I’m in Bulgaria. It’s the poorest country in the European Union—and the most corrupt. My friends get livid recounting how agency A was supposed to build some bridge, and then just siphoned off tax money to a mafioso and the bridge is never built. But I took the Sofia subway today. It’s clean. It’s on time. The intercoms work perfectly and the announcements come in Bulgarian followed by slightly accented English.
Haaaa no, Bulgarians are at each other throats about everything. And frankly I'd rather be dropped in the middle of the most violent part of the US than spend time dealing with bitter, angry, Bulgarian bureaucrats.
I would guess the difference is, a) almost no guns and b) It's EXTREMELY rare, if not virtually non-existent, for a family to allow even a distant relative to become homeless out on the street. There's just no conception of the atomic individualistic US culture.
Tana, here's a quick mental exercise for you. Ask yourself, do you feel safer on a subway car full of Bulgarians or a subway car in NYC full of black people?
You know the answer, despite what you would say publicly. And you're a hypocrite as we all know you'd get off the subway car full of black people ASAP and not feel safe until you did. Just like you'd cross the street is you saw a group of black people at night. And if you didn't do that you would be an idiot who doesn't understand pattern recognition, the basis for human survival.
What the hell are you talking about “Would make Tucker Carlson blush”? I am truly pig sick of this liberal bigotry and projection. You’ve divided America against itself. I hope you enjoy the coming chaos but the rest of us don’t.
Thank you for writing this, Tana. I’m delighted to find your sub stack. Many of these comments are boorish.
To engage with your original question, it’s a puzzler. I have not spent time in Bulgaria but I wonder if there is more of a sense of shared culture that breeds respect for each other and a commitment to not crossing boundaries.
I’ve noticed the commitment to boundaries and respect for others declining in the US when there is a feeling that the powerful are not looking out for the rest of society, and the increasing sense that there are no boundaries or limits to how far they will go. This feeling is on both right and left (ie George floyd, fbi raid on former President) and seems amplified by social media.
To summarize, I would guess that Bulgaria has a strong, widely shared culture and that explains the difference.
Tana, the real question you should ask is why is Bulgaria safer than NYC, or any other democrat controlled city in the USA. But you want to play dumb and pretend that's not the real question, because you wouldn't like the answer. Why is Sofia also cleaner. Why is violent crime extremely rare in Sofia compared to NYC.
Of course, you liberals want to blame crime on poverty. But when you point out Bulgaria is the poorest EU nation but DOES NOT have anywhere near the crime NYC has, or Chicago, or Baltimore, or Detroit, or Philly......, then it must be something else aside from poverty which leads to crime, the one thing you won't touch.
It's always amused me how the most liberal Europeans will wax poetic about the brotherhood of man and the evils of racism, and then go full schutzstaffel when the gypsies are mentioned. Having dealt with gypsies I don't really blame Europeans for that.
Here's a prediction though: as demographics in Western Europe shift thanks to mass immigration, their subways will become more like NYC's and less like Sophia's.
Bulgaria is NOT the most corrupt country in Europe, Ukraine is. As for public transport, I am not surprised because even a small city in Mexico has better, cheaper transport options than San Francisco. One, many people don't care about transport. Two, we've made it so expensive to expand it that it's really impractical.
That system is heavily subsidized by a corrupt government and extravagant taxes levied on both the population of Bulgaria and other EU states (since redistributive funds from the EU often bolster public works like this). All of it adds up to an economy that produces a per capita GDP of about $13,000 - the sort of income that creates perpetual dependence, a hardscrabble existence, and a small, generally constricted, life.
Yes, the MTA might not quite measure up to even basic European systems, but here we also have a lot of people who make enough to take Uber or own a car. Having that choice is important! I may not like driving, but there are lots of people who do, and they should have the ability to build a life around their preferences, not mine or some central planner’s. Plus, if I want to temporarily visit a place with nice public transit, I can afford to travel there. That economic freedom is, personally, superior to having a limited selection of public options that are the default because no-one has the money or the options to do anything else.
I have to say that the "way Bulgaria treats its Roma" is largely the fault of the Roma themselves. It wasn't like this under the communist regime, but since no one is holding their feet to the fire, they refuse to assimilate, refuse (mostly) to work honest jobs, or to be at all part of the population. It's not Bulgaria, it's the Roma that is the problem.
Its called having blacks.
Haaaa no, Bulgarians are at each other throats about everything. And frankly I'd rather be dropped in the middle of the most violent part of the US than spend time dealing with bitter, angry, Bulgarian bureaucrats.
I would guess the difference is, a) almost no guns and b) It's EXTREMELY rare, if not virtually non-existent, for a family to allow even a distant relative to become homeless out on the street. There's just no conception of the atomic individualistic US culture.
Tana, here's a quick mental exercise for you. Ask yourself, do you feel safer on a subway car full of Bulgarians or a subway car in NYC full of black people?
You know the answer, despite what you would say publicly. And you're a hypocrite as we all know you'd get off the subway car full of black people ASAP and not feel safe until you did. Just like you'd cross the street is you saw a group of black people at night. And if you didn't do that you would be an idiot who doesn't understand pattern recognition, the basis for human survival.
What the hell are you talking about “Would make Tucker Carlson blush”? I am truly pig sick of this liberal bigotry and projection. You’ve divided America against itself. I hope you enjoy the coming chaos but the rest of us don’t.
Thank you for writing this, Tana. I’m delighted to find your sub stack. Many of these comments are boorish.
To engage with your original question, it’s a puzzler. I have not spent time in Bulgaria but I wonder if there is more of a sense of shared culture that breeds respect for each other and a commitment to not crossing boundaries.
I’ve noticed the commitment to boundaries and respect for others declining in the US when there is a feeling that the powerful are not looking out for the rest of society, and the increasing sense that there are no boundaries or limits to how far they will go. This feeling is on both right and left (ie George floyd, fbi raid on former President) and seems amplified by social media.
To summarize, I would guess that Bulgaria has a strong, widely shared culture and that explains the difference.
Seems like I know NYC and BG better than Tana.
Tana, the real question you should ask is why is Bulgaria safer than NYC, or any other democrat controlled city in the USA. But you want to play dumb and pretend that's not the real question, because you wouldn't like the answer. Why is Sofia also cleaner. Why is violent crime extremely rare in Sofia compared to NYC.
Of course, you liberals want to blame crime on poverty. But when you point out Bulgaria is the poorest EU nation but DOES NOT have anywhere near the crime NYC has, or Chicago, or Baltimore, or Detroit, or Philly......, then it must be something else aside from poverty which leads to crime, the one thing you won't touch.
Culture.
The answer is the same as why America has 5-7 of the cities with the highest homicide rates in the world.
I believe Cleveland and Philadelphia were added to that list.
It's always amused me how the most liberal Europeans will wax poetic about the brotherhood of man and the evils of racism, and then go full schutzstaffel when the gypsies are mentioned. Having dealt with gypsies I don't really blame Europeans for that.
Here's a prediction though: as demographics in Western Europe shift thanks to mass immigration, their subways will become more like NYC's and less like Sophia's.
Bulgaria is NOT the most corrupt country in Europe, Ukraine is. As for public transport, I am not surprised because even a small city in Mexico has better, cheaper transport options than San Francisco. One, many people don't care about transport. Two, we've made it so expensive to expand it that it's really impractical.
I have yet to find a European city that does not have cleaner and easier to navigate subway than NY, even better English usually
Italian girls are pretty and sexy and cool, far above most countries (cough US & UK), but the most beautiful woman I ever met was Bulgarian.
That system is heavily subsidized by a corrupt government and extravagant taxes levied on both the population of Bulgaria and other EU states (since redistributive funds from the EU often bolster public works like this). All of it adds up to an economy that produces a per capita GDP of about $13,000 - the sort of income that creates perpetual dependence, a hardscrabble existence, and a small, generally constricted, life.
Yes, the MTA might not quite measure up to even basic European systems, but here we also have a lot of people who make enough to take Uber or own a car. Having that choice is important! I may not like driving, but there are lots of people who do, and they should have the ability to build a life around their preferences, not mine or some central planner’s. Plus, if I want to temporarily visit a place with nice public transit, I can afford to travel there. That economic freedom is, personally, superior to having a limited selection of public options that are the default because no-one has the money or the options to do anything else.
Качи се с "горките" цигани във влака и ще разбереш.
Hop on train with the "poor" gypsies on the train and you'll see.
Ask anyone working in healthcare, education, law enforcement, or just the evening news to see the daily problems they cause
So it’s true. Liberals really do live in an echo chamber hive mind.
"The way the country treats its Roma minority population would make Tucker Carlson blush. "
There's your answer, Honey.
I have to say that the "way Bulgaria treats its Roma" is largely the fault of the Roma themselves. It wasn't like this under the communist regime, but since no one is holding their feet to the fire, they refuse to assimilate, refuse (mostly) to work honest jobs, or to be at all part of the population. It's not Bulgaria, it's the Roma that is the problem.