Yet another reason why I'm alright with applying for the gc

 Yess, GC application has been triggered and all that remains is for me to send the documents to the lawyers so the process may begin.

And anyway yes the last four years have been crappy and all of that and everyone's pretending America sucks and ooo europe's so much better anyway but here's the real deal. What the last four years have shown to the world in no unclear terms is that America is not just about invading countries or armtwisting allies, it's about social justice, equality for women and concerns around race and sexual identities. When you start huffing your own farts, you start believing the lies you've been telling about yourself, and it becomes a part of your cultural identity. And that's what America has become. It's lied to itself and the world about respect for human rights, cultural sensitivity, rights of the disprivileged, women and sexual minorities so much now they're issues being raised inside the island itself. And what a great thing it is.

Oh but the trans right thing is not even an issue in Europe at least not in the UK you'll say. Yes, but they've never had had a national conversation about this, and a gradual acceptance of more liberal values. It hasn't been more than a decade on average, for Western Europe to accept gay marriage. And the other parts of the continent haven't accepted it yet. And now it's an unremarkable part of culture. In America it's the same. Only a decade and half ago there were culture wars going on about gay marriage, about homosexual relationships, men being with other men was an edgy concept. Not so anymore. It's the same about consciousness about racial injustice, violence towards and prejudice against women as well. A decade and a half ago, you could get away with making lazy sexist nonsensical jokes, be okay with being all male institutions. Now those actions raise at least eyebrows if not the legal hammer. The America of today is a very different place.

So different in fact that the last four years have left an imprint on the world about America as the place where women are comically hilariously respected. Aisling Bea's standup routine on how flirting in Ireland is negging on all sides and super aggressive, while in America everybody is so tame and kind and respectful was an example of that. I've been seeing a tonne of examples online, on twitter where they have this meme format, comparing other places to America, and they're all implicitly about how nice respectful law-abiding place America is. A place where you cannot beat up your kids, where you cannot call a woman fat or ugly or other rude remarks just like that, a place where antidiscrimination laws are a seriously sharp.

Yes, healthcare is a mess, but we're better than where we were 13 years ago. Income inequality needs to be worked towards. In terms of race matters though, allow me to suggest the US is doing better than any of its counterparts anywhere except for maybe few exceptions of already multicultural places. Yeah if you want to go to hicksville alabama and compare it to Berlin, you're gonna get the expected results, but you compare apples against apples, and America is a pretty goddamn respectful reasonable place.