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"There is a thread of cultural reality in the U.S. that I think most Europeans don't see: the rural/urban split is not just about farmland and sidewalk, or even about the simple economic issues involved in the same split in, say, England.
"When it comes to social issues, different parts of America are living at different points in history. You can almost literally engage in time travel by moving around the country."
-- Elliott Mason, March 2017
"It's not about any actual trans people, or their safety. It's about fighting over whose vision of America should win: a remembered prosperity we must strain to reach anew, or a step forward from existing problems into an ever-more-just and ever-stronger future." -- ibid.
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It absolutely does, at least in terms of cities being far more welcoming to e.g. LGBTQ people, immigrants, and so on. I've lived in London for most of my time here, and when I go to somewhere like, say, Norwich I feel really odd when I notice that there are so few visible people of colour, and few or no Polish or Russian products in the corner shops. But even the difference between inner London and the suburbs is striking in terms of acceptance of trans people.
It's just that in England, the distances aren't so great.
(I agree with much of the other analysis; for a good exploration of the underlying economic realities, see The American Dream is Killing Us by Mark Manson.)
(no subject)