Non-Americans, what do you find weird about America? (and vice versa)

[Anthracite_Impreza]

The cars are the best thing about America; they got that part right! I mean don't get me wrong, a 2l flat 4 boxer is the best but there's somet about a burbling 7l V8...

[Ashmedai]

That's another thing. Americans with their oversized gas guzzling cars, and yet complain that their extremely cheap fuel is getting expensive.

 

Also their football. Like really, helmets and padding?

[Ortac]

I wouldn’t necessarily say that all of these things are weird; they are just differences between the United States of America and France or Europe which have stood out for me the most:

 

·         First of all, everything is American sized! The food portions, the gas stations, the pharmacies, and especially those huge motor homes that are bigger than buses and probably bigger than some people’s apartment! And the fact that anyone can drive them with a regular car license is insane! Walgreens and CVS pharmacy are very different to anything we have in Europe. Aisle after aisle and shelf after shelf of pills, drugs and treatment creams. Once I was looking for some simple sleeping pills, and when I finally found them, there were about six different types and I had no clue what the differences were between them or which one to go for!

 

·         American money. All of the banknotes (or bills as I think they are called in America) are exactly the same size, and predominantly the same green color, so you really have to be extremely careful not to hand over the wrong value by mistake. All of them being the same size must be a nightmare for blind people. In most other places, the banknotes increase in size with value, and each value is a different color. It's so silly that some American's mock Canada for having colorful money.

 

·         You have Sirius satellite radio, which you can listen to in your car! That is so cool! We don’t have that in Europe. Hundreds of radio stations that you can pick up literally anywhere in the whole USA (except when you drive into a tunnel!). There is even a dedicated Beatles radio station. But I like the 80's on 8 personally.

 

·         Cars – 99.9% of the cars are automatic transmission and only a minority of Americans are actually capable of driving a manual transmission car (or stick shift as you commonly call them). By contrast, in Europe about 80% of cars are manual transmission, and only a very small minority of people are NOT capable of driving a manual transmission.

 

·         American traffic lights – they are situated high above the ground in the middle of the junction. Where I live, each light is on a separate pole at the side of the road. And it is so cool that in America, you can turn right on a red light. That is not allowed here.

 

·         Supermarkets – in America, the checkout operators have to stand up. In Europe, the checkout operators are seated. And in America, supermarkets don’t have those hand held scanners which allow you to scan your shopping as you go around so that you can pay quickly when you have finished. I always use them - it would drive me mad if I had to wait in line at a checkout!

 

·         American confectionary. Sorry America, but your Hershey’s chocolate really is horrendously bad! It tastes bland, and it doesn’t melt properly. European chocolate, even the cheap stuff, is far, far superior. Even in Canada, the chocolate is different and better than in the USA.

 

·         Squirrels aren’t the only wildlife that is different. In France, there is no way that you can ever get anywhere near an alpine marmot. The second they catch site of you, they scarper. When I encountered some in Washington state, they were just sat at the side of the path with hikers passing within three feet of them and they didn’t care!

 

·         Trying to get used to temperatures stated in degrees Fahrenheit. Miles instead of kilometers I can cope with, but Fahrenheit instead of Centigrade, I just can’t get my brain to adapt. If I listen to a weather forecast, I never have any clue whether it is going to be hot or cold.

 

·         American public restrooms. The doors on the toilet stalls don’t exactly offer much privacy! The gap between the bottom of the door and the floor is about two feet, and the top of the door is often only just at my eye level. I don’t really like it than I can see other people taking a dump, and other people can see me if I take a dump. It put me off from using public restrooms in America for a long time. In Europe, toilet stalls have normal full height doors, and if there is a gap at the bottom, it is only about six inches.

 

·         On the positive side, I liked the abundance of drinking water fountains in America. I think pretty much every public restroom I saw had one, and going thirsty is never a worry. Europe badly needs to catch up in this area where drinking fountains are at the moment very uncommon.

 

Here’s a couple of things that are not just differences but things I do genuinely find weird:

 

·         By my country’s standards, I have a very capitalist mindset; I believe in free enterprise with minimal government intervention, I believe that those who work should be rewarded and not penalised, and I believe that people shouldn’t expect to have an automatic right to be handed things for free. However, even I recognise that some socialist policy is necessary and appropriate, with healthcare being one of them. I do find it weird that there is a significant number of people in America who are oppose government provided healthcare, on the basis that is “socialism” or “not conducive to the American way”. And I am not just talking about Obamacare because I recognise that there were certain issues with that; it even seems that many Americans are vehemently opposed to any form of government provided healthcare whatsoever.

 

·         The patriotism thing. This is not something I have personally witnessed, but is an account of something I heard second hand, so I can’t attest to the accuracy of it. A colleague told me that when they were visiting a theme park or some other attraction in Florida, the American national anthem started playing out of loud speakers. Nearly everyone stopped what they were doing, fell silent and stood still, and put their hand on their heart. There were even some people who visibly had tears in their eyes whilst it was happening. If that were to happen when I was there, not only would I feel extremely awkward and not know what to do or how to behave, but I would also find it a little bit sinister and freaky.

 

 

[Skycaptain]

I agree with the sales tax thing, that just seems nonsensical. Same with the tip thing. The price on the label /meter etc should be what you pay, and the staff wages should come out of this. Tips should be regarded as a bonus for good service, mot a right. 

 

@Ortac, reference RVs, depending on the country you'd be surprised how big ones you can drive on a car licence are. Certainly on my UK licence I can drive a 8m RV, and tow a car behind on an A-frame.

However on this note, I do find the American obsession with giant pick-ups weird. The Hilux-sized ones common everywhere else can still carry a pallet of bricks and tow 3000kg plus, yet aren't the same size as a bus. 

 

By the way the book "Notes from a Big Country" by Bill Bryson is well worth reading on this subject 

[thyristor]

7 hours ago, Anthracite_Impreza said:

The cars are the best thing about America; they got that part right! I mean don't get me wrong, a 2l flat 4 boxer is the best but there's somet about a burbling 7l V8...

Off-Topic:

... and there is always the difference between adoring something and giving divine status to something Here's a motor for you:

Spoiler

 

I don't like diesel motors very much, I have a hang on large sized tools instead:

Spoiler

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hwr3z7vppr70po0/BMMQ.jpg?dl=0

 

[thyristor]

1 hour ago, Ortac said:

And it is so cool that in America, you can turn right on a red light. That is not allowed here.

In Sweden and Germany there is an extralight in the shape of an arrow that will light up when it's okay to turn, used for both left and right, I guess you have it in the US as well? But Germany even has a plain sign called the 'green arrow', which is installed at those crossings where it is considered safe to turn right at any time.

 

Quote

·         Supermarkets – in America, the checkout operators have to stand up. In Europe, the checkout operators are seated. And in America, supermarkets don’t have those hand held scanners which allow you to scan your shopping as you go around so that you can pay quickly when you have finished. I always use them - it would drive me mad if I had to wait in line at a checkout!

I don't think all of Europe has the handheld scanners. Sweden does, but I don't think Germany has it yet for example. But it's a two-edged thing. My dad (German) thought, German shops would never trust people to that extent that they are allowed to scan their stuff themselves and just check out, but obviously, it's economically very much worth it for the stores. The amount of staff you can save is enormous compared to the shop-lifting risk.

 

But the question is, you take a monotonous work off the staff, but obiviously, the staff doesn't just have a lighter work, but they are reduced in numbers, so, replacing the counter-work with stock picking work to get a full wage actually; and on top, you put the 'work' on the customer. Suddenly you have to engage in scanning for every article you pick, it's constantly keeping an eye on whether the scanning succeded or not, and when some things don't scan well, the customer is the one who has to first try a couple of times and then try to remember to point it out at checkout. Maybe the time waiting at the cashier was not so bad after all. Gives your brain a break, you could just gaze at the jacket of the person infront of you.

 

Edit: But obvioulsy, it's extrawork to up- and unload your stuff from the counter. But hey, US are tinkering with that pick and go Amazon thing, where your phone in you pocket keeps track of everything you pick, and you pay it monthly by bill.

 

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Europe badly needs to catch up in this area where drinking fountains are at the moment very uncommon.

In Sweden and Germany there is no problem with tap-water, so where ever you have a restroom you have drinking water.

 

Quote

the American national anthem started playing out of loud speakers. Nearly everyone stopped what they were doing, fell silent and stood still, and put their hand on their heart. There were even some people who visibly had tears in their eyes whilst it was happening.

Omg! Just imagine this happening in Germany! Hahahh.....

[thyristor]

Did I get this correctly, that in the US there is a dedicated highschool subject called debating? Caught it in some movie... Apparently, pupils are meant to be able to argue both pro and con random stuff regardless of whether they feel pro or con. I know too little about it, but I imagine it could be both good and bad: it's good to try to see arguments with a neutral mind, but this also is a bit like fostering people to serve a system that decides for them, and the debating is merely a work to be done, not a way of giving a voice to peoples' oppinion.

[Whore*of*Mensa]

@catra @natsume I don't get the Medicare thing, being from the UK where healthcare has been free for as long as I can remember..Although I suspect we'll be heading down the same road before very long. 

 

There are two aspects of this that I am trying to work out:

 

1.In the UK, healthcare is supposed to be allocated according to need, in the judgement of your GP (general practitioner) who is the first point of contact for any health problem - if they think you need a service, they'll organise it for you (this was how the NHS started out, although it's not really like that any more - more on this later)

 

It was always my belief that this made the health service cheaper, as there was no financial incentive to provide or not provide treatment. It was provided on the basis of the health needs of the person presenting themselves at the surgery and nothing else. There was also a belief, in the UK, that once a service is privatised it is there to make money - therefore more people will be assessed as 'needing' something, whether they do or not. 

 

This leads to 

 

2. The fact that everyone in America seems to undergo therapy (we don't really have such a thing here) - it's so normalised, in comparison to the UK. In the UK, you might get counselling to help with big life events or problems, but it's not a long-running thing - you might get 10 sessions. You'd only get more if you were deemed to have a serious mental health condition. 

 

I have noticed a lot of people recommend therapy as a solution on here, and that's how I can identify that they are probably American! Therapy can fix problems like, not being able to stand up to people, or relationship problems or...Anything that life throws at you, really. Therapy, in the UK, is for rich people or people with mental health conditions. 

 

It's hard to make a direct comparison between public and private healthcare as we don't really have a public healthcare system anymore. GPs have been put in charge of their own budgets - and budgets have become limited. Also, parts of the health service are now run by private companies. So now we are seeing rationing of less profitable services, and of more expensive medication (for example my Mum recently saw a nutritionist who suggested she should get tested for a vitamin deficiency - can't remember which one now - but when she asked the GP for the test, he said 'I recommend you go buy some vitamin (whatever) and take it just in case, as the cost of giving you the test is more than the cost of buying those vitamins for a year' ????) (as an aside, my Mum can afford to pay for this, obviously she paid for the nutritionist, she's always been very into alternative healthcare anyway).

 

GPs can make a profit now, and some seem to have embraced that very enthusiastically. Also, the services run by private companies are the ones that easily make profit, and are easy to run - so the publicly run services become more and more scarce. Mental health services are in crisis and have been for a long time. They are always the first to go when cuts are made.

 

In terms of whether therapy is a good thing, people on here who have undergone therapy do seem to be very kind and very strong, mentally, it seems that it can make you a better person. Maybe everybody should have it? I've read interviews with famous people who have said that. I'd love to have therapy, personally. 

 

I just wonder about the implications for the health service in terms of cost etc. It's well-known that the American system is the most costly to run in the world. 

 

(thoughts welcome if anyone has any)

 

 

[Anthracite_Impreza]

1 hour ago, elisabeth_II said:

Off-Topic:

... and there is always the difference between adoring something and giving divine status to something Here's a motor for you:

  Hide contents

 

I don't like diesel motors very much, I have a hang on large sized tools instead:

  Hide contents

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hwr3z7vppr70po0/BMMQ.jpg?dl=0

 

I'm fairly sure it's obvious to everyone I worship the ground cars drive on...

 

Now imagine the size of the spanner for that engine

 

The patriotism thing weirds me out too, I find it kinda scary. Don't get me wrong, if it's us against the French I have to uphold the English tradition but otherwise, I'm far more "my village" than anything else.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Nowhere Girl said:

More about American economy... Do you know, for example, that in many cases supposedly the same products on the EU market and the US market have quite different ingredients? European Union law simply offers much better standards of consumer protection.

 

Also the American car obsession... In Europe American cities are used as an anti-example... Poland is about 30 years behind Western Europe because of communism - then most people didn't have cars, and even if someone had money for a car and decided to buy it, it could still happen that they would have to wait a few years until their car was actually produced... (Which is why I support neither "wild capitalism" nor state-planned economy which just doesn't work. I believe that there has to be private enterprise, private companies, but the state must also retain the right to intervene. The market by itself isn't fair - for example "it" "judges" low-qualification, but very-high-effort work such as cleaning as worth very little, it also underestimates the value of the most responsible jobs possible, such as teaching, and hugely exaggerates the value of all finance-related jobs.) So after communism a lot of people, unfortunately, perceived cars as an epitome of freedom and didn't yet see the downsides (in dense traffic anyone's choice to use a car is a choice which, at most, benefits only them). Now also the US is starting to see that universal motoring is a road to nowhere, that this kind of lifestyle simply can't continue indefinitely, in Europe it was never taken that far and so it's easier to turn back. But multi-lane urban highways of L.A. are a quickly recognisable anti-model of how a good, sustainable city should be planned...

Well... cars are kind of a needed item in a lot of U.S areas. Where I live, it is 20 miles to a grocery store (one way) and I drive 50 miles a day to work and back. The nearest "corner shop" is 10 miles away. I am not biking or walking 20-50 miles every time I want to get somewhere. And the spread outness isn't that uncommon. If you live in a city sometimes you have public transport but most of the U.S area is more rural and needs a car. Besides the travel they dont have garbage pickup, you take it to the dump yourself. If I didn't have to drive I wouldn't own one, I hate driving. 

 

The thing I find weird is how completely normal we find having to start training kids in school at 3 years old how to survive a shooter attempting to murder them. It's just an accepted part of life in order to keep our "gun rights". Along with armed guards at schools. And a school being on lockdown for two hours with everyone sitting in a dark, locked room waiting to hear if it's a shooter or what doesn't even make a news blip... just another day in the life of American kids and school staff. 

[Whore*of*Mensa]

3 minutes ago, Serran said:

Besides the travel they dont have garbage pickup, you take it to the dump yourself.

You have to take your own rubbish to the dump????

[Whore*of*Mensa]

4 minutes ago, Serran said:

The thing I find weird is how completely normal we find having to start training kids in school at 3 years old how to survive a shooter attempting to murder them. It's just an accepted part of life in order to keep our "gun rights". Along with armed guards at schools. And a school being on lockdown for two hours with everyone sitting in a dark, locked room waiting to hear if it's a shooter or what doesn't even make a news blip... just another day in the life of American kids and school staff. 

Absolutely. Most people find that weird I think. And very sad. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, More*of*Wenceslas said:

You have to take your own rubbish to the dump????

Yeah. I live in a rural area. We have to bag it, put it in our own car and take it on days they give us access to the dump. Well... we have small cars so my aunt does it in her pickup truck so we dont have to have our cars smelling of rotting garbage but. Yeah. 

[Whore*of*Mensa]

5 minutes ago, Serran said:

Yeah. I live in a rural area. We have to bag it, put it in our own car and take it on days they give us access to the dump. Well... we have small cars so my aunt does it in her pickup truck so we dont have to have our cars smelling of rotting garbage but. Yeah. 

Wow. Here, there was a massive uproar because the council decided to only collect the general (non-recyclable) rubbish every 3 weeks rather than every week (we have 4 bins - one for glass, one for cardboard, one for food waste and one for non-recyclables). The council were trying to encourage more recycling. You would have thought the world had ended the way people were going on...!

 

We do expect a basic level of public services here, which just don't seem to happen over there. I think maybe we (in the UK) also forget just how big the US is..maybe that impacts what is possible and what isn't. I'm genuinely shocked at this - that isn't a job I would like to have to do!!

[thyristor]

57 minutes ago, More*of*Wenceslas said:

(thoughts welcome if anyone has any)

New thread.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, More*of*Wenceslas said:

Wow. Here, there was a massive uproar because the council decided to only collect the general (non-recyclable) rubbish every 3 weeks (we have 4 bins - one for glass, one for cardboard, one for food waste and one for non-recyclables). The council were trying to encourage more recycling. You would have thought the world had ended the way people were going on...!

 

We do expect a basic level of public services here, which just don't seem to happen over there. I think maybe we (in the UK) also forget just how big the US is..maybe that impacts what is possible and what isn't. I'm genuinely shocked at this - that isn't a job I would like to have to do!!

Heh. Yeah. The size gets in the way. They arent about to go around the 500 person town I live in with trucks collecting it, when it would take all day and a lot of fuel plus wages of two people with how spread out the area is. 

 

But.. where I live also has no paved road. Its limestone with a bazillion holes everytime it rains. And if the road gets blocked by a tree I might be unable to get out for a few days before someone gets around to removing it. 

[thyristor]

1 minute ago, Serran said:

They arent about to go around the 500 person town I live in

In Sweden we have village unions sort of. It means that if you live off the main strokes, you form an association, all the people who live in that area pay a monthly member fee, and from that they pay winter road maintenance, playgrounds, garbage colleting and other stuff. It might also involve people living in the area doing some of the stuff.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, elisabeth_II said:

In Sweden we have village unions sort of. It means that if you live off the main strokes, you form an association, all the people who live in that area pay a monthly member fee, and from that they pay winter road maintenance, playgrounds, garbage colleting and other stuff. It might also involve people living in the area doing some of the stuff.

We have homeowners associations but they basically take a fee, dont offer much and put a million rules in place (like you cant have a flag in your yard, everyone's house must be these colors,etc). Our area voted to disband it because all they offered was rules and occasional road repair for a high monthly fee. 

 

We can get trash services for $68/mo from private companies but that's... far too expensive for most people. 

[thyristor]

1 minute ago, Serran said:

We can get trash services for $68/mo from private companies but that's... far too expensive for most people. 

So, one neighbour might have it, and the truck would just pass by the other houses? What always bothers me is that the efficient use of money is valued higher than the efficient use of life.

[Anthracite_Impreza]

3 minutes ago, elisabeth_II said:

the efficient use of money is valued higher than the efficient use of life.

Welcome to capitalism, America's favourite thing.

[thyristor]

2 minutes ago, Anthracite_Impreza said:

Welcome to capitalism, America's favourite thing.

Not only America's...... 😥

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, elisabeth_II said:

So, one neighbour might have it, and the truck would just pass by the other houses? What always bothers me is that the efficient use of money is valued higher than the efficient use of life.

Yeah. If you arent paying them they arent going to stop. A few neighbors have it, we did for a few months but it's just so expensive we dropped it. 

[Anthracite_Impreza]

5 minutes ago, elisabeth_II said:

Not only America's...... 😥

No, and like all plagues it spreads.

[gymgirl]

Lack of geographical knowledge and the perpetual arrogance of equalising the USA with America.

What part of America do you mean?

The United States?

South America?

Canada?

As an old friend from Peru said "I am an American, too."

[daveb]

6 hours ago, Ortac said:

All of them being the same size must be a nightmare for blind people.

According to the movie about Ray Charles (blind musician) when he was starting out in small clubs he used to request his pay in one dollar bills so he could count them and make sure he was paid enough.

 

6 hours ago, Ortac said:

hand held scanners

We do have them in some stores. I like to use them in the main grocery store I shop at. It doesn't take much more time and everything is bagged and ready to go when I am done shopping. All I have to do is pay the machine at the end. But then there are some items I have to get a cashier to remove the security protection from.

 

6 hours ago, Ortac said:

Trying to get used to temperatures stated in degrees Fahrenheit.

I'm the same with temps in celsius. I've been trying to get better at it, but I still don't automatically relate a given celsius temp to how hot or cold it might feel.

 

6 hours ago, Ortac said:

The doors on the toilet stalls don’t exactly offer much privacy!

It does vary, but you are right. Most don't allow as much privacy as I'd like.

 

I agree about ridiculously large portion sizes at restaurants, over-enthusiastic patriotism, gun violence and how normalized it often is, the resistance to anything like universal healthcare (medicare isn't free, I believe the cost is dependent on one's income, and there are additional costs for things like drugs and other healthcare items and services), and other points mentioned by various people. Some things are different in the US for good reasons, some for bad reasons, and some are due to things like historical happenstance. One issue about demonyms; there isn't an easy way to make a demonym that derives from or pertains to the United States of America other than "American".

 

Some things that struck me when I first visited Europe back in the 1970s:

• How green it was (that was me coming from dry southwestern US to rainy UK)
• How hard it was to find stores that were open on weekends or evenings (especially if I wanted to get a snack or any other food outside of a restaurant or other items)
• How good public transport was in many places (especially compared to the part of the US I came from)

[Gloomy]

I think the patriotism thing is weird too even as an American myself. One time at one of my past jobs our boss showed us a video of an American athlete training during the Olympics dropping what he was doing that standing still because the national anthem started playing. People acted like it was the most patriotic thing someone could do, and I was just thinking “If I were a rival athlete I’d play the anthem while he was competing so he’d stop and I’d have an exponentially higher chance of beating him”. 
 

Also, sorry but standing still because of a song or acting like a piece of fabric is some sort of god idol doesn’t make you patriotic. You know what I think would make someone patriotic? Standing up to the tyranny their fellow countrymen are facing.

[catra]

@More*of*Wenceslas therapy is definitely a good thing. it’s not just for people *really* struggling, it can help out with everyone. therapy is a good place to rant about all the little things in life, which can make you feel better, and sometimes the therapist can offer solutions to the problems you have. therapy doesn’t have to be a big emotional thing, sometimes it can be a hang-out-and-chat thing.

[everywhere and nowhere]

6 hours ago, Serran said:

Well... cars are kind of a needed item in a lot of U.S areas. Where I live, it is 20 miles to a grocery store (one way) and I drive 50 miles a day to work and back. The nearest "corner shop" is 10 miles away. I am not biking or walking 20-50 miles every time I want to get somewhere. And the spread outness isn't that uncommon. If you live in a city sometimes you have public transport but most of the U.S area is more rural and needs a car.

But why are areas this way? This is where spatial planning enters. Cities simply should not be allowed to diffuse without control. Any permission to build a housing estate should be given only with conditions of preparing infrastructure for introduction of a bus line. In the countryside - well, at least in Western Europe it's a standard that buses or trains should be travelling at regular intervals, that no village should be left without  a bus stop in reasonable distance...

In any tiniest corner of the world there may be people who can't drive and shouldn't drive. I don't know what could force me to drive beause I'm just terrified of it. I refuse to assume an ability to harm other people and I consider my choice a responsible and not cowardly one. I'm a person who could never learn to drive well, never enjoy it, so I decided not to drive at all. Fortunately, I live in a big city with good public transportation, but if I lived in a rural area - I would probably simply move to a city just to avoid driving.

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, Nowhere Girl said:

But why are areas this way? This is where spatial planning enters. Cities simply should not be allowed to diffuse without control. Any permission to build a housing estate should be given only with conditions of preparing infrastructure for introduction of a bus line. In the countryside - well, at least in Western Europe it's a standard that buses or trains should be travelling at regular intervals, that no village should be left without  a bus stop in reasonable distance...

In any tiniest corner of the world there may be people who can't drive and shouldn't drive. I don't know what could force me to drive beause I'm just terrified of it. I refuse to assume an ability to harm other people and I consider my choice a responsible and not cowardly one. I'm a person who could never learn to drive well, never enjoy it, so I decided not to drive at all. Fortunately, I live in a big city with good public transportation, but if I lived in a rural area - I would probably simply move to a city just to avoid driving.

Because of how things are zoned. Population in the area. Homeowners sometimes have had the property from before settling was civilized - so back in western days the town existed cause people settled and built it. Because tourists need break areas. Etc. Etc. The U.S is a lot bigger than most European countries so it's a lot harder to cover the whole country in public transit. We cant even manage cell service, net and cable tv in rural areas yet...

[thyristor]

12 minutes ago, Serran said:

The U.S is a lot bigger than most European countries so it's a lot harder to cover the whole country in public transit. We cant even manage cell service, net and cable tv in rural areas yet...

So, how about the states themselves managing that, as we do in the EU ;D

 

But I get what you mean. In Scandinavia we have quite a lot of areas towards the North that are really lacking of people. The old ones are still there, the young ones move to the capital, and it leaves those areas to the goodwill of the whole country's citizens to perform breathing aid as we call the financial subsidies those areas get. And people always complain, when a store or a school or a hospital closes down. I don't really know what to 'feel' about it, obviously, I feel kind of sorry for the people, and if you are a born Northener, it'd be rude to have you move further south. But I kind of feel, if you were to decide on 50% of those villages and shut them down and have the people move to the remaining 50%, that would be my suggestsion. That way, you keep the area intact. Yes, it's hard to tell people to move, because people have all sorts of freedoms and rights, but I ask myself this: if people can move to one spot when there are jobs, who says, that they have the right to stay there for generations, and the right for subsidies once the jobs dissappear? So, if people can move after a job, why can't they as easily move after care and school? The people in one community could stick together and move in larger groups, so that they can continue their social lives as before.

 

Oh dear, that was a lot of off-topic here... sorry.... (And, something tells me I might have a lot of oppinions against me there, it's a bit of a controversial suggestion).