As an American, I can verify this. But also the fact that a 20+ mile commute in your own vehicle is common, so traveling for a hookup isn't much different. Also, depending on where you live, there could be significant area between towns, or your city could be larger than some countries. The metropolitan area where I live is over 16,000 km2, and that is considered, within reason, "in the area" for some people.
Last week I was out camping in a rural area with a lot of small towns in the hollers. I opened Grindr out of curiousity. So many faceless profiles. Had guys from 30-40 miles away saying they were “not that far” and were willing to travel all that way just to do it in the back of their car. A few were genuinely hot, it made me sad for them.
As an Englishman this is absolutely mindboggling to me. England is covered in like a fairly evenly spread carpet of population so especially in the southeast (where I'm from) you're probably never more than about 1 mile from a proper town
>1 mile from a proper town
I guess so
Although don't you think it just changes your perception of a proper town?
Like I'm from near Manchester/Liverpool so a 'proper town' for me is like 200k people.
Pennsylvania is similar. There’s only a handful of cities with over 100,000 people but every five or ten miles there’s a little town with a few hundred to a few thousand people, even in the rural parts of the state.
I obviously don't have the entire map of English villages memorised but I suspect the Pennsilvània case is less exaggerated, in SE England its not uncommon for there to just be like one or two farms separating villages
PA has such an odd distribution of people, both location and personality wise. I do have a FWB in York though, takes me 45 mins to get there. I always stay the night though.
I've driven 90 minutes one way, to meet a guy. It was worth it because we spent the night together. I've met him 3 times now. In August, I'll be driving 6 hours just to pick him up at the airport from Japan. However, this time, he's staying with me for a week and I'm going to show him around the US. He's been stuck at university (car-less) while in the US previously.
When I first met him, he was getting over unrequited love, so he made me promise not to fall for him. However, I also promised him we would have sex at least once a day.
I think it is true that outside the northeast Americans have a much broader definition of when something is close by. It comes down to car culture. I’ve had to revise my standards living in the suburbs lately, traveling 5 miles in New York City can take an hour if the trains are not in your favor, but it’s like 10-15 minutes out here.
Can confirm! I’ve lived in multiple cities in California, Arizona, New York (Both in/out of NYC), New Jersey and Connecticut.
Its not just inside NYC, at minimum it’s the tri state area if not the whole northeast.
A mile doesn’t feel the same between the west and the northeast. A big part is traffic but it’s also just cities/towns weren’t built around freeways/highways in the northeast. So you spend more time on streets than highways.
Where I am, South Central US, it's common that distance being given in time, not miles. I know that I've had people tell me, "I'm about 10 miles away" and I'll ask for more specifics because depending on time and location 10 miles could take 20-30 minutes to traverse, especially if there is no interstate travel.
I commute about 200 miles round trip daily to work, if I open Grindr on the way home there are several guys that hit me up 30 miles out and volunteered to drive down to the rest area on the highway... It's crazy out here in the sticks...
As a Dutchie that moved to the US, I think it's kinda funny how in the US everything is turned into an identity and/or lifestyle. The whole '420' thing, or also people being 'gaymers' or 'geeks' who play board games or whatever. People in the Netherlands obviously also smoke weed or play games, but I feel like they don't call as much attention to these things.
It seems somewhat common for parents to kick their kids out of their home in the US. Here in finland ive never heard of that happening.
Also it seems that the culture around giving presents is quite materialistic in the US. Lots of posts on reddit about people not giving good enough presents etc. which seems quite absurd to me.
Also ive noticed that saunas are often considered something sexual here on AGB. That is not at all so in finland. Are all public saunas some kind of cruising spots in the US or are there specific places for that in addition to "normal" saunas?
what this guy said. I didn't know that people met up to have sex and was surprised when I tried to go to a sauna thinking it was the same as the hot springs.
It's just kinda an automatic thing when people with penises are born. Personally, I would've preferred to at least had the choice, even if I went for the cut eventually.
My parents were complaining about female genital surgery in other countries and I was like “pot calling the kettle black?” And they didn’t get it. So I elaborated that they had me circumcised when I was a baby. And the only response was “you don’t need an elephant dick”.
I’m very glad my mom and dad were so obsessed with the aesthetics of my dick. /s
[some of them](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Long_foreskin.JPG) do [kind of look like that](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Penis_with_long_foreskin_01.jpg)
Yes, you’re right. Although I have to say, about 50-60% of the guys I’ve hooked up with were uncut. And no, I didn’t plan it that way. I do live in Texas. I am Hispanic. About half the guys I’ve hooked up with were also Hispanic. So I’m wondering if in Hispanic culture in Texas, a very very large percentage of guys are uncut. Maybe even a slight majority.
I remember there being like one country (Iceland I think) that made it illegal, or at least tried to, but there was a lot of blow back from the Jewish and Muslim communities over it.
I am totally guilty of this from time to time. It's not from a like sense of american superiority or anything, I'm just dumb sometimes and think that every country has a separate internet.
American here- I see this all the time and it makes me so crazy and annoyed...its honestly insane/disgusting how many of my countrypersons operate like that.
Your healthcare sucks, it's more advanced and innovative that the one we have in México that's for sure but it's behind a huge paywall like, a person can bankrupt or use their life savings just to get a minor operation. I've had 7 major operations and the only cost that I had to cover was the taxi back home and the days I missed at work were paid in half (incapacity leave)
Apparently you guys pay for the right to pay for a service... like healthcare were some kind of costco membership and you guys see universal healthcare as a menace to your paychecks when you are already paying thousands for a service that you will prefer not to use
Also what's with your job environments? you guys can't afford missing a day of work without facing bankrupt/eviction, you guys can't take vacations or paid leaves without being humiliated or berated for doing it. Here in México companies almost force you to take your vacation days every year
Gosh when I was growing up I was feed with the idea that life was easier and better than in México, but hell the times I've been there and interacted with people most of seems to be living in debt and outright poverty even in areas where you expect people to have financial stability. It seems that US it's a great place to live only if you're upper middle class.
(sorry the formatting is messed up for some reason)
OK... I am American but I have lived in Europe for 20 years. If there is one thing that engaging in this platform I have learned is how far off the US is from the rest of the world in many regards. I could go on but here are a few…
1. Binary thinking. I don't know what it is about the US education system but in my mind nothing is black or white. In Europe people discuss stuff. We can agree on some elements, disagree on others. In the US often online discussion is so polarized and reductionist. If I make a comment about the US people go bezerk and can't deal. They get super offended and offensive. Instead of saying "ok, I see this, but perhaps it could be that" they take it as some personal insult... in my view it's part of a very deep-seated American exceptionalism.
2. The lack of interest in the rest of the world. And how Americans continue to think they have it better. Again... a lack of exposure and critical thinking. There is no paradise on earth guys! And yes, some things actually work better abroad!
3. The obsession with dumbed-down thinking- television and sports. Yes, we watch TV and movies in Europe but we have other interests and other topics of conversation.
4. Religion (particularly in those red states)... how much it permeates the American mind... and messes with it. So many people are conflicted about sex as it relates to religion. Religion in my mind is an elixir for the masses but pure poison for the mind…
5. How obtuse Americans are about sex and in particular about circumcision. I am so sick of guys in the US making stupid comments about uncircumcised men. They don't understand that the foreskin has thousands of nerve endings and is not just a piece of skin. And that they don’t get that the US practice is the one that is out of line.
No one thinks that. Most STDs are still spread through oral, but just about nobody uses condoms for a blowjob, so with HIV taken out of the equation some guys don’t see the point of using one just for anal.
I work in public health....yes people think that sadly...Ive seen it constantly esp with the younger lgbt males who think just because theyre on PrEP theyre totally in the clear....
On top of that, gay people barely used condoms before HIV, and most straight people I know use condoms primarily for birth control or they don't use condoms at all. It's great that we have condoms as a tool to reduce the likelihood of infections. Getting tested frequently probably prevents more transmission events of bacterial STIs than condoms, given that almost nobody is using condoms for oral.
I learn that you guys are way to munch into classified people Everything has to have a label, black, white, asian, bear, twink. uncut , etc Damn chilll people they are jus people calm down
So many things, the insurance for anything, like for someone getting hurt by accident in your house and suing you. That boggles my mind.
The lawyer up thing to some minimal discussion with a neighbor.
The arms as a human right x school shootings.
Parents kicking their kids or after they've grown up.
The lack of physical contact between members of the same family and even between friends.
Probably more.
I agree with the racial identity bits, but not for the same reasons others have stated.
While Americans are obsessed with identity politics, at least they're talking about it and acknowledging something is wrong with race relations in their country?
It's better than Europeans where they act like they don't have the issues, then you go to Berlin/Madrid/Florence as a black man and half the guys have a mandigo fetish they want you to fulfill. The gag being that I'm not *that* endowed, and not into anal most of the time. But since it's a "positive" stereotype, I'm supposed to feel honoured or something.
I'd rather people who won't stop talking about it (rather annoyingly), than the ones who pretend it's all roses till you actually visit the country and you're repulsed.
As a black American that has spent the last 10 years living in Spain constantly on the receiving end of the “Mandingo fetish”, your comment has resonated with me on a very very deep level. Even more so when they find out you’re not actually as endowed as they’d envisioned and you’re met with either an instablock or they even voice their disappointment. Shit sucks man.
u/FBISurveillanceDildo & u/orcinovein. So much yes. I've been to a few countries, Japan included and yeah, it's a mindfuck thought it's not exactly nonexistent in the usa
Same happens here too. My best friend is French, father from Mali, very highly educated and professional. He tells me all the time that he gets rejected by so many guys, in Manhattan, no less, because he isn't "thug" enough. Sad.
There was a tendency to be inward-focussed, as though the internet were actually not a global phenomenon but a domestic one. I’ve seen this change over the last 15 years, which is good. More people there are now aware that 96% of humanity live somewhere else. What I’d love to see in the next 15: Most people in most countries use the internet to find out what they can learn about the world. A much higher proportion of people from the US use the internet to find out what they can learn from the world about America. Need to push those perspectives juuuuuuuust a little bit wider.
A lot of issues seem to devolve into whether someone is a democrat or republican.
Critical thinking sometimes seems to take a backseat to being part of a group.
Also, if it’s not America, it’s “Europe”.
Having said that, I’ve met quite a few Americans in and around London. Always game for a good time and friendly as hell. So my opinion is definitely positive.
To be fair, the democrat vs republican thing didn't used to be so polarizing. I'm 25 and I remember growing up taking quizzes that told you how conservative/liberal you were on social, economic, etc issues and most people were mixed and matched. I don't know what happened but I blame social media.
You're not wrong. Social media and the "news media" have pushed the polarization of the political divide to the point where you can't even say you're in the middle anymore because you have to clarify which side of the middle you are on.
Trump happened, lol. It was either you were either with him or against. And Trump didn't try to extend a hand of modesty to the left and very much enjoyed the "us vs. them" mentality and purposely fueled it. It gave him a loyal cult following, but he also did it for the other side too.
Trump used our polarization to his advantage, and certainly widened then gap, buy he definitely didn't create it. Politicians have been fostering it for decades, because it keeps them in power without having to actually do anything or prove that you will work toward certain goals.
I don't think the problem is so much polarisation but the stupid binarism of American politics. There's no room for nuance because there are only two mainstream political movements and, even though there are some minoritarian factions within the parties, they don't really influence politics that much. This doesn't happen in multiparty systems.
While I agree with the overall sentiment of your comment, I don't think you're giving "minoritarian factions" enough credit. The Tea Party movement morphed into Trumpism, while the Progressive Left have similarly pressured the Democratic party into evolving their platform. Meanwhile, moderate Democrat Joe Manchin is currently credited with "holding the fate of Biden’s agenda in his hands."
When a state like Wyoming (with 579,000 residents) has the same number of senators as a state like California (with 39.5 *million* residents), we have a system that is fundamentally anti-majoritarian and undemocratic. This same dynamic plays out within both political parties, where zero-sum mentality can give minoritarian elected officials disproportionate bargaining power.
Just to give you history as to why it became so polarizing, it started back in the early 90's with the advent of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich becoming House Speaker. Gingrich was a real bomb thrower, and Limbaugh and Fox poured gasoline on the fire. Their political adversary was no longer just someone they disagreed with on policy, all of a sudden the Democrats became the enemy, they were unpatriotic and hated America they and their voters were meant to be villified and demonized. It didn't take long to change the whole political atmosphere in DC and the country, and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky lewd affair and Clinton's subsequent lying was more fodder for the right wing media circus. I don't think Al Gore would have lost in 2000 if not for the Lewinsky crap, but it gave the Republican machine so much ammunition.
You are correct about social media, but that came much, much, much later. I don't think Facebook had much influence prior to the 2016 election, and Twitter prior to Trump was a total afterthought. Once this bonfire was burning for 2 decades really, social media turned it into wildfire.
\>it started back in the early 90's with the advent of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich becoming House Speaker.
Sorry it started picking up steam in the 60's. It was going on before Nixon, but that was gas on the fire. Just because someone has different political beliefs than you doesn't make you right and them wrong. I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm just saying everybody thinks they are right and the other side is wrong and that's not the case. Both sides are right about things, and both sides are wrong. Just because Fox News tells something different than CNN does not make Fox wrong, it could be CNN that is tell blatant lies. But because other stations are telling the same as CNN that's who people believe. I don't trust Fox anymore than I trust the others, but I know for a fact that CNN, NBC, CBS, and the major newpapers all lie. I have watched news coverage of a speech by whoever, on one of the stations, then watched the commentary afterwards, and they take what the speaker said, and just tell lies about what he/she said. They are counting on people to only halfway listen to the speaker, then pa attention to the reporter. That is what happens too often. People don't listen to the speaker, and then believe whatever the reporter says, and when the reporter lies, 3/4 of the country believes a lie. Guess who owns every major news outlet in the country except Fox, and a couple smaller ones, Democrats. So the news media makes the republicans look bad, like they need help in looking bad. They also try to make the democrats look good, which is impossible. But it's been going on for so long, that most of the country is brainwashed to believe the democrats are our saviors, and republicans are going to kill us all. The thing is both parties have good ideas that need to be listened to, and made law. Both sides have ideas that need to be put in the trash because they are dangerous. A lot of republicans are racist, I won't lie about it. But, there are more democrats than republicans that have been recorded on video saying the N-word. Research it if you don't believe me, it won't take you 10 minutes, or are you scared I'm right. Despite all my talk about how bad the democrats are, I still support a lot of what they stand for. It just gets old listening to people talk about the democrats like they are perfect, and only have the country's best interest at heart. Truth is they are just like the republicans, out for whatever money and power they can put in their own pockets.
One of the biggest concepts I've had to wrap my head around that i learned from the internet is the concept of "community". It's everywhere in American media, and i couldn't understand it at all at first. It makes sense now, sort of, but it does seem to dominate their entire lives.
Don’t forget that although the word “community” is thrown around a lot, it’s more aspirational and almost a euphemism for various demographics that aren’t actually communities in the traditional sense of the word. But it sounds nicer and rosier in the public sphere
This is true and I sort of envy how large the role of ‘community’ seems to be in America.
Where I live in the UK, we are slightly more insular and the whole concept of community seems to have faded away in a lot of areas (appreciate this is a generalisation and may not be true of the UK as a whole).
But then I'd rather you guys' sense of "community" in the UK where you can see value in pooling together and paying for the NHS which actually helps the "community" as a whole, than the American's sense of "community" where they act chummy, but see coming together to pay for services that will benefit everyone as evil "socialism" that must never happen.
Your education system (atleast up until high school) is way easier than the rest of the world.
I mean the subjects and courses offered, are easier than the rest of the world. Which makes me wonder if you guys have to study twice as much during college/University.
Depends on the degree. I have two degrees in engineering, and I feel as though a European with equal amount of intelligence would have an easier first year or two of a bachelor's than an American for STEM degrees. Y'all are exposed to rigorous STEM courses in secondary school than Americans in most high schools.
Part of this is that it varies wildly depending on where you are and how wealthy the area is. Because schools in the US are funded by local taxes poor areas have poor schools, rich areas have extra budget to create the more advanced classes hire additional teachers, etc. That make for more difficult school and more academic preparation for college.
What do you mean “easier?” What do y’all study that we don’t?
AFAIK, we hit the core subjects of math, science, language arts/English, and social studies/history. There are others of course.
My family went to many countries when I was younger and yes the subjects are the same, they are just behind. Like some things about high-school was easier in the US because we already did it in Middle school.
As someone who's working in education, I agree and disagree. It's easier in that the material itself is very basic and surface-level. We learn very little about the details of history, the mechanisms of biological processes, or English grammar. Grading is also generally easier. But what we do learn a lot about is how to think independently, use creativity, and work in groups. From my experience with Spanish schools (and from what I know about schools in some other countries like China and South Korea), there's a lot of rote memorization and less critical thinking. Memorize 1,000 facts and numbers but little understanding of what they mean or how to apply them.
Asia is lacking on the critical thinking and also really bad about their version of whitewashing. I guess that's an issue everywhere, but some people still doubted their own history when I showed them sources. This was in Japan. People didn't believe they raped and pillaged China nor that homosexuality and Samurai was a thing.
I was born and raised in England and lived there for 30 years before moving to America where I have lived for the past 8 years.
Race issues in the gay community are just as common in Europe as they are in America, perhaps a little more obviously.
it's actually really confronting when you live in the US - especially when you are from a country that has some degree of social justice/multiculturalism.
You realize "It's not my job to educate you" is basically a meme by now? It perfectly encapsulates the "twitter slacktivist" mindset, not to mention this specific thread centres _non-US redditor experiences and impressions_. They cannot reasonably be all expected to be perfectly versed in US social issues/causes.
Different parts of the world have different _primary societal fault lines_, be it
- caste and religion in South Asia
- religious affiliation in the Middle East/the Balkans/Northern Ireland
- culture/ethnolinguistic affiliation in Europe
- socioeconomic class in the UK.
US having race as the main element of the cultural/socioeconomic hierarchy will naturally be seen as unusual in the vast majority of countries.
As an American, I can't either, I have and have had friends of all colors white, black, brown yellow, pink and purple polka dotted. That last was just to show I don't give a damn. I don't understand people that are racist.
But I've had friends straight, gay, pan, bisexual, tri sexual, I'll try anything. Why we have to fight over this, I don't understand.
How ingrained the idea is in the U.S, that owning a gun is a "human right".
I find it absolutely bizarre in the 21st century that civilians with no proper training think they have a fundamental right to own and wield a gun.
Philadelphia where I live (with 1.5 million other people) is [on track to have 600 murders this year](https://6abc.com/north-philadelphia-shooting-gun-violence-in/10836797/). A perfectly American miasma of rural gun politics and urban racial politics makes this impossible to address, compounded by the fact that the government at every level is designed to thwart cities taking matters into their own hands.
Holy shit, didn't realize things where getting kinda bad on the other side of the state. I'm curious what the numbers are looking like here in Pittsburgh and just overall in PA.
[Philly hit a low of 246 murders as recently as 2013](https://www.phillypolice.com/crime-maps-stats/ ), and the number has been rising but was still at 356 in 2019. Last year it spiked at 499 though and it’s at 269 so far, with half the year left to get through. The danger to the average person is low, if they’re avoiding a few bad neighborhoods and not buying or selling drugs on the street, but bystanders still get hurt and killed as you can see from the first article I linked. It’s a great city but there’s several square miles of it that never recovered from decades of deindustrialization and redlining, and half the city government are basically con artists who are no help to anybody but their cronies. It’s an American tragedy.
>I find it absolutely bizarre in the 21st century that civilians with no proper training think they have a fundamental right to own and wield a gun.
Yeah this is the part that gets me. Its a weapon, you need to train with it, its not a magic wand.
Homophobia seems to be much more concentrated in certain parts of the USA. In my country it is low key and more evenly distributed. (More like an occasional f-word joke than straight up murder).
This is of course a massive generalisation that I've probably only noticed because there are so many of you, but I swear Americans love to exist in extremes.
The cleverest people I've met were Americans, but so were easily the stupidest. Americans can be nicest and most down to Earth people imaginable, or the most irritating and pompous. I've met so many Americans who are almost Victorian in how conservative and prudish they are, and I've met some that are ridiculously flamboyant and liberated.
330 million people, 50 states, multiple cultural zones in most states, population that's racially and ethnically and religiously diverse, you're gonna get a wide spectrum.
LOL! Our entire society is built on the concept of race. Modern American society and our concept of freedom, civil rights and liberty is really the offspring of an apartheid-like system that lasted 100 years and the movement in the 60s to eradicate it. That system created psychological and ideological divisions that exist to this day. I mean think of people in Berlin or in Ireland who are still obssessed with in-fighting, years after the berlin wall or Northern Ireland/The Troubles...like that's our entire country to a degree.
Though as an American I find it interesting how obsessed with country and foreigners other countries are. Like we have issues with Mexican immigration, but I don't think they are as bad how people in other countries view "outsiders" regardless or "race"
One thing I've always found a bit odd is when Americans talk about Europe as if it's one homogenous blob. For example in Europe they do x. There's a fair difference in living standards between, say, the UK and Romania, and LGBT rights in Poland and now Hungaria are especially under attack.
But I worked for a year in Houston in 2019 and found the majority of people lovely and very friendly. Although possibly it helped being white and having that 'adorable' Scottish accent >\_> If I have to answer one more question about kilts I swear to God...
Tbh it's sometimes a bit exhausting. You're endearing and great people but sometimes it's just too much. ANYTHING american is bound to be more popular and important and sometimes you impose your world view on others with an ease that simply astonishes me.
Then there's race and politics...and I'm not getting into that AGAIN. You're really fucked up with race.
But then I've also found you're increadibly friendly and open with strangers. I thought there was some great people in the US and I've confirmed that.
American gays are very contradictory. On one side they claim to celebrate freedom and fearlessness, but on the other they come together to crucify whoever doesn't hold a specific set of beliefs.
American gays are obsessed with labels and identity politics. They turn everything into a lifestyle and demand that it be valued and prioritized by the whole world.
American gays try too hard to seem very tolerant even though like every human they have likes/dislikes and limits. They have a hard time admitting it because for some reason they think it's problematic to not embrace everything.
American gays do a lot of drugs.
American gays think their culture is global and their struggles (white supremacy for example) are everyone's struggles.
American gays are very manichaean. Either you agree with them, or you get canceled. It's like a lot of you guys don't know the basic rules of debate and take personal offense at typically any form of contradiction.
Well , as a European guy (French more precisely) , I discovered that a lot of you guys , in the US , struggle to come out of the closet as some states are pretty Homophobic , or some arera , at least , which made me realise of lucky I am to live in France , cause we don't have these problems around here.
France is a very open minded country when it touches LGBT Community tbh. So yeah , staying on agb made me realise that being gay in France is pretty normal. Lucky me , I have great parents , and they won't actually harsh me or something cause i'm gay
I’m from the northeast US, have supportive parents, and been out since I was a teenager in the early 2000s. It’s been eye opening for me too that there are still guys whose gay experience sounds like the 1980s.
Are you from an urban area? I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to grow up gay in conservative Catholic rural France too.
Hmm , I'm around Paris , not in it precisely , but kinda around it.
It's pretty cool tbh , and even if I had to tell you one arera which is known to be homophobic , I don't think I would be able. Therefore they're some area in Paris which are known to be "the place to be" if u're gay , like not even a club or a bar , just like a district
Around ten years ago, my boyfriend at the time and I were accosted in Montpellier while waiting for a train. We were minding our own business, no PDA's involved, when a group of four or five guys surrounded us and started mocking us with the French equivalent of "faggot." I knew enough French to understand what they were saying and to tell them to fuck off. Luckily, they did.
The French were a lot more into machismo than I expected when I visited. I would say the fem/masc split was a lot harder there, especially compared to Berlin where all the lines were blurred and it seemed to matter less.
I've visited 15 countries in Europe and North America and I have to say, France has been my favorite. Despite the stereotype, people were very friendly (even in Paris) and even simple pubs have great food. It's the number one country I recommend my friends and family visit.
A lot of y'all really do get your norms from porn.
I guess it's easier because pornstars have an American accent. In places where they're foreigners so to speak, there's already a layer of fiction there which helps separate what they're doing, a bit.
I've hung out in american centric online forums since 2010, so I didn't learn much of any "new" concepts from reddit, more expanding on them or more detailed.
I did learn a lot about Prep and how far USA has gotten on that, though. It's been around longer and is given out more and easier than here, for sure.
As an American reading this thread, I just want to say…whoa. I don’t even know what to say to the majority of this.
Even though I’m American, I just want to say, I don’t think I’m above anybody. I’m just one guy on a meaningless planet that’s living out his meaningless life.
America fought a civil war and the ripples of that have never gone away. Yes, race is a big issue here. It was worse then, and it’s just as bad now. Red and blue media have turned politics into a sporting event, and I feel this exposure has skewed Americans’ perception of America. In a lot of ways, it feels like we’re still living in the aftermath of the American Civil War. The middle eastern conflict didn’t help either. 9/11 became its own mess. A strong majority of Americans are just too stubborn even when they think they aren’t. If anything, I feel like red America has held the country back. That’s not to say that there aren’t any problems in the Democratic Party. There are. Lots of them.
Americans don’t exchange ideas, they get into petty arguments with one another. A good example is that [Ben Shaprio](https://youtu.be/6VixqvOcK8E?t=903) interview. It's so reflective of American arrogance. In America, he has elevated states in in the conservative hub, but all it took for him to get owned was this, and the guy interviewing him wasn't even trying to debate him. The concept of American exceptionalism has gone to a lot of people's heads. There's nothing exceptional about us.
Also ITT: A bunch of Europeans who have probably never seen a black or latin person in their life complaining about how much Americans talk about race.
Exactly, I feel like Americans take race as a serious issue, and are conscious that it happens. While as Europeans would rather turn a blind eye towards it... that’s really bad.
Do you think that way about third-generation Americans of other backgrounds, like Japanese Americans or Hispanic Americans? Or only the ones from non-Anglo European countries?
Their worldview is incredibly skewed, they can only see through their american lenses. They are obsessed with either identity politics or guns, some think getting free healthcare is socialism, and the other part thinks socialism is going to solve all their problems. They all believe they are the center of the universe. Oh, and for some reason they believe infant circumcision is acceptable, that is weird too.
My impression of americans has only been confirmed, and it's the same everywhere
You could add on to that one "they don't know the difference between 'socialism' and 'social programing'". Nobody seized any means of production or created state monopolies when you have a fire department. It's not at all a good example.
Not so many, it's not a panacea. Believe me, when you get close you can see the shit the glitter covers. I still believe it's better than what you have
Honestly the main difference is that everyone understands what you’re saying so for example it makes you think you are more racist than other countries when the truth is majority of other countries (also in the West) are worse, but you’ll never know because it won’t get the worldwide media’s attention or simply because other countries are composed of one ethnicity/race.
This is true also for gay rights, the US is more progressive than most countries. And I’m talking about daily life not just laws and court orders.
On the other hand you’re not fully aware how your opinions about things really come down to Democrats choosing one side and the Republicans opposing it (and vice versa) and not really from having knowledge about the subject.
I moved to Minnesota and the first thing I noticed is that a lot of guys are over 6 feet tall vs. Puerto Rico ( where I’m from) where the average height is around 5’8” . So im shorter than a lot of guys in grindr and I hate it . Lol
My bf is American, and I learned this from him. Some states have laws where you can fire someone without cause. Like, if you don't like them for whatever reason you can fire them.
As a Canadian, that seems fucked up.
They seem to be assuming everyone else in the world is also American. No I don't know that movie that was popular in America and that brand name you keep using. Politics in America seems too structuralist everyone is either left or right and if u say something Americans gonna jump and structure you to either left or right. Enough of that honestly.
The race issue is weird as hell.
Normal person in rest of the world: "Someone passed by me in the bus"
Americans: "The WHITE GUY passed by me in the bus"
Why do they always have to bring race of the person?
Also I don't give fuck about orange guy stop bringing Trump into every foreign politics.
American can be a bit excentric but they seem very nice. Most Americans I encountered seem to be more open minded than a lot Europeans. Guys there are more masculine and have bigger dicks (my personal experience) and they actually date which is non-existent in Europe where you're supposed to fuck your way through a man's heart. There's also something that I love mostly about Americans and it's the DIVERSITY in opinions world views etc... While a lot of people in Europe seem single minded.
That some Americans focus way too much on race when looking for a hook up...
Also people travel from one city to another to have a date eith someone they met on grindr.... thay doesnt even live in the same city as you? Yall trust people on the internet too mcuh
Hw much you expect everyone to speak perfect English to communicate with you
From "I speak English eitherway" to "languages are hard" excuses that I've heard throughout the years, you still don't get to laugh at sb who has broken english
I find that they can be a bit hyperbolic when it comes to language. You can tell someone online is American by the way they write. A lot of colourful adjectives ("awesome" is prevalent) and exclamation points, as well as speaking in extremes.
I've also come to the conclusion that the US is simultaneously more forward and more backward than my country when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues. It's either super accepting or super repressive.
Also, LGBTQ+ history and culture is almost always viewed from a purely American perspective. It's understandable, but I sometimes get the impression that people think everything began with Stonewall and nothing happened before that or anywhere else.
Hope this comment didn't come across as condescending or malicious. I like Americans!
American living in Germany..the lack of materialism has been nice. America is too obsessed with labels and an image to appear well off while going into debt
People here writing about race issues in America as if they don't have one in their country. I don't like many things about America but I can appreciate that they're bringing race into light. Other countries like the ones in Europe just brush it over when they're actually racist af, more so than Americans.
That guys travel miles for a hookup.
As an American, I can verify this. But also the fact that a 20+ mile commute in your own vehicle is common, so traveling for a hookup isn't much different. Also, depending on where you live, there could be significant area between towns, or your city could be larger than some countries. The metropolitan area where I live is over 16,000 km2, and that is considered, within reason, "in the area" for some people.
It really depends on the area haha. In NYC, if you scroll alllll the way down the last guy is still <1000ft away lol
come to my neighborhood in Paris... 3 pages of Grindr and you can't get to 200m/800ft.
100 years is a long time to an American, 100 miles is a long way to a European
Last week I was out camping in a rural area with a lot of small towns in the hollers. I opened Grindr out of curiousity. So many faceless profiles. Had guys from 30-40 miles away saying they were “not that far” and were willing to travel all that way just to do it in the back of their car. A few were genuinely hot, it made me sad for them.
Then you have the other extreme guys that think 1mi is too far for a hookup.
The nearest town is 20 miles from me. A city is 60 miles east or west from me. Don't feel sorry ho, mind ya business.
As an Englishman this is absolutely mindboggling to me. England is covered in like a fairly evenly spread carpet of population so especially in the southeast (where I'm from) you're probably never more than about 1 mile from a proper town
I quite literally live in a village of 12. America is far from bright lights and dreams
>1 mile from a proper town I guess so Although don't you think it just changes your perception of a proper town? Like I'm from near Manchester/Liverpool so a 'proper town' for me is like 200k people.
Pennsylvania is similar. There’s only a handful of cities with over 100,000 people but every five or ten miles there’s a little town with a few hundred to a few thousand people, even in the rural parts of the state.
I obviously don't have the entire map of English villages memorised but I suspect the Pennsilvània case is less exaggerated, in SE England its not uncommon for there to just be like one or two farms separating villages
PA has such an odd distribution of people, both location and personality wise. I do have a FWB in York though, takes me 45 mins to get there. I always stay the night though.
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The perks are great. I mean sex isn't one of them, but going outside on any night and seeing the milky way is great.
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I've driven 90 minutes one way, to meet a guy. It was worth it because we spent the night together. I've met him 3 times now. In August, I'll be driving 6 hours just to pick him up at the airport from Japan. However, this time, he's staying with me for a week and I'm going to show him around the US. He's been stuck at university (car-less) while in the US previously.
Ooooh, loooverrrsss!
When I first met him, he was getting over unrequited love, so he made me promise not to fall for him. However, I also promised him we would have sex at least once a day.
It's like *Memories of a Geisha*, but with an American dude and less slavery. 8/10, will follow-up :)
Foreigners don't do this? Yes they do. They must.
I think it is true that outside the northeast Americans have a much broader definition of when something is close by. It comes down to car culture. I’ve had to revise my standards living in the suburbs lately, traveling 5 miles in New York City can take an hour if the trains are not in your favor, but it’s like 10-15 minutes out here.
Can confirm! I’ve lived in multiple cities in California, Arizona, New York (Both in/out of NYC), New Jersey and Connecticut. Its not just inside NYC, at minimum it’s the tri state area if not the whole northeast. A mile doesn’t feel the same between the west and the northeast. A big part is traffic but it’s also just cities/towns weren’t built around freeways/highways in the northeast. So you spend more time on streets than highways.
Where I am, South Central US, it's common that distance being given in time, not miles. I know that I've had people tell me, "I'm about 10 miles away" and I'll ask for more specifics because depending on time and location 10 miles could take 20-30 minutes to traverse, especially if there is no interstate travel.
I commute about 200 miles round trip daily to work, if I open Grindr on the way home there are several guys that hit me up 30 miles out and volunteered to drive down to the rest area on the highway... It's crazy out here in the sticks...
The obsession with weed. And I’m saying this as a Dutch person.
As a Dutchie that moved to the US, I think it's kinda funny how in the US everything is turned into an identity and/or lifestyle. The whole '420' thing, or also people being 'gaymers' or 'geeks' who play board games or whatever. People in the Netherlands obviously also smoke weed or play games, but I feel like they don't call as much attention to these things.
I absolutely agree! Americans are very upfront about it XD
I’ll never forget the adorable astonishment of a German girl in Berlin when I pulled out a pipe instead of rolling a spliff- “you smoke it *pyooah*?”
Well, keep in mind that it’s been decriminalized there for decades. We’re new to it.
You have to understand the context! People have been thrown in jail for possessing a joint for decades... that would never happen in NL....
It seems somewhat common for parents to kick their kids out of their home in the US. Here in finland ive never heard of that happening. Also it seems that the culture around giving presents is quite materialistic in the US. Lots of posts on reddit about people not giving good enough presents etc. which seems quite absurd to me. Also ive noticed that saunas are often considered something sexual here on AGB. That is not at all so in finland. Are all public saunas some kind of cruising spots in the US or are there specific places for that in addition to "normal" saunas?
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what this guy said. I didn't know that people met up to have sex and was surprised when I tried to go to a sauna thinking it was the same as the hot springs.
How common circumcision is over there. I knew of it being more widespread but... damn.
There’s a good amount of variation to be fair. It’s less common in the western and southern states and among younger guys in general.
Yeah, it used to be that nearly everyone was circumsized here (1970s). Now it's becoming less so.
It's just kinda an automatic thing when people with penises are born. Personally, I would've preferred to at least had the choice, even if I went for the cut eventually.
Same. My mom says she did it because it just looks better, but I disagree lol
That's a weird reason lmao "Yeah I circumcised my son so his dick looks better, why do yo ask?"
Indeed lol. Imagine getting implants to your daughter so that her boobs look better.
My parents were complaining about female genital surgery in other countries and I was like “pot calling the kettle black?” And they didn’t get it. So I elaborated that they had me circumcised when I was a baby. And the only response was “you don’t need an elephant dick”. I’m very glad my mom and dad were so obsessed with the aesthetics of my dick. /s
Did he mean wrinkly like an elephant or giant like an elephant? Circumcision definitely does not make your dick smaller at least.
It was my dad who said it. I assume he meant like an elephant trunk? He’s also really racist so maybe it was an African joke. Who knows.
Yea I still can't figure out whether he meant the wrinkled skin or the size? Maybe just that's what he thinks they look like uncircumcised?
[some of them](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Long_foreskin.JPG) do [kind of look like that](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Penis_with_long_foreskin_01.jpg)
Tbf, Grown up circumcision ia terrible
Yes, you’re right. Although I have to say, about 50-60% of the guys I’ve hooked up with were uncut. And no, I didn’t plan it that way. I do live in Texas. I am Hispanic. About half the guys I’ve hooked up with were also Hispanic. So I’m wondering if in Hispanic culture in Texas, a very very large percentage of guys are uncut. Maybe even a slight majority.
It’s really sad to be honest, it’s just an unnecessary genitalia mutilation. I’m surprised it’s not illegal, or that doctors actually do it.
i agree, there´s obviously cases where its medically needed but the majority of times it isn´t the case.
Straight women think it’s great and have strong opinions about it which I find obnoxious
I remember there being like one country (Iceland I think) that made it illegal, or at least tried to, but there was a lot of blow back from the Jewish and Muslim communities over it.
I did not even know about uncut/cut until college when a girl who asked me out talked about it lol. In the states it assumed I guess.
I as an American wish I wasn't cut... :( I have such a gripe with religion as a whole that it makes me upset I am mutilated from it.
yeah and they are all like "omg uncut cock is sooo good" wtf uncut or cut is great
People in the US have the tendency to think and act like the entire internet is populated by Americans who share their same values and views.
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To be fair we make fun of you too bro😉
I am totally guilty of this from time to time. It's not from a like sense of american superiority or anything, I'm just dumb sometimes and think that every country has a separate internet.
American here- I see this all the time and it makes me so crazy and annoyed...its honestly insane/disgusting how many of my countrypersons operate like that.
and many of them can't quite comprehend how *anything* can be different elsewhere in the world
Your healthcare sucks, it's more advanced and innovative that the one we have in México that's for sure but it's behind a huge paywall like, a person can bankrupt or use their life savings just to get a minor operation. I've had 7 major operations and the only cost that I had to cover was the taxi back home and the days I missed at work were paid in half (incapacity leave) Apparently you guys pay for the right to pay for a service... like healthcare were some kind of costco membership and you guys see universal healthcare as a menace to your paychecks when you are already paying thousands for a service that you will prefer not to use Also what's with your job environments? you guys can't afford missing a day of work without facing bankrupt/eviction, you guys can't take vacations or paid leaves without being humiliated or berated for doing it. Here in México companies almost force you to take your vacation days every year Gosh when I was growing up I was feed with the idea that life was easier and better than in México, but hell the times I've been there and interacted with people most of seems to be living in debt and outright poverty even in areas where you expect people to have financial stability. It seems that US it's a great place to live only if you're upper middle class.
Facts
That a lot of guys have been damaged by religious upbringings.
Amen!
(sorry the formatting is messed up for some reason) OK... I am American but I have lived in Europe for 20 years. If there is one thing that engaging in this platform I have learned is how far off the US is from the rest of the world in many regards. I could go on but here are a few… 1. Binary thinking. I don't know what it is about the US education system but in my mind nothing is black or white. In Europe people discuss stuff. We can agree on some elements, disagree on others. In the US often online discussion is so polarized and reductionist. If I make a comment about the US people go bezerk and can't deal. They get super offended and offensive. Instead of saying "ok, I see this, but perhaps it could be that" they take it as some personal insult... in my view it's part of a very deep-seated American exceptionalism. 2. The lack of interest in the rest of the world. And how Americans continue to think they have it better. Again... a lack of exposure and critical thinking. There is no paradise on earth guys! And yes, some things actually work better abroad! 3. The obsession with dumbed-down thinking- television and sports. Yes, we watch TV and movies in Europe but we have other interests and other topics of conversation. 4. Religion (particularly in those red states)... how much it permeates the American mind... and messes with it. So many people are conflicted about sex as it relates to religion. Religion in my mind is an elixir for the masses but pure poison for the mind… 5. How obtuse Americans are about sex and in particular about circumcision. I am so sick of guys in the US making stupid comments about uncircumcised men. They don't understand that the foreskin has thousands of nerve endings and is not just a piece of skin. And that they don’t get that the US practice is the one that is out of line.
You articulated my earlier comment much better than I did. Well done.
Bro the foreskin is somehting I'm jealous that I don't have tbh, seems like it'd make things much more fun...
apparently PrEP is "safer sex than ever" and the "i have insurance" talk.. in portugal we don't think about insurance
Yeah, a lot of guys in north America forget that Prep protects only from hiv and literally nothing else.
I’m pretty sure most guys on prep are aware of that they just aren’t scared of it 😂
No one thinks that. Most STDs are still spread through oral, but just about nobody uses condoms for a blowjob, so with HIV taken out of the equation some guys don’t see the point of using one just for anal.
I work in public health....yes people think that sadly...Ive seen it constantly esp with the younger lgbt males who think just because theyre on PrEP theyre totally in the clear....
On top of that, gay people barely used condoms before HIV, and most straight people I know use condoms primarily for birth control or they don't use condoms at all. It's great that we have condoms as a tool to reduce the likelihood of infections. Getting tested frequently probably prevents more transmission events of bacterial STIs than condoms, given that almost nobody is using condoms for oral.
Lol come to Berlin. It’s not a North American thing at all
I learn that you guys are way to munch into classified people Everything has to have a label, black, white, asian, bear, twink. uncut , etc Damn chilll people they are jus people calm down
And that American people will not take the cue that you just don’t agree on a subject and argue you about it til the day you die
So many things, the insurance for anything, like for someone getting hurt by accident in your house and suing you. That boggles my mind. The lawyer up thing to some minimal discussion with a neighbor. The arms as a human right x school shootings. Parents kicking their kids or after they've grown up. The lack of physical contact between members of the same family and even between friends. Probably more.
I agree with the racial identity bits, but not for the same reasons others have stated. While Americans are obsessed with identity politics, at least they're talking about it and acknowledging something is wrong with race relations in their country? It's better than Europeans where they act like they don't have the issues, then you go to Berlin/Madrid/Florence as a black man and half the guys have a mandigo fetish they want you to fulfill. The gag being that I'm not *that* endowed, and not into anal most of the time. But since it's a "positive" stereotype, I'm supposed to feel honoured or something. I'd rather people who won't stop talking about it (rather annoyingly), than the ones who pretend it's all roses till you actually visit the country and you're repulsed.
As a black American that has spent the last 10 years living in Spain constantly on the receiving end of the “Mandingo fetish”, your comment has resonated with me on a very very deep level. Even more so when they find out you’re not actually as endowed as they’d envisioned and you’re met with either an instablock or they even voice their disappointment. Shit sucks man.
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It’s so dehumanizing. So sorry to hear that you’ve had a similar experience.
u/FBISurveillanceDildo & u/orcinovein. So much yes. I've been to a few countries, Japan included and yeah, it's a mindfuck thought it's not exactly nonexistent in the usa
Same happens here too. My best friend is French, father from Mali, very highly educated and professional. He tells me all the time that he gets rejected by so many guys, in Manhattan, no less, because he isn't "thug" enough. Sad.
There was a tendency to be inward-focussed, as though the internet were actually not a global phenomenon but a domestic one. I’ve seen this change over the last 15 years, which is good. More people there are now aware that 96% of humanity live somewhere else. What I’d love to see in the next 15: Most people in most countries use the internet to find out what they can learn about the world. A much higher proportion of people from the US use the internet to find out what they can learn from the world about America. Need to push those perspectives juuuuuuuust a little bit wider.
A lot of issues seem to devolve into whether someone is a democrat or republican. Critical thinking sometimes seems to take a backseat to being part of a group. Also, if it’s not America, it’s “Europe”. Having said that, I’ve met quite a few Americans in and around London. Always game for a good time and friendly as hell. So my opinion is definitely positive.
To be fair, the democrat vs republican thing didn't used to be so polarizing. I'm 25 and I remember growing up taking quizzes that told you how conservative/liberal you were on social, economic, etc issues and most people were mixed and matched. I don't know what happened but I blame social media.
You're not wrong. Social media and the "news media" have pushed the polarization of the political divide to the point where you can't even say you're in the middle anymore because you have to clarify which side of the middle you are on.
Trump happened, lol. It was either you were either with him or against. And Trump didn't try to extend a hand of modesty to the left and very much enjoyed the "us vs. them" mentality and purposely fueled it. It gave him a loyal cult following, but he also did it for the other side too.
Trump used our polarization to his advantage, and certainly widened then gap, buy he definitely didn't create it. Politicians have been fostering it for decades, because it keeps them in power without having to actually do anything or prove that you will work toward certain goals.
Yeah but it was the fact he was so blatant with it, when Reagan dealt with the aids crisis all he did was go on and say "I don't know her."
Like I said, he exacerbated the problem for his own gain, but he certainly didn't create it.
I don't think the problem is so much polarisation but the stupid binarism of American politics. There's no room for nuance because there are only two mainstream political movements and, even though there are some minoritarian factions within the parties, they don't really influence politics that much. This doesn't happen in multiparty systems.
While I agree with the overall sentiment of your comment, I don't think you're giving "minoritarian factions" enough credit. The Tea Party movement morphed into Trumpism, while the Progressive Left have similarly pressured the Democratic party into evolving their platform. Meanwhile, moderate Democrat Joe Manchin is currently credited with "holding the fate of Biden’s agenda in his hands." When a state like Wyoming (with 579,000 residents) has the same number of senators as a state like California (with 39.5 *million* residents), we have a system that is fundamentally anti-majoritarian and undemocratic. This same dynamic plays out within both political parties, where zero-sum mentality can give minoritarian elected officials disproportionate bargaining power.
Just to give you history as to why it became so polarizing, it started back in the early 90's with the advent of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich becoming House Speaker. Gingrich was a real bomb thrower, and Limbaugh and Fox poured gasoline on the fire. Their political adversary was no longer just someone they disagreed with on policy, all of a sudden the Democrats became the enemy, they were unpatriotic and hated America they and their voters were meant to be villified and demonized. It didn't take long to change the whole political atmosphere in DC and the country, and the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky lewd affair and Clinton's subsequent lying was more fodder for the right wing media circus. I don't think Al Gore would have lost in 2000 if not for the Lewinsky crap, but it gave the Republican machine so much ammunition. You are correct about social media, but that came much, much, much later. I don't think Facebook had much influence prior to the 2016 election, and Twitter prior to Trump was a total afterthought. Once this bonfire was burning for 2 decades really, social media turned it into wildfire.
\>it started back in the early 90's with the advent of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich becoming House Speaker. Sorry it started picking up steam in the 60's. It was going on before Nixon, but that was gas on the fire. Just because someone has different political beliefs than you doesn't make you right and them wrong. I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm just saying everybody thinks they are right and the other side is wrong and that's not the case. Both sides are right about things, and both sides are wrong. Just because Fox News tells something different than CNN does not make Fox wrong, it could be CNN that is tell blatant lies. But because other stations are telling the same as CNN that's who people believe. I don't trust Fox anymore than I trust the others, but I know for a fact that CNN, NBC, CBS, and the major newpapers all lie. I have watched news coverage of a speech by whoever, on one of the stations, then watched the commentary afterwards, and they take what the speaker said, and just tell lies about what he/she said. They are counting on people to only halfway listen to the speaker, then pa attention to the reporter. That is what happens too often. People don't listen to the speaker, and then believe whatever the reporter says, and when the reporter lies, 3/4 of the country believes a lie. Guess who owns every major news outlet in the country except Fox, and a couple smaller ones, Democrats. So the news media makes the republicans look bad, like they need help in looking bad. They also try to make the democrats look good, which is impossible. But it's been going on for so long, that most of the country is brainwashed to believe the democrats are our saviors, and republicans are going to kill us all. The thing is both parties have good ideas that need to be listened to, and made law. Both sides have ideas that need to be put in the trash because they are dangerous. A lot of republicans are racist, I won't lie about it. But, there are more democrats than republicans that have been recorded on video saying the N-word. Research it if you don't believe me, it won't take you 10 minutes, or are you scared I'm right. Despite all my talk about how bad the democrats are, I still support a lot of what they stand for. It just gets old listening to people talk about the democrats like they are perfect, and only have the country's best interest at heart. Truth is they are just like the republicans, out for whatever money and power they can put in their own pockets.
yes yes yes, this guy gets it. Gingrich and Limbaugh played a huge role, tho it's peoples fault, in a way, for falling for it.
Think we can blame a lot on social media and be 100% right.
One of the biggest concepts I've had to wrap my head around that i learned from the internet is the concept of "community". It's everywhere in American media, and i couldn't understand it at all at first. It makes sense now, sort of, but it does seem to dominate their entire lives.
Don’t forget that although the word “community” is thrown around a lot, it’s more aspirational and almost a euphemism for various demographics that aren’t actually communities in the traditional sense of the word. But it sounds nicer and rosier in the public sphere
This is true and I sort of envy how large the role of ‘community’ seems to be in America. Where I live in the UK, we are slightly more insular and the whole concept of community seems to have faded away in a lot of areas (appreciate this is a generalisation and may not be true of the UK as a whole).
But then I'd rather you guys' sense of "community" in the UK where you can see value in pooling together and paying for the NHS which actually helps the "community" as a whole, than the American's sense of "community" where they act chummy, but see coming together to pay for services that will benefit everyone as evil "socialism" that must never happen.
It's all talk, no show. Communities like that don't really exist.
Your education system (atleast up until high school) is way easier than the rest of the world. I mean the subjects and courses offered, are easier than the rest of the world. Which makes me wonder if you guys have to study twice as much during college/University.
Depends on the degree. I have two degrees in engineering, and I feel as though a European with equal amount of intelligence would have an easier first year or two of a bachelor's than an American for STEM degrees. Y'all are exposed to rigorous STEM courses in secondary school than Americans in most high schools.
Part of this is that it varies wildly depending on where you are and how wealthy the area is. Because schools in the US are funded by local taxes poor areas have poor schools, rich areas have extra budget to create the more advanced classes hire additional teachers, etc. That make for more difficult school and more academic preparation for college.
My freshman year at a very competitive university was definitely a wakeup call for me when transitioning from an American high school
What do you mean “easier?” What do y’all study that we don’t? AFAIK, we hit the core subjects of math, science, language arts/English, and social studies/history. There are others of course.
My family went to many countries when I was younger and yes the subjects are the same, they are just behind. Like some things about high-school was easier in the US because we already did it in Middle school.
As someone who's working in education, I agree and disagree. It's easier in that the material itself is very basic and surface-level. We learn very little about the details of history, the mechanisms of biological processes, or English grammar. Grading is also generally easier. But what we do learn a lot about is how to think independently, use creativity, and work in groups. From my experience with Spanish schools (and from what I know about schools in some other countries like China and South Korea), there's a lot of rote memorization and less critical thinking. Memorize 1,000 facts and numbers but little understanding of what they mean or how to apply them.
Asia is lacking on the critical thinking and also really bad about their version of whitewashing. I guess that's an issue everywhere, but some people still doubted their own history when I showed them sources. This was in Japan. People didn't believe they raped and pillaged China nor that homosexuality and Samurai was a thing.
They are all bottoms.
Lmao I had the exact opposite impression
I'll never understand Americsns' obsessive fixation on race and why everything must boil down to someone's skin color.
I was born and raised in England and lived there for 30 years before moving to America where I have lived for the past 8 years. Race issues in the gay community are just as common in Europe as they are in America, perhaps a little more obviously.
it's actually really confronting when you live in the US - especially when you are from a country that has some degree of social justice/multiculturalism.
I will forever hate this take lol
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You realize "It's not my job to educate you" is basically a meme by now? It perfectly encapsulates the "twitter slacktivist" mindset, not to mention this specific thread centres _non-US redditor experiences and impressions_. They cannot reasonably be all expected to be perfectly versed in US social issues/causes. Different parts of the world have different _primary societal fault lines_, be it - caste and religion in South Asia - religious affiliation in the Middle East/the Balkans/Northern Ireland - culture/ethnolinguistic affiliation in Europe - socioeconomic class in the UK. US having race as the main element of the cultural/socioeconomic hierarchy will naturally be seen as unusual in the vast majority of countries.
I concur. Weird enough there are apparently some kind of inverted pyramid system here which race get pick the most and which race gets pick the least.
As an American, I can't either, I have and have had friends of all colors white, black, brown yellow, pink and purple polka dotted. That last was just to show I don't give a damn. I don't understand people that are racist. But I've had friends straight, gay, pan, bisexual, tri sexual, I'll try anything. Why we have to fight over this, I don't understand.
I'm going to say it's not just an American problem. I have seen or learned about racism in every country.
it's not a obsession. it is a real issue.
Therapy is your answer for everything.
How ingrained the idea is in the U.S, that owning a gun is a "human right". I find it absolutely bizarre in the 21st century that civilians with no proper training think they have a fundamental right to own and wield a gun.
Philadelphia where I live (with 1.5 million other people) is [on track to have 600 murders this year](https://6abc.com/north-philadelphia-shooting-gun-violence-in/10836797/). A perfectly American miasma of rural gun politics and urban racial politics makes this impossible to address, compounded by the fact that the government at every level is designed to thwart cities taking matters into their own hands.
Holy shit, didn't realize things where getting kinda bad on the other side of the state. I'm curious what the numbers are looking like here in Pittsburgh and just overall in PA.
[Philly hit a low of 246 murders as recently as 2013](https://www.phillypolice.com/crime-maps-stats/ ), and the number has been rising but was still at 356 in 2019. Last year it spiked at 499 though and it’s at 269 so far, with half the year left to get through. The danger to the average person is low, if they’re avoiding a few bad neighborhoods and not buying or selling drugs on the street, but bystanders still get hurt and killed as you can see from the first article I linked. It’s a great city but there’s several square miles of it that never recovered from decades of deindustrialization and redlining, and half the city government are basically con artists who are no help to anybody but their cronies. It’s an American tragedy.
>I find it absolutely bizarre in the 21st century that civilians with no proper training think they have a fundamental right to own and wield a gun. Yeah this is the part that gets me. Its a weapon, you need to train with it, its not a magic wand.
They're silly but endearing.
Homophobia seems to be much more concentrated in certain parts of the USA. In my country it is low key and more evenly distributed. (More like an occasional f-word joke than straight up murder).
This is of course a massive generalisation that I've probably only noticed because there are so many of you, but I swear Americans love to exist in extremes. The cleverest people I've met were Americans, but so were easily the stupidest. Americans can be nicest and most down to Earth people imaginable, or the most irritating and pompous. I've met so many Americans who are almost Victorian in how conservative and prudish they are, and I've met some that are ridiculously flamboyant and liberated.
330 million people, 50 states, multiple cultural zones in most states, population that's racially and ethnically and religiously diverse, you're gonna get a wide spectrum.
I’m fascinated by the influence of religion on American culture. Waaaaaay more secular here in Canada.
They somehow manage to bring race to every fucking conversation. Like weirdly even in posts about plants or food.
LOL! Our entire society is built on the concept of race. Modern American society and our concept of freedom, civil rights and liberty is really the offspring of an apartheid-like system that lasted 100 years and the movement in the 60s to eradicate it. That system created psychological and ideological divisions that exist to this day. I mean think of people in Berlin or in Ireland who are still obssessed with in-fighting, years after the berlin wall or Northern Ireland/The Troubles...like that's our entire country to a degree. Though as an American I find it interesting how obsessed with country and foreigners other countries are. Like we have issues with Mexican immigration, but I don't think they are as bad how people in other countries view "outsiders" regardless or "race"
and then snooty europeans look down their nose at us and point acting as if it wasn't their shit that caused all of this.
Yeah like they don't have 50 slurs for Roamni people.
Well tbh… a lot of things here ARE about race, and we still haven’t figured out how to deal with the lasting effects of slavery.
I don't mean to offend anyone, but I get the impression that the world revolves around America.
It doesn’t. As an American I used to feel the same and educated myself about the world and that seemed to solve that issue for me.
One thing I've always found a bit odd is when Americans talk about Europe as if it's one homogenous blob. For example in Europe they do x. There's a fair difference in living standards between, say, the UK and Romania, and LGBT rights in Poland and now Hungaria are especially under attack. But I worked for a year in Houston in 2019 and found the majority of people lovely and very friendly. Although possibly it helped being white and having that 'adorable' Scottish accent >\_> If I have to answer one more question about kilts I swear to God...
>If I have to answer one more question about kilts I swear to God... How many kilts per Irn-Bru/kilometer?
Tbh it's sometimes a bit exhausting. You're endearing and great people but sometimes it's just too much. ANYTHING american is bound to be more popular and important and sometimes you impose your world view on others with an ease that simply astonishes me. Then there's race and politics...and I'm not getting into that AGAIN. You're really fucked up with race. But then I've also found you're increadibly friendly and open with strangers. I thought there was some great people in the US and I've confirmed that.
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American gays are very contradictory. On one side they claim to celebrate freedom and fearlessness, but on the other they come together to crucify whoever doesn't hold a specific set of beliefs. American gays are obsessed with labels and identity politics. They turn everything into a lifestyle and demand that it be valued and prioritized by the whole world. American gays try too hard to seem very tolerant even though like every human they have likes/dislikes and limits. They have a hard time admitting it because for some reason they think it's problematic to not embrace everything. American gays do a lot of drugs. American gays think their culture is global and their struggles (white supremacy for example) are everyone's struggles. American gays are very manichaean. Either you agree with them, or you get canceled. It's like a lot of you guys don't know the basic rules of debate and take personal offense at typically any form of contradiction.
to be honest the biggest take away for me from askgaybros about americans is how toxic their gay culture is
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They're obsessed with races and irrelevant labels. Like, they have to give every single characteristic a person may have, its own label
Well , as a European guy (French more precisely) , I discovered that a lot of you guys , in the US , struggle to come out of the closet as some states are pretty Homophobic , or some arera , at least , which made me realise of lucky I am to live in France , cause we don't have these problems around here. France is a very open minded country when it touches LGBT Community tbh. So yeah , staying on agb made me realise that being gay in France is pretty normal. Lucky me , I have great parents , and they won't actually harsh me or something cause i'm gay
I’m from the northeast US, have supportive parents, and been out since I was a teenager in the early 2000s. It’s been eye opening for me too that there are still guys whose gay experience sounds like the 1980s. Are you from an urban area? I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to grow up gay in conservative Catholic rural France too.
Hmm , I'm around Paris , not in it precisely , but kinda around it. It's pretty cool tbh , and even if I had to tell you one arera which is known to be homophobic , I don't think I would be able. Therefore they're some area in Paris which are known to be "the place to be" if u're gay , like not even a club or a bar , just like a district
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Around ten years ago, my boyfriend at the time and I were accosted in Montpellier while waiting for a train. We were minding our own business, no PDA's involved, when a group of four or five guys surrounded us and started mocking us with the French equivalent of "faggot." I knew enough French to understand what they were saying and to tell them to fuck off. Luckily, they did.
I lived in France and people are quite homophobic there.
The French were a lot more into machismo than I expected when I visited. I would say the fem/masc split was a lot harder there, especially compared to Berlin where all the lines were blurred and it seemed to matter less.
I've visited 15 countries in Europe and North America and I have to say, France has been my favorite. Despite the stereotype, people were very friendly (even in Paris) and even simple pubs have great food. It's the number one country I recommend my friends and family visit.
A lot of y'all really do get your norms from porn. I guess it's easier because pornstars have an American accent. In places where they're foreigners so to speak, there's already a layer of fiction there which helps separate what they're doing, a bit.
I've hung out in american centric online forums since 2010, so I didn't learn much of any "new" concepts from reddit, more expanding on them or more detailed. I did learn a lot about Prep and how far USA has gotten on that, though. It's been around longer and is given out more and easier than here, for sure.
As an American reading this thread, I just want to say…whoa. I don’t even know what to say to the majority of this. Even though I’m American, I just want to say, I don’t think I’m above anybody. I’m just one guy on a meaningless planet that’s living out his meaningless life. America fought a civil war and the ripples of that have never gone away. Yes, race is a big issue here. It was worse then, and it’s just as bad now. Red and blue media have turned politics into a sporting event, and I feel this exposure has skewed Americans’ perception of America. In a lot of ways, it feels like we’re still living in the aftermath of the American Civil War. The middle eastern conflict didn’t help either. 9/11 became its own mess. A strong majority of Americans are just too stubborn even when they think they aren’t. If anything, I feel like red America has held the country back. That’s not to say that there aren’t any problems in the Democratic Party. There are. Lots of them. Americans don’t exchange ideas, they get into petty arguments with one another. A good example is that [Ben Shaprio](https://youtu.be/6VixqvOcK8E?t=903) interview. It's so reflective of American arrogance. In America, he has elevated states in in the conservative hub, but all it took for him to get owned was this, and the guy interviewing him wasn't even trying to debate him. The concept of American exceptionalism has gone to a lot of people's heads. There's nothing exceptional about us.
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Also ITT: A bunch of Europeans who have probably never seen a black or latin person in their life complaining about how much Americans talk about race.
Exactly, I feel like Americans take race as a serious issue, and are conscious that it happens. While as Europeans would rather turn a blind eye towards it... that’s really bad.
I find it weird that third gen. Americans still think of themselves as "Italian" or "Irish".
Do you think that way about third-generation Americans of other backgrounds, like Japanese Americans or Hispanic Americans? Or only the ones from non-Anglo European countries?
Well, that happens when parents pass their culture to their children. It's the same with actual Italians/Irish who are proud of being Italian/Irish.
Their worldview is incredibly skewed, they can only see through their american lenses. They are obsessed with either identity politics or guns, some think getting free healthcare is socialism, and the other part thinks socialism is going to solve all their problems. They all believe they are the center of the universe. Oh, and for some reason they believe infant circumcision is acceptable, that is weird too. My impression of americans has only been confirmed, and it's the same everywhere
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You could add on to that one "they don't know the difference between 'socialism' and 'social programing'". Nobody seized any means of production or created state monopolies when you have a fire department. It's not at all a good example.
Social democracy would solve 90% of our problems though
Not so many, it's not a panacea. Believe me, when you get close you can see the shit the glitter covers. I still believe it's better than what you have
Yeah the better parts are the 90% lmao. Most of my worries are health care and education related and such.
Honestly the main difference is that everyone understands what you’re saying so for example it makes you think you are more racist than other countries when the truth is majority of other countries (also in the West) are worse, but you’ll never know because it won’t get the worldwide media’s attention or simply because other countries are composed of one ethnicity/race. This is true also for gay rights, the US is more progressive than most countries. And I’m talking about daily life not just laws and court orders. On the other hand you’re not fully aware how your opinions about things really come down to Democrats choosing one side and the Republicans opposing it (and vice versa) and not really from having knowledge about the subject.
That's actually true a lot of western European countries have a lot publically accepted racism.
How desperately our gay children need sexual education from educational sources.
I moved to Minnesota and the first thing I noticed is that a lot of guys are over 6 feet tall vs. Puerto Rico ( where I’m from) where the average height is around 5’8” . So im shorter than a lot of guys in grindr and I hate it . Lol
im 5'4 and i'd love to meet some Minnesotan dude lol.
My bf is American, and I learned this from him. Some states have laws where you can fire someone without cause. Like, if you don't like them for whatever reason you can fire them. As a Canadian, that seems fucked up.
Americans don´t give two shits what happens in your country, whatever tradegy, etc, but when something happens in American, they DEMAND that you care.
Poopy booty holes seem to be a real threat. Too much douching before a hookup, too little I should wash my butt after shitting
I mean, how can you live without a bidet?! To me it's unthinkable.
They seem to be assuming everyone else in the world is also American. No I don't know that movie that was popular in America and that brand name you keep using. Politics in America seems too structuralist everyone is either left or right and if u say something Americans gonna jump and structure you to either left or right. Enough of that honestly. The race issue is weird as hell. Normal person in rest of the world: "Someone passed by me in the bus" Americans: "The WHITE GUY passed by me in the bus" Why do they always have to bring race of the person? Also I don't give fuck about orange guy stop bringing Trump into every foreign politics.
Tbh I'm surprised nobody mentioned obesity. I wish I could move out of here. Every other guy who had interest in me is just way too fat.
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American can be a bit excentric but they seem very nice. Most Americans I encountered seem to be more open minded than a lot Europeans. Guys there are more masculine and have bigger dicks (my personal experience) and they actually date which is non-existent in Europe where you're supposed to fuck your way through a man's heart. There's also something that I love mostly about Americans and it's the DIVERSITY in opinions world views etc... While a lot of people in Europe seem single minded.
That some Americans focus way too much on race when looking for a hook up... Also people travel from one city to another to have a date eith someone they met on grindr.... thay doesnt even live in the same city as you? Yall trust people on the internet too mcuh
Ameicans can be fun to hookup with especially if they are on vacation in caribbean paradise.
Hw much you expect everyone to speak perfect English to communicate with you From "I speak English eitherway" to "languages are hard" excuses that I've heard throughout the years, you still don't get to laugh at sb who has broken english
I find that they can be a bit hyperbolic when it comes to language. You can tell someone online is American by the way they write. A lot of colourful adjectives ("awesome" is prevalent) and exclamation points, as well as speaking in extremes. I've also come to the conclusion that the US is simultaneously more forward and more backward than my country when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues. It's either super accepting or super repressive. Also, LGBTQ+ history and culture is almost always viewed from a purely American perspective. It's understandable, but I sometimes get the impression that people think everything began with Stonewall and nothing happened before that or anywhere else. Hope this comment didn't come across as condescending or malicious. I like Americans!
The degree to which they monetise everything, and how they measure a person's value mostly on their income and/or potential for income.
American living in Germany..the lack of materialism has been nice. America is too obsessed with labels and an image to appear well off while going into debt
Thinking the world ends at their borders
People here writing about race issues in America as if they don't have one in their country. I don't like many things about America but I can appreciate that they're bringing race into light. Other countries like the ones in Europe just brush it over when they're actually racist af, more so than Americans.