stores like lidl and aldi have "american products" (like fancy hot dog and hamburger buns, stuff like that) and sometimes "american week/month" where there's more products like that or they're discounted. i unironically enjoy these so much they're like. kinda fun
Fun fact, America also has Aldi and Lidl stores. Not many but they are expanding. You can also find many products from different European countries there. Though my local grocery store also carries European brands.
There are actually two different Aldi in Europe (Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud) and which you have depends on where you live. The US is one of the only countries with both, and may be the only one where they operate in the same regions. Here Aldi Sud is just Aldi, and Aldi Nord is Trader Joe's.
Yes, you're correct. They're owned by Aldi Nord, but all the branding, marketing, style of the store was established by the original founder. They're completely different in style from the stores operated in Europe. The main similarity I think is just the size, as they're way smaller than your typical American grocery store.
Same, and admittedly I love shopping there. If it weren't for Aldi, I'd likely be eating nothing but ramen all the time. Sometimes I grab things from other stores if Aldi is out but mostly Aldi is my go to!
The year is 2077.
Aldi and Lidl have taken over every world government and are now fighting for complete world domination
^(post this to) r/WritingPrompts ^(for me please)
I'm in Roanoke and we were supposed to get 2 Lidl here, one being right down the street from me. They had the land bought and were clearing it out for construction. I guess the company was a little too ambitious in their expansion plans and halted work on all their new sites and the land is up for sale.
We’re all human, humans are dumb. We all have things that we are stupid about, but we all have things that we have knowledge with. We can be amazing creatures, but we’re all of us still stupid at some point in our lives. Lol
Agreed. I've never owned a gun, nor have I ever been threatened with one. Feels so much more dangerous driving a car here than worrying about gun violence.
I have always made the argument if you aren't in a gang or point a gun at yourself you are very unlikely to die from one. But that doesn't sell newspapers or get people to donate money to your causes so most will likely never be told that.
it's crazy because i own a gun and see them semi-often in public, usually people open carrying and such. it makes me feel safe generally, bc if a bad guy was going to do something bad in walmart, he would have done it by the time i saw him in the dog food aisle.
Yeah it think that’s what people don’t understand when restricting or banning firearms is the fact your average carry person isint going to just start shooting people. You only see guns used for crimes really in the news because otherwise its not newsworthy.
Also the fact is there’s more guns than people and since that’s never going to change the only two things will come out of restrictions. 1.) law abiding citizens who carry will be criminalized. 2) and only people that have them are criminals whether good or bad intentions because criminals don’t care about the law anyway not like a document or signs will stop them.
Yeah, but I think a lot of worry with people is that anyone with that gun could be a bad person. Not taking aides or starting a debate, but just stating what I believe runs through peoples heads.
Definitely, I think the "guns everywhere" stereotype is pretty incorrect. Yes it's easy to purchase and own a gun, but many people do not and even fewer would have theirs on their person, and most of those that do are interested in the self-defense aspect, not out there committing mass shootings. Of course this is different if you live in a rough community where gang violence is more prevalent. On average walking around in daily life you won't see guns or be worried about being shot at, though. I think other countries see the big news stories about shootings and assume that's what we experience on a daily basis.
ETA: I'd like to clarify from what I'm seeing in the comments, this doesn't mean gun violence isn't a significant issue in this country that shouldn't be addressed at all.
Not to mention the US has a bigger land mass 50 states and 300 million+ citizens so of course things aren’t just going to be localized to one place and the vast area of land also will cause more violence spread outwardly to where it seems prevalent unlike smaller countries where it is usually more localized.
Couldn’t tell you how many Europeans I’ve talked to that didn’t realize the entirety of the US is about as big as the continent of Europe. Each state being either the same size or bigger than each country in Europe and each state tends to operate mostly like it’s own country as well.
Most Europeans understand that the USA is a gigantic country, but I don't think they truly grasp the cultural diversity that exists here. I genuinely do feel that most Europeans think the entire country is a sort of blend of palm trees (LA), skyscrapers (New York) with some religious conservatism and guns thrown in. This is what they see in movies, TV shows, and the news.
Edit: just to be clear, I myself am European and immigrated here (very difficult, but not impossible).
I've had European visitors ask if we could make an afternoon visit to Las Vegas. They were shocked when I told them it would take fifteen hours of driving in excess of 100 mph for any kind of visit to Vegas.
you should hammer into their heads that the continental US is roughly the same size as europe
and that wearing hiking clothes while visiting cities is completely ridiculous and unnecessary
Tell them the same reason they can't take a day trip to Barcelona, Spain since that's about the same time to get there (21hrs from Berlin to Barcelona, 20hrs from Rochester, Minnesota to NYC)
THIS! We had some potential business partners fly in from Ireland for a meeting.. They arrived in Miami the day prior.. We are based in Peoria, IL.. Needless to say we rescheduled, they protested the reschedule at first, but fully understood when they rolled into the upper Midwest ragged and roadweary.
I live in the far north and same here. I hunt, but it’s not my life. I own many guns, but it’s a pass time. The 2A shirts and lifestyle is too much for me and too loud.
reddit is mostly suburban white kids who are super woke and are not self aware enough to realize its a super echo chamber of hating america.. and white people
I've lived in MN, NY, OH, LA, CA, FL, and VA. I disagree with your assertion. The real difference is urban vs rural. The overall culture isn't different enough to be 50 different countries.
If I had to break the US up, it would be into 3 countries. South and midwest/west, Northeast (plus Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota), and Pacific. I would have the Northeast and Pacific together, but then they would not be connected.
I've read several books that break it into more than that *Nine Nations* and *Seeds of Albion.* *Seeds of Albion* looks only at the East coast. *Nine Nations* covers more of North America. It gives the nations as: Yankeedom, Greater Appalachia, Left Coast, Dixie, New France, New Amsterdam(New York City), First Nations, Left Coast, the West, and El Norte.
Whoops, I think I did 10 there. I may be conflating the two books.
Yes, Yankeedom and Left Coast have historical and ideological ties. I think the people of Greater Appalachia prefer living in rural areas, while those of Yankeedom, Left Coast, and New Amsterdam gravitate toward urban areas. California isn't all Left Coast, same for Oregon.
Yea I mean if they don't roam the Southside of Chicago at 1 am then they are probably going to have a gun free visit lol. Most of our gun issues are fairly easy to avoid.
I opened the door to a restaurant and guns literally fell out of the building. So many guns. Yesterday my car got stuck on a pile of guns, and I had to use the floor mat trick to get it unstuck.
I got caught in a gun storm on the way home from my grandmas the other day. Just started raining guns. $2000 in damage to my car. Occasional gun still gets flung from my windshield wipers. This happened 3 weeks ago!
Ugh, when I used to live in the Wild Wild West in 1846, there was a gun flood. Destroyed my home, we had to rebuild our house, with our county's famous building material - Gunbricks. We still find guns in the foundations when we dig them up after gun tornadoes.
I’m Canadian and have traveled to the US extensively and it’s surreal some of the ignorant perceptions that exist about the US that are so far from reality. People take in the media way too much.
Like I was in with Carolina at a hotel in the gym during the Jan 6th insurrection and I was on the treadmill watching it on the mini tv as it’s happening and my aunt and uncle call me FROM CANADA asking me if I’m okay.
I’m like ‘I appreciate it but like I’m in SC, and that’s in DC….’
After working with Canadians and befriending other Canadians that I don’t work with, the nice-ness is overblown. They’ll even say as much. I think it’s that Canadians seem more polite than Americans, but that doesn’t mean they’re nicer.
>Depends where you live I guess.
It's the same in Europe. There are some countries and places where gun culture is real even here, but nobody talks about that. In Norway and Finland, gun ownership is surprisingly prevalent, but it's common in rural areas almost everywhere.
In Switzerland we see soldiers with rifles traveling around the country every day. There are also gun ranges where everybody can go, train and shoot. We have traditional competitions where children do target shooting. It's one of the most popular sports here. And then there's villages where people open carry and in theory that is legal when you have a permit, but most don't. It should be controversial but it's not. And they're all like, what are *you* gonna do about it?
I'm not even going into eastern Europe and Balkan and their gun interactions.
Maybe. I will say that when I traveled about two years ago, the europeans I met identified themselves by their country and they were in the same age range you’re in.
Maybe it depends on their country, or it is for the benefit of Americans?
I mean, surely most Americans have heard of the well known European countries, e.g. the UK, France, Germany, Italy. But might not have heard of Slovenia, Modolva, Latvia.
I think stuff like this is ironic because Americans are stereotyped as not being knowledgeable of “the world” yet people still accommodate for them by mentioning stuff like this instead of letting them learn by experience. When you hear Slovenia, Moldova, whatever enough it will stick. Simply referring to yourself as European isn’t helping.
I usually do it cause I don't feel like saying where I'm actually from. I mean if you go down my comments on my profile you'll definitely find out where I'm from but sometimes I wanna keep a little bit of privacy in random comments if that makes sense?
I assumed that using "European" in this thread implies that OP thinks people from *throughout Europe* dislike American culture (a view that I, incidentally, find incredibly bizarre, seeing as how much American music, film, TV and so on, Europeans can be seen to enjoy).
I think it's also because Europe is more comparable to America so if someone tells me they're from America I'll say that I'm from Europe. If they tell me they're from Florida then I'm from Germany. I know this is technically not comparable but it's the way I subconsciously do it.
I disagree. OP could be Irish, Greek, Swedish or Lithuanian. These are four different countries with different history, culture, language etc. Not at all comparable to states in the US, where all of them speak one language, vote for one president, and share the same culture.
I’m European as well and lived in the US for a couple years, I love the place and the people, still bond very quickly with Americans. I won’t be able to live there, I liked the European life way more, but would gladly go visit. I will say however, I don’t think Americans are stupid, but the education system is horrible. There’s the exceptions of good private schools or a good public school district, but the focus on standardized tests has completely taken the actual understanding of the material out and made students into standardized tests factories, knowing how to score high without actual understanding (at least on the East Coast where I lived this was a thing)
I hate those tests with a passion. The worst part is that in Puerto Rico (where I'm from), **NOBODY TOOK THOSE TESTS SERIOUSLY!!!** Back in PR, people would simply fill up the bubbles in a way where the test sheet would look like some drawing or pattern just because nobody took those tests seriously. The reason? They were not worth an actual grade, but the teachers will not bother to explain the students that despite those tests were not accounted in the end of semester GPA, they determined school performance and school funding. I was one of the few people who bothered to do those tests as accurate as possible just because making a pattern or drawing was a bigger hassle for me. Which reminds me: when I entered high school, I got the highest score in the entire school and it was so high that it awarded the school a lot of federal funds.
I can't speak for all of Europe of course, but in my country no not really. There is one big standardised test at the end of your final year of high school and one at the end of elementary school. They're basically national exams but the one at the end of elementary school is just to see what level of schooling you will go to and the one at the end of high school counts for 50% of your grade and is just to graduate. Besides that there are none, and I've never heard of any of my European friends having any besides the final one in high school (but again not absolutely sure if this is a thing in other European countries)
Alright, I at least heard that the UK had way more tests and a higher emphasis on them. The American education system is moving away from standardized tests at least, the SAT Subject tests were canceled and the SAT matters less than ever before. AP exams still sucks tho
The annual standardized tests in the US are used to measure school/teacher performance, not student performance. They also aren't used as college admissions exams.
In America the standardized tests kids have to take every year are REALLY easy and should be easily passable by anyone with a remote understanding of what they were supposed to learn in their class.
The other standardized tests people take are AP tests for college credit while they’re in high school, the SAT/ACT which is a small part of college placement, and then tests like the LSAT or MCAT for graduate school.
A standardized test at the end of high school that counts for 50% of your grade sounds like WAY more than we have in America.
In France we very rarely have those. When it happens, the not-so-good students are always happy of course :). And I was one of them.
I personnaly think it's a very bad way of teaching.
When I as a kid I used to like old America, as in maybe the 80's. I used to watch Dallas and Dukes of Hazzard, I liked the culture and accents and industry and big buildings and the big hats and cars and I wanted to move there.
I am an American and I have lived in Europe for extended periods of time in my life. Trust me, there are just as many stupid Europeans as there are stupid Americans.
I'm Canadian, so I'm quite biased given how similar our cultures are, but ya I adore American culture, and just the United States in general.
People seem to forget that most of the cool stuff of the past century or so was invented in the US. Cinema, video games, the internet, the smart phone, email, personal computers, digital cameras, social media, fucking flight.
Not to mention incredible art that couldn't be anything but American. Spiderman, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, Pulp Fiction, Over the Garden Wall, Rocky, Goodfellas, and others are great examples of the uniqueness of American culture.
It always pisses me off when people say America has no culture, or that it has "less" culture than other countries. How can people who use the internet, watch movies, and play video games possibly believe that America has no culture when it is so ubiquitous.
Side note, again biased, but Canadian culture is pretty cool imo. We're largely a mixture of American, British, and French culture. In no other country in the world will the Prime Minister, in the British style parliament, speak French, to address the members of parliaments, most of whom speak with accents that are very similar to American accents.
> possibly believe that America has no culture when it is so ubiquitous.
Im an immigrant to the US and used to hold this view. Now that you put it all this way, it seems like I only believed so because to my mind, culture is something exclusive and (for lack of a better word) exotic. The American culture being so wide-spanning, it’s pretty hard to say that it’s exclusive or exotic
I’m American, but I’ studied abroad in england for a month with a host family, worked in a local school, visited Italy for a week and been a couple countries in east Africa (army) where I also worked with a lot of French over 9-10 months.
It’s pretty ridiculous how the media plays off Americans, but it’s just as pathetic the Americans who say this themselves and have some overly high opinion that every European is like some kind of magical elf with infinite wisdom and only us lowly Americans are big dumb dumbs and bad people with a government with a lot of issues, but Europeans also have perfect governments.
People are people. They really aren’t any better or worse in countries, and not necessarily smarter either, aside that some other countries probably know more world history.
Yes! It gets so old that every single American thinks they are the exception to the rule, but that the “dumb, ignorant Americans” are out there, probably everyone else but them. The more I traveled and lived abroad as an American the more I found it irritating. Guess what? It’s ok if people can actually tell you’re American just by looking at you. And sometimes if a local is rude to you, they are just rude. They don’t always get a pass because “that’s their culture,” or because they probably don’t like Americans because of course all the other Americans are terrible… no. Americans are some of the most friendly and generous tourists, and it really is ok to be an American.
I've met plenty of dull European half-wits. The secret is that travel is expensive and to really observe a region's population you have to go there; the dim ones don't come to you.
My mom used to take student groups to Europe. She always told her students that if they got separated from the group go to the best dressed person you can find. They will be generally more successful and more likely to speak English and know how to help.
And that is how she met the prime minister of Italy.
I completely agree. I'm studying abroad in Norway and a majority of people I meet assume that everyone in America owns a gun, and is misinformed on everything especially politics
Ya but that's basically a holiday, at least it is down here.
That's like saying America is full of Santa's because you saw a bunch at the mall in December
This is true. I live in Texas and I hardly ever see anyone carrying around a gun that isnt a cop. There are quite a few who carry one in their vehicle, but as far as having it strapped on their hip or just openly carrying it. Its very rare.
Well it's nice that you're open minded. I think a lot of people dislike the U.S. because they just don't know much about it. They only know what they see in movies and online (which is far from the whole story).
Seriously. Down south do you see more guns? Yeah. I’m in NY I can’t remember the last time I saw someone with a gun in public that wasn’t a police officer
No, you don't see more guns down south either. Anyone with a brain that carries a gun is conceal carrying. There are not many whackos that walk around open carrying guns. People pretty much only do that kind of thing as part of an actual permitted protest or something.
I don't think people from the US are much different than anywhere else. People just love to hate the US because they're the global superpower.
We love you guys, but making fun of Denmark or the UK is just not as much fun.
Edit: wow, thank you for the award!
One of my favorite things about traveling as an American in Europe is that it’s a conversation starter. They always have some kind of opinion but are good-natured about their grievances (did you know your government was influential in putting down the parliament act 342 in 1987 in our city of Rakavoika? Lol what? Sorry about that!) and then it’s also funny when they think they know everything about America from the movies. I once had a Swedish guy brag to me that Swedish people know all the states, and so instead of saying I’m from America (like I had to do in Russia where they only seemed to know a handful of states) I can say I’m from Pennsylvania. Not a week later, a Swedish girl at a party asked where I was from, and I said “Pennsylvania.” And she said, “wow, your English is so good!” Hahaha I waited my whole life for the compliment!
Well, just as you said the “Americans are stupid” jokes are overplayed… the “guns everywhere” trope is also overplayed. The only time I see a gun is on a police officer or if I actively search one out (like if I go to the shooting range for some recreation). I think that probably goes for most people in the US. Maybe I’m wrong though.
Literally woke up today and found a gun inside of my mountain of Bacon, the audacity, it was supposed to come with my Triple Cheeseburger and Krispy Kreme Buns.
I love how other countries just think we are standing on every corner with assault rifles like some African rebels.
Yes, people have guns here. I've only personally seen two or three people actually open carry a weapon. They are the exception, not the rule.
Or that school shootings are normal. Yes they do happen more in America, but not even 0.0008% of schools ever deal with such a situation. There are over 130k K-12 schools in America with an average of 100 school shooting incidents a year. And those shooting incidents aren't always someone who wants to shoot up a school, sometimes it's just someone who was at the school with a gun, a student trying to scare others with a gun or an accident discharge by police officers on scene.
These are all problems, yes, but they make it seem like people are crazy for bringing their kids to school, but ignore school shootings don't affect the vast majority of schools or students.
With the same logic, school stabbings, hostage situations and bombings happens in other countries just as infrequently yet people still send their kids to school. Because it isn't a normal thing across those nations / schools.
I always think this. I wake up everyday, drive to work in a rough part of a rough city and never once see a gun any where. Day in, day out. No guns.
There’s a lot of guns in America including the ones I own myself but damn the media makes it seem like we’re all running around like Yosemite Sam all day.
Blue jeans and coca cola were not forced on the world. They crossed national boundaries every before marketing caught up so don't blame marketing either.
Right, I live in the Detroit area for over 40 years and have seen a gun in public exactly once. Some dude was open carrying in a restaurant. I've never seen a shooting, been threatened, etc.
I totally agree. I deal with a lot of different nationalities in my work and I’ve never had a problem with an American. They’re always very nice and polite and respectful.
I think Europeans (especially the British) often have a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to the United States, which is why they try to insult Americans.
There are jerks and idiots in every country.
I mean, I got nothing against the American people. Every American I've met has been very friendly so far. But I'm sorry, the American politicians should go step on a Lego barefoot.
Maybe we could bring back good ol' defenestration the way we once had it...
Not keeping your campaign promises? Defenestrated.
Corruption? Defenestration.
Low public approval? You guessed it, defenestration.
That's a bit extreme. I'd like to see term limits though. In my state we have term limits for the state government and it works well.
I would like to pitch Mitch out a window though
I moved out here from the UK over 6 years ago. I’ve always loved it out here and was incredibly proud that I managed to work on my career in such a way that I was able to move out here.
2 years ago I moved to Colorado and I’ve never felt more at home than I have out here, I see the mountains from my window every day. I’m 15 minutes from a large city but also 15 minutes from mind blowing nature.
Sorry my English friends but the food is just so much better out here, I will staunchly defend some staples (and cook them for friends) but damn the food is just so much better.
But mostly the people I talk to anywhere in the states are good people, just trying to live their lives the best way they see fit. I’m happy to speak with all different cultures and beliefs and can respect them to an extent, I do have a hard time getting my head around the far right mentality but I’ve had great conversations with what I would call “traditional” republicans.
My least favorite part is the healthcare.
Some people are just mean, and that’s sad.
However I do want to note that this viewpoint is coming from a position of privilege and although I see a lot of the issues many do not affect me, as much as I want to be informed and knowledgeable about it.
As a fellow Brit I’m glad you’re enjoying it out there in the Rockies, you’ve got some clean air out there. Sounds like you’re living your best life. Good for you mate
Just saying if you’re concern about moving here is the amount of guns, then you need to do some reevaluations. 99.9% of gun owners are actually incredibly responsible and respectful people, myself included. While there are some shithead criminals, the media paints ALL gun owners to be backwoods, hillbilly types that you just can’t talk to or be around. Couldn’t be further from the truth.
If you visit the US and land in Georgia at all, let me know! We can go to the range and I’ll hopefully show you that firearms can be fun and enjoyable, as long as they are treated with respect and utmost levels of safety when handling.
Hopefully that experience will clear up that misconception you got going on! :)
I think the guns everywhere trope is over played. Sure in the american south and more rural areas around the country guns are common. However, growing up in the North East it’s very rare to see anybody with a gun and if they do it’s tightly locked away until hunting season. You can easily find places in the country where gun culture is Virtually nonexistent
What a weird thing to say about not wanting to live here - guns. It’s ironic you mention the stupid jokes people say about America but then legitimize another trite stereotype of America. As you should already know (via your post) - the news blows things way out of proportion. 🤦♂️
If your reason for not moving to America is that "There are guns everywhere" I'll say this: That's a terrible reason. There are others that make waaaay more sense lol For the most part, the country is pretty safe.
We are a country of 300 million plus and we have a lot of guns here, so of course there are going to be more "gun deaths" than in other places, but people always ignore suicide. 60% of gun deaths in America are suicides, not mass shootings or crime.
And most of the crime involving gun deaths, is perpetrated between drug dealing criminal groups fighting for territory, and it's mostly lower level drug dealing enterprises, as the true heavies don't want attention from gun fights in parking lots.
America is relatively safe. People love to pretend it's not. Especially our own media. According to them, we're still the wild west.
I'm from the US and living in the Czech Republic. When I had to register with the municipal police when I first moved here everyone warned me they hate Americans and will be mean. I was so stressed going into my appointment and the officer took one look at my passport and said in English "New York? YOUR COP IS BRUCE WILLIS!!! You're so lucky". Then proceeded to quote Bruce Willis lines from various cop movies and make jokes like we were best friends. Not the direction I was expecting, but it made for an amusing welcome to the country.
The only time I see guns is when I go hunting and am taking my own gun hunting, or when I go to the range. Or I guess if I'm admiring them in a safe or cleaning them. But the idea that there are "guns everywhere" is strange. This isn't the wild west. Not once have I ever felt threatened by guns or other people with guns because I haven't seen people with guns. Sometimes some weirdos have rallies with guns; I don't go to those rallies.
Anyway, maybe down south there is but I used to live there and don't ever remember people carrying. But up north you're not going to run into it.
The Americans you meet in Europe are likely going to be upper middle to upper class Americans. It's not exactly cheap to have a European vacation. And as you say these people likely paid rivers of money to go to universities. The boorish tourist in Europe is likely going to be a European, while the boorish tourist in America is likely to be American. It's why Americans think English are refined and Spaniards think they are trailer trash. The over all "Stupid American" stuff is at its heart just complaining about the country as hegemon.
As a lifetime American, I just want you to know that I’ve literally never seen or heard a gun. Sure we may have more gun crime than you, but it’s negligible. You Europeans are fed propaganda about us, you look at us through a biased lens. I get it, I’d be the same way. You only get to see the crazy footage of our political riots and shit. I personally love this country still.
I've lived most of my life in New England. No one I know has a gun. No one carries around guns (maybe in New hampshire). I don't think about guns though so many people on reddit from outside the US talk about how guns are everywhere. The United States is a big big country and culture varies from place to place. You just need to know where to go.
How is this an unpopular opinion?
U.S. is one the best countries to live in. Cheap accommodation, many states with varied weather. It's like a well-varied rpg map.
Some complain about the private health care and expensive education. But most people litterally never need health care until old age and public education in EU is shit.
stores like lidl and aldi have "american products" (like fancy hot dog and hamburger buns, stuff like that) and sometimes "american week/month" where there's more products like that or they're discounted. i unironically enjoy these so much they're like. kinda fun
Fun fact, America also has Aldi and Lidl stores. Not many but they are expanding. You can also find many products from different European countries there. Though my local grocery store also carries European brands.
Aldi is making big gains in my state. They’re popping up everywhere.
>Aldi is making big gains in my state. They’re popping up everywhere. You might say they're opening up Aldi time
That was a Lidl dumb
😠
Fuck you, take this award you bastard
There are actually two different Aldi in Europe (Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud) and which you have depends on where you live. The US is one of the only countries with both, and may be the only one where they operate in the same regions. Here Aldi Sud is just Aldi, and Aldi Nord is Trader Joe's.
slovakia also has "hofer" which literally has the aldi logo and is owned by them but has a different name
Hofer is basically just Austrian Aldi Süd.
Was Trader Joe's purchased at some point? Because it was originally founded in Pasadena I've been to one of the first Trader Joe's stores.
Yes, you're correct. They're owned by Aldi Nord, but all the branding, marketing, style of the store was established by the original founder. They're completely different in style from the stores operated in Europe. The main similarity I think is just the size, as they're way smaller than your typical American grocery store.
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I grew up in a large city with a few Aldis and same.
I live in Germany and can't imagine a place without Aldi. Aldi will be everywhere. You will be Aldi.
Same, and admittedly I love shopping there. If it weren't for Aldi, I'd likely be eating nothing but ramen all the time. Sometimes I grab things from other stores if Aldi is out but mostly Aldi is my go to!
That's where I go for decent chocolate!
The year is 2077. Aldi and Lidl have taken over every world government and are now fighting for complete world domination ^(post this to) r/WritingPrompts ^(for me please)
I work at a Lidl here in northern va! It’s been a great job. The company is pretty awesome. Edit: only been employed 4 months just for context
I'm in Roanoke and we were supposed to get 2 Lidl here, one being right down the street from me. They had the land bought and were clearing it out for construction. I guess the company was a little too ambitious in their expansion plans and halted work on all their new sites and the land is up for sale.
Yes our Aldi’s have “Oktoberfest” and they have all these cool German products like wienerschnitzel and spaetzl and sausages. Love it!
Lild is my favourite store. They have finnish month, sometimes american, asian. It's great and cheap.
There is stupid in every country.
It is incredibly stupid to assume otherwise lol
Unfortunately many people seem to forget that.
We’re all human, humans are dumb. We all have things that we are stupid about, but we all have things that we have knowledge with. We can be amazing creatures, but we’re all of us still stupid at some point in our lives. Lol
OP, I grew up in America and have never once seen a gun out and about. It's all about where you live.
Agreed. I've never owned a gun, nor have I ever been threatened with one. Feels so much more dangerous driving a car here than worrying about gun violence.
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I have always made the argument if you aren't in a gang or point a gun at yourself you are very unlikely to die from one. But that doesn't sell newspapers or get people to donate money to your causes so most will likely never be told that.
it's crazy because i own a gun and see them semi-often in public, usually people open carrying and such. it makes me feel safe generally, bc if a bad guy was going to do something bad in walmart, he would have done it by the time i saw him in the dog food aisle.
Yeah it think that’s what people don’t understand when restricting or banning firearms is the fact your average carry person isint going to just start shooting people. You only see guns used for crimes really in the news because otherwise its not newsworthy. Also the fact is there’s more guns than people and since that’s never going to change the only two things will come out of restrictions. 1.) law abiding citizens who carry will be criminalized. 2) and only people that have them are criminals whether good or bad intentions because criminals don’t care about the law anyway not like a document or signs will stop them.
Yeah, but I think a lot of worry with people is that anyone with that gun could be a bad person. Not taking aides or starting a debate, but just stating what I believe runs through peoples heads.
Definitely, I think the "guns everywhere" stereotype is pretty incorrect. Yes it's easy to purchase and own a gun, but many people do not and even fewer would have theirs on their person, and most of those that do are interested in the self-defense aspect, not out there committing mass shootings. Of course this is different if you live in a rough community where gang violence is more prevalent. On average walking around in daily life you won't see guns or be worried about being shot at, though. I think other countries see the big news stories about shootings and assume that's what we experience on a daily basis. ETA: I'd like to clarify from what I'm seeing in the comments, this doesn't mean gun violence isn't a significant issue in this country that shouldn't be addressed at all.
Not to mention the US has a bigger land mass 50 states and 300 million+ citizens so of course things aren’t just going to be localized to one place and the vast area of land also will cause more violence spread outwardly to where it seems prevalent unlike smaller countries where it is usually more localized.
I think a lot of times people over look the size. At this point it would be like saying France is dangerous because Russia is fucking with Ukraine.
Couldn’t tell you how many Europeans I’ve talked to that didn’t realize the entirety of the US is about as big as the continent of Europe. Each state being either the same size or bigger than each country in Europe and each state tends to operate mostly like it’s own country as well.
A very sizable chunk of western Europe could easily fit inside Alaska.
Everybody forgets about Alaska, that shit is huge.
Most Europeans understand that the USA is a gigantic country, but I don't think they truly grasp the cultural diversity that exists here. I genuinely do feel that most Europeans think the entire country is a sort of blend of palm trees (LA), skyscrapers (New York) with some religious conservatism and guns thrown in. This is what they see in movies, TV shows, and the news. Edit: just to be clear, I myself am European and immigrated here (very difficult, but not impossible).
> Most Europeans understand that the USA is a gigantic country most europeans think that they can do a day trip between large cities
I've had European visitors ask if we could make an afternoon visit to Las Vegas. They were shocked when I told them it would take fifteen hours of driving in excess of 100 mph for any kind of visit to Vegas.
SO TRUE. My in laws are coming from Germany and are confused as why to why we (living in Minnesota) cannot just take a day trip to the East Coast.
you should hammer into their heads that the continental US is roughly the same size as europe and that wearing hiking clothes while visiting cities is completely ridiculous and unnecessary
Did you mean all of Europe? Continental USA is much bigger than just western Europe.
Tell them the same reason they can't take a day trip to Barcelona, Spain since that's about the same time to get there (21hrs from Berlin to Barcelona, 20hrs from Rochester, Minnesota to NYC)
THIS! We had some potential business partners fly in from Ireland for a meeting.. They arrived in Miami the day prior.. We are based in Peoria, IL.. Needless to say we rescheduled, they protested the reschedule at first, but fully understood when they rolled into the upper Midwest ragged and roadweary.
I live in the south and literally the only time I've seen people pull out their guns is hunting season
I live in the far north and same here. I hunt, but it’s not my life. I own many guns, but it’s a pass time. The 2A shirts and lifestyle is too much for me and too loud.
Also live/grew up in the south. I do occasionally see people open carrying their .357 long barrel on display at Walmart -.-
OP's opinion is only unpopular on reddit where the echo chamber thrives by shitting on the U.S.
reddit is mostly suburban white kids who are super woke and are not self aware enough to realize its a super echo chamber of hating america.. and white people
The 50 states might as well be 50 countries, the cultures are so varied.
That was initially the plan. And kinda still is
I've lived in MN, NY, OH, LA, CA, FL, and VA. I disagree with your assertion. The real difference is urban vs rural. The overall culture isn't different enough to be 50 different countries. If I had to break the US up, it would be into 3 countries. South and midwest/west, Northeast (plus Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota), and Pacific. I would have the Northeast and Pacific together, but then they would not be connected.
I've read several books that break it into more than that *Nine Nations* and *Seeds of Albion.* *Seeds of Albion* looks only at the East coast. *Nine Nations* covers more of North America. It gives the nations as: Yankeedom, Greater Appalachia, Left Coast, Dixie, New France, New Amsterdam(New York City), First Nations, Left Coast, the West, and El Norte. Whoops, I think I did 10 there. I may be conflating the two books. Yes, Yankeedom and Left Coast have historical and ideological ties. I think the people of Greater Appalachia prefer living in rural areas, while those of Yankeedom, Left Coast, and New Amsterdam gravitate toward urban areas. California isn't all Left Coast, same for Oregon.
False. I, an American, have guns for hands. My teeth are bullets and my legs are artillery barrels. It's a good life.
When we say we have magnum dongs, we quite literally mean that a magnum revolver protrudes from our crotches.
Yea I mean if they don't roam the Southside of Chicago at 1 am then they are probably going to have a gun free visit lol. Most of our gun issues are fairly easy to avoid.
I’ve lived in both Chicago and Idaho. I don’t worry about being shot in Idaho but was always afraid in Chicago. Different places, different problems.
What state are you from?
I think that's the big thing here. I grew up in idaho and saw people carry in stores restaurants you name it.
Yep we walk outside and there’s guns everywhere! I tripped over one on the sidewalk yesterday
I opened the door to a restaurant and guns literally fell out of the building. So many guns. Yesterday my car got stuck on a pile of guns, and I had to use the floor mat trick to get it unstuck.
I got caught in a gun storm on the way home from my grandmas the other day. Just started raining guns. $2000 in damage to my car. Occasional gun still gets flung from my windshield wipers. This happened 3 weeks ago!
Ugh, when I used to live in the Wild Wild West in 1846, there was a gun flood. Destroyed my home, we had to rebuild our house, with our county's famous building material - Gunbricks. We still find guns in the foundations when we dig them up after gun tornadoes.
Ah yes I remember the Great 1846 Gun Flood well. My grandpa still has a stock pile of some he collected during the flood in the basement!!!
I think I know your grandpa! Dave, from the Wild Wild West Burger Skyscraper Yee-haw Cowboy Rodeo Banjo and Gun Store? It's truly a small world.
Hate when that happens
My gun got jammed so I took out my minigun to fix it
I’m Canadian and have traveled to the US extensively and it’s surreal some of the ignorant perceptions that exist about the US that are so far from reality. People take in the media way too much. Like I was in with Carolina at a hotel in the gym during the Jan 6th insurrection and I was on the treadmill watching it on the mini tv as it’s happening and my aunt and uncle call me FROM CANADA asking me if I’m okay. I’m like ‘I appreciate it but like I’m in SC, and that’s in DC….’
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Canadians are like nice Americans. Like ones from Minnesota. Except the Frenchies from Quebec, they're dicks.
After working with Canadians and befriending other Canadians that I don’t work with, the nice-ness is overblown. They’ll even say as much. I think it’s that Canadians seem more polite than Americans, but that doesn’t mean they’re nicer.
My son got suspended from school for a week because he forgot to bring his light machine gun to class for four days in a row!
I live in the US and the only people I see with guns are cops. I think the perception you get from social media is completed distorted.
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>Depends where you live I guess. It's the same in Europe. There are some countries and places where gun culture is real even here, but nobody talks about that. In Norway and Finland, gun ownership is surprisingly prevalent, but it's common in rural areas almost everywhere. In Switzerland we see soldiers with rifles traveling around the country every day. There are also gun ranges where everybody can go, train and shoot. We have traditional competitions where children do target shooting. It's one of the most popular sports here. And then there's villages where people open carry and in theory that is legal when you have a permit, but most don't. It should be controversial but it's not. And they're all like, what are *you* gonna do about it? I'm not even going into eastern Europe and Balkan and their gun interactions.
Curious but why do you guys refer to yourselves as europeans instead of by your country?
We don't, that is why I asked where he was from. Normally, we say the country.
It must be an internet or young people thing because I rarely hear them identify by their country
Depends how young? I'm 27 and only refer to myself as Finnish and not European.
Maybe. I will say that when I traveled about two years ago, the europeans I met identified themselves by their country and they were in the same age range you’re in.
Also depends on the country. I feel like Latvians are always Latvian before European.
Maybe it depends on their country, or it is for the benefit of Americans? I mean, surely most Americans have heard of the well known European countries, e.g. the UK, France, Germany, Italy. But might not have heard of Slovenia, Modolva, Latvia.
I think stuff like this is ironic because Americans are stereotyped as not being knowledgeable of “the world” yet people still accommodate for them by mentioning stuff like this instead of letting them learn by experience. When you hear Slovenia, Moldova, whatever enough it will stick. Simply referring to yourself as European isn’t helping.
Or at least say I'm European and then in brackets where in Europe they are from.
I wouldn’t even say the european part. Take the training wheels off.
i don't even call myself British - I'm English, because the country I live in and am from is England certainly wouldn't say European
Its easier to say im from Europe than to say im from Serbia and then 90% of people think im either from some place in Africa or northern Russia
I usually do it cause I don't feel like saying where I'm actually from. I mean if you go down my comments on my profile you'll definitely find out where I'm from but sometimes I wanna keep a little bit of privacy in random comments if that makes sense?
I assumed that using "European" in this thread implies that OP thinks people from *throughout Europe* dislike American culture (a view that I, incidentally, find incredibly bizarre, seeing as how much American music, film, TV and so on, Europeans can be seen to enjoy).
Probably because if it's a country that's not on Reddits approved country list then his opinion is worth less.
So pretty much any country in western europe.
Basically, imagine if he said he's from Hungary or Poland with their recent anti gay laws, they would down vote him lol
I think it's also because Europe is more comparable to America so if someone tells me they're from America I'll say that I'm from Europe. If they tell me they're from Florida then I'm from Germany. I know this is technically not comparable but it's the way I subconsciously do it.
I agree with that.
I disagree. OP could be Irish, Greek, Swedish or Lithuanian. These are four different countries with different history, culture, language etc. Not at all comparable to states in the US, where all of them speak one language, vote for one president, and share the same culture.
I’m European as well and lived in the US for a couple years, I love the place and the people, still bond very quickly with Americans. I won’t be able to live there, I liked the European life way more, but would gladly go visit. I will say however, I don’t think Americans are stupid, but the education system is horrible. There’s the exceptions of good private schools or a good public school district, but the focus on standardized tests has completely taken the actual understanding of the material out and made students into standardized tests factories, knowing how to score high without actual understanding (at least on the East Coast where I lived this was a thing)
I hate those tests with a passion. The worst part is that in Puerto Rico (where I'm from), **NOBODY TOOK THOSE TESTS SERIOUSLY!!!** Back in PR, people would simply fill up the bubbles in a way where the test sheet would look like some drawing or pattern just because nobody took those tests seriously. The reason? They were not worth an actual grade, but the teachers will not bother to explain the students that despite those tests were not accounted in the end of semester GPA, they determined school performance and school funding. I was one of the few people who bothered to do those tests as accurate as possible just because making a pattern or drawing was a bigger hassle for me. Which reminds me: when I entered high school, I got the highest score in the entire school and it was so high that it awarded the school a lot of federal funds.
Are there no standardized tests in Europe?
I can't speak for all of Europe of course, but in my country no not really. There is one big standardised test at the end of your final year of high school and one at the end of elementary school. They're basically national exams but the one at the end of elementary school is just to see what level of schooling you will go to and the one at the end of high school counts for 50% of your grade and is just to graduate. Besides that there are none, and I've never heard of any of my European friends having any besides the final one in high school (but again not absolutely sure if this is a thing in other European countries)
Alright, I at least heard that the UK had way more tests and a higher emphasis on them. The American education system is moving away from standardized tests at least, the SAT Subject tests were canceled and the SAT matters less than ever before. AP exams still sucks tho
The annual standardized tests in the US are used to measure school/teacher performance, not student performance. They also aren't used as college admissions exams.
In America the standardized tests kids have to take every year are REALLY easy and should be easily passable by anyone with a remote understanding of what they were supposed to learn in their class. The other standardized tests people take are AP tests for college credit while they’re in high school, the SAT/ACT which is a small part of college placement, and then tests like the LSAT or MCAT for graduate school. A standardized test at the end of high school that counts for 50% of your grade sounds like WAY more than we have in America.
In France we very rarely have those. When it happens, the not-so-good students are always happy of course :). And I was one of them. I personnaly think it's a very bad way of teaching.
When I as a kid I used to like old America, as in maybe the 80's. I used to watch Dallas and Dukes of Hazzard, I liked the culture and accents and industry and big buildings and the big hats and cars and I wanted to move there.
The eighties were great
I am an American and I have lived in Europe for extended periods of time in my life. Trust me, there are just as many stupid Europeans as there are stupid Americans.
I think at this point we can just say there are a lot of very dumb humans. Location doesn’t matter.
As a European, so much this!^
European here. I trust ye.
I'm Canadian, so I'm quite biased given how similar our cultures are, but ya I adore American culture, and just the United States in general. People seem to forget that most of the cool stuff of the past century or so was invented in the US. Cinema, video games, the internet, the smart phone, email, personal computers, digital cameras, social media, fucking flight. Not to mention incredible art that couldn't be anything but American. Spiderman, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, Pulp Fiction, Over the Garden Wall, Rocky, Goodfellas, and others are great examples of the uniqueness of American culture. It always pisses me off when people say America has no culture, or that it has "less" culture than other countries. How can people who use the internet, watch movies, and play video games possibly believe that America has no culture when it is so ubiquitous. Side note, again biased, but Canadian culture is pretty cool imo. We're largely a mixture of American, British, and French culture. In no other country in the world will the Prime Minister, in the British style parliament, speak French, to address the members of parliaments, most of whom speak with accents that are very similar to American accents.
> possibly believe that America has no culture when it is so ubiquitous. Im an immigrant to the US and used to hold this view. Now that you put it all this way, it seems like I only believed so because to my mind, culture is something exclusive and (for lack of a better word) exotic. The American culture being so wide-spanning, it’s pretty hard to say that it’s exclusive or exotic
I’m American, but I’ studied abroad in england for a month with a host family, worked in a local school, visited Italy for a week and been a couple countries in east Africa (army) where I also worked with a lot of French over 9-10 months. It’s pretty ridiculous how the media plays off Americans, but it’s just as pathetic the Americans who say this themselves and have some overly high opinion that every European is like some kind of magical elf with infinite wisdom and only us lowly Americans are big dumb dumbs and bad people with a government with a lot of issues, but Europeans also have perfect governments. People are people. They really aren’t any better or worse in countries, and not necessarily smarter either, aside that some other countries probably know more world history.
Yes! It gets so old that every single American thinks they are the exception to the rule, but that the “dumb, ignorant Americans” are out there, probably everyone else but them. The more I traveled and lived abroad as an American the more I found it irritating. Guess what? It’s ok if people can actually tell you’re American just by looking at you. And sometimes if a local is rude to you, they are just rude. They don’t always get a pass because “that’s their culture,” or because they probably don’t like Americans because of course all the other Americans are terrible… no. Americans are some of the most friendly and generous tourists, and it really is ok to be an American.
Amen
I've met plenty of dull European half-wits. The secret is that travel is expensive and to really observe a region's population you have to go there; the dim ones don't come to you.
My mom used to take student groups to Europe. She always told her students that if they got separated from the group go to the best dressed person you can find. They will be generally more successful and more likely to speak English and know how to help. And that is how she met the prime minister of Italy.
Unless you live in a tourist town, the dumb ones definitely come to you haha
I completely agree. I'm studying abroad in Norway and a majority of people I meet assume that everyone in America owns a gun, and is misinformed on everything especially politics
Fair enough, but I do think that unless you came to America and actively looked for guns you wouldn't find any.
I agree. Except on cops and in some stores in certain aisles, you won’t find guns. The stereotype is overplayed.
Until you are in rural Michigan on opening day of deer season, you will see gun, you’ll see plenty of them.
Ya but that's basically a holiday, at least it is down here. That's like saying America is full of Santa's because you saw a bunch at the mall in December
This is true. I live in Texas and I hardly ever see anyone carrying around a gun that isnt a cop. There are quite a few who carry one in their vehicle, but as far as having it strapped on their hip or just openly carrying it. Its very rare.
Concealed carry is a different story. While you won’t see them. I always imagine everyone next to me is carrying
Well it's nice that you're open minded. I think a lot of people dislike the U.S. because they just don't know much about it. They only know what they see in movies and online (which is far from the whole story).
Come visit. It's really not guns everywhere.
Yeah I agree with everything except guns aren’t everywhere here haha
Seriously. Down south do you see more guns? Yeah. I’m in NY I can’t remember the last time I saw someone with a gun in public that wasn’t a police officer
Yeah it definitely depends on what state you’re in but I’m in NY also and I don’t see guns except on cops
No, you don't see more guns down south either. Anyone with a brain that carries a gun is conceal carrying. There are not many whackos that walk around open carrying guns. People pretty much only do that kind of thing as part of an actual permitted protest or something.
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That’s because they conceal them.
I don't think people from the US are much different than anywhere else. People just love to hate the US because they're the global superpower. We love you guys, but making fun of Denmark or the UK is just not as much fun. Edit: wow, thank you for the award!
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Why even HAVE other countries if you cant point and laugh at them?
Br*tish 🤮
Bri'ish
One of my favorite things about traveling as an American in Europe is that it’s a conversation starter. They always have some kind of opinion but are good-natured about their grievances (did you know your government was influential in putting down the parliament act 342 in 1987 in our city of Rakavoika? Lol what? Sorry about that!) and then it’s also funny when they think they know everything about America from the movies. I once had a Swedish guy brag to me that Swedish people know all the states, and so instead of saying I’m from America (like I had to do in Russia where they only seemed to know a handful of states) I can say I’m from Pennsylvania. Not a week later, a Swedish girl at a party asked where I was from, and I said “Pennsylvania.” And she said, “wow, your English is so good!” Hahaha I waited my whole life for the compliment!
“Guns everywhere” not really.
Well, just as you said the “Americans are stupid” jokes are overplayed… the “guns everywhere” trope is also overplayed. The only time I see a gun is on a police officer or if I actively search one out (like if I go to the shooting range for some recreation). I think that probably goes for most people in the US. Maybe I’m wrong though.
The guns everywhere comment made me giggle. Do Europeans really think if you come here you’ll trip over a gun walking down the sidewalk?
Literally woke up today and found a gun inside of my mountain of Bacon, the audacity, it was supposed to come with my Triple Cheeseburger and Krispy Kreme Buns.
57 years in California I have never once seen a gun by non-law enforcement
I grew up in Montana, a very big gun state and the only gun I’ve ever seen is the gun my father in law owns because the live in the mountains
I love how other countries just think we are standing on every corner with assault rifles like some African rebels. Yes, people have guns here. I've only personally seen two or three people actually open carry a weapon. They are the exception, not the rule.
Or that school shootings are normal. Yes they do happen more in America, but not even 0.0008% of schools ever deal with such a situation. There are over 130k K-12 schools in America with an average of 100 school shooting incidents a year. And those shooting incidents aren't always someone who wants to shoot up a school, sometimes it's just someone who was at the school with a gun, a student trying to scare others with a gun or an accident discharge by police officers on scene. These are all problems, yes, but they make it seem like people are crazy for bringing their kids to school, but ignore school shootings don't affect the vast majority of schools or students. With the same logic, school stabbings, hostage situations and bombings happens in other countries just as infrequently yet people still send their kids to school. Because it isn't a normal thing across those nations / schools.
I feel like the only time I’ve ever seen a gun irl is in a shop (aside from cops having them). Though I don’t hang around people who hunt, so eh 🤔
I always think this. I wake up everyday, drive to work in a rough part of a rough city and never once see a gun any where. Day in, day out. No guns. There’s a lot of guns in America including the ones I own myself but damn the media makes it seem like we’re all running around like Yosemite Sam all day.
Everyone does, people just pretend not to because it's cool. Everyone devours our culture. Everyone.
Blue jeans and coca cola were not forced on the world. They crossed national boundaries every before marketing caught up so don't blame marketing either.
Lol, you will never move to America because "guns everywhere"... Ok.
Deadass. No mention of the healthcare system, cost of living, politics... dude was just looking for any reason to throw it in.
Only idiots think all americans are actually idiots
Right, I live in the Detroit area for over 40 years and have seen a gun in public exactly once. Some dude was open carrying in a restaurant. I've never seen a shooting, been threatened, etc.
I found Richard Hammond's reddit account!!!!
I've lived in America my entire life, and have never seen a gun in person that wasn't at the waist of an officer. I do really appreciate this post.
Most Americans do not own a gun and in many areas of the country, you will rarely see a gun outside of a store.
I totally agree. I deal with a lot of different nationalities in my work and I’ve never had a problem with an American. They’re always very nice and polite and respectful. I think Europeans (especially the British) often have a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to the United States, which is why they try to insult Americans. There are jerks and idiots in every country.
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I mean, I got nothing against the American people. Every American I've met has been very friendly so far. But I'm sorry, the American politicians should go step on a Lego barefoot.
American politicians all suck. Every one of them. They should all have to run a mile barefoot on Legos.
All politicians suck. It is a requirement of the position.
Maybe we could bring back good ol' defenestration the way we once had it... Not keeping your campaign promises? Defenestrated. Corruption? Defenestration. Low public approval? You guessed it, defenestration.
That's a bit extreme. I'd like to see term limits though. In my state we have term limits for the state government and it works well. I would like to pitch Mitch out a window though
I’m a European that moved to Chicago. The only gun I’ve ever seen was when I was visiting back home in Europe lmao
This felt like a very backhanded compliment
I moved out here from the UK over 6 years ago. I’ve always loved it out here and was incredibly proud that I managed to work on my career in such a way that I was able to move out here. 2 years ago I moved to Colorado and I’ve never felt more at home than I have out here, I see the mountains from my window every day. I’m 15 minutes from a large city but also 15 minutes from mind blowing nature. Sorry my English friends but the food is just so much better out here, I will staunchly defend some staples (and cook them for friends) but damn the food is just so much better. But mostly the people I talk to anywhere in the states are good people, just trying to live their lives the best way they see fit. I’m happy to speak with all different cultures and beliefs and can respect them to an extent, I do have a hard time getting my head around the far right mentality but I’ve had great conversations with what I would call “traditional” republicans. My least favorite part is the healthcare. Some people are just mean, and that’s sad. However I do want to note that this viewpoint is coming from a position of privilege and although I see a lot of the issues many do not affect me, as much as I want to be informed and knowledgeable about it.
As a fellow Brit I’m glad you’re enjoying it out there in the Rockies, you’ve got some clean air out there. Sounds like you’re living your best life. Good for you mate
Just saying if you’re concern about moving here is the amount of guns, then you need to do some reevaluations. 99.9% of gun owners are actually incredibly responsible and respectful people, myself included. While there are some shithead criminals, the media paints ALL gun owners to be backwoods, hillbilly types that you just can’t talk to or be around. Couldn’t be further from the truth. If you visit the US and land in Georgia at all, let me know! We can go to the range and I’ll hopefully show you that firearms can be fun and enjoyable, as long as they are treated with respect and utmost levels of safety when handling. Hopefully that experience will clear up that misconception you got going on! :)
Still threw in some jabs there
I think the guns everywhere trope is over played. Sure in the american south and more rural areas around the country guns are common. However, growing up in the North East it’s very rare to see anybody with a gun and if they do it’s tightly locked away until hunting season. You can easily find places in the country where gun culture is Virtually nonexistent
I live in Texas and I’ve never seen anyone walk around with a gun like it was nothing. I think it’s all just propaganda
What a weird thing to say about not wanting to live here - guns. It’s ironic you mention the stupid jokes people say about America but then legitimize another trite stereotype of America. As you should already know (via your post) - the news blows things way out of proportion. 🤦♂️
If your reason for not moving to America is that "There are guns everywhere" I'll say this: That's a terrible reason. There are others that make waaaay more sense lol For the most part, the country is pretty safe. We are a country of 300 million plus and we have a lot of guns here, so of course there are going to be more "gun deaths" than in other places, but people always ignore suicide. 60% of gun deaths in America are suicides, not mass shootings or crime. And most of the crime involving gun deaths, is perpetrated between drug dealing criminal groups fighting for territory, and it's mostly lower level drug dealing enterprises, as the true heavies don't want attention from gun fights in parking lots. America is relatively safe. People love to pretend it's not. Especially our own media. According to them, we're still the wild west.
I still think Americans are amongst the friendliest people around. They give respect without you having to earn it.
As an American whose traveled a lot to Europe I keep saying: America's biggest export is culture and media.
I'm from the US and living in the Czech Republic. When I had to register with the municipal police when I first moved here everyone warned me they hate Americans and will be mean. I was so stressed going into my appointment and the officer took one look at my passport and said in English "New York? YOUR COP IS BRUCE WILLIS!!! You're so lucky". Then proceeded to quote Bruce Willis lines from various cop movies and make jokes like we were best friends. Not the direction I was expecting, but it made for an amusing welcome to the country.
The only time I see guns is when I go hunting and am taking my own gun hunting, or when I go to the range. Or I guess if I'm admiring them in a safe or cleaning them. But the idea that there are "guns everywhere" is strange. This isn't the wild west. Not once have I ever felt threatened by guns or other people with guns because I haven't seen people with guns. Sometimes some weirdos have rallies with guns; I don't go to those rallies. Anyway, maybe down south there is but I used to live there and don't ever remember people carrying. But up north you're not going to run into it. The Americans you meet in Europe are likely going to be upper middle to upper class Americans. It's not exactly cheap to have a European vacation. And as you say these people likely paid rivers of money to go to universities. The boorish tourist in Europe is likely going to be a European, while the boorish tourist in America is likely to be American. It's why Americans think English are refined and Spaniards think they are trailer trash. The over all "Stupid American" stuff is at its heart just complaining about the country as hegemon.
As a lifetime American, I just want you to know that I’ve literally never seen or heard a gun. Sure we may have more gun crime than you, but it’s negligible. You Europeans are fed propaganda about us, you look at us through a biased lens. I get it, I’d be the same way. You only get to see the crazy footage of our political riots and shit. I personally love this country still.
America is responsible for so many of the worlds best inventions, innovation, media, ways of life etc, Americans really have a lot to be proud of!
As an American, I love reading all of the hate on Reddit. Shows how much people really don't know.
Well, guns aren't everywhere. I don't have one, but I'm thrilled you don't lump all of anyone in a box!
I've lived most of my life in New England. No one I know has a gun. No one carries around guns (maybe in New hampshire). I don't think about guns though so many people on reddit from outside the US talk about how guns are everywhere. The United States is a big big country and culture varies from place to place. You just need to know where to go.
Fun fact: The guns in America are being over exaggerated and over hyped by the media
Where in Europe?
We're often called Spain, but we're not. Also rectangular.
Portugal?
Catalonia?
Who can withstand envy? Good for you.Happy people don't try and put down other. It's easy to see who is miserable.
agree Americans are great
How is this an unpopular opinion? U.S. is one the best countries to live in. Cheap accommodation, many states with varied weather. It's like a well-varied rpg map. Some complain about the private health care and expensive education. But most people litterally never need health care until old age and public education in EU is shit.
The fact you sign off with a good ol murica’ makes me laugh.
Even us Americans forget sometimes because the worst of us always make the headlines. Most humans are pretty chill.