[lemoncookiechip]

Americans seem to think the middle-east is some dystopian place where everyone is near poverty living in mudhuts, when places like Iran have a higher level of literacy than the USA, with more female college graduates.

There's definitely a lot of issues that need to be addressed at a cultural and social-economical level in places like Dubai exploiting migrant workers like slaves, the UAE, etc... but America has plenty of issues back home at a state by state case. Poverty, infrastructure falling apart, lack of education, lack of affordable health care, lack of job opportunity, high criminality, drug epidemics, etc... Some states feel like entirely different countries when compared to something like New Hampshire.

Even places like NYC and California which are economic hubs have this wide disparity of class, with entire communities of homeless populating the streets at crazy numbers that would make other nations blush (Cali has well over 100k).

[bathtub365]

I’m not really surprised. The US (and their allies) has made a concerted effort over a number of decades to turn them into to the third world. The current sitting US president has threatened to blast them into “oblivion” and “back to the Stone Ages, where they belong”. A lot of imagery of middle eastern countries seen in the west is of the places they’ve collectively destroyed.

[Zetaphor]

One thing we've always been exceptional at is thinking we're exceptional

[happymellon]

> places like Dubai exploiting migrant workers like slaves

Heck you can even compare like with like, and point to H1b visas.

The entire point of that program is to bring in people who you can pay below standard wages, and who will work those 12 hour days for you.

[Synthetic7346]

Are you comparing H1bs to slavery? That's a ridiculous take