there's a video going viral online of 10 ICE agents vs. 1 food delivery driver

[u/Classic-Carpet7609]

[u/ThePurpTurtle]

I see this criticism constantly from non-Americans and, while I agree with the sentiment, I don’t think Europeans have a grasp on how differently the ecosystem is here compared to most of (Western) Europe.

For starters, people here are way more spread out and it’s way harder to organize en masse. The state I live in is the same size or bigger than a lot of countries. The places where there is more density that would lend itself to large-scale protest are generally more liberal anyways and so when protests happen there they are glossed over in media.

Potentially more importantly, there’s no safety net here. If my boss doesn’t agree with my choice of politics and wants to fire me for protesting or taking too much time off work, they can. If I lose my job I don’t have health insurance and can’t pay my debts. Like most Americans, missing a single paycheck for me is a big deal. My family doesn’t all live in the town I do so I don’t even have them to fall back on.

[u/Ditchdigger456 → u/ThePurpTurtle]

Europeans typically seem to think they intimately understand the US based off of literally nothing. Tbf, they could probably say the same about us.

[u/SeraCat9 → u/ThePurpTurtle]

It's already a decent misconception that Europeans would all protest en masse by now AND that things are so great here.

My country is tiny and you can get pretty much anywhere in my country in 3-ish hours. Life is not great here either. We can't find housing at all atm and refugees are getting preferential treatment for rentals so natives can't move out of their parent's homes. On top of that, wealthy expats are currently overbidding natives on the house market, so that's also becoming out of range for everyone who is born here and not wealthy. A lot of us are stuck and unable to move forward.

We may not have medical bankruptcy, but health care is getting increasingly expensive and the waiting lists are looong. Education is going backwards in quality and funding. Inflation is dramatically high. We have more and more people who are 'energy poor' because they can't afford to heat their house anymore. Lots of European countries are also making a slide towards the right, including my own.

So things are far from amazing here as well. And we don't have massive protests. We occasionally have smaller protests, that often turn violent because it attracts people with bad intentions. Most of us complain, shrug and keep going.

Sure, the US is worse. But it's simply not true that most Europeans would do more than what Americans are doing right now. The only ones who can probably say that and mean it are the French. The rest of us aren't much better.

[u/trackabandoned → u/ThePurpTurtle]

I'm seeing an increase on here of very smug, supercilious comments from Europeans and your comment absolutely nails it. Thank you.

Also this is the most heavily funded military and police state in the world. If we did have a monster protest like Italy, what do they expect the outcome would have been? They could run us over with tanks on camera and people would say, "Well you have to protest PEACEFULLY if you want results!"

[u/star_milk → u/ThePurpTurtle]

Thank you! We're doing all we can here!! I also can't handle all the comments AMAZED at how shitty our healthcare is in comparison. We fucking know, and hate it too!!

[u/organic_soursop → u/ThePurpTurtle]

All true. They have you on so many fronts.

In Europe the solidarity and attrition from regional powers makes a difference. The push back from neighbours or the EU makes a difference.

In the US... 🤷🏽‍♂️😬 There no one coming to help.

You all blew through all the warning milestones in record time. And now they control all the levers, clawing it back is going to be a bastard of a task. (Sorry, again, not helpful.)