Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands • Hacker News Board

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#261

Post by aa-jv » Fri, Dec 12, 2025, 9:08 AM UTC

archagon wrote: post #249

aa-jv wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my personal point of view, and based on my personal history as a victim of Australia's heinously racist White Stolen Generation (and who was eventually returned to my birth mother because of her strong will), Australia is a totalitarian-authoritarian fascist hell hole that got away with genocide, and will bend over backwards to function as a lackey for the US' military-industrial complex. There's not a single ra…

That’s really insightful, thank you for writing that up. You’re right, this was not something I encountered at all while visiting Australia. And I recognize many of these same detestable elements in US culture: something I want to get as far away from as possible. At the same time, I have to note that Sydney and Melbourne, at least, are some of the most international cities in the world, with around 40% of the popula…

How many Aborigines did you meet? How many did you work with?

There is undoubtedly racism in Europe. The issue for me is that my motherland got away with it - others didn't - and it continues to fight fundamentally racist wars whenever tasked with it by its imperial masters.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#262

Post by GaryNumanVevo » Fri, Dec 12, 2025, 1:33 PM UTC

tuesdaynight wrote: post #240

GaryNumanVevo wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a US Expat who just purchased a home in Amsterdam it's a hell of a lot better than paying $1.5 mil for a shack in Sunnyvale. We bought the apartment we were living in from our landlord (funny enough because they're going to start charging him extra tax for N+2 rental properties). It's worth it. For one, they ruled that the wealth tax is against the EU human rights agenda. So they're scrambling to come up with a so…

Aren't you immigrants? I thought expats were temporarily immigrants, but you don't sound as planning to go back to the USA.

Immigrant yes, although a lot of my American expat friends have been here 5+ years and don't plan to go back any time soon.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#263

Post by lunias » Fri, Dec 12, 2025, 4:58 PM UTC

Tadpole9181 wrote: post #196

lunias wrote: post #53

Ah, yes. Of course, in the wake of the fall of the United States, everywhere else on earth will immediately flourish. Just my 2 cents, but before you leave, you might want to talk to some immigrants about what brought them to the United States in the first place.

As if immigrants fleeing Nazis in WWII 90 years ago or folk from less wealthy regions of the world today are a barometer for the state of the Netherlands? The Netherlands is already doing well today, and don't have the grim outlooks of the current US. It's not perfect and the fall of the US would have enormous impacts, of course, but this seems like a total non sequitur.

I'm not sure I understand your point, nor you mine.

I'm not commenting about the Netherlands specifically, I'm commenting about people leaving the United States for anywhere because they feel similar to you about "the grim outlooks of the current US". It's a common narrative, but about 10x more people immigrate to the US every year as compared to the Netherlands. A lot of people in the US are like, "Trump sucks, I'm moving to Spain." Most of them never will, they just like saying they will. They don't speak Spanish, have no contacts anywhere outside of the US, have never been to Spain, etc. I'm just suggesting that the grass is not always greener on the other side, there are always trade-offs and some of the best ways to learn about those trade-offs is talking with people that have lived in both places.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#264

Post by array_key_first » Sat, Dec 13, 2025, 2:49 AM UTC

mothballed wrote: post #214

array_key_first wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8371731/ "Virtually all of this risk involved homicide by a family member or intimate acquaintance."

It does not assert what you've claimed. It found correlative association. They did not conclude that the gun was causative of the homicide. Even thinking this through for a second, it makes sense someone expecting to be murdered by a family member or intimate partner might be more likely to keep a gun, as it might be useful in frustrating that effort.

I think it's just plainly true that guns cause gun homicide and obviously having more guns means more gun homicide. And suicide. And other stuff, too, like kids shooting themselves in the face on accident. Surprisingly common, which is why you probably should not have a gun in your home with children.

Look, it's just a simple matter of probability and being honest about the world. Bad things, like robberies, are very, very, very rare. Heat of the moment disagreements and accidents are not.

You're optimizing for something that you know, deep down, does not matter - and to do it, you're actively making a bunch of MUCH MORE LIKELY stuff easier. And even here I am being far too charitable to you - I'm assuming the gun would help you in the case a crime is committed. It probably won't, especially if you follow safe gun keeping guidelines.