Ask Lemmy

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.

I wouldn't say I'm happy, necessarily. But I'm content.

I have everything I need in terms of basic needs but I suffer from depression, and I have two eighty year-old parents who have borrowed my car for nearly a year driving for DoorDash. My anhedonia keeps me leveled out 99% of the time, so when I'm happy or sad it generally manifests as a manic episode.

Even though my country is generally functional and safe, it's really only that way if you have money. That DoorDash job is the only the standing between my parents and homelessness because no one will employ them, the government doesn't care if they become homeless or starved, and my dad is too old too roof houses.

Germany - Overall I feel ok. Nothing beyond the ordinary Weltschmerz. But that kinda creeped into normalcy, so yeah. Here we are.

Things might turn to shit tho. We have an election this weekend. So ask me again in a couple of days.

This feels a bit out of touch. Firstly, anywhere in the USA, even Mississippi, is richer than almost anywhere else in the world in dollar terms. That is always going to buy a certain level of function and safety compared to most countries in the world, which are, well, poor. Next, "the US" is continent-sized federation. Vermont, say, is clearly safer and more functional, by any measure, than all but handful of independent countries.

In terms of figures, the USA is currently #43 out of 105 in the Safety Perceptions Index. Admittedly not a great score (but I can't help noticing that #1 is Uzbekistan, which is a literal police state). Even harder to measure "functional" but the US is at #20 out of 193 in the Human Development Index, which measures wealth, education and healthcare.

Whatever the current frame of mind of Americans, it's important to remember that the USA remains a privileged place.

Enough to thrive

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.

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"...

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.

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

There aren't any of those, but we do have a centre-left government (for now), we're doing alright economically and still have a semblance of a social security safety net.

Mostly what it feels like is that the US and Russia are now both adversaries and this lasts only until their disinformation warfare wins the day or they attack us directly otherwise. We're not "safe" because we're not safe from you and the other couple of idiots that are still married to the old "superpower" idea. If you want to know how I feel, then, it's mostly "really, really angry at any liberal of leftist that did not show up for Harris the way they did for Biden or Obama".

So there's that.

In the UK, it's not great, and seems to be on the down trend like everywhere else, but right now it's a decent enough place to live - definitely a lot better than the US.

Germany. While I do feel like my country is overall still safe and a good place to live, it feels to me like we're on the brink. The US may well drag us down with them and even if they don't, our own politicians might just do that on their own. So yeah, quite anxious and not overly optimistic right now. The next few years will be critical and it could go either way really.

I'm pretty happy

Guatemala.

Good food, good people, good mountains, laid-back fun culture.

incidentally, I am from the states but have chosen not to live in the US for the past decade for reasons that have now become obvious to everyone.

I'm not too worried if the US collapses, there are 200 other countries to live in.

it doesn't seem like it will collapse entirely, maybe, since that wouldn't benefit the rich people in charge of it? good luck.