"Americans who don't travel, who 80% don't have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naïveté,"
Fuck this dumb cunt and the other champagne socialists. Most Americans are working two jobs just to not be homeless. Sorry not all of us got to blow Harvey Weinstein to become millionaires. I might actually embrace the Bernie Bro mentality and say we need a 99% tax on actors.
The whole "Americans don't have passports" thing always cracks me up.
We're the fourth largest country on the planet by area, with the first two being Russia and Canada. Russia and Canada are both largely unpopulated, or very sparsely populated, with the vast majority of people living in around 20%-30% of that area. Sure, US also has plenty of low population areas, but it's not nearly as much as the others. Even China, the third largest, has more areas that aren't really inhabited, from what I can tell. Furthermore, the US has much more people than Russia or Canada, meaning you're going to have more populated places.
So America may very well be the largest country geographically when you take populated areas into account, depending on how all that is broken down and measured. At least second. We also have a bunch of geographical diversity, as well as diversity of states.
Point is, we're not Europe, a collection of often tiny countries. Americans could (and I'm not saying they do) travel more without a passport than Europeans generally do with a passport. Also, we can go to Hawaii, Alaska, and outlying territorial islands without need of a passport as well.
Americans simply don't need passports in the same way Europeans often do.
EDIT: For those curious, it's a bit hard to measure, but I believe USA is third in amount of populated area, after India and China. India isn't as big as the US, but is packing such a massive amount of people in there they populate a lot of the area. Similar with China; already larger in area, and with a lot more people to fit. USA is almost as big as all of Europe. Bigger, if you exclude Russia.
I was talking to someone from Europe before that had never been to the U.S. and had no concept of just how big it is. They couldn’t believe it when I said you could start at the bottom of California drive 18 hrs and still be in California.
These idiots live like the French aristocracy and just can’t comprehend why us unwashed masses would load up our families in the minivan and drive to something reachable in a day as opposed to just going to Monaco for a week.
I just watched a Ken Burns documentary about Lewis and Clark, the first American citizens to reach the west coast. It took them 2.5 years and ~8000 miles (13000 km) in total. That's quite mind-boggling for a European, maybe Russians can comprehend it.
I had a friend who wanted to fly from the UK to NYC, spend a day or two touring around and then casually drive down to Florida to go to DisneyWorld. He was shocked when I showed him on the map it would take ~ 18 hours of non-stop driving to make it.
I had a similar discussion once regarding the whole planes vs. trains thing and in the process blew their minds, by showing a Google Maps screenshot of driving distance Seattle - Dallas (31h) and how that would look in Europe: Lisbon (Portugal) - Warsaw (Poland) - crossing 6 countries in total.
Put another way; I can spend several thousand dollars on exorbitant flight fees to someplace that I've never been to, filled with people that likely hate me, and more than likely don't speak my own language.
Orrrrrrrr...
I can spend around a thousand dollars or so and spend a week or two gallivanting across a continent with more environments that Europeans can ever dream of, of various cultures, of some really good food, head home whenever I like, and actually talk and interact with other fucking Americans, for good or for ill?
There are more unique biomes, climates and cultures in America than most entire continents.
No country in the world has as much travel value as just going across the US. The only thing it lacks is "long history" which is increasingly getting destroyed or twisted everywhere else.
People in Florida just go to other parts of Florida for vacation.
The Northwest has so many different climates it was compared to Zelda Breath of the Wild by MatPat. I could drive an hour and be in a totally different looking area.
A friend was visiting from Japan, and he kept taking pictures at the rest stops. I finally asked why he was doing that since there was nothing there.
"Exactly", he said back. I forgot how populated as samey Japan could be.
Americans simply don't need passports in the same way Europeans often do.
Not even, most of europe is in the EU and you don't need a passport to go to other EU countries, just an ID card(Hell some non-EU countires do accept EU ID cards in lieu of a passport if you're just visiting).
We also don't need a passport to "travel." There are 50 states with more things to see and do than any one person could manage in their lifetime, travelling to other shithole countries is not required.
A first-time passport application costs $165 ($130 application fee + $35 acceptance fee). That's just for the book. You also need specific passport photos (because your phone won't cut it), which cost around $17. You're now $182 in the hole, and you haven't even bought airline tickets yet.
You also need specific passport photos (because your phone won't cut it), which cost around $17.
It's a racket. Your phone will cut it. I used to work somewhere that did passport photos as a side business. We had a fucked up white screen, and my phone even a decade ago had a nicer camera than what we used. Which was itself a phone, I believe. And don't even get me started on that fucking printer.
It's just more bullshit and unnecessary regulation, where a bunch of people are getting their cut of the money along the way.
American with passport here, fairly well traveled. Funnily enough though I've not really been to popular stops, like London, Paris, LA or whatever. But I've been to Lithuania, so let's see that on many of these intelligent travelers lists.
I'm not sure what I was supposed to have learned and how contrary it was to the rest. I can make the connection between a place I like, such as Finland, where it's still very culturally homogeneous despite the broken politics, where you can walk around with zero concern for anything going on around you. Other places similar, really any of the Baltics or non-Prague Czech/Slovakia places, but guess what also not really all that race mixed. Or I suppose I could have any of the dirty German cities that would more appropriately be called New Istanbul and you definitely feel like a minority as a white man. What should I take of this as an enlightened 20% American with a passport, that I should want the dirty, hectic, sketchy feeling places I've been because they are more liberal?
I once got into a reddit thread that was prefaced on that dusty chestnut of 'travel makes you a better person' and I asked how the hell I was supposed to afford to be an international traveler as a working class man. Some of the responses I got said to make money reselling shit on Ebay, and to save money by bumming on couches instead of paying for hotels. They sounded like they were written by useless parasites who never worked a real job and have their living expenses provided by someone who does. So yeah, you can travel the world if you're not rich if you're a piece of shit who doesn't have to earn your keep.
We have to stop and think about who we choose for government and if, in fact, we are actually choosing our government or if the government is choosing itself."
Because we all know how much our government wanted Trump to win the election? What a dumb bitch.
My work requires me to travel from the US to Europe a few times each year. I don’t know what it’s like outside the major cities, but let me tell you, the major cities suck dick. I can tell you without any reservation that I’d rather spend a week in Boise than in Paris or Madrid.
As far as I can tell, anyone worth a shit left Europe for the new world a long time ago.
That was pretty much my impression of Vienna as well. Bratislava was also on the less shitty side. Amsterdam doesn’t totally make me want to kill myself, either. Brussels, on the other hand, is a gray, miserable dump.
But yes, the “migrants selling tacky shit spread out on blankets to throngs of tourists” thing is a pretty big mood-killer right off the bat.
Can only speak for Austria, but overall pretty nice still. I live in a small town, so there's no high rise apartment buildings and lots of forest and greenery. It's also still safe enough that you can let your kids have a bit of independence. And also don't need to be afraid outside at night.
Though the drive to send your kids to higher education (+the low birthrates) is starting to show its consequences. And the lockdowns made matters worse. Lots of traditional restaurants and small shops closing and either standing empty or getting a kebab or barber shop in its stead. Or one of those dollar chain store equivalents that sell cheap China shit. Quite some rural flight in general, because of the lack of job oportunities.
But, much like America I imagine, rural areas are way less pozzed than the cities, even if it starts to slowly creep in. Though migrant wise it's usually Turks, which are far more tolarable than the rest of the muslims. And their population outside the cities isn't dense enough that they can afford to not integrade.
Would only recommend tourism there though, if you like hiking, because while small towns are quaint to visit, I'm not sure how interesting they would be, as there isn't usually much in entertainment aside from looking at some old buildings and the local church (or some very niche "museum", often for the birthplace of a local celebrity). And would only recommend, if you know at least some German, because while we do learn English in school, outside of tourist attractions, (especially older) people tend to barely be able to speak it.
Keith Rainiere had an IQ of 240 based on more evidence than what you've provided. Heck he was in in the Guinness Book of World Records for it once. And all he did with his life was con people with MLM schemes and run a sex cult.
"Americans who don't travel, who 80% don't have a passport, who are uneducated, are in their extraordinary naïveté,"
Fuck this dumb cunt and the other champagne socialists. Most Americans are working two jobs just to not be homeless. Sorry not all of us got to blow Harvey Weinstein to become millionaires. I might actually embrace the Bernie Bro mentality and say we need a 99% tax on actors.
The whole "Americans don't have passports" thing always cracks me up.
We're the fourth largest country on the planet by area, with the first two being Russia and Canada. Russia and Canada are both largely unpopulated, or very sparsely populated, with the vast majority of people living in around 20%-30% of that area. Sure, US also has plenty of low population areas, but it's not nearly as much as the others. Even China, the third largest, has more areas that aren't really inhabited, from what I can tell. Furthermore, the US has much more people than Russia or Canada, meaning you're going to have more populated places.
So America may very well be the largest country geographically when you take populated areas into account, depending on how all that is broken down and measured. At least second. We also have a bunch of geographical diversity, as well as diversity of states.
Point is, we're not Europe, a collection of often tiny countries. Americans could (and I'm not saying they do) travel more without a passport than Europeans generally do with a passport. Also, we can go to Hawaii, Alaska, and outlying territorial islands without need of a passport as well.
Americans simply don't need passports in the same way Europeans often do.
EDIT: For those curious, it's a bit hard to measure, but I believe USA is third in amount of populated area, after India and China. India isn't as big as the US, but is packing such a massive amount of people in there they populate a lot of the area. Similar with China; already larger in area, and with a lot more people to fit. USA is almost as big as all of Europe. Bigger, if you exclude Russia.
I was talking to someone from Europe before that had never been to the U.S. and had no concept of just how big it is. They couldn’t believe it when I said you could start at the bottom of California drive 18 hrs and still be in California.
These idiots live like the French aristocracy and just can’t comprehend why us unwashed masses would load up our families in the minivan and drive to something reachable in a day as opposed to just going to Monaco for a week.
And, heck, you can drive 48 hours - two days - nonstop, from the Oregon coast to Massachusetts coast, all on the same highway.
That's nothing. You can drive for 6 hours on any highway 10 miles out from San Fran, and still not make it into San Francisco.
Traffic is a real problem in California.
You could drive 6 hours in Los Angeles and still not make it out with all the traffic.
I just watched a Ken Burns documentary about Lewis and Clark, the first American citizens to reach the west coast. It took them 2.5 years and ~8000 miles (13000 km) in total. That's quite mind-boggling for a European, maybe Russians can comprehend it.
I had a friend who wanted to fly from the UK to NYC, spend a day or two touring around and then casually drive down to Florida to go to DisneyWorld. He was shocked when I showed him on the map it would take ~ 18 hours of non-stop driving to make it.
Truly the european mind cannot even comprehend.
I was unironically asked if I went to the Vancouver Olympics games by a French friend.
I'm from Quebec. So I asked him if he went to the Sochi Olympics games in Russia, or was that too far.
''No that's way too far''
Well that's the same distance.
Oh how time flies. Now the answer would be about the Russian invasion.
I had a similar discussion once regarding the whole planes vs. trains thing and in the process blew their minds, by showing a Google Maps screenshot of driving distance Seattle - Dallas (31h) and how that would look in Europe: Lisbon (Portugal) - Warsaw (Poland) - crossing 6 countries in total.
Yup.
Put another way; I can spend several thousand dollars on exorbitant flight fees to someplace that I've never been to, filled with people that likely hate me, and more than likely don't speak my own language.
Orrrrrrrr...
I can spend around a thousand dollars or so and spend a week or two gallivanting across a continent with more environments that Europeans can ever dream of, of various cultures, of some really good food, head home whenever I like, and actually talk and interact with other fucking Americans, for good or for ill?
Gee, there's a tough fucking decision.
There are more unique biomes, climates and cultures in America than most entire continents.
No country in the world has as much travel value as just going across the US. The only thing it lacks is "long history" which is increasingly getting destroyed or twisted everywhere else.
I saw a funny comment (Reddit, actually), when I was looking into size comparisons:
Americans think 100 years is old. Europeans think 100 kilometers is far.
People in Florida just go to other parts of Florida for vacation.
The Northwest has so many different climates it was compared to Zelda Breath of the Wild by MatPat. I could drive an hour and be in a totally different looking area.
A friend was visiting from Japan, and he kept taking pictures at the rest stops. I finally asked why he was doing that since there was nothing there.
"Exactly", he said back. I forgot how populated as samey Japan could be.
Not even, most of europe is in the EU and you don't need a passport to go to other EU countries, just an ID card(Hell some non-EU countires do accept EU ID cards in lieu of a passport if you're just visiting).
We also don't need a passport to "travel." There are 50 states with more things to see and do than any one person could manage in their lifetime, travelling to other shithole countries is not required.
A first-time passport application costs $165 ($130 application fee + $35 acceptance fee). That's just for the book. You also need specific passport photos (because your phone won't cut it), which cost around $17. You're now $182 in the hole, and you haven't even bought airline tickets yet.
It's a racket. Your phone will cut it. I used to work somewhere that did passport photos as a side business. We had a fucked up white screen, and my phone even a decade ago had a nicer camera than what we used. Which was itself a phone, I believe. And don't even get me started on that fucking printer.
It's just more bullshit and unnecessary regulation, where a bunch of people are getting their cut of the money along the way.
American with passport here, fairly well traveled. Funnily enough though I've not really been to popular stops, like London, Paris, LA or whatever. But I've been to Lithuania, so let's see that on many of these intelligent travelers lists.
I'm not sure what I was supposed to have learned and how contrary it was to the rest. I can make the connection between a place I like, such as Finland, where it's still very culturally homogeneous despite the broken politics, where you can walk around with zero concern for anything going on around you. Other places similar, really any of the Baltics or non-Prague Czech/Slovakia places, but guess what also not really all that race mixed. Or I suppose I could have any of the dirty German cities that would more appropriately be called New Istanbul and you definitely feel like a minority as a white man. What should I take of this as an enlightened 20% American with a passport, that I should want the dirty, hectic, sketchy feeling places I've been because they are more liberal?
I once got into a reddit thread that was prefaced on that dusty chestnut of 'travel makes you a better person' and I asked how the hell I was supposed to afford to be an international traveler as a working class man. Some of the responses I got said to make money reselling shit on Ebay, and to save money by bumming on couches instead of paying for hotels. They sounded like they were written by useless parasites who never worked a real job and have their living expenses provided by someone who does. So yeah, you can travel the world if you're not rich if you're a piece of shit who doesn't have to earn your keep.
Yeah man, I'll just go to a country I've never been to and sleep on a strangers couch. Sounds like I'll really be improving myself.
Traveling made me racist and success with women in my university days made me sexist. What now, you retarded cunt?
Because we all know how much our government wanted Trump to win the election? What a dumb bitch.
I have traveled. The rest of the world, at best, has problems of their own that are as bad as we have here. More commonly, they're much much worse.
Fuck off you stupid cunt.
the opinions of whores weigh less than a feather
My work requires me to travel from the US to Europe a few times each year. I don’t know what it’s like outside the major cities, but let me tell you, the major cities suck dick. I can tell you without any reservation that I’d rather spend a week in Boise than in Paris or Madrid.
As far as I can tell, anyone worth a shit left Europe for the new world a long time ago.
The major cities are full of tourists and migrants selling tack to tourists.
Vienna is one of the less disgusting capitals and even that is a fucking shithole.
That was pretty much my impression of Vienna as well. Bratislava was also on the less shitty side. Amsterdam doesn’t totally make me want to kill myself, either. Brussels, on the other hand, is a gray, miserable dump.
But yes, the “migrants selling tacky shit spread out on blankets to throngs of tourists” thing is a pretty big mood-killer right off the bat.
What’s it like outside the cities?
Can only speak for Austria, but overall pretty nice still. I live in a small town, so there's no high rise apartment buildings and lots of forest and greenery. It's also still safe enough that you can let your kids have a bit of independence. And also don't need to be afraid outside at night.
Though the drive to send your kids to higher education (+the low birthrates) is starting to show its consequences. And the lockdowns made matters worse. Lots of traditional restaurants and small shops closing and either standing empty or getting a kebab or barber shop in its stead. Or one of those dollar chain store equivalents that sell cheap China shit. Quite some rural flight in general, because of the lack of job oportunities.
But, much like America I imagine, rural areas are way less pozzed than the cities, even if it starts to slowly creep in. Though migrant wise it's usually Turks, which are far more tolarable than the rest of the muslims. And their population outside the cities isn't dense enough that they can afford to not integrade.
Would only recommend tourism there though, if you like hiking, because while small towns are quaint to visit, I'm not sure how interesting they would be, as there isn't usually much in entertainment aside from looking at some old buildings and the local church (or some very niche "museum", often for the birthplace of a local celebrity). And would only recommend, if you know at least some German, because while we do learn English in school, outside of tourist attractions, (especially older) people tend to barely be able to speak it.
Alec Baldwin said the same recently. Pretty sure the last time he was in a foreign country he shot a coworker.
I think his shooting happened in Arizona
New Mexico, but you're right; not a foreign country.
Considering that Arnold "Screw your freedoms" Schwarzenegger and Madonna are listed there, I wouldn't lend much, if any, credence to that list.
She's almost smart enough to understand Rick and Morty.
Keith Rainiere had an IQ of 240 based on more evidence than what you've provided. Heck he was in in the Guinness Book of World Records for it once. And all he did with his life was con people with MLM schemes and run a sex cult.
That's my point, the mainstream media "evidence" is usually incredibly shaky and weak to a point of likely being nonsense beyond "well they said it."