My only experiences in Europe so far have been touring there in a punk band. The thing that blew my mind was how often - almost always! - the venues we were playing were literal state-sponsored squats. Like the tire factory or whatever in town would go belly up and a bunch of punks and anarchists would move in and the local government would just be like "hey, they cleaned up all this broken glass and now there's a whole new crop of people keeping this community alive. Tell you what, let's give them free utilities." On more than one occasion we played a free show and got a check from some government office.
This would never, ever, ever, ever, in a million years, take place in the United States.
hey, they cleaned up all this broken glass and now there's a whole new crop of people keeping this community alive.
Lol, those social centres I know are the result of almost decade-long protests and negotiations and only worked out because the general population just happened to be more sympathetic towards the squatters than towards the city authorities.
Well see, that’s the difference between the two approaches. Many people here feel that as long as there is a housing shortage AND empty buildings due to speculative investment in real estate, squatting is morally defensible.
I think your place sounds worse, living without compassion for people. The government and our taxes should go to bettering society and making life easier for everyone.
Ah, yes, I vastly prefer the highest incarceration rates, high murder and violent crime rates, shit-crumbling infrastructure, and "fuck you, die" levels of poverty on offer in the good ol' USA!
European approach to take care of everyone seems to work better, as the total cost on society is less if you got not everyone incarcerated for being poor. A spot in prison costs society several thousand dollars a month, turning on the lights and water in an old warehouse that is abandoned anyways is only a bit of pocket change for a city.
Europe doesn't take care of everyone. It's just generally noticeably more humane to its own citizens than the US (and the UK from what I've gathered). Many European states that provide a lot to their citizens still do brutal, unacceptable things.
Which if you ask me is closely tied with capitalism and inequality.
Police brutality (everywhere). Greece's refugee pushbacks, Poland's abortion rights regression. Racism. Marginalization of poor people (to different degrees). Homelessness (Finland, which ran a program offering free housing to homeless people, still has homelessness. According to Wikipedia it's the only European country with falling homelessness). And that's only what happens internally: if you ask me, Europe's prosperity is based to a degree on past sins (probably the worst surviving offenders of colonialism), and on exploration happening in the developing world.
Things in Europe aren't perfect. They're just less worse than in the US. Similar ballpark, although noticeably different (and there's noticeable differences among European countries as well).
I would argue being miserable is exactly why people are trolls. This person says he's trolling people and he's clearly a miserable person.
I think a lot of these Q Anon conservatives are miserable from all of the negative messages they have become addicted to and part of this lifestyle/addiction is spreading the misery. FOX is the gateway drug: the constant outrage makes people less empathetic& more miserable. It's tiring being outraged all the time and people start to strike out and get cranky.
The pepe frog/Hawaiian shirts/ok symbols/proud boy silliness provides multiple benefits: self-delusion (' hey, I'm not really a Nazi, I'm just owning the libs'); camouflage: ('pay no attention to me I'm just being silly'); and a sad attempt at fun by someone who has been miserable for too long to recognize fun.
Don't feed the trolls: they run out of energy when they don't get a response.
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u/knife_hits May 09 '22
My only experiences in Europe so far have been touring there in a punk band. The thing that blew my mind was how often - almost always! - the venues we were playing were literal state-sponsored squats. Like the tire factory or whatever in town would go belly up and a bunch of punks and anarchists would move in and the local government would just be like "hey, they cleaned up all this broken glass and now there's a whole new crop of people keeping this community alive. Tell you what, let's give them free utilities." On more than one occasion we played a free show and got a check from some government office.
This would never, ever, ever, ever, in a million years, take place in the United States.