Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by shiroiuma 871 days ago
>Do you have experience living in any variety of urban areas in first world countries outside of the US?

The vast, vast majority of Americans have never even been outside the US (except maybe to Canada, and possibly Mexican tourist spots), let alone lived outside the US in a first-world country, and this includes the OP and most people on HN. It's why reading comments on urbanism on forums like this is both entertaining (because it's so wrong and US-centric) and depressing.
3 comments
sgu999 871 days ago
> because it's so wrong and US-centric

I'm reading these threads from my walkable town in western Europe for the same reason ;D

link
sebastos 871 days ago
Most Americans on hackernews have never been outside of the US? That strikes me as a near impossibility. Evidence?
link
jhbadger 871 days ago
There are only 160 million US passports in circulation (out of a population of 330 million. So roughly half. Of course HN people tend to be middle class or higher so they'd more likely be in that 50%. But still, the US is huge (roughly the size of Europe (Europe is approximately 10,180,000 sq km, while United States is approximately 9,833,517 sq km). There's plenty of places to go in the US without needing to go elsewhere. And look at the tiny passport numbers in the 1990s! That's because before 9/11 you didn't need one to go to Canada or Mexico if you had other identification (like a driver's license) showing you were from the US. I've heard that you can still go to Canada that way if you drive rather than fly, but I haven't tried it.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/about-us/reports-...

link
bluGill 871 days ago
Until about 20 years ago you didn't need a passport to travel to Mexico or Canada. And passports only last 10 years so it is possible some have traveled outside the US in the past, but no longer have a passport.
link
tekknik 870 days ago
> There are only 160 million US passports in circulation (out of a population of 330 million. So roughly half

> vast, vast majority have never left the US

how does 1/2 of the population having a passport equate to the “vast, vast majority” having never traveled? How does this logic connect?

link
tekknik 870 days ago
> The vast, vast majority of Americans have never even been outside the US (except maybe to Canada, and possibly Mexican tourist spots)

That sounds made up on the spot, and borderline xenophobic. Data please.

link