I think it’d be easier for you to visit New Zealand. You probably wouldn’t need two years to realize why most of us don’t want to visit, let alone live in, the US.

Doesn’t the US check that people who get a green card or some other benefit from marrying a USian really are in love?

If you can spare a couple of years, I’d be happy to help you plan your sabbatical touring and discovering the USA. I bet it would clear up lots of things.

Really? Is there any jurisdiction that requires proof of love before it will recognize a marriage? Where is that on the license application? Is it a tick box? Do you have to send in an annual renewal, like a car inspection?

It depends who you are referring to. The Puritans left because they couldn’t force their extreme religious views on everyone else so they wanted to go somewhere that they could. As for bloodlines, it seems to me that the US is run by a small number of families who control everything in both business and politics.

And longevity? Almost all developed countries have better longevity than the US, probably because those in control only care about healthcare for those who can afford to pay for it. Everyone else is screwed.

And you’re not even as diverse as you think you are. The big cities are diverse, but they’re all Democratic. Most of the rest of the country is not diverse at all – they’re poor and clinging to their guns and Bibles.

We have constitutional monarchy now, which means they have NO power. They’re purely symbolic, just like the Hollywood icons so many USians follow. Everyone would soon kick up a fuss if royalty stuck their oar in, but you guys follow what entertainment figures do slavishly. And you stick to the rules in a book written by Bronze-Age goat herders partly hundreds, and partly thousands, of years before the European monarchies even had power.

We’re better educated (especially our women, who are also more equal), fitter, healthier, more peaceful, less corrupt, more equal, more diverse, less racist, less prejudiced generally, longer living, lower taxed, and it’s even easier to do business here. Yes, overall the US in wealthier. You also have a much greater proportion of your people living in poverty.

And all of us, including the Maori, were originally immigrants too.

You’re right, Americans have little use for navel-gazing. We’re too busy getting rich and working on our firearms collections.

The USA is exceptional, first, because it is a republic founded on ideas not bloodlines. As importantly, no other extant republic even approaches its scale, longevity, prosperity, and diversity. (Does this even need to be pointed out?!?)

Nerds are the most interesting people, so it’s nothing to apologize for!

It is something I notice about a lot of USians. I blame the American Exceptionalism thing. A lot of USians truly believe that they don’t need to learn anything from anyone else. They just assume they’re the best. Anyone who criticizes them is wrong, and if it’s a fellow USian doing the criticism, they’re being unpatriotic. In other countries, there’s a different attitude – we see improving our country as patriotic.

True socialist democracies across the world produce the happiest humans. That’s really the only metric I care about. Mic drop.

Spider-Man and the cat love-affair was Amazing. Amazing Spider-Man #194 (7/79) is the 1st appearance of Cat-Woman. Spidey likes cats. Incidentally, the book is quite valuable in high grade. Yes, I’m a nerd.