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.

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.
@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?
@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.
@dalias @quinn That would count, then, if all the local walkable shops only sell junk.
@TimWardCam @dalias @quinn Instead of imagining a little town with bad local shops imagine that you live on the side of the A12. The nearest place that would accept money in exchange for any goods and/or services is a 45 minute walk away on streets with no sidewalk. You decide to walk it anyway, and cars stop to ask if you’re lost or in trouble. Your destination is a store that only sells highly processed food in massive packages. After you buy five things it’s far too heavy to carry home.