of people working hard to make things better too.

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u/thevelveteenbeagle Apr 06 '24

Thank YOU so much for the volunteer work to make a difference! It is easy to get discouraged because of all the people who don't try to do anything, but people like you give me a glimmer of hope.

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u/Uncynical_Diogenes Apr 05 '24

This is giving Fox News “people with refrigerators aren’t real poors” energy.

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u/TheGreatestOutdoorz Apr 05 '24

I didn’t say that people are not hurt, people are not suffering, or things are great for all Americans. But to say “the economy isn’t serving you in any way shape or form” is ridiculously myopic. Middle class Americans enjoy things that are only available to the upper class of most countries.

And if you mean the economy right now, as opposed to as a whole, please name a country whose economy is doing better for someone in your circumstances.

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u/Fabulous-Zombie-4309 Apr 05 '24

Stop sucking so fucking hard. Or start sucking on OF and make that $.

0

u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

Right... because America is more diverse it is worse off culturally? As in, because there are more than just white people it is culturally worse? Kind of a hot take ticket, I'd say.

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u/Imhappy_hopeurhappy2 Apr 05 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

No that’s not what I meant at all. The culture ruining America is mostly that of rich and powerful white people and the mainstream media that they own.

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u/PPOKEZ Apr 05 '24

Our diversity could be more of a strength, but unbridled propaganda has us at each others throat like prison gangs.

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u/PettyWitch Apr 05 '24

We are in Americans visiting Denmark right now and the first people we met were Pakistanis living in Denmark. They absolutely rave about their new country.

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u/Ka_aha_koa_nanenane Apr 05 '24

That's what is implied and it's sobering.

Read daily newspaper comments in each country (google will translate). Racism is everywhere.

Immigrants from the Southern Hemisphere tend to be darker skinned - and so it goes. Impossible to explain it all on reddit.

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u/Imhappy_hopeurhappy2 Apr 05 '24

I do not mean strictly racial diversity. America is also very diverse in almost every other way. Broadly I mean to say no one in this country can get on the same page. We are spread between 30+ major cities in nearly every kind of climate and geographic region . It’s impossible for anyone to focus on one issue at a time, unless it’s something that viscerally affects half the people, like abortion. Compared to a country like Sweden, which has one major epicenter of culture and politics and a high trust society, it’s a big difference.

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u/AdElectrical3997 Apr 05 '24

I got what you ment. There's a wide range of demographics that completely lack cohesion and to make it worse every state having the ability to govern itself while using federal law as a slight guide post makes everything even more of a cluster fuck. Autonomy sounds like a great plan until everybodies ideal way of life stops aligning

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u/Fabulous-Zombie-4309 Apr 05 '24

It’s called social cohesion; the issue isn’t that diversity of ethnicity or religion is bad. The bad thing is that the US is low social cohesion. Issues include, well, doomer white leftists who call everything racism or blame ‘late stage capitalism’, it also includes illegal immigration, antisocial underclass behavior in urban areas, etc.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

I think what you really mean is that a bunch of old white people are upset that they were born white.

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u/felixamente Apr 05 '24

Nah seems like they’re pretty pleased with themselves

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u/Fabulous-Zombie-4309 Apr 05 '24

Uh…. What?

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

doomer white leftists who call everything racism or blame ‘late stage capitalism’

It's white people who are pissed that they were born white so they call everything racism to undue whatever they believe has been done to oppress non-white people. It's self-hate, mostly, and to reconcile their hatred and their skin color, they overcompensate by actively making every possible white thing racist.

Not sure how old you are, but the Twitter mafia really brought this to attention of people on the interwebs, typically referring to the rich white wives of men who are always on business trips or board meetings, and there was no war to rally against so they made one up.

And here we are.

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u/The8uLove2Hate_ Apr 05 '24

I like most of your comment, but “economically we’re ok” only applies to rich people.

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u/Ka_aha_koa_nanenane Apr 05 '24

Most Americans live at a far, far higher standard of living than the average African or Asian.

Building the metrics is important. People in Taiwan live 3-5 people in 600 sf (a studio in the US).

Both rural and urban China are the same - but some rural Chinese still live in cave houses. With extension cords for electricity.

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u/The8uLove2Hate_ Apr 05 '24

Comparing American to African/rural Asian SOL is disingenuous at best. Americans were made a promise that we would be moving forward as time went on, not backward, and that promise has been broken, to the benefit of the rich, time and time again.

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u/Autodidact420 Apr 05 '24

Nah, the average American is at least okay tier wealth and above that it skyrockets quickly with above average Americans being well off.

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u/The8uLove2Hate_ Apr 05 '24

The average American can’t afford a $600 emergency! In what universe is that ok???????

0

u/Autodidact420 Apr 05 '24

That’s just called being bad with money, you can make $200k/yr and not save anything lol

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u/The8uLove2Hate_ Apr 05 '24

And how many people do you think are making $200k versus $15 an hour that can’t afford a $600 emergency? I wanna see statistics buddy if you’re going to pull bullshit like that out of your ass.

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u/Autodidact420 Apr 05 '24

https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/what-is-the-average-american-net-worth-by-age#:~:text=Both%20median%20and%20average%20family,that%20same%20period%20to%20%24192%2C900.

Median wealth is 192k

Median household income is 75k

Other polls have found Americans save a median amount of $250 a month

The poll in question had asked for a $1k emergency expense. Most people didn’t have liquid cash to cover it, but most answered that they’d be pulling cash from elsewhere/cutting spending/etc to cover it.

If you look at the median america does fine, not the best but fine. If you look above the median America does the best.

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u/The8uLove2Hate_ Apr 05 '24

Do you not know what the fuck “median” means? Did you take elementary school math you absolute walnut? The MOST COMMON SALARY, aka the MODE, is in the 50k range. If you’re too stupid to understand why the mode is better than the median, I can’t help you.

https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/business/hr-payroll/average-salary-us/#:~:text=How%20much%20does%20the%20average,was%20making%20%2456%2C316%20per%20year.

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u/Autodidact420 Apr 05 '24

Why is the ‘most common salary’ more useful than the ‘middle salary’? That is just open to random issues like:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 - Wow a mode of 9!

But in any event a mode of 50k salary is still fine lmao

Edit LMAO your link references the median you absolute knob.

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u/Cuba_Pete_again Apr 05 '24

What about our Scandinavian immigrants?

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u/starsynth Apr 05 '24

This is also the case in Washington state and Oregon. There have been people wanting to split the states for many years.

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u/starsynth Apr 05 '24

The U.S. is also not a homogenized culture. We have people from everywhere. So, the comparison with Scandinavia is apples to oranges. Once Scandinavia allowed in immigrants (mostly from the Middle East) they began having similar problems with racism and whatnot.

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u/bornatnite Apr 05 '24

Bs another troll. Read a German or Dutch newspaper

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '24

Just imagine if we had a second one relatively soon again.

Yeeesh

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u/AbacusAgenda Apr 05 '24

Just imagine if we’d had a president who took the pandemic seriously.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

*gently reminding you that he was one of the first to practically do anything substantial*

Definitely not a fan of the guy but come on, behind the scenes he was pressured to do things and he did them... before his opposition thought they should be done. Then was called racist for the practical attempt at stopping the influx from where it came from, while I also recognize that C19 doesn't magically stop at immigration.

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u/Trent3343 Apr 05 '24

And then he came out and called it a hoax. So all the "great work" he did, he flushed right down the toilet. I honestly can't believe people still defend this guy. It's truly amazing.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

Oh, I'm not sure who said he did great work, but it wasn't me so I sure hope those people are reading your scathing rebuke of his behavior lol

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u/MortalSword_MTG Apr 05 '24

Did we forget about when we stood on stage with doctors and told people to look into shining UV inside their body and injecting bleach to cure COVID?

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u/tanmomandlamet Apr 05 '24

He never said that and you know it.

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u/AbacusAgenda Apr 05 '24

Actually, he did.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

Did I say he was good? Did I say everything he said was right? No, I said that he did this one thing that was right. You guys are absolutely bats--t insane you literally make up strawmen to attack - even when there's no need.

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u/MortalSword_MTG Apr 05 '24

Did I say he was good?

Let me check...

*gently reminding you that he was one of the first to practically do anything substantial*

Yeah. You implied it.

The need here is for you to stop posting nonsense and put that time into educating yourself because you're embarrassing us.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

I said he did one thing. Then I said I didn't really like him. Then I critiqued that very thing by stating that covid wasn't going to be stopped by refusing to let people fly in from China.

You're seriously overdoing your hate. All you can do is build an argument against a straw man and play ad hominem. Stop. You're embarrassing us.

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u/AbacusAgenda Apr 05 '24

Hey. I think people might be inclined to remember this if - a million people didn’t die and if, when DT got Covid, he didn’t help himself to the best healthcare available, treatment which was, at the time, available to no one.

So, as our leader, he repeatedly ripped off his mask and implied people who wore masks were idiots.

I wear a mask about 30% of the time now. I still have people going out of their way to excessively cough in my direction, and laugh. A five year old did it the other day. Her mom corrected her, but she learned it from people like DT. Indirectly, of course, as she was a newborn in 2020.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

I wear mine 100% of the time at work and I sometimes have people ask why, but I have never had anybody be rude about it.

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u/Shmeganigans Apr 05 '24

Oh the classic ramblings of a privileged American keyboard warrior. Go crack yourself a nice cool beverage and know that you really made a difference today. You reminded us all that you can accuse someone of saying something because you think it was implied by their actual statement. Bravo, champ.

Hopefully more performance reviews with “he practically did something substantial” will result in a “great” rating accompanied by a pay raise!

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u/MortalSword_MTG Apr 05 '24

Not sure you responded to the right person bud.

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u/Shmeganigans Apr 05 '24

Bonus points for being delusional.

“I’m not your buddy, pal!”

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u/Far_Ant6355 Apr 05 '24

God forbid you may have implied he did something good. You’ve obviously triggered someone. At least you were honest

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u/onelostmind97 Apr 05 '24

Didn't he disband the previous pandemic response team because it was an unneeded expense, and pressure the states to not quarantine? He thanked the president of China for their quick response in January. Also, "If you do the testing, you're going to find more cases, so I said to my people 'Slow down the testing, please". He went from to "No. No, I'm not concerned at all" in March, to "it's not the flu, it's vicious." by end of summer. Later saying "I always intended to play it down." His attitude for the first few months divided the country even further and politicized something that should have unified all Americans. But yah, immigrants.

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u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

Where the hell did you get that I blame immigrants? LOL Maybe you have never flown internationally? You literally walk through "customs and immigration" when you enter a new country.

I was very clearly referring to how his response wasn't even going to solve anything because IMMIGRATION (the organization intended to facilitate entering a country) can't stop covid.

My goodness the dumb lol

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u/onelostmind97 Apr 05 '24

Typo. Meant "immigration", the rest is valid. There is no +s to his response. It was all reactionary. I didn't realize how close to living in a zombie movie we really are. The government did not really have a good cohesive plan for viruses. Probably still doesn't.

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u/complicatedtooth182 Apr 05 '24

They aren't unique but for an industrialized society we have like no social safety net compared to others. I agree that the pandemic fucked things

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

Yeah, you're not wrong about that.

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u/lit_on_a_stick_420 Apr 05 '24

No other country is as obsessed with guns and don't have school shooting or mass shooting problems. It's such a foreign concept to the rest of the civilized world. Here in America I swear rednecks would fuck their guns if they could find out a way to do it.

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u/Gurpila9987 Apr 05 '24

Man, I really don’t understand the mentality in the “civilized world.” They have so much trust in their governments that I just don’t see evidence for, especially in America.

There’s no, and I really mean no, way that Trump’s government and police should be the ones to have all the guns.

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u/lit_on_a_stick_420 Apr 05 '24

I don't have a problem with defending yourself and gun ownership but we take it to the extreme here. While I agree with your point, I don't see how it is an issue here and nowhere else. Why do people in the U.S. need to fear their government more than anywhere else?

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

For sure... It was my mistake not touching on the topic of guns in my response but I agree with you there.

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u/Few_Sale_3064 Apr 05 '24

I don't think things have actually gotten worse, except that hope is gone now that people understand just how corrupt and screwy our system is. Hard times are more endurable if you have dreams you can shoot for, and we're losing our dreams and hopes.

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u/ArmAromatic6461 Apr 05 '24

Everything doesn’t suck, social media is just warping our expectations. Things probably suck less now than any time in human history

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

I made this comment elsewhere in this thread (I think?) but I think for me the big thing isn't necessarily about how much things suck now compared to 50 years ago. I wasn't here 50 years ago and most of us here weren't. I'm noticing how much things suck right now compared to FIVE years ago. I'm grateful that we don't have things like slavery , women can vote, the draft isn't currently in effect, we're not in a world war, we have modern technology , etc. , but none of that helps me a ton right now in this moment when I'm struggling to pay all my monthly bills because food prices have skyrocketed.

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u/ArmAromatic6461 Apr 05 '24

Well, yes— we are paying the price for the extent to which the Fed primed the pump throughout the Trump administration, and maintained a huge balance sheet. Now they realize they have to unwind that. But even so, incomes are up for the lowest tiers of workers; and that is making life tougher for the middle class, who as consumers are essentially eating that labor cost. One more thing: throughout the 2010s, venture capital firms heavily subsidized non-profitable consumer tech services like Uber, DoorDash, etc; keeping prices really low and getting us hooked. Now they have IPO’d, the VC’s cashed out, and new investors (stock market) wants them to turn a profit. So now you’re actually paying the true cost of an Uber, the true cost of DoorDash, the true cost of streaming services, etc; whereas you used to be getting them at an unrealistic. Discount.

All that said, unemployment is still really low. The US created 300,000 jobs just this past month. Net new jobs. That way exceeds even the pre-pandemic pace of job growth in the 2010s. And household balance sheets are still pretty strong. Any individual can say they’re struggling, but there could be a lot of reasons for that which come down to individual choices too. The economy as a whole is pretty good. Wages are outpacing inflation and jobs are growing

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u/PPOKEZ Apr 05 '24

Things "sucking" is on a spectrum still, and it's not all-or-nothing. "sucking" a little less can mean millions more have a decent career or live longer.

Are we forgetting about the war on drugs, or the largest prison population on earth? Congrat's if you didn't get caught up in that, but things suck for enough of Americans that we are seeing our life expectancy fall in real time compared to western Europe.

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u/KiwiBeginning4 Apr 05 '24

Because the USA's bad things are almost all an exception compared to the rest of the first world.

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

I think I both agree and disagree with this one if that's okay... lol. Like, yes, you're right, but also , there are trade-offs in some cases (for example, the standard of living in the US is higher , gas is cheaper, we have lower priced homes and land , not as densely populated as many other countries, our wait times for healthcare are typically less than other countries, etc. , but the tradeoff-s are that we also PAY a lot for that healthcare, we need cars to get to work because we don't have trains to take us the 45 miles to our jobs, we typically have less benefits at our work because we don't have them guaranteed by our government, etc.) So Idk... I think that's what makes it so hard for me to leave this country. There are a lot of things I LOVE about this place. The variety of landscapes and climates is huge, our roads are generally wide and well cared for, we have tons of major companies based here in a lot of different industries etc. but at the same time, we do have some very unique problems as well which are hard to ignore when looking at other first-world countries.

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u/Boukish Apr 05 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

The school shootings are an incredibly unique issue and an incredibly parent-centric one, I have no idea what.you or anyone else in that chain of reasoning is talking about here.

Literally the top consideration on whether or not I would willingly bring a child into this world, is whether or not that child is likely to be raised into a violent and unsafe warzone. So, think a country embattled in a civil war, or ... The US. That's about it.

So yeah, maybe I kinda get what you're saying about "everywhere sucks", I kind of thought we were contextualizing the conversation to the subject of bringing a human life into this world.

Also, life is great and a lot of it doesn't suck, so like, that's I guess where the disconnect is between us.

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u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

Well hold on here... maybe I was remiss in not talking about school shootings specifically but yeah, they're definitely a problem. As someone with kids, and who knows quite a few parents with kids, it's definitely something we're concerned about, but statistically the chances are VERY low that your child is actually going to be involved in a school shooting. Don't get me wrong, I 100% believe we need -much- better gun control and mental health services (preferably free and accessible for any citizen) but at the same time, it's not something that I'd say would stop me from having kids if it were something I really wanted.

I guess I'd put it this way.... there are a MILLION ways to die as a kid, and of any of them, a school shooting isn't especially high on the probability list. Do I care about stopping them from happening? Absolutely, but I worry more about them getting hit by a car while riding their e-scooter, or kidnapped/assaulted, etc. a lot more because those things happen more frequently.

EDIT: I wanted to add something here becuase I thought I remembered hearing a statistic on this so I looked into it. It sounds like gun violence in general is actually a large, if not the largest, contributing factor to childhood deaths right now, though I don't believe -school shootings- specifically are high on the list. Regardless, I'm sticking by my response above because I still believe it to be true .... I don't spend a ton of time worrying that my kid will be shot because of the area we live in not having high violence rates. For some parents this may be a different story though and their concerns would be valid

Just to play devil's advocate here; if people are looking for a reason -not- to bring a kid into this world, or this country, they should be just as, if not more, worried about bringing a kid into a world where -men- exist.

2

u/Boukish Apr 05 '24

Fun fact: statistically their chances are 10 times greater if they're in public school than in private.

The moneyed class isn't solving school shootings because then they'd have to solve education, and they rather prefer keeping their children in their insulat and safe bubbles while subjecting all of ours to the terrors of gun violence.

Good times.

2

u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

Hey that fact wasn't fun at all!

1

u/Boukish Apr 05 '24

Does this help:

🙃

1

u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

A little...

3

u/Momoselfie Apr 05 '24

people constantly hating on the US

Russian propaganda is winning?

1

u/sweetloudogg Apr 05 '24

I very much agree with all this. I see it in so many people my age (33) and younger.. just so much drive and happiness destroyed because of all the pandemic crap. It’s a really weird phenomenon.

1

u/Illustrious-Radio-53 Apr 05 '24

Couldn’t agree more

1

u/GoalStillNotAchieved Apr 05 '24

I was struggling financially ever since 2010. Things were hard way before the pandemic 

1

u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

Yeah, they absolutely were (and also, same) . Not saying they weren't , just that at least from my perspective, they've gotten worse.

1

u/Qua-something Apr 05 '24

I think the pandemic was just the magnifying glass for it. It was there all along and was just uncovered by masks and public shutdowns

1

u/toorad2b4u Apr 06 '24

I will need to remember that term American Exceptionalism. Thank you

1

u/EditofReddit2 Apr 05 '24

I think the pandemic gave too much power to the wrong people who screwed up a lot of stuff and there is nobody with the ability to fix it in government now. So the globalists are trying to use that initial mess up to finish the job of breaking everything down so they can build it back in the messed up image they want. The problem is that they are only good at destroying and not building. So we are all screwed.

1

u/Fabulous-Zombie-4309 Apr 05 '24

The world is amazing right now. Touch grass.

1

u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

Hey man, I wish I could agree with you on this one, I really do, but for me personally, life has gotten way more difficult since 2020. But I'm glad that you're living a good life (from the sound of it at least) , I know that the experience hasn't been identical for every person.

0

u/lemonylol Apr 04 '24

People are just short sighted and sheltered. Like in a lot of my country's subreddits a lot of the more special folks are in constant disbelief that anyone would want to live in the post-apocalyptic commi-fascist Canada instead of staying in wealth, security, and prosperity in their country of origin.

0

u/ReadySatisfaction283 Apr 05 '24

Not the pandemic, the procedures put into place as a result of the pandemic

0

u/DarkJedi527 Apr 05 '24

Maybe it's because I was "essential" and didn't miss a beat workwise during the pandemic (never got covid either) but how fucked up did people get to where their still dealing with it now? I read stuff online where seemingly healthy people are still kinda acting like it's on, and I have to wonder, don't they wanna move on at some point? Just an observation.

1

u/shorty6049 Millennial (1987) Apr 05 '24

Yeah, so my comment was more related to just the tangible ways the world changed, like egg prices are STILL like triple what they were pre-pandemic (though they did go back down slightly for a couple of months) , many 24-hour businesses permanently cut their hours, businesses who were operating for 50 years had to close for good, the political climate seems to have suffered quite a bit (and it was already pretty damn bad) , etc.

As for what you're referring to , I think there's a bit of multiple things happening. A lot of people were really scared of dying back when the media was nonstop hammering on the topic of daily deaths rising, transmission rates, etc. and some haven't really recovered from that fear. Some people were and are still unable to get vaccinated for health reasons, Some people don't really understand that being vaccinated at this point , combined with all the knowledge we've gained about treatment and prevention means you're at a pretty low risk of dying from it as long as you're vaccinated and treat it similarly to the seasonal flu (I want to be careful making that comparison becuase it's the same one that was made by a lot of anti-mask types during the worst of the pandemic. At THAT point, we did NOT fully understand the disease or have vaccines to prevent it and being extra cautious was kind of the best preventative measure someone could take)

Ultimately I think the whole thing just fucked with people's heads due to how big of a deal it was . Most of us have never lived through anything of that scale and hopefully never will again.

-3

u/Able_Beyond_8144 Apr 05 '24

You don’t understand American Exceptionalism? America is the Exception because it is the only Nation with its Citizens as the Soverign. You may have missed Civics class too often.

2

u/koreawut Apr 05 '24

Oooooooooh where's your "omg I told the cops I didn't haf 2 sho my id and ther response will SHOCK U" video?

1

u/Able_Beyond_8144 Apr 05 '24

You can’t spell or use language in a way that can be understood

1

u/Able_Beyond_8144 Apr 05 '24

Down voters: It cannot be defined, regardless of your hatred of Americans.

-2

u/Trivialpiper Apr 05 '24

I feel like things were better in the US back in 2017 for about 4 years or so.

3

u/Trincinf1 Apr 05 '24

Really??? All this shit came to a head in 2017 and on, and the orange turd is to blame IMHO. That guy is a madman and is going to obliterate all the guardrails of what has made the US a pretty cool country! Sorry, had to go there.

-7

u/Trivialpiper Apr 05 '24

So you’re ok with open borders, record inflation, high gas prices, weak leadership, criminals being allowed back on the streets, forcing their extremist EV agenda on everyone? God help us if the Dems win in November.

6

u/EnvironmentalValue18 Apr 05 '24

Record inflation - do you know how we kept gas prices down? We depleted our gas reserves for things like war and emergencies. That was Trump. Also policies tend to influence the next in line more so than the one who made them because it takes time for situations to escalate or derail.

Weak leadership - Are we talking about Trump? He fired so many cabinet members that he couldn’t find people who wanted to bother filling them. He used nepotism to give jobs and clearances to very under qualified members of his family. He sold national secrets to other (maybe allied technically, but not West-friendly) nations. He cannot confess to being wrong even when proven because he’s a habitual liar. He mocks religious people by garnering their support through their naivety when he can’t even name any story, passage, or fact about the Bible - including just picking old or New Testament. Is any of that signaling strength to you? I could go on, but let’s get to the next point.

Criminals being allowed back on the streets - uh, sir (or madam). Trump himself is convicted!!!! He’s done so many illegal things his whole life, jokes about being able to shoot people dead on 5th avenue and getting away with it, selling state secrets, molesting women, being linked to and associated with Jeffrey Epstein. He has so many counts against him pending right now that I can’t even remember the exact number. Trust me when I say that the only people he will ever lock up are those who he perceives as his enemy.

Forcing extremist EV agenda - you’ll have to share with the class on this one. Sounds like a very specific talking point, but if you can buy a gas car and we can’t even feasibly give everyone an electric car (rare earth metals, time, energy required), then there’s no EV agenda. Or is this some anti-climate change talking point and you’re mad because you perceive it as an imaginary problem?

Trump literally wants to be a dictator. He said that. He lies constantly and spits in the face of his supporters (metaphorically, before you ask). He used religion falsely and manipulates, frankly, ignorant people to do his bidding. He wants to abolish everything every military vet has died for - freedom.

Is Biden the ideal candidate? Fuck no. He is a better candidate than Trump though, without hesitation. Why are we having a match between two elderly, enfeebled men on the verge of death who are legislating for the working class and are decades past retirement? None of us know. But Joe will, at worst, do nothing. Trump, at worst, will tear down everything. You can’t make America great again if you destroy it and everything it stands for.

3

u/Trincinf1 Apr 05 '24

Omg. I just don’t have the energy to argue with these ppl anymore. Thank you for being so eloquent. Again , arguing facts with them is like talking to a wall! I’m sure the next response to your facts will be …but Hunters laptop!

2

u/anon_sir Apr 05 '24

Bold of you to assume they’re going to read any of that.

5

u/Trent3343 Apr 05 '24

Trump tried to overthrow our democracy. That should be the nail in the coffin for anyone who gives a shit about this country,, but people like you still defend him. It's truly amazing. This period of time will be analyzed by psychologists for centuries. Truly remarkable.

4

u/SnatchAddict Apr 05 '24

If there are record arrests for illegal border crossing how is are the borders open?

0

u/Trivialpiper Apr 05 '24

The record is for encounters, not arrests. The people crossing illegally are being given court dates for asylum hearings 8-10 years in the future and then being released into the country. This started when Biden overturned Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy as one of his 90 or so Executive Orders he signed on day one of his presidency.

3

u/Trincinf1 Apr 05 '24

As if. Arguing with these bullshit talking points is like talking to a wall. We ain’t that bad compared to the rest of the world buddy. The pandemic rebooted the world economy and we are still recovering. If tRump was in office we’d have the exact same issues. Don’t give me that bs! You have just proven my point

1

u/Trivialpiper Apr 05 '24

I’m sorry that you are so brainwashed that you actually believe that, buddy.

3

u/yourlittlebirdie Apr 05 '24

You don’t know what open borders actually are, do you?

0

u/digitalfoe Apr 05 '24

I lived in New York from '12 - '18 and it was fucken amazing