• carbonprop@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Believe it or not it was a trip to Memphis for training from Canada. I am not well travelled by any means. I made it into Memphis and after a short ride, arrived at my hotel. The people who worked there were some of the most lovely people I have ever met. Southern hospitality was in their soul. I even got to sit down one afternoon with some other guests and hotel staff to discuss differences in politics, healthcare and so on. It blew my mind when people were telling me the expense of just having a baby delivered at their local hospital. I could not wrap my mind around not wanting socialized healthcare. It was the first evening in the hotel, I decided to turn on the local news for Memphis. This was the first real culture shock. The violence. Shootings, stabbings, robberies. I honestly went from feeling like this place is amazing, to this place scares the sh!t out of me. I could not understand why in a place where I had met such beautiful and lovely individuals had to live in a place that was so violent. So after my training week had finished up I decided to head to Beal street and walk around the downtown core a bit. Beal was very much what I had imagined. Kind of felt like a tourist trap. Anyhow I ventured off the beaten path and headed into the town to do some shopping around. I had left a local record shop and heard the ranting of some biker coming out of a building. He was yelling the most racist things if I have ever heard. I was floored. Most of the racists I have encountered where I live are old asshats who keep it secret. But this man out in the street let his hatred fly.

    Memphis was this weird crossover world where I was treated like gold and at the same time had to feel afraid for my safety. It still blows my mind the racism and bigotry people still face. It has stuck with me for years.

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      could not wrap my mind around not wanting socialized healthcare

      Listen to this podcast

      Frame Canada: Wendell Potter spent decades scaring Americans. About Canada. He worked for the health insurance industry, and he knew that if Americans understood Canadian-style health care, they might… like it. So he helped deploy an industry playbook for protecting the health insurance agency. https://www.npr.org/2020/10/19/925354134/frame-canada

      • carbonprop@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Absolutely beautiful people. I wish the love and care I felt was how everyone treated one another there.

    • canOP
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      1 year ago

      Can’t imagine forcing people to give birth and then charging them for it.

      There’s over 300 million people. take care of each other

    • subtext@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      To be fair, the media absolutely plays up the violence about 1000x because it gets the most views / clicks. Don’t get me wrong, there is a ton of violence, and it’s absolutely a problem in the US, but the news has it pumped up to 11.