this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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That has been my (limited) experience as well. For me as an extremely introverted European, visiting US was quite a culture shock.
All the American people I’ve met have been very kind, easy to approach and hold a conversation with, and ready to help out a stranger in need. Honestly the last part was what stick out with me the most. Here in my country, I have no doubt that if I collapsed on the street, there would be 10 people stepping over my body before someone decided to check if I needed help.
America has horrible social services, but the reality is that everyone needs help now and then. Since we can't count on government to help out, we minds have to fill the gap with private non-profits and personal giving.
In a way it's great so see people willing to help others, but the problem is that we can't help but discriminate in how we help each other.
And we're shockingly conflict-averse on the individual level. We value being friendly and non-confrontational over pretty much anything else. And that brings a host of problems.
One of the big ones is our desire to stay civil creates a false echo chamber for many people. They think that everyone agrees with them because nobody openly disagrees. And that can get dangerous.
When someone tells a racist joke, you nervously smile and nod to avoid staring a fight over an "impolite" topic, and you've accidentally encouraged bad behavior. That behavior is repeated until it becomes normalized, and then it escalates.
We've somehow managed to be so friendly and kind we're sliding backwards on civil rights. We're weird.