Quinn NortonMar 14

Europeans don't, maybe sometimes can't, understand the absolute crushing pressure and gaslighting that most Americans are put through to make us the way we are.

It's a decades long effort to turn most of the population into a money and power pump for a tiny elite class, all while grinding us into dust.

We're crazy and scared all the time, and have no idea what's going on in the rest of the world.

There's a reason dying of opiates seemed like a rational choice to a lot of people.

Show threadQuinn NortonMar 14
The rest of world never sees the poor and desperate America, they mostly stay in the decently rich bits of New York or California, and have no idea what a "food desert" is.
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEMar 14
@quinn What's a "food desert"? My wife has on business trips to the USA stayed in neighbourhoods where it's impossible to buy what we in Europe would regard as real food - the only thing on offer is (extremely) junk "food" that is completely incapable of sustaining normal life. Is that what "food desert" means?
Show threadCassandrichMar 14
@TimWardCam @quinn AIUI a "food desert" is a place where it's impossible to get to a place to buy basic grocery items without long distance drive by a car you may not have.
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEMar 14
@dalias @quinn That would count, then, if all the local walkable shops only sell junk.
Show threadDeadTOm Mar 14
@TimWardCam @dalias @quinn Most neighborhoods in the US don't even have walkable shops anymore. They've been squeezed out by ridiculous zoning laws, mostly created at the behest of large chains like Walmart and Costco. If I want a loaf of bread, I have to travel a minimum of three miles to pay $7.50 for a small loaf, or go five miles to get a decent loaf at a decent price. And what we call "bread" here is mostly fillers and preservatives, effectively poisoning us.
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE
@deadtom @dalias @quinn I have to walk half a mile to buy decent bread (I'm pretty sure that my nearest shop, which I boycott for other reasons, only has wrapped sliced bread that tastes of blotting paper). If I want anything more exotic than that I have to walk or cycle about a mile and a half (and I've got a choice of directions to do that). (But mostly we make our own bread.)
Mar 14 at 3:40pmWeb