yeah, I suppose it does depend on what you want out of life.
I've no desire to go anywhere near New York anyway - I've spent more time in the US then anywhere else bar the UK, and I've still never been - but the US in general is a terrifying place. Mind you, the UK is pushing it close these days.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:07, 1 reply, 14 years ago)

See, it's not a very B3ta friendly view
but I fucking love being in America. Miami, Florida Keys, Chicago, Preoria, Green Bay, Portland, New York, DC, whatever part I've been too, I've loved. But Manhattan especially I adored.

Plus I have a lot of friends there, so I could up sticks and not have to start creating a whole new social life too.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:12, Reply)

I love the US too.
It's fucking great. I especially love the South. I want to record digging in Texas.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:13, Reply)

I like to visit.
I've liked the short stints of work I do over there. But there's usually point - 3 or 4 weeks in - when I totally lose the will to live. The falseness, the stupidity, the lack of interest in the world outside the US, the total and utter obsession with material wealth or faux-spiritual wellbeing, etc, etc.

That and I couldn't ever live in country where the percentage of people that own guns is higher than the percentage that can spell "gun"
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:17, Reply)

The last point does concern me, I admit.
But I don't really find the insularity of America that problematic. People always go on about the tiny percentage of Americans that own a passport, but you know what? If I lived in a country as huge and varied as the US where I could visit beaches in Hawaii or the Artic like conditions of Alasaka, the forests of the West Coast, the Great Lakes, the Swamps of The South or the Plains of Texas, I don't think I'd get a passport either.

That said, I would be choosing to locate myself in a part that is more liberal and outward looking than the rest anyway.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:27, Reply)

no, that's not what the insularity is about
not travelling - no problem. Refusal to admit anything outside the US exists or is vaguely important - problem. Even now, finding out about anything outside the US on a major news channel is like trying to herd cats.

I thought I'd found a place I could handle a while back - Portsmouth in New Hampshire, I did some consultancy over there - lovely little town, you can walk around it without having to drive everywhere, people all seemed lovely, etc, etc, but then it turns out the place is a walking NRA poster, they actively condone drink driving, and are a wee bit testy about dusky folk. So, y'know, fuck that.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:40, Reply)

Well in the days of the internet, it's not really a problem what their news choses to report or not report though.
But yeah, I agree with the "fuck that" of those people you describe. But I wouldn't want to live in a small Cornish town here either. I like London and I'd like Manhattan, I'm not thinking about swapping Truro for Portsmouth, NH.

I do understand your points, they just aren't compelling enough to make me think I couldn't be there. It's a bit like Quixote and DG debating the merits or otherwise of living in London or the North East yesterday, for each the benefits they saw in their preference outweighed any arguments the other may have and we're going to be in the same boat here.

Can I go back to making snide comments to other people's posts now? The effort of having a serious conversation is getting too much.
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:50, Reply)

Absolutely, couldn't agree more.
I'd suggest calling someone a cunt for no good reason would bring the level back down to "base line b3ta" as well.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:53, Reply)

Cunt.

( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:54, Reply)

*thunderous fives*

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 7 Dec 2011, 11:56, Reply)