Americans, do you often assume that everyone wants to move to your country? Reasons why I wouldn't move to the USA.

[ElissaDido]

CONTEXT OF THE MYTAKE : Important to read in order to understand why I wrote this mYtake.

Disclaimer : this MYTAKE isn't intended to insult the USA or say that the USA isn't a great place to live in. A lot of people do dream of moving to the US. This is my answer to a comment I received here: why I personally wouldn't want to move to the US.

The USA is the biggest superpower of the world and it's logical many people would want to move there. But not everyone is inspired and driven by the same things. Many of us don't want to live in the US.

I've often had this general feeling coming from many Americans: Many of them think that everyone else has the American Dream.
I don't have anything personal against the person who sent me this, I know that Americans have the belief that most places that aren't the US are shitholes (including their president).

PS I have nothing against the guy who told me this, I just find this mindset recurring.

For my part, I'm not really against the idea of moving somewhere where your skills will be more valued and better paid etc. The US is a interesting place and all but I seriously have never ever been attracted to moving to the United States.

The USA is too disconnected/distanced from the old continents /old world:

An ancient map of the old world.

Firstly, the US is very far away. I feel like it's a planet on its own and is kinda disconnected from the "Old World". Not only disconnected due to the distance but also from a news/historical / cultural etc POV.

Which could explain why many of the Americans I meet have very limited knowledge on the world outside of the US (eg the only times I've been asked how was I African and not black was from Americans, never a European).

The United States is actually much more violent and unsafe than my country :

The person also mentioned how it's safer in America than it is in my country, when gun violence and gang violence is much more common in the USA than it is in my country.

Moreover the homicides rate in the use is higher than it is in my country: https://ourworldindata.org/homicides

Last but not least my country isn't involved in any war or armed conflict. We aren't bombing anyone and aren't getting bombed by anyone.

Gun violence: USA :70-100, my country :0.1-10

Most places have awesome foods, and some places have healthier foods than others :

Then he mentioned how food is awesome in the United States. I'm sure it is. But food is awesome in a lot of places. My country has amazing food and much healthier food than the United States. Obesity is less of a problem where I'm from.We don't consume meat en masse and food is less processed and isn't as sugar loaded as it is in USA.

Olive oil, spices and vegetables are staples in our daily diet.

There's amazing locations everywhere in the world, not only in the USA:

Then he also mentioned the awesome locations. Here again I don't disagree, America has amazing locations for sure. However, as a Mediterranean girl I have a preference for the cultures of the Mediterranean and I love my sea and my olive trees and palm trees.

I come from the mountain in the background. I can't live too far from the Mediterranean .

{WOMEN} I feel like American Media and Culture oversexualizes women (and men) too much for my taste;

Penisized Bachelorette parties is a weird and repulsive concept for me

I'm aware that things aren't perfect in MENA and there's tons of issues when it comes to women's rights. But having lived in 2 MENA countries I didn't feel much more inhibited than men in my daily life. Or at least , not enough for me too feel uncomfortable.

And the last point I'll add is about the men. Here again the person has a very obscure and generalized Idea on how things are where I'm from. Truth be said I'd most likely to be happier with a man from my region: eg there's much more chances I'd find a man who is willing to respect my choice of waiting for marriage here than in the US. Most men wouldn't even expect me to sleep with them on the first date or any date as they know most women wouldn't do it (not everyone in my country waits for marriage, but generally the culture still values this aspect).

Also America over sexualizes women for my personal taste. I'm aware that here again people have different values in life and people have different definitions of sexualization but for me personally I don't want to live in oversexualized societies.

Tunisian women at the beach in Tunisia: You can cover or uncover without being told what to do.

I'm an ancient history nerd and the USA can't really offer much in this aspect:

And as someone who loves ancient history, I think I'd be much happier living somewhere closer to the old continents. I'm 2 hours away from Paris, 1 hour away from Rome, 3 hours away from Egypt, 3 hours away from Turkey, a couple of hours away from Spain (by plane).

 I live in a town overlooking the most important ancient city of the western Mediterranean before it got destroyed by Rome.

I don't want to be culturally uprooted: Because unlike what's being implied by the man, I love my culture.

None of the points the man mentioned make me wanna move out from my country. The only reason why i'd move out is : Studies (like now) and/or Economical reasons because my country is going through an economical crisis.
I don't want to run away from who I am. And if I have to move out of my country, I'd pick somewhere close.

My culture inspires me.

In conclusion, America is an Amazing country I'm sure. But for me, the only thing that might make me wanna get disconnected from my country and culture is our dysfunctional economy. In which case I'd rather work either in the Gulf states like my dad, or Europe. None of the reasons the guy mentioned would motivate me to move that far away and cross the Atlantic ocean.

[zagor]

I am glad you feel that way; it would be nice if more people did. Most people who want to come here feel that way because their economic prospects are dismal in their homeland. That, or they live in an area of armed conflict or violent crime. It is nice to have someone prefer to stay and work towards making their home country a better place.

The murder stats for the US are pretty misleading, actually. If you remove specific areas of a dozen large/medium cities from the figures, the murder rate is comparable to Europe.

But do come by and visit us sometime :)

[Phoenix98]

I don't assume anything. But the fact that we catch countless illegal immigrants from all over the place including from the middle east and the fact that we have countless millions of people applying to come here. Would assume that statement about everyone wanting to come here is well true.

Also see @Oram52s opinion and most of what you stated is actually false. That's fine if you don't want to come here but you don't represent most people, you represent you and that's it.

[ElissaDido]

Except this was already mentionned in the Mytake. If you read it all you'd have guessed it's MY PERSONAL reasons so yes this take represents me and also represents many people I know who don't dream of moving to the US,
Also implying that most people in the world want to move to the US is quite a stretch.

[Phoenix98]

I did read it all.

[Wemix]

I agree with all your points, great mytake! I've never felt the want to spend more than a trip in the U. S. A.

I wouldn't be able to live without North African food (Moroccan) and I wouldn't feel "VERY" safe in America especially as a brown muslim girl, his points are unbelievable.

[R_Cakes91]

I am an American and I also don’t have the American Dream. I just want to live somewhere where I can have the freedom to do what I want without anyone bothering me.
I totally understand and respect your perspective.

[FakeName123]

While the US isn't really that appealing to me, I do have to disagree with the homicide data.

It's not exactly a big secret that western nations are a lot more organised and bureaucratic than the majority of 3rd world countries. Just because the data shows "more homicides" doesn't necessarily mean more homicides. It just means they are reported and documented. Hence, even if I go within Europe into a small italian town, chances are things will be rather lax. It's a common way to get false identities as well by just claiming you lost your birth certificate in these minor towns (given you are perfectly fluent in the langauge).
Additionally African americans drastically inflate the number. More than 50% of homicides are done by a demographic group of ~13%. Aka you pretty much half your likelihood of it by not going to black areas.

Anyway, my point is that this data is flawed mainly because of a lack of data. Similar how some countries have ridiculous low rape-rates, because they have now laws preventing rape (Sweden is the opposite example where everything is rape).

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Other than that I mainly agree. I found the US to be rather boring as well. They do have fantastic landscapes for hiking and roadtrips, though. Getting a camper van and a month or two free time would be a blast for sure.
But other than that there is a lack of culture to make it truly outstanding. Yes, there is culture - but for a country that is pretty much "artificially" created 300 years aren't enough to create an extensive culture. I think John Cleese was it who claimed the US going from barbarity to decadence without detours.
It's nothing against the people there. They are mostly friendly. But the entire culture and living is very superficial. And the from rags to riches times are also long gone.

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Good food is really frigging expensive as well. They are great when it comes to Steaks in general (especially in the areas that is close to agrarculture) and BBQs - but all the chains are pretty much neglectable. Including the widely praised ones are at best mediocre. Also I found mexican food to be rather dull. If you remove the spices from it there is not much variety left - unlike for indian food that is spicy, but also has a ton of other flavours so even if you were to remove the spices it would still be interesting food.

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Though the biggest advantage of Europe over the US and other places in the world is the small area that provides that much variety. It's like all these small countries and cultures have been concentrated in such a small area. So when you have to travel 1000 miles in the US to even find som cultural differences, you have possibly went through two different countries and their local inner-national cultural differences. Hence, Texas alone is almost twice as big as Germany - which already is one of the biggest european Countries. So it's kinda tough to compare Europes cultural density to any other place in the world.

[Starrk]

You can't blame African Americans for America's high gun rate because roughly 60% of gun violence in the US is the result of suicide (Yes, suicide by gun is included in our gun violence stats), not homicide. Homicide by gun accounts for about 37% of gun violence and the remaining 3% is a combination of accidental shootings and negligence. Since African Americans only account for half of the gun homicide, their share of that 37% would also be half as well (well, not really half since not all homicides are carried out with a gun.)

So when talking about gun violence your chances of getting shot by an African American (or anyone else for that matter) is very slim. You're more likely to shoot yourself in the head than someone else doing it.

[FakeName123]

@Starrk
What is math.

You do realise that when you remove the suicide-rates, it is still the same percentage of homicides being committed by the same demographic groups? Just the total number is smaller.
Additionally the statistics of OP talks about "HOMICIDES" and not about "GUN VIOLENCE".
Your point therefore makes zero sense.

[Starrk]

"it is still the same percentage of homicides being committed by the same demographic groups?"

Percentages are cute and all but when we break those numbers down into aggregate numbers they're not as intimidating. 13% accounting for 50% of homicides actually looks like this, 40 million people (the total number of African Americans) account for 4,778 (that 50% you're talking about) of homicides.

So avoiding black areas is not the key to survival (like you initially said) and, No it will not half your chance of being murdered. These stats do not work that way.

While the OP talked about homicides, the graph she provided in an attempt to compare the US with other nations was about gun violence (which includes suicides). That's why the US is so dark compared to other nations. However, when talking about the percentages of death caused by homicides, her article put the US at only 0.7% which is not as alarming as she is making it out to be.

[Oram52]

I'm not American.

I doubt US is more unsafe, gun violence is not the only thing and I think its mostly gang related. Other than that school shootings. America despite its shortcoming still has one of the best judicial systems in the world. Its highly unlikely Tunisia is safer than America.

American food isn't exactly the best, sometimes I get the feeling as long as it looks like food they'd eat it. One of the highest obesity rates in the world. However due to influence of different cultures and diversity America undoubtedly has a lot of varied cuisine available.

America doesn't oversexualize, Middle East is so sexually repressed it looks that way. There was a time even in America wearing a bikini was obscene. There is absolutely nothing wrong with nudity or sex its natural. You just have to look at the societies where women have to repress their sexuality and how they are treated. I'm confident most young people in Middle East would actually want sexual liberation, not long it will be norm there too. I rather live in sex positive society.

Cultures are arbitrary they have no inherent value. We're just product of our environment, rapid progress in 21st century would've made that clear. There are people however who tend to be conservative who have strong attachment to traditions and culture. If you look at millennials again in Middle East they don't seem to have as strong as attachment to culture as their parents or grandparents. Even looking at Middle East different regions have different cultures. One should be able to adapt anywhere. Regardless, if someone does decide to settle somewhere else they should integrate. When in Rome do as the Romans do.

You forgot healthcare by the way, no developed country in the world wants to emulate America's healthcare system.

One of the most important things you missed FREEDOM and LIBERTY. Americans enjoy unparalleled freedom not a single country in Middle East enjoys. Its secular so people are free to practice any religion or belief unrestricted. Every individual is free to live their own life without being shackled by state, religion or culture. There is nothing more important than liberty. Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

No, I don't assume that. What I assume more is that foreigners just wanna come here to work, and take a bunch of money back to their countries.

The truth is, a lot of immigrants who come here end up disappointed.

Unfortunately the guy who wrote you that has the same mentality as a lot of Americans. Everything in America is the best. The part about it being "very safe" made me laugh. And from my personal experience, only Americans think American food is awsome! I don't know why he wants you to move to America so bad?

I think I know the mountain you're from. Is it on that peninsula across the water from Carthage?
And what other MENA country did you live in?

And I'm sorry that my fellow Americans are so ignorant about Africa and the world in general.

And don't worry. I don't think you hate America. You were right on a lot of things. The only inaccurate statement you made in your MyTake is when you said the US doesn't have ancient ruins. We DO!

[RHK36]

I get into a debate often with people about this lol. I love the US, but I know it's not the only great place to live.

Where I don't think it's fair for people to make assessments is if they haven't lived or at least visited the better parts of the US. Like every country there's good and bad to it.

I also dislike the comparison to smaller countries with way less population. You need to compare the US to countries with higher population. China, India, Brazil are ranked 1, 2, 4 in terms of population with the US at 3. Which of those countries seems greater to live in?

So it's not just about what you've seen from the outside because those are just poor assumptions. I say this with experience of knowing next to nothing about Australia and then lived there for near a decade. It wasn't what I imagined. Or visiting Japan and El Salvador, they're completely opposite. You'd have no real idea how it is unless you went and spent some real time immersing yourself in their culture.

[JackSmy]

America was founded on immigrants, coming here, for a better life. If you don't like, or believe that, then don't bother. You are not the ones that seek this, and want to be here! That is fine, and I wish you the best of everything, where you are.
I hope your homeland prospers, and all the bad things, can be fixed. Peace, and best wishes to you!

[sammy1537]

Nothing wrong to be proud of your own country. I wish I knew more. All I know is that it gave my people Khaled Abdul Wahab for which I will be forever grateful to Tunisia and it's people.

[DeeDeeDeVour]

I disagree with several factors on your take but I'm hoping you'd keep encouraging potential migrants to please look & move elsewhere.

[Moonchild714]

I didn't read it, just the headline. I think majority want to move to Canada or England, not America. Those coming from South America just easier to get here than Canada!!!

[Chimken]

More people need to stop coming to the US. We're full. The US seems more immigration each year than any other country on the planet

[worldscolide]

Most Americans don't care weather or not you come here, unless it's done illegally. The Mexican boarder for example..

[ElissaDido]

This isn't the topic of the Take but ok.

[Jupiter1]

I believe a lot of people only wanna come here to the United States 🇺🇸 and milk our system for benefits meant for the legal citizens. I’m hoping to stop people from entering and also hoping America gets rid of illegals here.

[green1supremacy]

The problem I find with most people is 1 is characterized as all. That is when misinformation occurs. I personally don't have time in my own busy life improving myself to give half a thought of where someone else wants to walk thier own path.

[FýrdracaDócincel]

I guarantee you we have the best fake pizza you've ever tasted.

[KrakenAttackin]

No, not at all. We assume everyone wants to kill us and just take our stuff.

[ronaldo75]

All of these are kinda ignorant. I don't have time to respond to each one, but yeah. You're WAY off.

[ElissaDido]

How are those ignorant when they're my personal preference.
Weren't the initial comments made by the American more ignorant?
I personally think so.

[ronaldo75]

Your personal preference is based on nonsense. That's my personal opinion.

[ElissaDido]

Most of what I said are facts.
American is too far away from where I live. It doesn't have Antiquity related history. The media is overly sexualized.
I don't see how this can be wrong or offensive.

[Ianto]

America has plenty of antiquity related history. The USA however is an immigrant culture without roots in that antiquity, so has no understanding or value for it.

[ZeussLightningBolt]

The southwest has TONS of ancient ruins built by ancient pre Columbian cultures.

Some are even older and larger than the ones in Peru

[Manuel2]

All countries have there bad areas

[Agape93]

Very good take

[Jerre]

Very well said.

[SecretGardenBlood65]

Wow great take