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Comment by binarymax | Hacker News Reader

I find it hilarious that you think I’m freaking out.

I’m laying in bed listening to the birds chirp, trying to provide some level commentary.

I read the top comment and chuckled hard. It’s not even close to real. Social media is amplifying some really skewed info.

Try living here, it’s beautiful.

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I lived there half my life. It's a wasteland in comparison. That's how I know from first-hand experience and immersion in both sets of media that this isn't about "skewed info" but a complete lack of info for some people who have never lived somewhere they're comparing their country with. This guy is asking about where to go be old, which is a real thing that's going to effect his life... to me going back to the US as an old person is a nightmare. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, especially in the current state of deterioration.

first hand experience = anecdote, which in turn means it's a completely,m worthlessly unreliable indicator of a general factual and statistical situation. You're confusing your specific impression from your life in a very tiny part of the vast tapestry that is the United States with a massive generalization that you claim is factual. Anyone here claiming that the Americans suffer from X or Y awful thing at absurd levels should actually try backing it up with a link or two to hard data that shows how much more these bad things apply to Americans than they do to those living in the (apparently) European paradise. As one comment a bit further down notes (no link to a source but at least they make a statistical claim) French people are on average among the world's biggest users of psych medication.

It might be beautiful _for you_. Nobody's saying you can't find a lot of beautiful places and experiences in the US. But it's marred by a degree of neuroticism that explains why so many people I know in the US have friends with issues with drug dependency and overuse (prescribes and illegal), health issues, and vibe that goes between depressing and fake.

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