• RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    “We’re less shitty” just doesn’t have a ring to it.

    The US had a massively growing economy for more than a century compared to other countries, and was pretty much war-free for the most part. A huge draw for people who were poor and had little hope in classist Europe. Yeah, the growing US engaged in a lot of fighting, but it wasn’t like Europe where a war with your neighboring country destroyed your food production and plunged the economy into chaos or something.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        I’ll quibble over that detail a little. Immigrants that were technically white like Irish were discriminated against. Also, even if you were non-white at the time like Italian you still could have a better shot at a better quality of life than you might have had in the old country.

        • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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          7 days ago

          I mean, they were white by our modern standards but if you read writing at the time, the Irish, Italians, Greeks, etc were often not referred to or considered to be white.

          The Irish were also literally fleeing a genocide.

          • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            Which I already offered the explanation that they were technically white while not darker skinned like some italians yet still prejudiced against. Ok?