Dienstag, 19. November 2013

Unbelievable 'Merica

Someone posted a link the other day and when I curiously followed the promising title I found THIS ARTICLE.

Isn't it great?

Well, I don't know if the things people mention within are great. At least there are a lot of questionable values reported so no wonder people from out of country cannot believe this is true unless they have seen it. But putting apart my always judging mind those people sure talk about a lot of things I experienced myself. However here's my personal list (sorry for any repetition..):


This country's got so many crazy religious people and everything is influenced by (mainly christian) religious believes, even the constitution, which is probably why the US gets into so much trouble with countries of other major religious believes and despite the fact that this country presents itself as a liberal one.

Lots of kids get pregnant in high school or shortly after - because they are bored and they didn't get educated about birth control (for the super religious crowds that permit lots of schools to do sex education and tell their kids to wait until they get married instead).

More people are fat. Being fat is supported by the government. By subsidizing corn (as an example) unhealthy and fattening products like corn syrup that cover the supermarket shelves over here are so much cheaper and the big companies get so much more money out of producing them (and adding tons of corn syrup) than lets say apples that people buy almost exclusively crappy food. Being fat is also supported by supermarkets who provide electric scooters for exhausted people to shop more crap. But that doesn't surprise us, it helps people to shop more..

Cars are huge. A midsize car here is in the XL class in europe. And it will suck probably two to three times as much gas. So basically if you drive around in one it's like you always take two cars for a ride.

But that's not a problem because most of the people do not think about energy as something valuable anyways. Instead it seems like an endless good so switching off the TV or the lights when you're not in the room or checking the energy efficiency when buying a new fridge is no common thing to do. Oh, does the word energy efficiency exist here?

By the way fridges are huge, too. Almost as big as a small german car.

Here in Florida a four person household usually has at least four cars.

Nobody rides a bike to go to work. Some people ride bikes but only as exercise/amusement. Most people here in Inverness ride tricycles. The ones you lay in. It looks like cycling on your couch. Where's my bag of chips?

People have chips for lunch. - And a huge soda. (Out of a styrofoam container.) I guess I need to repeat the first part: People have chips for lunch.

People celebrate other people who went to other countries to kill people in the name of freedom (and god). Those people are called veterans. Almost everybody was a veteran or is related to a veteran. They are heros. (That's what most people believe.)

Knowledge about the rest of the world is not a thing here. I forgot the details but when I was canvassing I met a lot of funny ideas about european geography and what people in germany do or don't do, have or maybe not have? Like microwaves...
People do not read the international politics pages in the newspaper that anyways are kind of slim.

Toilet paper is expensive. Recycled toilet paper even more so. I don't understand!

Everybody is on pills. If you're not sick you take them to not get sick. But you probably are so you will take your meds.

Some health food stores do not sell healthy foods at all but "healthy pills" instead: food supplements and vitamins.

Places that call themselves pharmacy don't just sell medicin but also junk food and cigarettes. Well, you just need to think of pharmacy as drug store and voila it totally makes sense!

Baking means to throw together a cake mix according to the directions and bake it. How else would you do it? No really, Sisto came back from work the other day and told me about a recipe that had been laying on the table which literally told you to throw together this and that baking mix. "You really need to try this cake, it's sooo good!"

Good beer exists. It's not the cheap big brand stuff, that actually tastes like lemonade to me, but there's a whole universe of micro brews (as they are called) that can be quite different and experimental. Like all kinds of pumpkin ale just to name a seasonal and common variety.

I haven't found downtown areas like they exist in europe where cars are not allowed and small(er) shops line the streets. Everything is accessible by car. So this is one reason why it's hard for me to explain how living "in town" right now (which anyway is just a small village) is different from not living in town. Maybe just because the distances to stores are shorter.

Raw vegan food is kind of big in the healthy alternative lifestyle scene (which you can also find over here). You can get raw foods at health food markets and there's raw food restaurants all over the U.S. Probably not everywhere but in a lot more places than you'd think.

These days too many people of my age cannot live by themselves because the wages are so shitty that they are forced to live either with their parents like the folks Sisto works with or in shared houses like people in Portland.

This country is incredibly large, includes vast areas with very little people and unbelievable nature. you should definitely come and see all of that!



//This is just my personal point of view no more or less. I currently live in Florida and there sure are some things that are less obvious in other states or do not even apply at all.

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