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"Where? Much of this stuff you describe was true in the mid-60s where I lived (suburban MN), but not in 75."

Aus. In a lot of ways the US was far more advanced than the rest of the world in '75. You can see that in the every day technology. There's another cause, I lived right on the outer fringes of Melbourne [0] and to give you an idea how small, most of the kids I went to school were delivered by one of two local doctors. [1] The thing that strikes me re-reading my post, then yours is how shockingly fast the Australian caught up and passed the US in a lot of ways.

As a kid the US sounded like a large and interesting place. Somewhere you might be aspire to move too. Now? not a chance. Aus has mostly free medical care and education, little gun violence, less advertising, advanced technology [2] and I'm asking myself, "what the hell happened in the US from '75 to now to make it as it is now?"

Btw, this isn't a criticism of the people of the US. What caused the structural tangle of politics, violence and religion that makes the country a place to avoid?

"And a famous '69 music festival."

Duh, where do you think Shultz got the name? The point I'm making is the concert here was better known by a weekly comic strip than the music on the radio. Certainly available on LP though.

[0] Remember "Melbourne is the artichoke end of the world" ~ http://goonmail.customer.netspace.net.au/

[1] http://seldomlogical.com/profile/

[2] Unaffordable housing, world #2 obesity rate, higher working hours, some political instability.




>What caused the structural tangle of politics, violence and religion that makes the country a place to avoid?

I'd say the cause is largely availability heuristic. You could Google it, but with Australian Internet speeds that might take several days.


"availability heuristic", not a bad stab, yes Internet is slow today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_heuristic




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