Positive things about living in the US

being able to throw poopy toulet paper down the toilet is pretty nice, so that you don't have to see it all piled up in public restrooms whoch can be kinda gross.

along the same lines, reliably having toilet paper in public bathrooms instead of having to bring your own everywhere is pretty nice

IME, and surprisingly, the public libraries here are better than other countries

free highways, keeping right except to pass, cars not honking all the time

ITT: People listing things that aren't unique to America because they've never left and don't have any point of comparison

black american art and music

Free heavy metal poisoning

Not being subject to US foreign policy.

Mfw i'm not subject to u.s. foreign policy:

Mfw i'm subject to u.s. domestic policy

Ice with drinks without asking

Free flowing treats

The food is amazing bc of the diversity

I would challenge your bathroom claim, they may as well not exist and are disgusting

Something I’m old enough to remember… it used to be that it was reasonably affordable to buy a high-mileage used car and just drive it until it couldn’t run anymore, then get another one. That’s why my dad did his whole life. Driving sucks I would infinitely prefer public transport but if you’re gonna make car ownership a requirement to live at least make it cheap.

Then Obama did the Cash for Clunkers program, which absolutely obliterated the cheap used car market and it hasn’t recovered since. It was a not-so-hidden giveaway to the car companies because it put a lot of people into situations where you had to buy a new car, thanks Obama.

the free access to public bathrooms is increasingly less true for parts of some cities that are trying to be hostile to the unhoused population.

lots of locked bathrooms and "CUSTOMERS ONLY" crap. very exciting stuff to experience if you've gotta go while walking around in an unfamiliar city.

when people complain about shit and piss on the streets of their city, as far as I'm concerned they are telling on themselves for living in a city that gate keeps extremely basic facilities.

People only speak one language, removing the burden of needing to speak multiple languages.

indigenous nations

i get to live in a place with bears, wolves and lions

chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy

weed's more legal than in most countries

big enough that you can still disappear into the bushes

legally enshrined firearm worship inadvertently means you can defend yourself against fascists

If you enjoy sugar than oh boy are we the country for you

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_tea

I hope sweet tea is as horrifying to non-Americans as it is to me.
- Stop the sweet tea bigotry !
- So it's just iced tea with a fuck load of sugar in it? Why?

I've never been to USA and I've never been in a restaurant that didn't offer free tap water, I feel like this myth comes from yankees going to the worst tourist traps available

most of these depend on the state you live in but I live in commiefornia so:

weed
lgbt people
secular
lots of protected wilderness you can walk around in
can talk shit about politicians
can take money from casinos

Public land. There is so much of it in yankieland and it really is so amazing. However, Native Americans should be in control of all public land as a part of landback.

It's very pretty. Like there are truly, wonderously beautiful places in the us. There's genuine wilderness. Not much, but there's some. The people can be very cool. There's a lot of good food.

I drove through the Rockies a couple years ago (California -> Nevada -> Utah -> Colorado) and it was breathtaking. Every hour the terrain changed shape and color into something more beautiful. I never saw anything like it in the Bible Belt where I grew up. Literally all I did was drive on the interstate to get to my destination, yet it felt like a vacation.
- It's a gorgeous drive. You're in the desert the whole time, but I never knew there were so many kinds of desert.

Library density is unparalleled.

You say that but all my American friends report a lack of libraries in their areas

you can turn right at red lights and stores are open at 11pm

Right on red definitely kills people
- Yeah and it makes cycling/walking more dangerous
- If you're scared just say so. It's okay I'll drive.
Do other places not have right on red?
- It's not universal. Europe usually doesn't have it. The UK doesn't have the left on red equivalent. Japan also doesn't permit left on red. South America usually doesn't have it either.
  
  Mainland China usually has right on red from what I've seen.

Honestly despite everything, the US is overall extremely diverse. If you're in a major city you have access to a huge amount of cultural diversity and it's all available to you. You can go to street festivals. You can go to restaurants. You can go to art shows and poetry slams and book readings and movies and music and anything and everything and it's all right around the corner from you if you just go look. It's one of the best parts of the US for sure.

People love to shit on the south, but the food is delicious. You'll need a nap afterwards, but it's unlike anything I've had elsewhere in the country.

Moved outta Texas and literally the only things I miss are my 1 real world friend, and the tasty food options

Once you've eaten at Freebirds, Chipotle is truly exposed for the inexcusable trash that it is. DRENCHING RICE IN LIME AND CILANTRO IS NOT SEASONING IT GODDAMNIT.
- Texas barbecue is unmatched. I'll rag on it all day but damn nowhere else really touches the same quality
Love me some sweet tea (sugary leaf water).

me

Diversity, both of people and geography. You can find a much wider spectrum of people (ethnicities, etc.) than in many other countries, and experience almost every biome the planet has to offer with some truly spectacular natural features.

We are, of course, doing our best to get rid of both those positive things.

If you’re queer, American liberal cities are still some of the best places to live in the world in terms of living standards, diversity and acceptance.

Living standards is highly questionable, the average non-male queer, especially trans person I meet is constantly being threatened with homelessness. Like half of them have resorted to sex work and lived/worked in really sketchy illegal conditions at some point too

I'm sure there's a ton of homeless trans women too that I just don't meet
- Yeah I should have mentioned being queer and having the financial ability to live in large liberal American cities.

The level of junk food so much more advanced. I'm vegan, I went to the Northeast ten years ago, and the amount and quality of vegan ice cream, cakes, etc blew me away.

Burgers

My city is one of the best places on earth to be trans, as far as being normalized and culturally-supported. The rest of this country is very not, but this oasis is pretty rad.

... Mind pming what city?...

I'm pretty sure nearly every country has those three to some extent.

???

NYC public metro is pretty cool, maybe it's just because I was raised in NYC but I still think it's a cool thing. Too bad they're going to sell it to some Israeli dumbfuck when Zionism collapses.

Wait can you elaborate on that last bit
- NY Gov Kathy Hochul slashed congestion pricing which cuts Metro Transit Agency funding which will have a ripple effect throughout US's already aging infrastructure. Rightists in NYC have also been creating a moral panic around NYC's subway being unsafe and the cop mayor Adams is upping police presence in the subway dramatically. The only reason you'd continually beat your public infrastructure to death is if you want to privatize it. Who better to gobble up US public infrastructure than the Zionist ruling class whose capital flight is going to happen sooner rather than later?
  
  Like holy shit they spent billions on the OMNY payment system even though fares were never a real issue, they are ready to sell this dump to the highest bidder.

Drug culture. Sex culture. People are freaky here and I'm living for it

Source?

Ice in drinks, at least if they clean the ice machine regularly

Nobody ever cleans the ice machine

In some areas, there is an absence of the liberal poverty and imperialist violence that the US usually exports to other countries.

Also arent ~~most of~~ all those "national parks" on stolen land...

Buddy the whole country is on stolen land
- youre damn right, so ALL those national parks are on stolen land

I remember that Americans were more upfront and friendly than other countries. I'm unsure if that's still true.

this depends on where you go and what you're expecting. The way I've always phrased it is like:

People in the south are polite, but not nice.

People in the north are nice, but not polite

And people in the pacific northwest are somehow both nice and polite
- Disagree on PNW lol, Portland and Seattle are some of the most passive aggressive places I've ever been too
- Yeah hard disagree on the PNW. The west coast is extremely passive aggressive. They're neither nice nor polite, they're just couching their rage under passive aggression.
- People up north are not nice from my experience. People in the south are far nicer I think.
It depends on the area I think. I've heard from multiple individuals that people are generally assholes on the east coast, one person told me when he visited California he felt like he was in a Disney movie.
- It's complicated. People on the east coast move fast and speak their minds. If they're mad at you they'll let you know. But at the same time, they can be very helpful and kind, they're just going to be assholes about it. I used to joke that you've finally adjusted to living in Philly when you can tell the difference between "I am going to stab you and then piss on your grave" fuck you and "hey do you want to come over for dinner and meet my mom" fuck you. It's a very aggressive, frank culture, but not necessarily a cruel one.
  
  Meanwhile, down south, there's a whole system of intense social violence built around cruel courtesy. Folks will use phrases like "bless your heart" the way we use "Deeply unserious". Then go over to Texas and you tend to get genuinely, weirdly friendly people. Up in the Midwest folks are superficially polite but really extremely cold and distant. In California everyone's friendly but the stereotype is that it's a superficial friendliness that doesn't reach the eyes. This is, of course, all dependent on race, class, gender, and a dozen other factors.
  
  Folks say there's no culture in the US, but there really is. Deep, complicated cultures with their own norms, problems, joys, dialects. And then you get in to PoC and other minority groups. Like, White Minnesotans have a totally different culture than Hmong Minnesotans, African American Minnesotans, or Somali Minnesotans. There's overlap, but also a huge amount of difference.
- Lived and traveled all over the US. CA has the broadest range of behavior in public. Biggest assholes I've ever seen in my life, who will literally mock complete strangers out loud to their face. Then the kindest, most generous, and caring people you'll ever meet standing right next to them. It's like all the jerks kept getting pushed west at the same time the people who they mistreated tried to migrate there to get away from them. Once they reached the west coast they all kinda settled in.
- This is absolutely a generalisation, but I notice that East coast people have some of that UK snarkiness and bitter sarcasm, and West coast people do that (often fake) positively.
- Were they white? Strangers talk to me way less in the Bay vs when I was in Canada (I'm east Asian)
Every american male ive met irl has ranged in personality from arrogant annoying fuckwad to detestable racist piece of putrid shit. Americans of other genders were ok.

There's no going down from rock bottom?

It's a beautiful country, especially in the West and Americans tend to have fairly high salaries and disposable income

American Fanta