Confirmation bias? What exactly in my posts above points to confirmation bias? You are the one that seems to be quoting studies to support your bias.Tammer in Philly wrote: ↑Oct 05, 2021 4:05 PMInteresting to take one data point out of context and thereby trash the rest. For those capable of reading, the presence of HK is actually called out as the only non-democracy included in the top ten and explained why. Reading is hard, though, when it contradicts one’s confirmation bias.Kenny Blankenship wrote: ↑Oct 05, 2021 11:46 AMHong Kong #3 on the Human Freedom index? That alone invalidates the results of the study...Tammer in Philly wrote: ↑Oct 05, 2021 10:52 AMKenny Blankenship wrote: ↑Oct 04, 2021 12:55 PM
The thing about the US is that there is so much freedom (relatively speaking) that people can lose some sense of discipline, some moral compass, some sense of accountability and responsibility. Some take advantage of our freedom (see China, Russia). You occasionally get people who go off the rails. The US places an strong emphasis on individuality perhaps at the expense of family.
I think your assessment of European Union in general is spot on. Most of those countries just kind of "exist". They don't really go anywhere...don't progress. Not as good an environment for innovation. The exception is probably Germany.
This is something that is parroted often but not in alignment with reality. Depending on which dimension of freedom you look at, the US is near the top (but not at the top), or pretty far from the top.
There are many lenses of "freedom," from individual civil liberties to economic freedom to freedom of the press and others.
In this one for overall freedom (with 76 individual metrics), the US doesn't crack the top 10, coming in 15th: https://worldpopulationreview.com/count ... by-country
In this economic freedom assessment, the US does even worse at 20th: https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking
The Democracy Index has the US ranked 2nd ... of 2 in North America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy ... By_country
If you want to say "we're so free it causes other problems," you have to actually be able to define what that means, and those who have put in the effort to define it would seem to disagree. It's also worth remarkable, of course, that your actual assertion seems to be "we're so free we have more crime because some people abuse their freedom," but the countries that outrank us on every single freedom index ALSO have far less crime!
Seems to blow that hypothesis out of the water.
Note that one would expect HK to diminish as Chinese control extends into other aspects of life, but the rationale in the score lies in the various criteria considered.
Some people in the US talk about freedom while choosing to ignore the fact that armed agents of the state kill thousands of citizens each year with no due process and virtually no repercussions.
As one selects locations, here’s another interesting lens: what are the best states to have a baby in?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/30/real ... abies.html
And as far as Hong Kong? Hong Kong has been dead meat since 1997. There's no need to read more. A list is published and Hong Kong is #3. Human freedom along side various Nordic countries and New Zealand. Hilarious!
To the OP...well you have seen what we are dealing with. We're all "armchair quarterbacks". I can tell you are smart enough you will do your research and come up what is best for you. No country is perfect, some are better than others and you will decide for yourself. A common refrain in the US is "...people always vote with their feet.". Lots of criticism about the US, because we can (think about that). Very few seem to leave.