What do you think of the United States?
Put to people in Abuja and Lagos by two Nigerian contributors, and, from the inside, to a young man in Charlotte after a pick-up soccer game. The Nigerian answers come with their sources attached, which is what makes them useful: nobody claims to have been there, and everybody says where the picture came from.
The answer from inside the country is the one that agrees with the answers from outside it: the dream is real, and it is for somebody else.
Browse the archive Projects, Where we filmed, Topics, Contributors, One question, The library
Who answered, and what did they say?
These are the speakers’ own words, as they said them. We have not checked their claims.
-
Length 2:56
A very big state that controls the world’s affairs.
“we know US to be a very big big state. And they control most of the affairs in the world.”
-
Length 5:00
Racism. School shootings.
“Racism. … School shooting.”
-
Length 5:00
A nice place, but Nigeria is the best.
“I would say it’s a nice place, but I don’t have any opinion yet because Nigeria is the best for me.”
-
Length 2:13
The dream is here, and it is not for everybody.
“it’s here, but it’s not for everybody … common folk, not so much”
-
Length 9:11
The majority of people respect the law.
“I like this country because all the... All the people, or the majority of the people Respect the law”
-
Length 6:36
Here you leave work and pass a supermarket.
“Aquí tú sales del trabajo Y pasas por un supermercado Y si quieres comprarle el supermercado completo Lo compras”
-
Length 28:08
More opportunity here than in Canada.
“I just feel like there’s more opportunity in the U.S. than there is Canada.”
-
Length 2:41
The draft would take other pathways away.
“if you want to go to the military, you should go to the military, but other people, they got other careers or pathways they want to do, so that’s just taking away from other people”
-
Length 2:41
Prices up, nothing given back.
“he’s upping prices on everything, I feel as though that’s bad just because people that don’t really have it or are struggling, he’s making it more worse for people to live”
-
Length 5:07
Confusing, and going to get worse.
“I think it’s confusing. Because, like, it’s like, they got so much stuff going on.”
-
Length 3:46
Hates it: the government, healthcare, and no funding for education.
“I hate it. Okay. Sucks. Government sucks. Healthcare. Like, there’s a lot of things.”
-
Length 10:09
He went back to Finland to see if he wanted to stay, and came home.
“here I was more free. I didn’t need to belong to anyone. I didn’t need to listen to the same thing every day.”
-
Length 1:11:44
What it does to people his age, sent to the military.
“I feel like it’s bad. Like what Trump I guess what he doing to people like our age I guess like went to the military or something like that. I feel like that’s not good aspect for us.”
What else has the archive asked?
- What is the most important global issue today? 14
- Is the internet good for us? 11
- What made you smile today? 17
- What is Ethereum? 10
- How has the place you live changed in your lifetime? 8
- Do you have a message for the builders? 9
- What would you say to someone under ten? 12
- If you could ask people around the world one question, what would you ask them? 32
Every answer on these pages is a quote checked against the transcript of the video it came from. To put a question to your own street, see One Question. To find a word across every transcript, search.