Young people from Brazil's favelas set out to conquer digital world

>lots of people say it about parts of American cities - it's nonsense

In general (although it used to be truer).

That said, there are many places in US cities where I'd pretty strongly recommend against looking out of place, wandering around like a clueless tourist, late at night.

No, you probably won't be shot. But being robbed isn't out of the question.

What is almost certainly true is you're pretty safe most places if you blend in reasonably, keep valuables hidden, and look like you know what you're doing.

This might sound out of left field but (hear me out) I think the decline is due in large part to gerrymandering. 100 years ago you had a lot of pretty competitive races where party control might switch often. It was incumbent on the party machine you mention to make sure all its supporters got out. You'd usually see the party rally around whoever won the primary, because there was still another election to win.

Fast forward through some pretty aggressive and technologically advanced gerrymandering, and something like 90% of congressional seats are pretty well insulated from drastic party changes election over election. The primary becomes the only election that matters for most districts, which pushes both parties to the extremes. Because the primary is the only one that matters, there is little to no incentive to rally around your chosen candidate - you just fight that much harder for your favorite one next time.

Solidifying party control in most districts has somewhat paradoxically weakened party control over the process while simultaneously pushing elected candidates to the extremes.

I'm from Mexico— there's plenty of "bad places" there too.

You really don't want something bad to happen to a tourist, so you focus on the worst-case scenario. It akin to a children and streets; it's easier to tell children to avoid crossing a street and not have to worry, even if statistically it's pretty unlikely an accident would happen.

Moreover, since the news largely focuses on the tragedies, it's easy to get an inflated sense of danger. I know people who live in Culiacán, right in the center of the Sinaloa Cartel. They'll tell me every day in the news someone is dead.

Nonetheless, they live worry-free, peaceful lives. In a city of 1 million, and especially if you're not involved with cartels, even considering the homicide rates are much higher than they should, it's very unlikely something bad will happen to you.

> people from around the world hungry to pull themselves up from the bottom...

Foreign countries are poor like the Rolling Stones or Motley Crew are poor. They are actually very wealthy. They see nice peaceful lives as something for fools and cowards.

> meanwhile in NYC and Oakland, high school students are on "strike" and walking out of class over bogus covid hysteria (aka a legit excuse to combine virtue signalling and goofing off)...apparently we must grovel to their demands as the world owes so much to, and depends so much on, the American teen

Awful to see people turn their backs on their own. Big tech would be gone without bailouts and cheap consumer credit to buy their junk. Despite all their prestige, they don't do anything. People still die horribly. Their charity is not enough. The problems, such as neurological disease, are much more difficult than they thought. "Disruption" or "don't be evil" didn't work.

We gave them the luxury of a lot of resources while we fought some very bad people and took care of the sick. First chance they get they leave for Cypress and Brazil for people who really do hate them.

>fast forward twenty years, who will have risen, who will have fallen

I work from home and am only in tech because of family care-taking. Twenty years will be a sad time for me. Everyone will be gone. I'll be all alone.

Despite that, I kept up on my skills. I managed to have at least some real workplace experience. I have nothing but free time, and I am going to be incredibly angry at and have very little remorse towards the people we trusted with all our wealth and who chose marxists and drug gangs and terrorists over their own and burnt and looted my home.

Depends on the city/country, but there's also an argument affecting tourists is just not worth it.

Money isn't the goal, money + little trouble is the goal. If a city is a big tourist destination, the bad press, the potential involvement of foreign nations, the outcry from the tourism industry, etc are all good reasons for local law enforcement to strike back hard.

Especially if overwhelmed, it's very possible local law enforcement wont give the same weight to an investigation involving only locals and one involving a foreigner, especially if the eyes of, say, Germany are staring at you.