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I like how the Nazis always come out to defend the shit material conditions of people compared to the nation’s overall wealth. [putting aside the source of that wealth being exploitation of the third world, mainly]
I have friends in a Balkan country which I won’t name but I’ll say it’s not Croatia and it’s not Albania. Ok, it’s Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The situation there is far from perfect. No shit. But the things Americans have that C “make it better” are not nearly as much as the coping Nazis seem to believe. His family actually owns the apartment they live in, a remnant of Yugoslavian days I believe. How many Americans under like 40 will own a house in their lives if we project forward?
And look, I’m gonna sit here and pretend living outside Sarajevo is a dream location in 2024. It’s plainly not for many reasons most of which draw lines directly back to “the US/EU/NATO fucked some shit up here.” The things my friends struggle to obtain are only limited because of unequal trade, especially from EU countries towards non-EU. The taxes and such for sending things there is crazy. The price of commodities like graphics cards compared to nearby EU states is also crazy. There’s a massive markup for one thing. Like 20-50% in my experience. And additionally the wages, when converted, of an average Bosnian vs let’s say Croatian or German are much lower.
Some things are much cheaper there, compared to US market. It’s been a while since I looked, but pretty sure real estate was cheaper there and food was definitely affordable compared to their income. “Cheap” from a Western European or US outlook.
So really, the only major difference in living standards I could glean from discussions was basically the US has a huge amount more of cheap “treats.” Unfortunately, Americans just so happen to measure “how good” a country is by exactly that metric.
“Can i buy a PlayStation while slobbering my new iPhone in hot wing sauce? Yes? GOOD COUNTRY!”
“PlayStations cost a month’s wage but other basics are affordable to most people within reason? BAD COUNTRY!”
It’s just so infuriating thinking about the squandered and hoarded wealth… which was stolen to begin with. Americans are so cucked into defending the profiteers when the material benefit to normal people isn’t even that much. It’s all worth it to order some gummy bears off Amazon I guess
So really, the only major difference in living standards I could glean from discussions was basically the US has a huge amount more of cheap “treats.” Unfortunately, Americans just so happen to measure “how good” a country is by exactly that metric.
This tracks to me. People will talk like air conditioning and the iphone is the pinnacle of invention and human society, and I’m just sitting here like, what I would give for materially interdependent community. To have the knowing that I’m working toward something meaningful, that there is mutual benefit, that when one struggles we all struggle and when one succeeds, we all succeed. Even the very basics of that (unions under capitalism) gets vilified in the US.
So many people are depressed and lonely, some of them even turning to AI to help fill in the gaps (I’ve played around with doing that to some extent myself). The US has nothing resembling a positive or meaningful heritage. It’s systemic nihilism, community largely vilified and dismantled, but “it’s probably worse over in that other place that the western empire has been attacking and stealing from for decades.”
Some people would say stuff like “you don’t know how good you have it.” I say many US people don’t know just how bad they have it. Soothing a feeling of emptiness with products is no way for a human being to live. It is a kind of slowburn mental and emotional rollercoaster of fleeting highs and lows. And people have to adopt stuff like toxic positivity sometimes just to convince themselves “it’s ok, actually, and it’s just in my head.”
With that said, I feel it’s worth noting that of course working class movements are there, anti-imperialist movements are there, communists are there. It is not all doom and gloom, and some community exists. But on a nation-wide scale of the system and its operations, it is a hollowed out instrument of colonialism and imperialism. Why is it, I would ask such people, that so many people in the US have their attention glued to the future, to new versions of products, to new advancements in technology, etc.? That is not a sign of contentment.
What a coincidence, I’m also from Yugoslavia and can confirm literally everything you said lmao
Well I’m glad my interpretation of life there was accurate, lol. I still intend to visit Bosnia someday and force my buddy to be my translator + tour guide of all the old communist stuff. Gotta try some of the world famous cevapi too. I know there’s an accent on that, but fuck it.
Yea it’s mandatory to eat ćevapi as soon as you come
Big GDP is when you pay rent to yourself.
Yes, the US has no water contamination.
shoves Flint Michigan under the rug
