What is America Really Like?

Let's examine this for a minute. I graduated from college in 2010 with a psychology degree, math minor, computer science minor and a lot of physics background. I moved back to my hometown and lived with my parents because of the bad economy, and worked some odd jobs like door-to-door salesman, computer repair technician, freelance writer and whatever I could find.

Eventually, I moved out of my parents' house and into one of my friend's houses, who had become a teacher. In this house, we have a mechanic, a math teacher, a forest fire fighter and myself, all guys. The kind of things we have gone through is ridiculous.

To begin with, one of my family members was involved in a shooting in the 90's and this caused my family to have PTSD. You know, it's just one of those things - pretty much everyone has been involved in a shooting these days.

I mean, that's not the end of it. I lived with a room-mate before moving back in with my parents who was emotionally abusive and suicidal as well as homicidal. At the same time, my sister was living with some room-mates who got into some drug deals and a group of thugs broke into her house to kill and rape her, but she was able to escape by jumping out her second-story window.

When my parents came down to force her to move out of her house a week later, they arrived to find cops there because she had just been robbed at gunpoint.

The mechanic has some female friends he invites over, one of them is his girlfriend. She is extremely nice, but the other day, she decided to get involved with a coc aine deal. Her other friend has a brain tumor because her mother did meth / still does meth, and in addition to this, her father blew his head off with a shotgun in front of her a few months ago.

Pretty much every girl I've talked to has either been raped or abused by someone. The one I met recently is going through similar problems to me...

I have been best friends with girls with eating disorders that eat away at their soul, a darkness that cannot be accurately described. I have dealt with numerous people with trust issues. The dating scene is a complete mess, by the way.

So, let's talk about the economy, shall we? Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of people are sharing houses because of money issues. Finding a good job is extremely hard. Almost all of my friends are either living in groups, with their parents, or with their grandparents.

Oh, what about the dating scene? That's just a joke. If you go out there, expect to deal with drama and disaster. I have gone on a date with a girl, agreed to meet up with her on the weekend, and then found out that she had slept with three different guys between now and then.

Psychological studies have shown that having multiple sexual partners is not healthy for individuals, yet it continues? I'm not even beginning to scratch the surface of abuse, cheating, trust issues, trauma, etc. in the dating scene.

What about communication / friendships? That's a complete failure. Facebook and text-messaging have ravaged people's social skills. There was a recent study that showed that teenagers basically thought being friends was checking out each other's Facebook photo albums and making comments.

I am obviously taking this from a personal angle, so it could just be me. But I come from a high-income family, I went to a private college, etc.

Take what you want out of it, this is my perspective, not an empirical study by any means. How is everyone else in America doing?

Nice rant.

They planned years ago to destroy America from the inside out.

My advice? Immigrate...anywhere lol.

No kidding, at this point, I think it is fairly obvious that some idiots in the government decided to use over 200 million people in a failed social engineering experiment. Governments should seriously stop doing that. I mean, I could be wrong, but it sure seems that way - and psychologists like Skinner openly promoted this kind of thing, social engineering, I mean.

The world is a nice place if you are born into extreme wealth.

If not you live your life as some form of slave with little possibility to escape it.

But this is capitalism, the system people defend out of ignorance.

reply to post by darkbake


At least it sounds like your life is not lacking excitement.
I for one, hate being bored.

Yes, the American woman is a mess!

Ever think about looking for a potential mate in another part of the world that is not as corrupted as the USA?

Just a thought...

if you lie down with dogs you`ll wake up with fleas.
In other words if someone is going to be involved in illegal activities or associate and live with people who are involved in illegal activities then yes bad things WILL happen to them.

While I don't have the kind of problems you have, I will say that I have noticed more and more people getting depressed because they are in a rut..It's trying to keep up the illusion of normalcy..I guess that's why some of these people have fallen into drugs and bad things. We are trying to get out of Illinois..it's very, VERY depressing here. People are getting poorer and the everyday is drab, dull existence. We are thinking about Arizona or California. I know neither of these places are ideal...but where are we to go in the US? The whole place is turned to sh!t..

I have to say I agree with you OP. Our country has gone to heck in a handbasket, and there's no way to motivate the populace to take back their country, due to complete apathy. (my opinion) There are jobs available in ONE state in the US, but housing is an issue, due to the influx of so many new folks from other states.

Now, I do have to say that of the folks I have talked to that are unemployed, many of them give excuses as to why they are unwilling to move in able to not only survive, but thrive. The weather is too cold, I have family where I live....etc etc....Well, to those folks I say you don't really want a job, you want a handout. Although it hasn't been pleasant all the time, we have managed to stay employed throughout this entire mess. Sure, we have had to travel some, so we decided to base our home out of our RV, vs owning property. Yes, this was a conscious decision, made to make our own lives better in the end. I know many have kids at home and don't want to uproot them due to school etc.... well folks, it's alot harder on you to explain why your kids don't have enough food, or the power's off.....

And yes I agree that for the upcoming college and HS grads, life is definitely tougher than it was when I graduated from college. Yes you will have to take whatever job is available. Life is like that. When you get handed lemons, make lemonade! Try thinking outside the box. What skills do you possess that will make you job ready? I don't mean JUST your education. Life skills count for something to employers, even if you don't have a college degree for a particular line of work.

Just my 2 cents.

reply to post by YapTalk

How are you going to do that without moving to another part of the world? Unless you're talking about something like a mail-order bride which doesn't sound like a good idea.

@Neopan100: I'm right there with ya, Illinois sucks.

Originally posted by darkbake

Take what you want out of it, this is my perspective, not an empirical study by any means. How is everyone else in America doing?

edit on 12-1-2013 by darkbake because: (no reason given)

It's not all doom and gloom. I see myself as doing pretty good. Not rich, but not poor either.

I can count the friends I have (and none of them live nearby) on my two hands, with fingers to spare. I consider them to be my extended family. Everyone else is an acquaintance.

The lesson I learned early on was to get rid of my credit cards and pay cash only. For everything. It sounds easy, but is pretty hard to do starting out. Once you are debt free though, it gets better. I call it getting rich slowly. I will say that I do gamble from time to time as well, but only play with what I am willing to lose. I pocket the profits and continue to play the original amount I came with, and when that runs out, I leave. I’m definitely in the black.

Spend on your actual needs and save for your wants. (You NEED food, but WANT that car...get it?)

I also once used to get involved in all the drama of my friends lives. No more. I refuse to be a part of their own self destruction. I’ve been down that road a few times and it does have a tendency to hurt you as well.

I’ll offer my advice, and let them decide. It’s their life after all.

As far as my take on the dating scene, I feel that I am no longer qualified to comment on that as it has been years since I have dated. But on that same note, I have noticed that I seem to be better off without that stress…odd. I guess I’m a reborn virgin. No wait...

I'm not advising you to cut yourself off from humanity and you seem to be pretty smart by pooling resources with others. I hate having a roommate and haven’t had one in decades, but it is still always a option I keep on the table.

I guess overall, you need to observe yourself in a open honest manner as you do others, and if you see the others bringing you down, and there is nothing you can do to help them, then maybe it’s time to cut them out of your life.

It’s never easy, but it is something that must be done from time to time.

Good luck.

reply to post by darkbake


When your talking about the new generation we have to take into effect what is trendy and what is being portrayed through the media which teaches all these young people to be trendy. It is usually the music in media but can also be sports and social events.

The age of this day is to not care about people and get tattoos. It is a style, fad, or trend. The musicians of this day have told the young through theri actions that it is cool to not care about others, and to get tattoos, become obsessive with shaving their bodies, and being taught to hate society that is not in line with the new trend of today.

It is ok to have personal computers in our pocket, it is not a problem that people are walking around looking at computer screens and texting all the time. The problem is that if a person in society walks by this person looking at their personal computer they will not be acknowledged as another human being. There is no such thing as love or respect in the direct world, this is because it has been taught to not love people and not be social with people because they are different and cannot be trusted.

In Europe overall the people are more friendly than North America, in Australia and New Zeland they are more friendly, in Asia they are probably the same, in the middle east they are less friendly, in Mexico and South America they are more friendly.

Yet I love Americans because they have the most freedom. They will and can for the most part reject religion as having any part in running their lives, they reject the government as a power which can directly run thier lives, they are rebels in the sense that we will fight anybody who tells us to do anything, we love being free, making our own decisions and standing out. I don't believe this is all good because of peoples egos but it is originality.

Originally posted by greyer
reply to post by darkbake

 

In Europe overall the people are more friendly than North America, in Australia and New Zeland they are more friendly, in Asia they are probably the same, in the middle east they are less friendly, in Mexico and South America they are more friendly.

ACK! I am offended!

I've traveled this blue marble and have met friendly and rude people the world over. One thing I have noticed though is that US citizens tend to be more up front about their feelings at the moment.

If they don't want to talk to you, they at least let you know. Whereas in other parts of the world, all you get is a surly stare.

Cultural norms I guess.

That said, if you at least try to speak the local lingo, you'll have better luck.

Originally posted by TDawgRex
ACK! I am offended!

I've traveled this blue marble and have met friendly and rude people the world over. One thing I have noticed though is that US citizens tend to be more up front about their feelings at the moment.

If they don't want to talk to you, they at least let you know. Whereas in other parts of the world, all you get is a surly stare.

Cultural norms I guess.

That said, if you at least try to speak the local lingo, you'll have better luck.

Hey, I admit I was Very Very general and not all correct.

But we do agree for the most part, that's what I meant about my creative writing in 'America is rebellious to control.' I love that about America, that even in the new millenium they push to resist any type of control. In the big cities they go on strike and stand with signs in the streets, people do what they want to do, and they push to make sure they are not only doing that but making sure they are doing it. Americans form groups of people and they wouldn't give in to other groups.

In Europe especially western they have kept a type of loyalty character in the civilization, this is especially helpful with respect. I believe the ancient culture in India is also this way opposed to the nearby middle east. The problem with the Middle East is that they have been so good at keeping records of ancient man, they have actually kept track of their lineage for 1000s of years and they have traced the same father for the whole area of countries, but they still disagree on fundamental aspects of religion.

In Asia I say they are the same relatively because it is a large place with many different kinds of people, but they are traditional which means they are conservative in their culture, which will bring out more friendliness, this is also true for Russia.

This feels more like a psychology experiment than a thread about the truth.

reply to post by Obsrvr


Well... I could have ran into a pretty bad crowd, but this is my personal life experience. I give you credit for questioning it, though.

I think that if you put all the different communities in America on a scale, the difference between the two most opposite would be so vast that it would be like different worlds.

In my old community, people were… cold, for lack of a better term. No one looked at each other or smiled. If you're lucky, people have earbuds on. If not, you could feel their music from blocks away. On the roads, people cut one another off, rarely even signaling. In the stores, the checkout stands resembled assembly lines. Smalltalk between the customer and the cashier was unheard of.

In my new community, people are warm. They are courteous, make eye contact and say "hi". There is hardly any noise pollution. On the roads, drivers will let you into their lane. I know a few cashiers on a first-name basis. Heck, our pharmacist has come over to our house on her lunch break to say hi. The local DJ does a thing in April for child abuse, for which my family volunteers. It's just a completely different world.

Well, Op, not trying to preach or anything like that, but you may consider trying to find some friends/roomates that are on the up-and-up.

As for me, I'm a 25 year-old ex sailor who is unemployed and lives with his unemployed brother. I guess I'm not entirely unemployed as I do odd jobs such as hauling scrap metal, and working on peoples cars, plus doing general handy man tasks for people to make ends-meet. So I do have income. Other than that, though, life isn't bad, I eat regularly, have a roof and four walls, and have plenty of friends and family that live nearby. I'll agree, the dating scene is awful, but I'm doing ok right now and seeing somebody. Luckily, though I may not live the most legal lifestyle, I have had no run ins with the police, as neither I, nor my brother do anything to attract their attention. I've always had a fairly optimistic outlook, and that keeps me from being depressed, sure I get down sometimes, but it never lasts long, and I'm usually pretty good at keeping my spirits up these days. Though I'm unemployed and finding gainful employment has been rough, I've been doing all right. As far as my life goes, America is okay, of course, after seeing Malaysia, Thailand, Oman, and Bahrain while in the Navy, I know that I have it better than a lot of people around the world, which is saying something considering I'm not using any government assistance at the moment. However, most of my luck can probably be attributed to the fact that I live in rural Oklahoma, a place where Gas and Groceries are cheaper than most of the country. So, for me, America is doing okay, as long as I look at it from my experiences and the people I know personally, not the clowns I see on TV.
'

Its like you can have anything you want, just depends on how much ass you are willing to kiss or kick to get it.

Those with an aversion to the brown nose or those of timid nature may find the road to success a steep incline.

Will you play ball, or make your own rules? Even if you play ball, there is no guarantee that you will win the game. If you make up the rules as you go along... well that can go either way as well.

Compare your fortune on a global scale. Not so unfortunate now?

Some people are born to wealth, many are born to poverty. Case in point: you were born to a high income family. That gives you a leg up on billions of people.

Sure, there is much to complain about in America. Political corruption, foreign policy, healthcare, economy, a myriad of social issues... but America still has it better than most. See, at the moment we are still going along with the program, playing ball.

Leave people to their drama. Your own will find you soon enough. Some yearn for a boring life.

Sometimes there is only so much we can do for our family and friends.

Dating scene? Two words: Swap Meet.