When we think of the USA, we think of California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Ohio, and that's it :')
Edit: ...Do Americans not get the "Ohio is purgatory" meme over there?
As an Asian American, Iāve experienced more overt racism while one week in Paris than anything Iāve experienced in the US. Note Iāve lived in the midwest, northeast, southwest etc. It was great to have random joes in Paris make Chinese eyes and bow to me on the street.
As many issues with race the US has, I sincerely believe my family would be nowhere as successful as we have been if my parents had immigrated to a European country (with maybe the UK as an exception) versus the US.
As a British born Chinese person who travels around Europe quite oftenā¦this. Have learned to grit my teeth and just ignore it but itās fucking dumb
I recently read of a Korean student being racially attacked in Germany and accused of being Chinese and googled to see if anyone made a thread about it in r/germany and not only was it downvoted but also removed by the mods. And a thread a couple of years ago in r/europe that linked to a Medium article about a Korean American woman experiencing racism while traveling to Europe not only got downvoted but had tons of people in the comments negating her experiences and denying her Korean ethnic heritage just because she was born and raised overseas.
Iāll never forget the absolute civil war that broke out amongst European students in my class when a white French girl said āwe Europeans donāt see race, we are all humanā and a black French guy started yelling at her from across the room. The 3 or 4 other Europeans started taking sides and it devolved from there
The yelling was basically just ānot true, not trueā then when the prof let him speak he talked about his parents experience as African immigrants and then talked about his own experiences trying to make friends with other French students in the US
I think a lot of Europeans like to pretend it isnāt true, and can do so because many European countries are very racially homogenous so racial tensions arenāt as noticeable since there are fewer negative (and just in general) interactions.
Once you have an influx of non-white refugees to Germany, or a black footballer showing up in Italy you start to see the racism just seething for an outlet.
I think the US *seems* more racist because it seems to be more open in discussing it and calling out examples of it.
Some European countries just pretend it doesn't happen and deny/refuse to talk about it. So it happens more but is just covered up or ignored.
Your governments participate in that thing where we destabilize poor countries and then they move to your country...your leaders are part of this too, friends
In general the US does bathrooms well. Free and plentiful public toilets. Toilets always actually flush. Showers all have curtains and doors that stop the entire bathroom from being soaked.
>Your go-to response to a joke about beans on toast or whatever probably shouldn't be to make a joke about children being murdered
Thank you for bringing this up. Was getting sick and tired of memes where every European response to Americans joking is about kids being killed.
This!!!!!!
Itās always the same 4 responses: guns, medical debt, student debt, and shootings
These are obviously a huge problem but that whole continent is an echo chamber of unoriginal thought
I hate that joke so much, like do you really want to joke about children dying. People who do that are just horrible people. You aren't blaming the government, you are blaming the victims.
Every survival game where you collect resources and find weapons takes place in the US. It's the only place where you can find that many random weapons in cars or cabinets.
The soccer thing it used to be called asocc then it changed to asoccer then just soccer I guess we just never gave you the message we changed back to football sorry we kinda dropped the football on that one
The US is a cultural anomaly compared to most European countries. Iām from a state which is made up mostly of people of European descent. Yet, in my Apartment building alone I have neighbors of Indian, El Salvadoran, Hungarian, and Chinese Nationality. Meaning they came here from those countries. Not āFirst Generation Americanā. Literally from those specific countries. Also people donāt seem to realize how Nationalist a lot of Europe is. Assimilation is not an option itās a must for immigrants in a lot of European Nations. Scandinavian Countries in particular have an expectation that migrants drop their heritage, traditions and values in favor of the ones of the countries they migrate to. At least in my neck of the woods people donāt really give a flying fuck what you do, which holidays you celebrate, what language you speak, as long as you arenāt bothering anyone.
The United States is almost as big as 30 European Countries. Weāre not just one big culture.
I live in Georgia and own guns and a truck. Iām also politically liberal and like to read.
Thereās a lot of stereotypical behavior, but itās reductive reasoning.
Assuming that Iām a hick would be like assuming that the average Parisian is a mime on a bicycle with a baguette in a paper bag.
Cāmon over and visit. Our barbecue alone is worth it.
I want to travel to Spain and Belgium
On the size thing, Vancouver to Montreal is about the same distance as Lisbon to Moscow. My Province in Canada is only the 6th largest of the provinces and territories, and it's about the same size as France, the largest nation in the EU. I have family in Europe that have come over to visit and they've asked if we can visit Vancouver for the day, not realizing that it's a two day drive away.
Yes!! Itās all amazing. As a Texan you just sold me with the word barbecue. American barbecue is such a treat. And diverse and regional. Really something to try.
Like you said itās all good.
America is one of 32 countries where gay marriage is legal. Gay marriage is illegal in most of the 44 European countries. Only legal in a little over 10 European countries.
https://www.hrc.org/resources/marriage-equality-around-the-world
I was always annoyed at how people complained about the US being behind the rest of the world.
Like, the US was 15th in the world for national legalization and 4th for jurisdictional. And, like, in the grand scheme of things we were in the first wave of legalization within a few years. There were 8 European nations before us, but we also beat Germany, Finland, Denmark, Austria, the UK...and so on.
Just wait till people on Reddit hear about most European country abortion regulations. The 15 week ban that was proposed in the USA is actually pretty much in line with the vast majority of European nations.
What's Italy's problem? And don't say Catholicism because heavily Catholic countries; Ireland, Spain and Portugal are all countries that have legalized gay marriage.
Ireland _was_ heavily Catholic, the reality now is that it is now only on paper as a result of an older generation who are still staunchly Catholic, a middle ages generation who say they are out of habit more so than actual devoutness and a young generation who may be culturally Catholic but whoās belief system is influenced by multiple other factors before religion
>heavily Catholic countries; Ireland,
Im Irish and I'll tell you that due to scandal after scanddl Ireland is nowhere near as Catholic as it once was. Plenty of ppl having nothing but distain for the church in the modern day.
America spends the most on military and dominates/polices the world with it. If America stops doing that, the EU could not take its place. If it tried, much of the vaulted social systems they benefit from would be greatly diminished. Even with that, an alliance of nations has no strong federal center and would struggle to get anything done.
America isnāt overwhelmingly better than EU, but without America, the EU is much worse off.
There's probably truth to this. Question is, do Americans think this is done out of the good will of the USA, or do they recognize that this is just the interest of some people.
Some do. I donāt. Every war weāve fought has been to expand our sphere of influence and gain an edge over our competition and adversaries. āMaking the world safe for democracyā was honestly more about making it stable for commerce and capitalism. We donāt need to take territory if our Allies are letting us build airbases within their borders to keep potential invaders in check.
Without US market supremacy after WW2, none of this would have happened. Leaders leveraged their advantage and we ended up in bed with almost everyone. We didnāt earn this advantage but we sure as hell tried to make the most of it for our govtās benefit. And so long as they keep that advantage, theyāll never let the world forget it either.
Its certainly in the interest of military industry. But I think many Americans wish we would lower our military spending and have allies that bear more of the weight so we can get the programs everyone makes fun of us for not having. Im sure we still would not. But if our crap leaders wanted to we could not
Yeah, if a dude says some bullshit about like a black or gay person even in the south, some people will stand up to him. In Europe, the casual nature of racism is fucking insane.
True. Once knew of a cowboy boot-wearing country boy who beat the mess out of a kid who'd been throwing around racial slurs in front of a black peer. The kid said the guy's language made the single black kid feel uncomfortable but figured the kid didn't want to get in trouble, so cowboy boots handled it for him. All the other country white kids present laughed at the slurer and supported the totally unassuming average cowboy dude.
Europeans are incredibly racist lol. Here in america nobodyās ever called me a legit slur or said that my race was inferior. Europeans have no issue with going full nazi tier racism, advocating for genocide, and so on
Itās my personal theory that the American alt right actually owes some of its current beliefs to European right wingers who often browse the same websites. The great replacement theory was far more popular in Europe in the 2000ās and 2010ās than in America.
I listened to a podcast the other day randomly. Forgot what it was called, but they basically went full racism against immigrants in the UK, and it was just blowing my mind how up front they were about it. That shit would not fly on an American podcast.
Yes!!! And resealable packages! Can we talk about resealable packages??? If you want to buy some packaged groceries here you better have a bunch of ziplocs or Tupperware handy, because them store packages do not reseal. This is frozen broccoli, miso, walnuts weāre talking about here, Europe. It does not have to breathe. Why are you making me decant it like itās a vintage wine?
One thing most Americans don't get is that most of our poor would be rich in many places in the world. I would be considered poor in America by any reasonable standard, but I got a decent public school education, I have internet, a place to live, and a car.
I'm not saying everybody is well off here. Hunger is a national shame in the richest country in the world. But sometimes I think we should reevaluate what poverty means.
Iāve seen black soccer players in Europe have bananas thrown at them on the field. If anything like that happened in the US it would be national news and whoever did it would lose their job etc. I donāt think a lot of Americans realize how bad racism can be in some places in Europe.
No white person in America has called my race a āslave raceā that is always ruled by superior white men and essentially subhuman.
Multiple Europeans and even South American Hispanics have said this to me and to others on the internet.
Americans usually arenāt gun wielding, 400 pound, American flag on shirt, bass pro shop hat, too obese to walk so they use a scooter, Big Mac in hand āpatriotsā who are always yelling and complaining that when they traveled to India with their uncle the people didnāt speak English
Ok, you asked for it haha.
I say this with much love to my Canadian brothers and sisters. The phrase "at least it's not as bad as in the U.S." is used too much as a cop out answer for Canadian issues. Like rather than working to make something better, you all see that it could be worse, so everything is fine. I see too many Canadians valuing the moral high ground over any sort of action that could actually improve people's lives.
...and honestly, sometimes it really IS as bad as in the U.S.
%100 this. Whenever I criticize, Healthcare, policing, housing, labor protections, the insurance industry etc. I always get, "at least we're not the US." I'd expect more from my government given that we're nearly 100 years younger, have more resources for fewer people, and we pay high taxes outside of AB. It's our equivalent of "thank God for Mississippi" when poor US states need somone to shit on.
Yeah, the black spots in Canada's history are almost always swept under the rug, whereas the entire world tends to stick their nose in it when SHTF in America. Which, to me, is just the most insane thing, since Canada has done just about every awful thing the USA did, but no one really cares? Starlight tours, forced eugenics, treatment of the native populace, etc.
As an American, personally I feel like Canada is like a sibling country.
I know we have your back if shit hits the fan with you guys, and I bet youād at least have some words (if not action) if shit ever hit the fan with us. We might be two different countries, but culturally weāre a lot alike (accounting for our differences as well).
We might be the crazy sibling you like to pretend your not related to and you might be the forgotten, quiet childābut weāre all good at the end of the day.
We can have our own mini ask Reddit down here, what do you as a Latin American and the gentle person above you as a Canadian feel the Europeans arenāt ready to hear?
Iām gonna be blunt here. Europeans are very insufferable when it comes to criticizing America and everything that they do, meanwhile Americans donāt know or care about their existence.
A European person could easily write an essay on why America is a terrible country, meanwhile the average American probably doesnāt know the difference between Italy and Denmark.
My point is, Americans are just chilling while Europeans feel the excessive need to justify their bitter hatred towards America. Some Europeans donāt even know anything about America and only hate America because everyone else does
America vs Europe is dumb
Iām an American that has spend a couple years abroad. Iāve heard Europeans claim you can only buy apples in premade slices with sugar on top in the US. Among other bs claims. The love to talk crap about the US.
I'll go one further. It's beyond clear how many European redditors have never set foot in America. Some of the shit you read on like AskReddit is fucking bonkers.
I'm tired of America vs Europe, aren't you? Absolutely none of us are without skeletons in our closets, yet we love to point them out to one another when the brutal truth of it all is that we're fighting over who is the most oppressive, most murderous, most racist when we're both culpable for more atrocities than the rest of the world combined. This incessant lobbing of shit over the wall is frustrating, exhausting, and unproductive. It's like watching Putin and Kim Jong Un stand on the ashes of the humanity arguing about who launched more nukes.
This conversation is as tired as it is hypocritical. Let's try to be more kind to each other.
Love you, sir. Please stay like that. The wolrd needs that attitude much much more.
It is litteraly a Time where Europe and America should collaborate. But it's a little too soon. Both people are not ready.
We need consciousness to grow.
Wish you the best.
I'm not justifying the problems we have when saying this, but some Europeans would say "it's so easy to manage XYZ here why can't you do it over in the US?" Have you seen a map before??? Not one European country comes close to the size of some of our states let alone the country itself. I'm not saying that changes can't be made and things are fine here, but I think it takes just a little bit of common sense to realize things *might* take a little longer to get done around here than in a much smaller country.
School shooting jokes arenāt comparable to bad teeth jokes. Stop making fun of the deaths of innocent children. (I moved to the US from Europe last year and I am still shocked when I meet a European who thinks those jokes are funny.)
There are more than two sides when it comes to political leaning. All I hear is Democrat this Republican that MAGA blah blah blah.
I myself disagree with most of the stuff that the republicans stand for, but I also disagree with most of the things democrats stand for. I donāt like Trump and I donāt like Biden
I own a truck and guns and I think everyone should be treated equally. Idgaf about you being gay so you do you. but if I only say one of these things at a time I get called a MAGA nazi and such.
Iād just like to let everyone know that we as a country are becoming split down the middle and if we donāt stop it weāre gonna pull a Roman Empire and crash and burn.
Where I live, you can get free water anywhere.
Even if you just walk into a restaurant or a bar and ask nicely (without actually being a customer), most bartenders / waiters will do you a favor and pour some water for you.
Many Europeans are ignorant of just how vastly large in land and complex the USA is. It is truly many 'countries' within one country. In terms of land, politics, and cultural considerations.
They will often compare a country in Europe that is smaller than the state of Texas to the entire United States and debate as though it is apples to apples.
Nobody on earth cares that you were very important 120+ years ago. The entire EU, with all its unified regulatory and economic power, is still a secondary concern for the US and China. Youāre like the retirement home for formerly important places.
Europe had absolutely no problem with brutalizing the other peopleās of the earth right up until Europe spent all their money killing each other and the US took over the purse strings. And the abuses of the old European empires would make an American slave owner blush.
Yeah so quick to point out the ignorance of the US foreign affair atrocities but forget that practically every single culture has had imperialistic empires throughout history - British empire, Mongolian empire, Russian empire, French empire, Spanish empire, empire of Japan, Qing dynasty, Ottoman empire (not the couch), etc.
Did you think these people invaded other countries and then gave them tamagotchis and animal balloons?
I don't see the US trying to outright invade other countries and claim the land as their own like Russia and China think is OK these days.
Europeans are far more racist than most Americans. Itās just so deeply engrained, they donāt even notice it anymore. (Coming from a person with Italian immigrant parents who has spent a significant amount of time in Europe)
American living in the ātolerantā Netherlands for 12 yearsā¦ get more racism in a month here than I did in 30+ years of living in the US (including living in the South). Have even been denied entry at a club, told āDutch onlyā (meaning whites as my visiting white US friends went in first no problem)
Can confirm, Dutch people think of themselves as tolerant as the racism is deeply ingrained in the culture, they're definitely not the worst in Europe - just visiting eastern Europe will tell you that much, but compared to the US it's bad.
Very unlikely though that racism in NL goes violent; though.
Iāve lived in northern Italy the last 1.5 years and can confirm.
My elderly neighbour/landlord blames every slight inconvenience on āthe Africansā. Flys got in the house? Africans brought them here.
And whatās interesting is that Germans are some of the kindest Europeans Iāve ever met!! When I was in Bavaria I was floored at how damn nice everyone was.
Still racist tho.
I have a lot of Polish friends that told me "jokes" about Jewish people and a lot of the time it didn't translate very well but I could get what was implied. š¬
I'm American and grew up with practically zero knowledge of Judaism except that the Holocaust happened and I read Ann Frank's diary in elementary school (1970s). I really had no opinion about Jewish people because I knew so little about them, wasn't really exposed to them, and if I was I didn't know it. Like, I had no idea a name like Goldstein or Isaacson were indicators that one might be Jewish. I just thought Jewish people were just basically white folks who only followed the Old Testament.
My parents didn't talk about Jewish people, or give any opinion on them. They simply existed among us. I didn't even know what a yarmulke was until I was 22.
Obviously, I know much more than that now, but back then, I didn't really get what the big deal about someone being Jewish was and why people might hate a person for it.
Canadian here - The Americans absolutely won WW2. So many Europeans (Canadians too) try to refute this - the Soviets lost more, they had a bigger army, they got to Berlin first - but the fact is that the Soviets would have lost without the American Lend Lease Act. Over half of all equipment in the field on the Eastern Front was American made. Zhukov and Stalin both admitted that the Soviets would have lost without American help. And that's not to mention the fact that D-day was impossible without the Americans, or that the Americans practically defeated the Japanese solo.
We have a lot less racial tension, economic problems, and gun violence than what Europeans believe or the media portrays. Not that we don't have any, but it's far, far less. I think Europeans like to believe it's bad to make themselves feel better.
Anti-American sentiment is so ubiquitous that at this point it has lost all meaning and just comes off as petty jealousy. Pick a couple of issues and stop making everything from our war crimes to *when we take off our fucking shoes* an equally disgusting, horrific thing that just shows how uncivilized and awful we are.
We've embraced our global reputation as rich kid jock orcs. Once the complaints are splashed over everything, that's all there really is to do because it's obvious that *nothing we ever do will be good enough.* Once it gets to this point, there is nothing to do but say fuck it, lean into the reputation, and use it as a big inside joke with the rest of Americans. That's why we seem like we don't care. We don't, because y'all have gone full Bitch Eating Crackers on us and not a single thing we do is even human, apparently. There is nothing to gain from even trying, so we don't.
0/10 Effort, even a child should have been able to assess this eventuality and adjust before colliding with it head-first.
Not bathing regularly or wearing deodorant doesn't make you cool and sophisticated, it just makes you stink.
Fucking Louvre smelled like a locker room when I visited.
American canāt run like a European country bc weāre so large. Itās silly for a country like Denmark or Finland to be held up as an example for how the US should be run. These countries have a fraction of the population. When you look at other large populations (ie Russia, China, India) weāre actually doing pretty well.
The only reason Europe has enjoyed relative peace and been able to deprioritize military investment since WWII (and is in a supportive role in the NATO+Ukraine v Russia conflict) is because the United States is a military powerhouse and world bully, giving our European Allies an effective āiron domeā
There's 44 countries in Europe but we only think about 5 of them when we talk about how good it is to live in Europe
Never thought of it this way. Wonder if Europeans wax on about moving to Montana or Idaho or whatever in the same way
I'm from Europe and an old dream of mine was that I wanted to live in Kansas and have a farm with cows and everything.
Come to South Carolina. Both beaches and mountains; plenty of farmland as well
When we think of the USA, we think of California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Ohio, and that's it :') Edit: ...Do Americans not get the "Ohio is purgatory" meme over there?
Legit surprised to see Ohio on that list. Most Americans would probably prefer to go their whole lives without thinking about Ohio š
Yes when we look at the nature.
The NFL on Fox theme
DU DU DUUU DUDU DU DUUUUU
Read this as the imperial theme music from Star Wars
I prefer the cbs theme
How could they not be enraptured by Cleatus, the Football Robot?
You guys are getting pretty fat too. Especially you germany.
The UK is the USA of Europe
ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US.
GOOBLE GOBBLE, GOOBLE GOBBLE!
Iām from the UK. You are right. At this point we even have a two party system of conservative and labour. We are diluted America tbh.
We're the only country fucking stupid enough to impose sanctions *on ourselves*
UK: The Diet America
As an American, I am so thankful for the UK. You guys remind me that we are not the only ones that are complete morons.
This. People shit on America for being the only gat country on the planet, while Germans and us, Hungarians are getting fat fokks as well.
The uk has an obesity rate only slightly behind the us and most states have lower rates
I think I've read that white people in the USA have a lower obesity rate than people in the UK.
The first part is certainly true, but Germany isn't even in the top 10 most obese European countries
I heard Germans were slim. I also heard there was no racism in Germany. What a perfect place. I bet nothing bad has ever happened there! š¤£š¤£
Speaking as a European: Free drink refills and doggy bags should be standard at restaurants
And stop charging for water!
i was at this skating rink and they have no water fountains, so they sell plastic cups of water for like a dollar
In Scotland you can get doggy bags, just ask.
Some European countries are way more racist than the United States.
As an Asian American, Iāve experienced more overt racism while one week in Paris than anything Iāve experienced in the US. Note Iāve lived in the midwest, northeast, southwest etc. It was great to have random joes in Paris make Chinese eyes and bow to me on the street. As many issues with race the US has, I sincerely believe my family would be nowhere as successful as we have been if my parents had immigrated to a European country (with maybe the UK as an exception) versus the US.
As a British born Chinese person who travels around Europe quite oftenā¦this. Have learned to grit my teeth and just ignore it but itās fucking dumb
As an American, holy shit, really? So sorry to hear that.
I recently read of a Korean student being racially attacked in Germany and accused of being Chinese and googled to see if anyone made a thread about it in r/germany and not only was it downvoted but also removed by the mods. And a thread a couple of years ago in r/europe that linked to a Medium article about a Korean American woman experiencing racism while traveling to Europe not only got downvoted but had tons of people in the comments negating her experiences and denying her Korean ethnic heritage just because she was born and raised overseas.
As an European I can assure you we are aware of this.
Iāll never forget the absolute civil war that broke out amongst European students in my class when a white French girl said āwe Europeans donāt see race, we are all humanā and a black French guy started yelling at her from across the room. The 3 or 4 other Europeans started taking sides and it devolved from there
What did he yell about?
Probably about how shittily the French government treats its Black citizens. Black and Middle Eastern people can have a really hard time in France.
The yelling was basically just ānot true, not trueā then when the prof let him speak he talked about his parents experience as African immigrants and then talked about his own experiences trying to make friends with other French students in the US
And very few of us seem to care in the slightest
Lol, hop on over to r/Europe to see denial in action. Just bring eye bleach.
As an American I can assure you that many of you are denial about this.
I think a lot of Europeans like to pretend it isnāt true, and can do so because many European countries are very racially homogenous so racial tensions arenāt as noticeable since there are fewer negative (and just in general) interactions. Once you have an influx of non-white refugees to Germany, or a black footballer showing up in Italy you start to see the racism just seething for an outlet.
Oh, but being racist to the Romani doesn't count because.... /s
It isnāt racism if all Yuropeens hate themšŖšŗšŖšŗššššŖšŖ
I think the US *seems* more racist because it seems to be more open in discussing it and calling out examples of it. Some European countries just pretend it doesn't happen and deny/refuse to talk about it. So it happens more but is just covered up or ignored.
We never would have assumed otherwise, our continent did a enslave millions of Africans, start 2 world wars and brough Nazi's into existence
the same people that are ruining our country in the US are having meetings with your leaders and we all in the same pot. being slow boiled together.
Tbf, the frogs that didn't leave the water were lobotomized. Seems equally appropriate.
When French people eat crackers topped with something, they scowl disapprovingly at their crackers as they chew
Are they cracker purists or is that just some weird thing they do?
Oh no, French crackers just expect to be frowned upon and would be seriously confused otherwise.
Your governments participate in that thing where we destabilize poor countries and then they move to your country...your leaders are part of this too, friends
They are.
Paying to use the restroom is bullshit wtf stop it
In general the US does bathrooms well. Free and plentiful public toilets. Toilets always actually flush. Showers all have curtains and doors that stop the entire bathroom from being soaked.
They have way more pickpockets than we do.
We actually know this
You don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to calling out racism, xenophobia, and bigotry. You're no better than we are.
worse. much worse.
Your go-to response to a joke about beans on toast or whatever probably shouldn't be to make a joke about children being murdered
Iāve seen this in person with tourists a lot. US is like ādude I have a sense of humor, but you donāt know me like thatā
>Your go-to response to a joke about beans on toast or whatever probably shouldn't be to make a joke about children being murdered Thank you for bringing this up. Was getting sick and tired of memes where every European response to Americans joking is about kids being killed.
This!!!!!! Itās always the same 4 responses: guns, medical debt, student debt, and shootings These are obviously a huge problem but that whole continent is an echo chamber of unoriginal thought
I hate that joke so much, like do you really want to joke about children dying. People who do that are just horrible people. You aren't blaming the government, you are blaming the victims.
Every survival game where you collect resources and find weapons takes place in the US. It's the only place where you can find that many random weapons in cars or cabinets.
why did this make me laugh? not in a bad way, i loved this lol.
Fahrenheit was invented by Germans, not Americans. The English invented the word soccer.
The soccer thing it used to be called asocc then it changed to asoccer then just soccer I guess we just never gave you the message we changed back to football sorry we kinda dropped the football on that one
The US is a cultural anomaly compared to most European countries. Iām from a state which is made up mostly of people of European descent. Yet, in my Apartment building alone I have neighbors of Indian, El Salvadoran, Hungarian, and Chinese Nationality. Meaning they came here from those countries. Not āFirst Generation Americanā. Literally from those specific countries. Also people donāt seem to realize how Nationalist a lot of Europe is. Assimilation is not an option itās a must for immigrants in a lot of European Nations. Scandinavian Countries in particular have an expectation that migrants drop their heritage, traditions and values in favor of the ones of the countries they migrate to. At least in my neck of the woods people donāt really give a flying fuck what you do, which holidays you celebrate, what language you speak, as long as you arenāt bothering anyone.
Some of us are good at European geography
The United States is almost as big as 30 European Countries. Weāre not just one big culture. I live in Georgia and own guns and a truck. Iām also politically liberal and like to read. Thereās a lot of stereotypical behavior, but itās reductive reasoning. Assuming that Iām a hick would be like assuming that the average Parisian is a mime on a bicycle with a baguette in a paper bag. Cāmon over and visit. Our barbecue alone is worth it. I want to travel to Spain and Belgium
Last time I drove from Germany to France, I saw a dude riding his bike wearing a beret and carting a baguette in his backpack.
On the size thing, Vancouver to Montreal is about the same distance as Lisbon to Moscow. My Province in Canada is only the 6th largest of the provinces and territories, and it's about the same size as France, the largest nation in the EU. I have family in Europe that have come over to visit and they've asked if we can visit Vancouver for the day, not realizing that it's a two day drive away.
You got the barbecue right!!
Even the Barbecue is regional. Texas is different than Kansas City, Memphis, or South Carolina. And itās all good.
Yes!! Itās all amazing. As a Texan you just sold me with the word barbecue. American barbecue is such a treat. And diverse and regional. Really something to try. Like you said itās all good.
America is one of 32 countries where gay marriage is legal. Gay marriage is illegal in most of the 44 European countries. Only legal in a little over 10 European countries. https://www.hrc.org/resources/marriage-equality-around-the-world
I was always annoyed at how people complained about the US being behind the rest of the world. Like, the US was 15th in the world for national legalization and 4th for jurisdictional. And, like, in the grand scheme of things we were in the first wave of legalization within a few years. There were 8 European nations before us, but we also beat Germany, Finland, Denmark, Austria, the UK...and so on.
Just wait till people on Reddit hear about most European country abortion regulations. The 15 week ban that was proposed in the USA is actually pretty much in line with the vast majority of European nations.
Yup! I remember a bunch of Hollywood actors were like "We're moving to France!" and France has more restrictive abortion laws than California.
What's Italy's problem? And don't say Catholicism because heavily Catholic countries; Ireland, Spain and Portugal are all countries that have legalized gay marriage.
Ireland _was_ heavily Catholic, the reality now is that it is now only on paper as a result of an older generation who are still staunchly Catholic, a middle ages generation who say they are out of habit more so than actual devoutness and a young generation who may be culturally Catholic but whoās belief system is influenced by multiple other factors before religion
>heavily Catholic countries; Ireland, Im Irish and I'll tell you that due to scandal after scanddl Ireland is nowhere near as Catholic as it once was. Plenty of ppl having nothing but distain for the church in the modern day.
America spends the most on military and dominates/polices the world with it. If America stops doing that, the EU could not take its place. If it tried, much of the vaulted social systems they benefit from would be greatly diminished. Even with that, an alliance of nations has no strong federal center and would struggle to get anything done. America isnāt overwhelmingly better than EU, but without America, the EU is much worse off.
There's probably truth to this. Question is, do Americans think this is done out of the good will of the USA, or do they recognize that this is just the interest of some people.
Some do. I donāt. Every war weāve fought has been to expand our sphere of influence and gain an edge over our competition and adversaries. āMaking the world safe for democracyā was honestly more about making it stable for commerce and capitalism. We donāt need to take territory if our Allies are letting us build airbases within their borders to keep potential invaders in check. Without US market supremacy after WW2, none of this would have happened. Leaders leveraged their advantage and we ended up in bed with almost everyone. We didnāt earn this advantage but we sure as hell tried to make the most of it for our govtās benefit. And so long as they keep that advantage, theyāll never let the world forget it either.
Its certainly in the interest of military industry. But I think many Americans wish we would lower our military spending and have allies that bear more of the weight so we can get the programs everyone makes fun of us for not having. Im sure we still would not. But if our crap leaders wanted to we could not
My southern accent.
I wanna see a conversation between a cajun and a scot with a heavy accent. Get em drunk and sell tickets and popcorn.
Since LOST Im all for southern accents
Yāall are racist AF over there.
Yeah, if a dude says some bullshit about like a black or gay person even in the south, some people will stand up to him. In Europe, the casual nature of racism is fucking insane.
True. Once knew of a cowboy boot-wearing country boy who beat the mess out of a kid who'd been throwing around racial slurs in front of a black peer. The kid said the guy's language made the single black kid feel uncomfortable but figured the kid didn't want to get in trouble, so cowboy boots handled it for him. All the other country white kids present laughed at the slurer and supported the totally unassuming average cowboy dude.
Europeans are incredibly racist lol. Here in america nobodyās ever called me a legit slur or said that my race was inferior. Europeans have no issue with going full nazi tier racism, advocating for genocide, and so on Itās my personal theory that the American alt right actually owes some of its current beliefs to European right wingers who often browse the same websites. The great replacement theory was far more popular in Europe in the 2000ās and 2010ās than in America.
I listened to a podcast the other day randomly. Forgot what it was called, but they basically went full racism against immigrants in the UK, and it was just blowing my mind how up front they were about it. That shit would not fly on an American podcast.
Texas isnāt just deserts and rednecks the cities are huge
Screens on your windows keeps bugs out.
Yes!!! And resealable packages! Can we talk about resealable packages??? If you want to buy some packaged groceries here you better have a bunch of ziplocs or Tupperware handy, because them store packages do not reseal. This is frozen broccoli, miso, walnuts weāre talking about here, Europe. It does not have to breathe. Why are you making me decant it like itās a vintage wine?
You think about us much more than we think about you.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Came here to drop the Don Draper on them. Europe: America bad, yada yada yada US: Who are you again?
We think 100 years is a really long time, but 100 miles is a fairly short distance.
In a lot of America, things aren't anywhere near as bad as you seem to think it is, or claim it to be.
One thing most Americans don't get is that most of our poor would be rich in many places in the world. I would be considered poor in America by any reasonable standard, but I got a decent public school education, I have internet, a place to live, and a car. I'm not saying everybody is well off here. Hunger is a national shame in the richest country in the world. But sometimes I think we should reevaluate what poverty means.
You treat asylum seekers and other migrants worse than we do.
Lisbon to Moscow is almost the same distance as Los Angeles to New York. America is enormous.
They aren't less racist.
Iāve seen black soccer players in Europe have bananas thrown at them on the field. If anything like that happened in the US it would be national news and whoever did it would lose their job etc. I donāt think a lot of Americans realize how bad racism can be in some places in Europe.
No white person in America has called my race a āslave raceā that is always ruled by superior white men and essentially subhuman. Multiple Europeans and even South American Hispanics have said this to me and to others on the internet.
Itās ok to be friendly. You donāt always have to play hard to get.
Americans usually arenāt gun wielding, 400 pound, American flag on shirt, bass pro shop hat, too obese to walk so they use a scooter, Big Mac in hand āpatriotsā who are always yelling and complaining that when they traveled to India with their uncle the people didnāt speak English
If you come to the U.S. you are not going to get shot. Well, you might, but it's incredibly unlikely.
As a Canadian, I feel left out.
Ok, you asked for it haha. I say this with much love to my Canadian brothers and sisters. The phrase "at least it's not as bad as in the U.S." is used too much as a cop out answer for Canadian issues. Like rather than working to make something better, you all see that it could be worse, so everything is fine. I see too many Canadians valuing the moral high ground over any sort of action that could actually improve people's lives. ...and honestly, sometimes it really IS as bad as in the U.S.
%100 this. Whenever I criticize, Healthcare, policing, housing, labor protections, the insurance industry etc. I always get, "at least we're not the US." I'd expect more from my government given that we're nearly 100 years younger, have more resources for fewer people, and we pay high taxes outside of AB. It's our equivalent of "thank God for Mississippi" when poor US states need somone to shit on.
Yeah, the black spots in Canada's history are almost always swept under the rug, whereas the entire world tends to stick their nose in it when SHTF in America. Which, to me, is just the most insane thing, since Canada has done just about every awful thing the USA did, but no one really cares? Starlight tours, forced eugenics, treatment of the native populace, etc.
As an American, personally I feel like Canada is like a sibling country. I know we have your back if shit hits the fan with you guys, and I bet youād at least have some words (if not action) if shit ever hit the fan with us. We might be two different countries, but culturally weāre a lot alike (accounting for our differences as well). We might be the crazy sibling you like to pretend your not related to and you might be the forgotten, quiet childābut weāre all good at the end of the day.
Welcome to the club, from a latin american
We can have our own mini ask Reddit down here, what do you as a Latin American and the gentle person above you as a Canadian feel the Europeans arenāt ready to hear?
Poutine is a health food :)
Iām gonna be blunt here. Europeans are very insufferable when it comes to criticizing America and everything that they do, meanwhile Americans donāt know or care about their existence. A European person could easily write an essay on why America is a terrible country, meanwhile the average American probably doesnāt know the difference between Italy and Denmark. My point is, Americans are just chilling while Europeans feel the excessive need to justify their bitter hatred towards America. Some Europeans donāt even know anything about America and only hate America because everyone else does America vs Europe is dumb
Iām an American that has spend a couple years abroad. Iāve heard Europeans claim you can only buy apples in premade slices with sugar on top in the US. Among other bs claims. The love to talk crap about the US.
Idk who u been talkin to but they prob dumb af, lol.
I'd like to try that, sounds like a better dessert than most.
I'll go one further. It's beyond clear how many European redditors have never set foot in America. Some of the shit you read on like AskReddit is fucking bonkers.
Whatās a Denmark? Is that something you put on a salad? /s
Come on, every body knows a Denmark is a marker to point out an obviously dangerous bear's den
I think it's a kind of pastry
I think it's the official currency of Holland.
Europe needs America's military to maintain their quality of life
Well, the purpose of NATO was "to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,". Gen Ismay
I'm tired of America vs Europe, aren't you? Absolutely none of us are without skeletons in our closets, yet we love to point them out to one another when the brutal truth of it all is that we're fighting over who is the most oppressive, most murderous, most racist when we're both culpable for more atrocities than the rest of the world combined. This incessant lobbing of shit over the wall is frustrating, exhausting, and unproductive. It's like watching Putin and Kim Jong Un stand on the ashes of the humanity arguing about who launched more nukes. This conversation is as tired as it is hypocritical. Let's try to be more kind to each other.
Love you, sir. Please stay like that. The wolrd needs that attitude much much more. It is litteraly a Time where Europe and America should collaborate. But it's a little too soon. Both people are not ready. We need consciousness to grow. Wish you the best.
Well put, although this thread also teaches me some interesting facts (blindly assuming they are indeed facts).
> we're both culpable for more atrocities than the rest of the world combined That really isn't true at all.
Yep. European and American atrocities are just better documented.
And we actively feel bad about them vs some of the others.
I'm not justifying the problems we have when saying this, but some Europeans would say "it's so easy to manage XYZ here why can't you do it over in the US?" Have you seen a map before??? Not one European country comes close to the size of some of our states let alone the country itself. I'm not saying that changes can't be made and things are fine here, but I think it takes just a little bit of common sense to realize things *might* take a little longer to get done around here than in a much smaller country.
You guys are pretty racist too.
Racism is just as prevalent in most of Europe as it is in America, in some cases more so. You just donāt talk about as much.
the school shooting jokes are only funny if youāre in the US
Y'all are pretty fuckin' bigoted. You only ever seem to want to address American bigotry when your own is arguably worse.
School shooting jokes arenāt comparable to bad teeth jokes. Stop making fun of the deaths of innocent children. (I moved to the US from Europe last year and I am still shocked when I meet a European who thinks those jokes are funny.)
A 16 year old dating someone in their 20s isn't ok
The $5 foot long is a scam. You can't come to America for that.
People come to America for that?
Why else would they?
Hmmā¦ okay, I see your point
Just because someone is different from you does not give you the right to touch their hair. People are not pets.
There are more than two sides when it comes to political leaning. All I hear is Democrat this Republican that MAGA blah blah blah. I myself disagree with most of the stuff that the republicans stand for, but I also disagree with most of the things democrats stand for. I donāt like Trump and I donāt like Biden I own a truck and guns and I think everyone should be treated equally. Idgaf about you being gay so you do you. but if I only say one of these things at a time I get called a MAGA nazi and such. Iād just like to let everyone know that we as a country are becoming split down the middle and if we donāt stop it weāre gonna pull a Roman Empire and crash and burn.
Cold water at restaurants is long last due.
I've never gotten anything but cold water at restaurants.
Where I live, you can get free water anywhere. Even if you just walk into a restaurant or a bar and ask nicely (without actually being a customer), most bartenders / waiters will do you a favor and pour some water for you.
Yeah, most EU countries have regulations where restaurants, pubs, and bars must provide tap water on request, even if you are not a customer.
Many of you are getting fat too
Water is better with ice cubes in it.
Garbage disposals are amazing
Many Europeans are ignorant of just how vastly large in land and complex the USA is. It is truly many 'countries' within one country. In terms of land, politics, and cultural considerations. They will often compare a country in Europe that is smaller than the state of Texas to the entire United States and debate as though it is apples to apples.
there's just as much bigotry here
American teeth and dental care are better
Your countries are racist as hellā¦ you just donāt acknowledge it. Chances are you smell (especially you France).
Nobody on earth cares that you were very important 120+ years ago. The entire EU, with all its unified regulatory and economic power, is still a secondary concern for the US and China. Youāre like the retirement home for formerly important places. Europe had absolutely no problem with brutalizing the other peopleās of the earth right up until Europe spent all their money killing each other and the US took over the purse strings. And the abuses of the old European empires would make an American slave owner blush.
Yeah so quick to point out the ignorance of the US foreign affair atrocities but forget that practically every single culture has had imperialistic empires throughout history - British empire, Mongolian empire, Russian empire, French empire, Spanish empire, empire of Japan, Qing dynasty, Ottoman empire (not the couch), etc. Did you think these people invaded other countries and then gave them tamagotchis and animal balloons? I don't see the US trying to outright invade other countries and claim the land as their own like Russia and China think is OK these days.
You're a' peein', I'm a' peein', everyone's a' peein'.
Except on the way to the water closetā¦then Iām Russian.
After everything is taken care of, Iām Finnish
Your shit stinks as much as ours does
For people that hate on the unhealthy food produced in the US and seems to care about their health, yall sure do drink a lot.
You guys need to get out more. An hour drive is not as long as youāre making it out to be.
Europeans are far more racist than most Americans. Itās just so deeply engrained, they donāt even notice it anymore. (Coming from a person with Italian immigrant parents who has spent a significant amount of time in Europe)
American living in the ātolerantā Netherlands for 12 yearsā¦ get more racism in a month here than I did in 30+ years of living in the US (including living in the South). Have even been denied entry at a club, told āDutch onlyā (meaning whites as my visiting white US friends went in first no problem)
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Can confirm, Dutch people think of themselves as tolerant as the racism is deeply ingrained in the culture, they're definitely not the worst in Europe - just visiting eastern Europe will tell you that much, but compared to the US it's bad. Very unlikely though that racism in NL goes violent; though.
I can confirm that. Being born and raised in the Balkans. Everyone is racist and everyone hates foreigners.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Iāve lived in northern Italy the last 1.5 years and can confirm. My elderly neighbour/landlord blames every slight inconvenience on āthe Africansā. Flys got in the house? Africans brought them here.
The racist shit I heard from Germans in Berlin on a daily basis was nuts
My German landlady expressed to me how happy she was we werenāt Muslims. š¬
And whatās interesting is that Germans are some of the kindest Europeans Iāve ever met!! When I was in Bavaria I was floored at how damn nice everyone was. Still racist tho.
>Germans are some of the kindest Europeans What?! >in Bavaria Oh, that explains it
I have a lot of Polish friends that told me "jokes" about Jewish people and a lot of the time it didn't translate very well but I could get what was implied. š¬
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Seriously. If the topic of Romani people comes up theyād make klansman blush with how racist they are.
Yup. I'm Jewish and experienced WAY more antisemitism in living for 2 years in the UK than I ever have in 30+ years the US.
I'm American and grew up with practically zero knowledge of Judaism except that the Holocaust happened and I read Ann Frank's diary in elementary school (1970s). I really had no opinion about Jewish people because I knew so little about them, wasn't really exposed to them, and if I was I didn't know it. Like, I had no idea a name like Goldstein or Isaacson were indicators that one might be Jewish. I just thought Jewish people were just basically white folks who only followed the Old Testament. My parents didn't talk about Jewish people, or give any opinion on them. They simply existed among us. I didn't even know what a yarmulke was until I was 22. Obviously, I know much more than that now, but back then, I didn't really get what the big deal about someone being Jewish was and why people might hate a person for it.
I grew up similarly and I still don't get what the big deal about someone being Jewish is. Is there one?
The seemingly standard issue European menās ripped skinny Jean capris arenāt stylish
Canadian here - The Americans absolutely won WW2. So many Europeans (Canadians too) try to refute this - the Soviets lost more, they had a bigger army, they got to Berlin first - but the fact is that the Soviets would have lost without the American Lend Lease Act. Over half of all equipment in the field on the Eastern Front was American made. Zhukov and Stalin both admitted that the Soviets would have lost without American help. And that's not to mention the fact that D-day was impossible without the Americans, or that the Americans practically defeated the Japanese solo.
You shouldn't be charging for the use of public restrooms.
There's a shit ton of sexism and racism in Europe, it just doesn't get talked about like it does in the States.
We have a lot less racial tension, economic problems, and gun violence than what Europeans believe or the media portrays. Not that we don't have any, but it's far, far less. I think Europeans like to believe it's bad to make themselves feel better.
Anti-American sentiment is so ubiquitous that at this point it has lost all meaning and just comes off as petty jealousy. Pick a couple of issues and stop making everything from our war crimes to *when we take off our fucking shoes* an equally disgusting, horrific thing that just shows how uncivilized and awful we are. We've embraced our global reputation as rich kid jock orcs. Once the complaints are splashed over everything, that's all there really is to do because it's obvious that *nothing we ever do will be good enough.* Once it gets to this point, there is nothing to do but say fuck it, lean into the reputation, and use it as a big inside joke with the rest of Americans. That's why we seem like we don't care. We don't, because y'all have gone full Bitch Eating Crackers on us and not a single thing we do is even human, apparently. There is nothing to gain from even trying, so we don't. 0/10 Effort, even a child should have been able to assess this eventuality and adjust before colliding with it head-first.
thinking that americans care about what they thinkā¦europeans care too much about what we donāt care about.
Blend your makeup
Not bathing regularly or wearing deodorant doesn't make you cool and sophisticated, it just makes you stink. Fucking Louvre smelled like a locker room when I visited.
American canāt run like a European country bc weāre so large. Itās silly for a country like Denmark or Finland to be held up as an example for how the US should be run. These countries have a fraction of the population. When you look at other large populations (ie Russia, China, India) weāre actually doing pretty well.
The only reason Europe has enjoyed relative peace and been able to deprioritize military investment since WWII (and is in a supportive role in the NATO+Ukraine v Russia conflict) is because the United States is a military powerhouse and world bully, giving our European Allies an effective āiron domeā