For those of us who live in the US things are and have been scary and depressing for a while, this seems to also be true about quite a few more countries in the world.
If you are living in a country that you deem safe, well functioning and overall a good country to live in, how do you feel? Do you feel anxious about the current state of the world? Also, what country are you in? (Just in case 🫣)
I live in the Netherlands. Happy? Sure. Could always be better.
For how it is in the Netherlands politics wise, it’s quite a mess. The biggest party is led by a rightwing nutjob who supports Israel and doesn’t give a shit about Ukraine. And main focus is Immigrants bad blablabla. That party isn’t in complete control though since they have to work with 3 other parties to get a majority so that is at least something.
We had 2000 explosions at peoples houses last year. Which is insane. Guns aren’t legal so people import heavy fireworks from italy (which are basically grenades) and blow it up in front of their house, or burn down their cars, to threaten them I guess… They pay teenagers to do it for them. So the real culprits never get caught. I saw 3 cars burn down in my neighbourhood in the last few years.
Housing prices are insane. Probably in most well running countries atm. I don’t have high hopes of getting a house anytime soon. And my rent just keeps going up.
Are they using explosives and car fires to threaten immigrants specifically or just people in general?
Oh no not immigrants. Seems to be mafia practices of scaring away competition. apparently lots of plumbing and roofing companies are just controlled by organized crime. It’s weird. Also just personal feuds.
I see, wow. That is weird. I have family that lives there in NL and am wondering now if they ever see this. Thanks for clarifying.
Not much better on the upper deck of titanic than elsewhere
I live in Germany and we have an election coming up where the far right might win. And the US have just handed command of the most powerful military of the world to a certified moron who works for their biggest adversary. That’s somewhat concerning, isn’t it?
Mexico. We’re very happy here, honestly!
We got our first woman president who keeps wowing us with comprehensive initiatives and continuing the work of our last president who got us on the right track. Great reforms are happening after a long string of corrupt presidencies that were more interested in personal gain. We had actual government efficiency reviews that cut down on misappropriated funds that have now been reinvested. And we’re expanding our exports to things like chipset manufacturing and growing our infrastructure.
Our public spaces are prettier, cleaner, more accessible, and quite modern here in the large cities. I know that my city alone is not what it used to be 10 or even 5 years ago. I keep saying we’re not a third world country anymore. We’re on our up and up so long as the international powers that be allow it.
That’s amazing! So glad to hear it. Don’t let those assholes to the North talk down to you. Sounds like you have a functioning Democracy and you’ll be able to hold that over our heads for decades I’m sure.
Honest question, how bad is the situation with both gangs and cartels there? And, what are the areas of Mexico to avoid?
I think it largely depends on where you are and who you associate with. I also think cartel violence isn’t what it used to be. I’m not aware of any reputable gangs here where I live, but we do hear news about the shit cartels pull occasionally, like for example the narcobloqueos where they hijack a truck, park it across on the highway and set it on fire to cause a diversion or things like that.
Overall it’s very rare to hear about them taking it out on the general population. There’s an unspoken rule not to mess with the innocent although there are dangerous states like Sinaloa or areas of Michoacán where it goes down when the military intervenes. That’s when the gloves come off and they fight back by all means necessary, including using terror tactics for the government to back off.
But besides the cartel violence, kidnappings are what scare me the most. There have been many, many cases of people being held & maimed for ransom or simply disappeared without a trace, although I’m not sure how much of that can be attributed to the cartels because they target journalists. It’s undeniably a serious problem for many folks who are at risk by association, proximity or happenstance. Thankfully anti-kidnapping legislation and its enforcement has been tightened up in recent years.
Despite all that, these things are largely in the periphery in our day to day meaning I don’t live in fear. I generally live carefree and comfortably without denying that I do know some folks who have had scary episodes with organized crime in the past. But it’s quite surprising how much more peaceful our everyday life is than what you’re told abroad, even if it’s something we struggle with in the grand scheme of things.
Still pretty bad according to my mexican friends, I wouldn’t go as a tourist personally, this is the only time ive seen the take that Mexico is safe and nice now. (the parts for rich ppl to vacation have never been an issue) Btw the first gen mexicans I know are prob the most against illegal immigration because of their experiences going back across the border. (for context, I am not on their side, mfs are just the lucky ones who were born here) They all have relatives in cartels/gangs but not out of choice, every story ive heard just sounds extremely sus, even when its fun, theyll be like yeah nah theyd rob you tho dont go there.
Basically look up best vacation spot, highest income area in mexico and youll be fine.
I’m so happy for you! I would have loved it if USA voters would have chosen a woman socialist/Communist president. I hope the current turn of events gets neighbors talking and planning enough to get us there!
This makes me happy. Thanks for sharing. :)
Your president is currently my favorite world leader
I’d like to meet your dealer because you seem to be living in the most parallel of the realities ever imagined… Or you live in a bubble.
Guess it must be easier being a propaganda account on lemmy since there’s practically no mexicans here so you can lie and nobody can question it.
Vato, si no quieres creer, me vale tres hectáreas, sí? Ábrete alv a mí qué me importa lo que pienses. xP
I really hope Mexico continues to improve. Im hoping to renationalize.
EU, Im trying to not focus on politics around the world and especially the US, scared about russia and USA would drag us down but when Im not thinking about politics Im very happy in my life right now
All the fucking right wing wankers are feeling empowered and crawling from under the rocks thanks to the blond Cheeto you guys idiotically voted as president. Economy is going to shit. This is a nice peaceful sunny European country and we’re suffering with your idiocy. So not very happy. At all.
Not really happy, because the downfall of the US has massive consequences worldwide.
Australian checking in.
Feeling as happy and as safe as ever. Granted, I don’t pay a lot of attention to our politics cos it’s just a bunch of little children fighting over who gets to play in the sandbox but it says something that I CAN be ignorant of our politics without being scared that something drastic is going to happen while I’m not looking.
My biggest concern is honestly that Australia has a habbit of following whatever inclinations big Daddy USA is following and for that reason the state of affairs over there is a little worring to me.
But yeah, overall can’t complain.
USA. Despite what people will tell you around here we aren’t crumbling to bits or shooting each other in the streets.
What the federal government does has ultimately very little effect on my day to day life. I go to work. I come home. I get high and pet my cats too much. I play video games with friends I’ve made over the course of my life. I eat dinner and I crash. I’ll repeat this pattern all week and then on weekends I do chores and visit friends/family.
Other than that everything is still functional. Safety hasn’t gone up or down. It’s still exactly as safe as it was under Obama and Biden eras. Pretty safe as long as you avoid certain places or hanging out with the wrong crowds.
8/10. Room for improved always but I’m not really concerned.
UK. It’s actually alright here despite our culture of complaining about everything.
Weather is predictably dull and boring, but in a world of climate change that’s not such a bad thing anymore.
Wages are outpacing the cost of living once again so that’s nice.
Politics is just the usual arguing/ bitching about the economy. Everyone blaming each other blah blah blah. Storm in a teacup really.
US news is getting a bit scary, seeing the president cosying up with the enemy and appearing to want to let them take Ukraine in exchange for half of their minerals means that I don’t think we’ll be considering them a close ally in the near future. At least not a reliable one.
Glad you’re alright, MY_ANUS_IS_BLEEDING 🙏
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY, please don’t follow our right wing trajectory into chaos. Tell fElon to Fuck Off, as only the Brits can!
Isle of Man. We have farmers that run the government. They are terrible at it, and its stupid, but we dont have power to rename a sea, so they mostly just argue amongst themselves and the rest of us get on with it. Postage takes longer and is more expensive. We cant get a lot of the services the UK gets. We still dont have 5g. That being said its one of the safest places to live in the British isles. So I dont know, swings and roundabouts.
Safest place for non motorcyclists you mean.
The biggest problems are with 50 year old men in a bit of a mid life crisis buying a big, expensive bike, and then getting on a road with no speed limit. They lose control and kill themselves, and if they are unlucky, take someone else with them.
I dont count the racers, its like punching yourself in the balls and wondering why you are walking funny.
I wonder what the accident statistics are outside of the T.T.
Fairly low to be fair, its too wet and miserable to ride a bike 11 months of the year.
Enough to thrive
The USA isn’t particularly functional at the moment, but I’d hesitate to say it’s lost much of the safety it had YET.
Most are still going to work, not being robbed, not being shot in the street, and so forth SO FAR.
Those things may change, but I’d be cautious about calling the USA unsafe until it actually is. I’d still rather be in most of America than most of, say, Syria right now from that standpoint.
Sweden. I’m happy. But I have a hard time watching the rise of a fascist dictator and the collapse of the dollar reserves as the planet still gets eviscerated by mega corpos entities several orders of magnitude more powerful than any government. What I wish most is that the humans that do the biddings of the megacorps realised that they are just temporarily allowed to be their “ceo” or “cfo” and that in reality they are being used but the allure of money as a means of success, while mindlessly ignored goes the fact that joy and success is found in people that avoid money as much as possible. The demons can and should be revoked the status of being “legal humans” and correctly categorised as entities that exist to serve and protect humans. How can so many people be revoked the status of human and even killed while the destructive hateful entities that ruin our souls and habitat are continually worshipped by its zealots when they provide net negative happiness and health is so tragic.
Flanders, Belgium. Things are… okay-ish, but I feel like we’re balancing on an edge, and any little push will topple the current regime and bring power to the far-right parties who continue to gain ground every election. At this point in time, our little country has one of the least unequal societies in the world in terms of income. Something tells me that in say 10 years we’ll look back to today and reminisce about the “good old days”…
