Do Other Countries Deal With The Same Issues That America Deals With?
 

Although it may be the obvious "yes" answer, I'm curious to know from people across the pond what your opinions are about the issues that seem to take place in America every day. Me living in America, outside perspectives are something I don't get to hear very often.

The reason this question sprung to mind is because of a customer I had a few days ago. He was talking about how hard it is to leave Africa and other countries like Africa, and I'm thinking in the back of my head "well, thankfully America isn't that strict." Do people in other places like the UK or w/e deal with worse things than Americans do? Or do you just laugh at us like we are the crazy country.

I'm genuinely curious on your thoughts.

You'd have to be more specific. Most countries probably deal with issues, but America is huge compared to most European countries, including UK and Ireland, so some issues would not be as prevalent, or even exist at all maybe. For Ireland I can tell you:
Racism: check
Unemployment: Check
Crime, esp gangland crime: check
Drive-by/school/other shootings: generally no, though there are some gang "hits" from time to time
Homelessness: check
Inequality for women: check
Health system up the spout: check
Government corruption: check
Crimes against children: check
Rape: check
Ridiculously lenient court sentences often: check
Carjacking: not really

Gimme some specifics and I can advise you as per Ireland.

Is the leprechaun infestation as bad as they say?

Seems like Americans are absolutely obsessed with race.

200 years of owning people and another 100 of them being second class citizens and it being only a few decades since will do that.

I'm just speaking generally. But your post is perfect for what I'd think about.

That's more so what I'm curious about I guess. I know in America we have gang members, racist attacks, etc. I suppose I'm more curious about what the difference in media etc would be like in another country other than America.

canada is essentially america and the uk mixed but on a smaller scale (imo of course)

in terms of what TH brought up, we also have most of these things, but on a much lower frequency than bigger countries. obviously racism and the like still exist, but because of our multi-cultural mixed pot culture i would say it's much less of a problem here than most places.

in saying that since Trump's rise there has been quite a few politicians and groups who have started to take an anti-immigration stance which is pretty hilarious considering that the average child per household is currently hovering around 0.9-1.1 and we already have quite a low population. not to mention a great immigration policy.

Canada is one that I was really curious about. It doesn't really seem like the kind of place to make headline news about anything, unless Trudeau does something truly spectacular. In my opinion anyway, I rarely hear of anything truly devastating coming from Canada. Is that just my own ignorance, or is Canada really just not the type to go out of their way to make headline news?

No population is low enough.

nah that's a pretty accurate analysis. in a lot of ways i think we're a very passive country that follows what the rest of the world are doing, we definitely have made some big strides in terms of equality and LGBT rights and what not, while they're still controversial within the country (bill c-16, bill m103, etc) i don't think much of it makes headlines outside of the country.

basically i just think because of media we're able to be much more aware of life in America than americans are of life in Canada.

That's probably why a lot of us Americans would prefer to live in Canada. It seems like a lot less bull**** to deal with.

It's unfortunate too, because if you live outside of America, you really do see the bull**** making headline news, though us Americans know better than to believe it. I can't imagine being somebody not familiar with the media, and finding articles that have happened in America, and then later finding out they are false reports.

i will say that the idea that canadians are nicer than americans is totally bull****. i've been to quite a few states on multiple trips to the US and i've never had an interaction that made me think "omg this would never happen in Canada!"

Hopefully it's just the SJW's

Just an observation.

The big one is guns. I get that some people want to own guns but I'm glad we don't have that problem here.

Guns seems to be an America issue. Not sure why. Do other countries have a "deep South" like we do? Like rednecks and the like?

And honestly sometimes I think that a lot of other places in the world don't have as publicized a history of racism, so the bull**** is allowed to simmer under the surface where it can be ignored or swept under the rug far easier.

Africa is not a country.

Sure faith and begorrah tis terrible, so 'tis. :laughing:

I guess I should qualify on racism. Irish people are, you might be surprised to find, historically one of the most racist peoples out there. Might come from dealing with the English so much, or the signs No Blacks, Irish or Dogs when some of ours emigrated and went to the UK. But we're kind of relaxed about it: you don't find so much of the race-on-race crime/violence, though there is some. Generally, Irish people will get into a punchup on the slimmest of pretexts, and it usually has nothing to do with race. I remember a line on a very popular drama crime series, Love/Hate, where one guy, on seeing an oriental lad look over, goes "What's your ****in problem? **** off back to China, you Japanese bastard!" :laughing:

Races tend to co-exist better in Ireland, and though there is still that underlying tone of xenophobia here it's kept mostly in check, and I think you would search long to find an instance of a race riot here. Riots over pubs running out of beer, now that's another story!

I obviously didn't mean it that way. The thought of this came from that discussion indirectly. It just sparked the thought of it.

South Africa is.

Coming from an Irish-American family that does not surprise me in the least. And yeah, our racism is more lowkey. We'll side with whites on pretty much every issue, but have negro and ***** friends aplenty cause of course we don't hate anybody. All those other people just happen to **** up way more than us for reasons.

Maybe the north of England is looked at in a similar way.

Interesting. I'm talking like obvious white trash trailer living Republican deep South. I can't imagine those types of people in other countries for some reason.

nah we have a ton of gun nut hicks here. even if i am in support of the right, they're like super overly passionate about wanting to have an ak47 in their house.

this. i knew people in high school who genuinely werent aware that the slave trade also existed in canada.

And about the gun issue in America, I think that's blown out of proportion to an extent. There's a very vocal minority who are paranoid about gubment taking their guns, a bigger minority who just get defensive about the 2nd Amendment, most of the rest of us who aren't really concerned either way, and then probably a bigger minority of gun regulation advocates on the other side. But most of us don't own guns, don't care about guns, and will probably just grumble a bit if gubment does take our guns. At the very least it's just that right wing minority that keeps gun regulations from passing, and that probably only because they're more organized. All the rest of us are fine with more laws.

Maybe not but Stoke is the first that comes to mind (Midlands but whatever), that would have that kind of image. BNP voters and the like.

If you look at the Muslamic Ray Guns video I've posted a few times on here, that is what I would say the perception of people from the north can be like.

That's interesting. My image for other countries is so fabricated that I make it seem like a better place than where I live now. I've often wondered what it'd be like to live in England or w/e for a year just to experience it.

im gonna move to england and become a hooligan

If you're loaded and the weather is nice I don't think there are many places better to live, depending on where. Some places would fit an American's image of Britishness and others definitely not.

Same for anywhere I guess.

You can come for a drink with me and the rest of the firm if you like. We will take you in and treat you like one of our own lads.

This is the most non-American thing I've ever read.

some day mate, for sure :cool:

Every country "sub-divides": we have Dublin as the Capital (the Big Smoke) and anyone outside that are rednecks, culchies, muck savages etc. But it's a friendly rivalry mostly.
I think it also helps when you're in a country that has not oppressed any other country in its history, and which has in fact been the subject of oppression and occupation for much of it.
You'll get that here, too, mostly anywhere. People in general are friendly and they'll have more questions for you than suspicions. Irish people won't care if you voted for Trump or not, he's like a big pixie to us. He's over there and we're over here and we really don't tend to think of him much, except in a "Oh that Trump! Mine's a Harp lager!" kind of way.

Guns are definitely not an issue here. The gangs have them, some (not all) of the police (Garda) have them, but your average person does not carry. You can get them if you know the right people, apparently, but nobody other than the police would openly display a gun in a public place. Not even a crim.

I don't believe the Celts are native to Ireland.

I just can't seem to put Irish and redneck together for some reason. The concept of it just makes me laugh. I keep seeing a leprachaun shooting up a school. What an odd image.

(3:36)
About as native as it gets really. Do you truly want to go back to the Bronze Age and the original Gaels?
I think we use redneck as just a term for someone (typically, a farmer) who is out in the sun a lot more than us civilised city folk.

Yes I do. Your people did bad **** to other people to get where you are just like pretty much every other people on Earth. Where's the justice for the Gaels, god damn it?

The Gaels and the Druids are beyond the reach of justice, my friend. And if we weren't paid back for that by over seven centuries of English occupation then I don't know what to tell you.

Two wrongs don't make a right, and they certainly don't bring back extinct peoples. But way to show your lack of concern for crimes against humanity so long as they happened "back in the day".