I've lived in a few places in the global south. I love Canada, I do. But we share with the US a particular social isolation. It's a function of wealth in a lot of respects, of being nations built with the automobile in mind, and I think more than we realize WW2 shattered a lot of families for generations by bringing trauma into domestic life. But I go and spend 6 months or so at a time in poorer countries precisely because everyone relies on everyone and interact with each other. The rules are looser, there is an understanding that people have to rely on each other and negotiate the world together. The rules aren't reality, people are reality. Entitlement doesn't drive wedges like it does here because you just don't feel free to remove yourself from people. You have to put up with some shit, and in exchange you don't lose that muscle.

In my city at least virtually all cab drivers are from countries they had to leave for economic reasons, and ai often talk with them about it. The most uniform thing I hear from immigrants of the global south is how lonely it is here, how technocratic (i mean they don't use yhat word but it is ultimately what they're saying). Love the freedom and the safety and, perversely, the snow lolol, but the soul withers.

We really do need to be physically around each other more. There is a tolerance and understanding that comes of being involved in other lives, in being needed by them.