I had relatives that lived in the U.S. for a few years but ended up going back to Mexico. While they had opportunities here to live safely and work, they didn’t like the lifestyle. For better and for worse, life in the U.S. was too sanitized.
In out best moments of living in Mexico, were were just one bad day away from scrounging for food. Every time you went outside you were playing roulette, not knowing if you’d get caught up in a random act of violence or abuse of power. Even when going to sleep, you never knew if you’d wake up the next day.
The corollary of this uncertainty is that individuals were bound by a few rules. In a way, anarchy gives way to freedom. There was no real obligation to work on any given day, as long as you were willing to look for work another day. There was no rent or bills to pay if you were living in the outskirts or in an abandoned home. If you were up to it, you could walk away from your life and family at any given time. The cultural expectation of following rules was just not there.
The U.S. was the opposite of course. Even the most menial of jobs required a set schedule and an application process. There were bills to pay, civil expectations, and most of all bodies to enforce rules. I remember being amazed at how in the U.S., the police would consistently come when someone called them.
Anarchy is addicting though. The human mind has a way of disregarding danger until it is personal. The trick is that if you are in a setting where danger can be fatal, you do not have to worry about the worst outcome as you will be dead at that point. And so for people that can sustain this mindset, they can focus on the pleasure of freedom with minimal downsides (at least on a cognitive level).
Even as a child I recognized that despite my higher standard of living in the U.S., my freedom was more limited (for better and for worse). Given that, I understood why some people would go back. But I wouldn’t have done it, I wanted to live even if in a cage. With time I realized that living in the U.S. only entrenched me in this choice, eventually even against my will. The American bubble is a comforting barrier that protects you by dulling your brain. This dream state allows you to normalize complacency, materialism, and numbness.
Undocumented Physician Scientist in Training 