• teft@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago
    1. Texas
    2. Oklahoma
    3. Louisiana
    4. (tie) South Carolina
    5. (tie) Alabama
    6. Missouri
    7. Indiana
    8. Tennessee
    9. Arkansas
    10. Florida
    • Ohthereyouare@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I personally agree with this list. But, we have to be pragmatic here. This is what CNBC says they did:

      “The study measures quality of life issues including crime, health care, childcare and health care, as well as inclusive policies on discrimination and reproductive rights.”

      See, the last two skew this study. People in these shit hole states (not all, but at least enough of the voting public) don’t want inclusive policies or reproductive rights. So, to them, this metric is backwards. They would argue that living in California or New York was way more terrible because of the brown people and gays.

      This isn’t exactly a scientific study. It’s taking objective data to reach a subjective conclusion. Neat headline though.

      Edit: many if them are arguing exactly that in this thread. With a nice dose of racism and misogyny thrown in. Nice. I love when shit comes full circle.

      • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean… if you want to move to one of these states as potentially any type of person (ie. perhaps not white and straight) then the inclusive policies are not an optional feature. If you’re a woman, having the government meddle in your health decisions can actually be life threatening.

        For white, straight folks, and especially males, it’s easy to think these other two factors just subjectively improve life, but that’s because they already have a baseline level of respect and power in society.

        Based on your take, I’d guess you’re straight, white and male.

        • OwenEverbinde@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          Granted, I’m also straight, white, and male… But there are a hell of a lot of women who support abortion bans AND adore Mr “Grab 'em by the Pussy!”

          I know one who doesn’t believe God would allow a dangerous, nonviable pregnancy to take hold in (or in the case of ectopic pregnancies, outside of) a woman’s uterus. She just doesn’t believe something as sacred as a uterus can have that kind of flaw built into it.

          And even if you could convince her dangerous pregnancies were real, I think @Ohthereyouare@lem.ee was saying that Republican women would not agree that their ability to survive an ectopic pregnancy is good or worth it if it also helps the “sluts” they despise to have more “convenience abortions.”

          Surviving might seem pretty good to you and I, but that doesn’t make that ability objectively desirable to the people voting against their own interests. And they would be offended if their access to healthcare was deemed “better” in a quality-of-life metric than access to a set of theocratic restrictions.

          They would tell you, “well I’m happier. Liberals think they can speak for me just because I’m a woman and my opinion doesn’t matter! But if they asked me, I’d tell them I would prefer to live in a place where the sanctity of life was valued! They’d have to censor me and edit me out of their videos because I wouldn’t support their narrative!”

          • Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Plenty of people are stupid and side with fascists who actively have their worst interests in mind. Back in the reddit days, that was the basis for /r/leopardsatemyface.

            If people are dumb enough to want to be chattel in Gilead? Okay… People were dumb enough to go get on a plane and join ISIS. But I am going to generally still push for basic human rights.

          • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I know one who doesn’t believe God would allow a dangerous, nonviable pregnancy to take hold in (or in the case of ectopic pregnancies, outside of) a woman’s uterus. She just doesn’t believe something as sacred as a uterus can have that kind of flaw built into it.

            But I guarantee that the second that she (or any other woman with similar views) had a pregnancy that threatened their life, they’d opt for an abortion ASAP. They’ll rationalize that their abortion was justified and blessed by God, but all those other abortions are just “liberal sluts who want to kill babies” or something.

        • Professorozone@lemmy.world
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          Yup, I am, but if it’s fair to say that the positive things about Florida don’t count because those positive things exist in other states then it seems to me that it’s fair to say that prejudice against minorities should count against those other states too. Florida does not have exclusive rights to mistreatment of minorities. In fact I’m pretty sure that exists in all 50 states.

          My only point, was addressing the thought that a poster said he felt sorry for people living in those states (Florida in this case) and all I was saying was it wasn’t like we all just get up every morning and fail to function because we are all so overwhelmed by how bad it is where we live. We have running water in Florida.

    • Clown_Tempura@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As someone from West Virginia I’m stunned we didn’t make the list. McDowell county is hell on earth. The northern part of the state really does hard carry the rest of it.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Economic and health factors in this ranking are severely downplayed in favor of hot social issues.

      • BigNote@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        One would only think that’s surprising or funny if they assumed that “best economy” and “best states to live in” necessarily have a one to one overlap. While I can see there being some overlap, l think we all know that business-friendly policies that foster economic growth almost always come with a suite of larger demographic costs.

        The key is to seek balance between what’s good for business and what’s good for the public, and in that light it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that some of the most business-friendly states are also the worst places to live.

    • Jeff@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Moved from TX to DMV in Feb and it’s night and day here. Love the idea of Texas but the reality didn’t come close.

        • Jeff@lemm.ee
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          DC Maryland Virginia area.

          Don’t get me wrong it not a utopia but much better. I miss Bucees and HEB. There’s also just as many bad drivers here, and the speed limits are LOOOOOW. But folks are on the whole nicer (which to me is weird as I heard folks here weren’t as nice as in Texas). And where I used to live 4 hours would get you to Beaumont and here it’ll get you through three states.

          • Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world
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            I grew up on the East Coast and have traveled a lot over the decades.

            Yes, the East Coast is full of assholes. Mostly because people don’t feel the need to fake that they love everyone. The cashier at the Wawa’s will be pretty open that she does not want to be there and just wants you to pay and leave. Rather than plastering on a fake smile and asking you how wonderful your day was so that you can do the same and pretend you are the happiest person on the planet.

            The result being that when someone actually is “nice” to you, they actually are being nice.

            Speed limits annoy the piss out of me but you also tend to not drive for long featureless stretches for an hour at a time.

          • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            I’ve never even been there. I believe you on the nicer, it’s probably genuine and not the superficial “How y’all doing?”

    • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
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      1 year ago

      So basically this is just a “10 states where you can’t abort your unborn baby and men can’t compete against women in sports” list.

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          Go read the article. It’s basically a “who’s who” of stricter abortion and “gender affirming surgery” laws, all other factors be damned. Education? Pfft, who needs it. Infrastructure and technology? Irrelevant. Business quality and work opportunities? As if you’d care about that.

    • Uniquitous@lemmy.one
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      And they are subject to the mental poison endemic to that region. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to purge that evil. I can speak from personal experience. It never goes away and it is a constant struggle to shout down that early indoctrination.

    • Professorozone@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Don’t believe everything you read. Yes a lot of that is true, but think about your daily life. Do you think all of that stuff really effects who your friends are, things you do with your family, the house you live in? The kind of things that effect your daily life, probably effect it no matter where you live (increased food prices, interest rates, etc.). Plus there’s hope that one day DeSantis will be gone and maybe a lot of those things will turn around. In the mean time…

      I freely admit I’m sick of living in Florida, mostly for the reasons in the article and the dreadful heat, yes. But there’s a lot of good in Florida too. We have year round outdoor activities, regular launches into outer space, theme parks, pretty good beaches, no state income tax, lots of sunshine and hey at least were not Mississippi.

      Just remember the source and the criteria used to make that judgment. Every place has pluses and minuses.

      • Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world
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        Things that affect my day to day life:

        1. Doctors literally fleeing the state out of fear of what life saving procedures and prescriptions will become illegal next. I like “extreme sports”. I also like knowing that, if something goes REALLY wrong, I can use my (really nice) health insurance. Same with preventative care to know that that lump in my side is just a fatty deposit and not cancer.
        2. Teachers flee the state out of fear of what lessons they may teach in class or attempts to comfort a student may become illegal next. I don’t have kids, but if I did, I would hope they would be educated by someone more intelligent than them, Similarly, I like to be able to swing by a McDonald’s and not have to listen to the person in front of me sounding out “que-art-turd ponder with cheese. Hey, is cheese the orange stuff?”
        3. I am a straight-ish dude who can pass for white in a pinch. I am “fine”. My partner would have increasing anxiety as more and more of her basic human rights are taken away. An anxious partner is a partner who isn’t interested in doing fun stuff. Also, because I am not a complete sociopath, it would also harsh my mood.
        4. And just because you are proud of being in Florida: how many insurance companies have noped the hell out of that state? Good luck next hurricane season.

        As for your pros:

        1. Outdoor activities: You should really look at the Southwest (and Colorado)
        2. “Regular launches into outer space”: Not really sure what that does for the “daily life” but, again, the Southwest and Texas is where a lot of space launches actually happen.
        3. Theme Parks; California. Also, it is a real shame that there is not some way that someone could get in a metal box, watch a few episodes of Frasier, and then arrive an hour or two away from Disney. Weird, it would almost be like they needed to fly to do that…
        4. State Income Tax: Yeah… this kind of goes along with “how many insurance companies have noped the hell out of that state” along with “so… does Texas have power this week?” but income tax, when put toward social programs and basic infrastructure, is really nice.
        5. Sunshine: Again, Southwest. Also, there is a lot less rain (except during monsoon season) which is nice for a few more years. But there also aren’t hurricanes which are only going to get a LOT worse as global warming becomes more and more of a problem.
        6. “At least were not Mississipi”. First, you meant “we’re”. If you had more funding for the teachers who hadn’t fled the state, you would know the difference. Also, Mississippi isn’t one of the ten worst states in the country by those metrics so… maybe you should try to be more like Mississippi?
        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Mississippi is literally the worst state in the country by actual, objective metrics.

          Highest obesity rate, lowest life expectancy, lowest literacy, etc

        • Professorozone@lemmy.world
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          Ummm, your kind of rude. You’re making judgements about my education because of one typo, as if autocorrect didn’t exist. You know nothing about me. Plus nearly all of your arguments essentially say that the positive things about Florida don’t count because those positive things also exist elsewhere. Haters gonna hate I guess.

          In case you weren’t aware, taxes and insurance are not the same thing.

          But you know what, you’re probably all right and I’m probably all wrong, so you’ve got that going for you. I apologize that my opinion differs from yours.

      • Danatronic@lemmy.world
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        The culture war bullshit is doing significant harm to the red states. They’re alienating significant segments of the population that, you know, contribute to society, and the only benefit they get in exchange is approval from conservatives, but according to polls the transphobes are a minority even within the right wing.

      • Dr. Dabbles@lemmy.world
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        Do you think all of that stuff really effects who your friends are, things you do with your family, the house you live in?

        Literally yes. How is that something you’re even questioning?

        probably effect it no matter where you live

        Of course, but the point here is that some places are effected more than others. My state has very low unemployment, and very low homeless rates. That doesn’t mean there’s no homelessness and no unemployment, but it’s many times less than some other states. Is that a matter of intentional state policy? Probably not. But you are statistically less likely to be homeless or unemployed here. Making matters worse, the median income in my state is $10k higher than the median income of Florida (basically a 1/3rd increase), and the median household income is $20k higher (a 35% increase). That’s nearly the equivalent of having an entire additional income in a household in Florida.

        no state income tax

        My state also doesn’t have one of those, and we don’t get leveled by hurricanes at an increasing rate while the salt content in our water table rises.

        at least were not Mississippi

        Compared to my state, mathematically there’s almost nothing separating you from Mississippi. Your population is higher but your households are just as poor. That’s a concern, given the number of shockingly wealthy people that live in Floridian cities. In other words, there isn’t much upward mobility in either state.

      • Saneless@lemmy.world
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        No state income tax means the richest people scoot by and the poorest pay the biggest share of their income on shitloads of tolls, the highest food prices I’ve ever seen, retail taxes, and insurance costs that would make your asshole pucker up the second the agent spit out the quote

        If you have a lot of money and like poor people to suffer super regressive taxes, then it sounds like a fantastic place

        Not Mississippi? You’re Mississippi plus tourism and a different name. That’s the difference

        Oh and if you want a theme park that is actually fun, Ohio is the way to go

      • wagoner@infosec.pub
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        It’s almost like whether it impacts your daily life depends on two factors (1) are you a targeted minority or (2) you are not a targeted minority but know anyone who is or care about them to any degree.

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        I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. It’s like when people talk about “third world countries” as if they’re unlivable shitholes that couldn’t possibly have any positive aspects. Like you point out, there are many aspects to life that aren’t directly tied to politics and generally the day-to-day really isn’t that bad. It reeks of elitism and it’s alienating.

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    This could be another huge talking point for Democrats, but once again, this great opportunity to ding Republican governance is going to be missed since Democrats are so utterly incompetent to sell their successes and attack their opponents.

    The inflation rate has fallen down to 3%, which is one of the lowest in the industrialized world right now. Have there been Democrats all over the news selling that success? No, of course not. Gotta keep those wins well hidden, dontchaknow!

    • Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Republicans and The Military actively worship an orange turd who is even more openly anti-military than I am. All while praising him for being good for soldiers and the troops and blah blah blah. Cops actively praise said orange dipshit when he is pro crime and terrorism rather than voting for the democrat geezer who has decades demonstrating he wishes he were a cop (and has a VP who basically is one…).

      You are making the mistake of assuming that republicans are making educated decisions. They aren’t. They just do what they are told. Whether it is a slackjawed moron who is too afraid to ever wear a bowtie again or whoever is on OAN at this point. It isn’t about reality, it is about being told “the people you don’t like will be hurt”.

      I do wish Democrats would cheer on more of the W’s. But moderates are similarly stupid and tend to vote for “decorum”. And, as amazing as it would be, watching Biden hop on stage and start doing DX crotch chops at the republicans while listing all his wins for labor and the everyday voter would probably do more harm than good.

      • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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        No one thinks we will ever change those in the orange cult. Like zombies, they are long gone and collectively barely have one functioning brain cell.

        Dems need to sell their wins to get their base excited - I’m so sick of the brasè attitude that most Dems have regardless of who their candidate is. They could have the most perfect candidate and they are always looking for someone else. They also need to get some independents on board. Neither party can win an election without getting some non-affiliated to vote for them.

        • Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world
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          The problem is that republicans are fundamentally united by what they hate. You can kick or piss on anyone and they’ll still vote for you so long as you make it clear you are hurting the black folk and the women who are the real problem.

          Democrats? We are fundamentally not united. Because we actually want things. Many of us (I would like to say most but…) can agree on basic human rights. But I think UBI is one of, if not the, most important policies we need to have been “investigating” a decade ago to prepare for the upcoming ai job apocalypse (again, I was ready to vote for Yang. Fricking Yang)… Others want student loans to be erased. And others still want basic human rights regarding sick days that the rest of us forget about the moment twitter stops talking about it. And if you give those rail workers 4 sick days a year (jesus christ… it is depressing that that was a major win), that is great. Except all the folk with student loans are still angry and I am still dreading the mass unemployment that is a few years away.

          And that is the problem. When leadership brags about getting a win, it mostly makes people say “you didn’t get me a win? Fuck it, voting doesn’t work, I am done with this”

          And that doesn’t take into account the people who don’t know what they want other than “Bernie 2020”. Who are borderline trump levels of fixated. And the people who need to be explaining to them how government actually work, aren’t.

          • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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            UBI is a joke and will only stand in the way of unity. To think the Dems should somehow rally around something that will never, ever happen is a pointless distraction. Might as well rally around the tooth fairy or unicorn and waste more time and energy instead of going after real issues.

            • ArcticCircleSystem@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              So what are we supposed to do? How do we get things to improve on a national scale in any significant way for workers? ~Cherri

              • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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                Support politicians who are brave enough to admit that we need to tax the rich and corporations at a higher rate, support programs that will bring manufacturing back to the US (no other industry is as bog of a job multiplier than manufacturing), support programs which lower the cost of entry for higher education.

                Hand outs do not work. Not only would they never, ever pass Congress, they shouldn’t even be considered. UBI is a goddamn joke pushed by those who smoke too much weed and have no goddamn clue about life.

                • SCB@lemmy.world
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                  Corporate taxes shouldn’t be raised because corporate taxes are overwhelmingly regressive.

                  Hand outs absolutely do work, and while I’m not on the UBI train, all welfare programs should basically just give cash instead of stamps/benefits/etc

            • Uniquitous@lemmy.one
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              You’re basically just trying to sell doom & gloom to discourage people from wanting what is eminently attainable. Your reasons for doing so are your own, but one wonders if you’re just thoroughly indoctrinated, or if you have some other interest at stake.

      • Raddnaar@sh.itjust.works
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        Amazing! The entire world is stupid, (insert as many additional derogatory terms as you wish). Except for you, of course!

        Good on you mate!

    • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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      Except none of this is swaying any republican. Some of these states are on the list because they pass exclusive legislation, seemingly overlooking any benefits otherwise.

      • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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        No one cares about swaying hard-core Republicans. They are basically a lost cause. It’s about showing the entire rest of the country that Republicans can’t govern - aim at swaying those in the middle.

    • blazera@kbin.social
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      Live in mississippi, it should be #1, like it always is for shitty metrics.

      Fun mississippi fact for today, if you own an electric or hybrid car you have to pay extra taxes.

      • Zorque@kbin.social
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        A lot of places do that, they say its because they don’t pay as much gas tax (which is true), which generally go toward maintaining roads and such.

        I think we all know it doubles as a “liberal tax” though.

      • iDunnoBro@sopuli.xyz
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        Lived there for decades, have to agree.

        You have very few rights as a worker. Pay is dogshit, even for better jobs. Life there sucks even if you’re well off. Doesn’t matter if you’re rich, poor, left, right, black or white, it’s gon’ suck donkey balls being there.

        Still made the best of my time there but now I’ve moved to Northern Europe and the difference is night and day.

    • edgarallenpwn@lemmy.world
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      Stuck in Missouri taking care of my grandparents and my wife’s parents. I’ve been wanting to move out of this shithole since I was 13. Now, I have to worry about reproductive issues with my high risk wife as it seems like we are hunkering down here entering our 30s.

  • OmnislashIsACloudApp@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I gotta say while I’m not happy with Texas decisions and there’s a lot of bs there it doesn’t seem even as bad as Florida much less Alabama and Mississippi.

    • Chunk@lemmy.world
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      Hey this is pretty level headed and what you’re saying makes sense. Please check out lemmy.world/c/moderate_politics we’d love to have you!

  • RufusFirefly@lemmy.world
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    Whether you think this has a political bias or not, no matter what whose list you look up, they all basically say the same thing.