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Old 09-30-2005, 01:21 PM
Blarg Blarg is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,519
Default Re: Why do so many Americans make Canada jokes?

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Can't be jealously - it says here the US is a fractionally better place to live than Canada. But it seems you actually need to live in Ireland.

Nice to see the UK just pipped South Korea for 29th place. Sheesh....

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I rarely like those evaluations. The potential for bias is overwhelming.

For instance, many people like heat, even tremendous heat, a whole lot, so some places get huge points for hot weather. Now, if you don't like hot weather, especially year round(like me), the "always hot" isn't a plus at all, it's the opposite.

Social class makes a big difference, too. Some places are much easier to live in when you are rich, some when you are poor, and the middle class, whatever passes for one, can have their prospects evaluated in so many ways that it can be almost impossible to state coherently what makes for a "good" life for them, and where, and why. People just value things very differently. And almost always extremely prejudicially through the filter of their own backgrounds, overlooking or denying good things about ways of getting things done and overvaluing whatever it is they are used to or favors them and their social class.

All you have to do is bring up the issue of national health care and you'll have people taking up sides extremely stridently. There's virtually no chance that you'll settle an issue like that and how much it affects quality of life, especially without referencing to what you're used to as if it were the best thing.
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