Reasons you wouldn’t move to US

[Preiu]

Dh has been offered a job in the US. The increase in salary would put us into a completely different wealth bracket but I really don’t want to move.

• fear of home invasion with guns
• school shooting - guns in general I guess
• American exceptionalism attitude annoys me
• Being away from family
• Not having Europe on doorstep

Can I ask if you have any other reasons

Yes, and the ones who think that we aren't a free country because we don't have unlimited gun rights.

I haven't had that from people whom I know personally, but I sometimes go on the Quora question and answer site, and you occasionally get some strange ideas. Oh, and that we're all being ruled by Muslims including that well-known Muslim Rishi Sunak.

I had a sheltered life in Maine. There was a sense of community and people looked out for each other. But thinking of your mention of Missouri, I do have a friend who lived in St Louis. The tales she told about events in one particular southern neighbourhood (she lived near large parkland in the central region) were enough to make my hair stand on end. Gunfire was a regular occurrence. Driving /vehicular crime was positively terrifying. The schooling sounded appalling. Summers were stultifyingly humid, and it was bang in the middle of tornado alley.

She doesn't live there now. 😀

But the US is a big place. Avoiding moving there because of certain crime-dense regions is like saying you won't move to the UK because of Jaywick, or the pockets of gangland crime in London.

A deep red beefsteak tomato as big as your hand sliced thickly, slathered in vinaigrette and eaten with a knife and fork while it's still warm from the sun is heavenly.

Sausage gravy is delicious! It looks horrible though, I'll give you that.

Trumpers, obviously. One ought to dismiss their opinions on that basis alone.

What about the dangerous chemicals widely used in US food production?

Chemicals containing PFAs are used in massive quantities, including in pesticides sprayed on fruit and vegetables, and no amount of washing gets rid of them as they're 'forever chemicals'.

There's an outright ban in most developed countries on many of the chemicals used widely in the US - there are campaigns within America to get them banned there, too, but there's no chance of that with the power of the huge industrial chemical producers.

How anyone can be extolling the virtues of American salad items is beyond me.

What about it? Everybody knows the best tomatoes are the ones you grow in your own yard. A tomato that's been grown on a giant farm is unlikely to still be warm from the sun, don't you think?

A couple of people have made the point that the OP was specifically asking for reasons NOT to move to the US and have therefore been listing those, not just simply giving their overall opinions on the country.

However, the reason myself and many other Americans on this thread have been so defensive is because so many of these so-called reasons are either offensive or simply untrue.

There's a new one this morning. Americans put sugar in their butter. Just not true. I just went to look at the (normal, supermarket own brand) butter in my fridge. You know what the ingredients are? Butter. Period.

Or a Welsh person
I've never heard so many comments about going back to 'God's own country' 😁

(Not dissing Wales at all, it's lovely, the group of Welsh people that were up here for work for two weeks literally all said that when they were heading back)

I assume this was in response to the many posters claiming that there are no fresh fruit and vegetables available in the US, or those that are are complete rubbish.

Yes, the poster apparently thinks we don't have organic options.

Adding people putting ‘period’ at the end of sentences to my list of why not to move to the US. Cringeworthy

‘However, the reason myself and many other Americans on this thread have been so defensive is because so many of these so-called reasons are either offensive or simply untrue.’

er, no. It’s subjective isn’t it?
If the guns everywhere and HUGE crime levels compared to the U.K. make me feel unsafe then they do. That’s neither offensive nor untrue.
I don’t think America is the ‘greatest nation’ - that’s neither offensive or untrue, just an opinion.

Actually it’s more like saying you don’t want to move to the UK because there are some criminal gangs in Romania. Or that the weather is too hot in Greece to walk outside very far (as one poster claimed she was finding it on holiday right now).

Also again with the food thing - just because there are some chemicals which have not been outright banned doesn’t mean all the food you can buy has been produced with those chemicals. There are loads of alternative options in even the most basic supermarkets for pesticide free produce etc.

It’s true that the summer fruits are better there. Prob because of the weather as PP have ssid.

I share the preference for organic food in America, but given the state of our rivers there is no reason to be santimonious

‘Or a Welsh person
I've never heard so many comments about going back to 'God's own country' 😁’

I’ve yet to meet anyone from wales claiming that Wales is the greatest country on earth. Plenty of American’s though. Loads. uSA, USA! God bless ‘Merica.

They do, my sons school does it regularly and so do other schools I know. Leafy Hampshire.

Guns
Trumpers
Americans

Taxes are actually lower there

The US suffered many losses in WW2.
As did many countries.

What’s your point here? At no point did I claim that the US was uniquely affected by WWII.

I’m not talking about the politics of who entered the war and when and why. I’m talking about @PerkyMintDeer ’s sneering attitude about America being “obsessed with veterans.” If someone of any nationality - your uncle included - sacrifices so that I can live in a free society, I don’t roll my eyes and claim that acknowledging that sacrifice is being “obsessed.”

Three of my grandparents served in WWII (my grandma was in the WAC). One of my grandfathers wasn’t even supposed to be drafted, because he was a farmer, but a guy at the local draft board had a grudge against him and my grandfather decided to go without contesting it. He’d been married to my grandmother for less than a year. He nearly lost a leg after being wounded; one doctor was ready to amputate when another doctor stepped in and gave a second opinion. He had shrapnel in his leg for the rest of his life, and he lived with pain in that leg every day until he died at age ninety-one.

So, yes, how terribly gauche of Americans to be “obsessed” with our veterans. Definitely a reason why this thread’s OP shouldn’t move to the US.

A better analogy, I agree, given geographical size and distance. I'm laughing at the sugar in bread thing. All bread has to have sugar in it, otherwise the yeast won't rise.

I miss the lobster, crayfish and snapper that was in ready abundance on the eastern seaboard. UK seafood isn't a patch, despite living near the coast here too!

US supermarket bread is so sweet to me that it tastes more like brioche. Here in the UK it wouldn’t even be allowed to be labelled as bread due to the sugar content - there’s nothing funny about that.

Nicely proving my point.

You'll note I said that MANY (not all) of the reasons are offensive and/or untrue.

It is not all like that.

Incidentally, I closely monitor the sugar content in products. One of the worst offenders is M&S.

I can't summon up any sympathy for someone who can't be bothered to read the prominent nutrition information that's printed on the package.

Some supermarket sliced bread is like that yes. But again there are loads of alternatives to buy that are not.

It took me about six months to work out what to buy and not to buy - a lot of label reading and I do miss a lot of brands from the UK. Although several of the supermarkets near me have an ‘international’ section and it’s fun watching what turns up there from the UK.