I can see that. Seems like it doesn't matter what group you belong to, they just want to feel like they are better than whichever group its time to gang up on.

Thanks for the conversation. Pretty rare to have one like this without it devolving into something toxic.

If I travel 200 miles in any direction I'm still in the South. I get what you're saying though. Too many people do enjoy the comfort of their own home too much and get stuck in their ways. Even with devices where they can literally talk to anyone in the world they choose to find like minded people and form an echo chamber.

Funny thing is the US has people from all over the world. So many cultures brought here which should be embraced but it's not. It's sad because I have a friend from Columbia, a friend who's mom escaped North Korea, several friends from Mexico and some friends whose father came from Pakistan. Learned a lot of cool stuff about their families and countries of origin.

I feel Americans honestly don't have to leave their home town to learn about other cultures etc. What makes America shit is the rejection of these people. Forces them to be more alone and isolate. The American culture should be simply put embracing the melting pot that America is. Really only the cities have this to an extent which is why the cities are usually more progressive even in the conservative states.

People travel all over the country all the time. I live in a rural area and most of the people I know regularly leave the state on vacation. Leaving the country on the other hand is quite rare though because it can be expensive. I get what you're saying though. Problem with a lot of Americans is simply political and a product of team mentality. The people here lack critical thinking and that's true everywhere in the country. The truth is our whole country is a shit hole pretending to be something it's not. We were told this is the greatest country ever and a good chunk of the population believes it even though its far from the truth.

There may be problems at the state level which is being displayed proudly by the Southern states right now but a conservative visiting a progressive state isn't going to change their way of thinking. That goes vise versa as well. Every state has its problems and bad policy but the whole team mentality prevents the masses from using any critical thinking to do things in their best interests.

I may be wrong but I don't think your typical cocky American is going to have an epiphany and change their way of thinking by vacationing in another country. It's also pretty exspensive and difficult to move to another country as well even for people that have a decient amount of money for that to change their world views. Because believe me, if I was able I would gladly leave the USA and never come back if I could easily move to one of the select countries on my list of better places to be.

My point is most people around the world tend to live forever in their country. With the states it is common for people to not really leave their state either which is why it's not really that shocking. I've lived in 3 states and it's basically just the same thing with a different backdrop. People do move around with in the country though primarily do to economic reasons though.

Why is that shocking?