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Comment by Jcowell | Hacker News Reader

While we surely have more similarities than The people of the Netherlands have differences, we also have enough differences to not qualify us as the same. I think what’s not really understood is that picking democrats or republicans is not an end sum game. A sizable people probably don’t even know or care of either parties full platform. For some, certain beliefs that a party posses are enough for people to align with them and some of these beliefs are fundamental to who they are.

Can a person from Kentucky and New York share beliefs ? Of course. Are we the same ? Women and LGBTQ+ people might disagree.

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> Can a person from Kentucky and New York share beliefs ? Of course.

What I'm trying to say is that extremism boils down to the same flawed mental processes, whether you are left leaning or right leaning. Once your first culture is "broken" by being immersed in another one for long enough, you realize that it is all a matter of circumstance.

> Are we the same ? Women and LGBTQ+ people might disagree.

If you lived in the South, you might understand that women are the biggest enforcers of the status quo. You imply in a very simple way that it's not in their best interest, but it is, really.

If you are from a wealthy family, being a white woman in the American South is great. You have all the control in the world. It's not hard power, only soft power. But who cares? Your husband with all the hard power is wrapped around your finger... who cares about the recognition? It's a small price to pay for real control. You are also never expected to work, maybe part-time at a flower shop, or at charity fundraisers... you can even hire a nanny and still be a "stay-at-home mom". Who is saying this isn't a good deal?

Most people, pretty much by definition, aren’t rich. What’s it like for the median person (split by gender or not as you like) in one place vs. the other?

The reality is that it doesn't matter. Most people don't hold the cards, the rich and influential do, even in the fairest countries. That effect is even more pronounced in the global South, the large majority of areas near the equator have higher entrenched income inequality than those farther away.

Did the thread drift without me noticing again? I thought this thread was about cultural differences between parts of America[0] rather than who has power inside it?

[0] a topic about which I know basically nothing, as I’ve only visited the USA for a total of 4 months total and not lived in it properly, and while that was both east and west coast and covered 8 states, it was mostly spent in the company of a literal self-described anarcho-communist Green Party activist who I strongly suspect isn’t even vaguely representative of any part of the USA.

This thread drifted the second ‘engineeringwoke’ (lol) responded to it and misconstrued my point so hard that it’s blatantly intentional.

The vitriol shared (i.e., that I need to “read a textbook for the love of god”) simply for advocating for understanding one another and pointing out that we’re not that dissimilar from the EU, despite less history, is kind of proving my point about people being snide assholes for absolutely no reason. It’s exactly the bitterness I’m highlighting to see people so keen to win an argument that they assume you’re uneducated because they disagree with you, and I guess it’s surprising to get it back on what I figured would be a universally agreeable opinion (that we should all chill out and appreciate our differences).

What a trainwreck of a response chain. Good lord. I didn’t say left or right once. I was alluding to the issues faced by people in different geographies which has absolutely nothing to do with politics nor identity politics. For example, water availability is a major concern in California. It isn’t in Missouri.

How ironic to advocate for understanding one another, apparently fail to communicate that point, and get put in my place for daring to dream.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31251524

Funny that advice only applies to others

Who are you talking to? Why do you have two accounts? It's fun to speak my mind on an anonymous board, sorry if I hurt your feelings

You didn’t. Don’t worry, I can spot an advanced persistent troll when I see one. You still have a little 8kun on you that you forgot to shake off before you rolled that HN account. You’re not that good, either, because really I left that comment partially to smoke out that you’re refreshing old threads constantly just wanting your opinion to be loved. Satisfying to be right.

That’s why I talked past you. You’re irrelevant and transparent in your motivations, and a smarter site would have already flagged you for stirring a political flame war and stoking racial and socioeconomic divisions with nothing clever or unique to add to it. I read the troll right away. (Tip: You’ve encountered a better one, as evidenced by your comment.)

How precious, you lived in Europe for four years and run your mouth like an enlightened world traveler. You made sure everyone knows that, too, like it’s some kind of mark on your resume and somehow dismisses your arrogant American perspective of explaining the world to the world. Meanwhile, some of us got out of Soviet Hungary and have been to more countries than you have states, and still believe the world can be better. Crazy, I know. Hard to understand from the keyboard cavalry.

Yeah I read the threads in my comments when I post, probably every 30 minutes.

I spent a lot of time in the Netherlands. Learned the language, worked at a bunch of startups, started my own company. It's certainly a big part of who I am, as you found out ;)

It's funny because I know you're American because of the obsession of going to different countries like you're collecting boy scout medals. Oh, and collecting ancestries too, since Soviet Hungary happened over 100 years ago? How does that mean anything?

And I talk like this because I'm young and it's fun, I was never a 4channer. It's why Elon Musk does it, you should try it. It does seem to work! And yeah, I would like to not be mean, but like you're making accounts to get around reply restrictions, it's kind of ridiculous

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