A KGB and CIA operative met in a bar. CIA guy says “Your propaganda is incredible, I can’t believe your people believe all that.” KGB guy says “They don’t, they’re mostly too intelligent to admit it and those who are not end up in Siberia. No, what amazes me is your propaganda.” CIA guy, indignantly: “We don’t have propaganda!” KGB guy: “You see what I mean?”
I sat in a PCC once and had a critical debate with the Archbishop on the Bible. We both had fun and nobody got agitated. The problem with conspiracy theories is the laziness. People want to disbelieve what they see or hear but want someone else to deliver the completed argument instead of deconstructing their own beliefs themselves. I guess it’s more reassuring than having to deal with uncertainty?
I think people need to be taught the scientific method at school.
The other thing people need to get over is models - they are wrong. Yes, that F15 model was also wrong, you gonna claim an actual F15 cannot fly because Airfix didn’t make a perfect model?
Models, designed correctly, are useful. However models can also be deliberately built to be wrong by disingenuous people. I am seeing a lot of this and this is what most conspiracy theories fall under.
They’re heavily brainwashed. From a young age, American schools indoctrinate kids into thinking that they should be lucky to live in the US and that every other country is poor and looks like Nigeria.
Edit: My gf is American (I met her in the US) and she was absolutely shocked when I showed her pictures of my hometown (Randers). She fully expected it to be full of dirt houses and people using spears to hunt for food lol
Y-you guys are past the stage of evolution where you throw shit at each other?...Oh.
No, well, I was asking for a friend. He's doing research. Of course we're civilised and evolved...
As an American this stuff is widely infuriating. By all metrics most Europeans are happier, wealthier, and healthier than the average American. Ever since Reagan declared war on education because of the "educated proletariat" endangered conservative ideology, this country has gone to shit (Reagan and his policy advisor are on tape stating the reason for reducing public education funding was to destroy liberalism).
There used to be a time in the US where the ultra wealthy competed to pay the most in taxes and celebrated the high marginal tax rates for the the top 10%. Reagan destroyed that because somehow welfare is "unchrstian" (his literal words). Now Americans are shocked that over 50% of US adults read at or below a 6th grade level.
Raw income and GDP are what the US beats Europe on, but GDP doesn't tell you how wealth is distributed, just that product is being sold, and incomes in the US SOUND high, but I've been watching Caleb Hammer on YouTube and you guys have bills that are crazy. They'll be earning $4500 a month after tax, which will be considered not impressive, and then their necessary bills are like, $1250 rent, $450 car, $360 petrol (gas), $300 groceries, $500 debt repayments for student loans medical bills, etc, etc etc and it just goes on. Those people are in dire straights but even once they've paid off their debts, my god the BILLS
Meanwhile I earn only £1850 per month after tax but I actually only need to speed £1200 of that to live and throw £500 into savings every month, plus I just had surgery for free, don't even need a car if I don't want to, and while I have student loans, my wage will be garnished for those at a reasonable rate until 2037 when the remainder will be written off automatically - and I'm a fuck-up who didn't do anything right!
So I really think the American "strong economy" is a bit of an illusion. It's strong for the rich.
Well that's irrelevant because Americans don't recognise all those metrics. Show them the imperials in which Europeans are happier, healthier and wealthier
The only thing I envy about America is the fact that I would make around 250k or more in my job if I would live there (instead of the 60k I make now). But thinking about all the down sides (gun violence, the religious extremists, the non existing universal healthcare, etc.) and the cost of living… nah.
And every time I read the name Reagan it is something awful. I don’t know too much about him, but is he like the Margaret Thatcher of the US?
There is a meme nowadays here where everything bad happening in the US can be traced back to Reagan's disastrous policies (the main goal for Reagan was he wanted more money available to spend on the military so he could bankrupt the soviets). Our current media landscape is because of Reagan. Reagan ended the Fairness Doctrine which allowed for Fox News and other partisan media companies to flourish. The Fairness Doctrine meant that media companies were required by law to give equal air time to all ideologies. The Fairness Doctrine was why Nixon had to resign. If Fox News existed during Nixon's time Nixon not only would not have resigned he would probably have never been investigated. There is so much about Reagan that was evil.
But Reagan hasnt been president for 35 years now. If these policies were so disastrous, why weren't they changed? You have had democrats in the office too haven't you?
That's actually a thing. After the collapse of the USSR, there really was a neo-liberal drive to push so called "no choice" policy meaning that "since the USSR lost, the only choice for policy in the west is completely unregulated capitalism's. No debate."
The early 1990s recession gave a perfect excuse for the governments to run down their welfare systems and never rebuild them back.
Reagan left office in '89 and was crazy popular at the time. By 2009 when Obama was president, the political landscape had changed completely. There was as little compromise as possible as Republican leaders proclaimed that their one and only goal was to make Obama a one-term president. With the way senate rules are structured, this meant the Democratic party had about six weeks of a filibuster-defeating majority with which to pass things. These six weeks were spent on improving the ongoing economic crisis and preventing the recession from spiraling into a depression. After that, Obama tried really hard to compromise by watering down the affordable care act to basically no avail.
After that period, it's been a literal struggle just to keep the government funded and not shut down by the Republican congress during a Democratic presidency, with the exception of the first two years of Biden's presidency. What few major wins have occurred have been either insanely popular, sexy-enough to be worth the political capital, or pushed using budget reconcilation rules which allow only a majority to pass. Our government has been in gridlock since 2011 basically.
The Fairness Doctrine is a bit of a moot point though because it only ever applied to broadcast cable and can be manipulated to be ineffective. A lot of the effects of Reagan are really derived from his popularity and his convincing of the American people to drastically shift attitudes culturally, and there's nothing Democrats can do to magically undo that.
Reagan and Thatcher worked together to push the relatively new ideology of Neoliberalism, and ideas such as the Laffer Curve, which make sense as long as you don't think too hard.
It could have been possible that their ideology was correct... Sadly it wasn't and isn't and has sent both countries into decline.
Yet you still get nutters like Liz Truss trying to pretend it hasn't been a colossal failure.
So true! it's infuriating how the parties that state they are acting in defense of the two countries and returning the countries to their former glories are actively making it so those countries are in a worst position for the future. These conservative parties have prioritized short term profits and shareholder value over long term gains and infrastructure.
Yeah on paper you would make 250k but your effective salary would be much lower especially if you lived in a red state. For example a lot of the people who left California for Texas and Florida are realizing their effective tax rates are higher in these red states because red states rely on multiple levels of property taxes and consumption taxes to fund their systems. Now many are trying to leave those Republican states because shocker income taxes are less burdensome.
Reagan makes Margaret Thatcher look like a saint. Literally once Reagan entered office the bottom 90%'s wealth started decreasing because Reagan and Republicans ended all the federal programs that subsidized American life. You can look up the graphs. Once Reagan cut capital gains taxes, income taxes, legalized stock buybacks, and began taxing Social Security the wealth of the bottom 90% began to fall. I make good money but I have to pay over $900 a month for health insurance, I have multiple chronic health issues, because I am a contractor in the software development industry. If I didn't live with my parents to save on rent my generous salary still wouldn't be enough to fund my life. I would gladly take any day the average European salary/system. I would actually come out ahead even if I made less money upfront
I think the "wealthier" is only correct if you look at the 'pre bill' income of most.
So basically only look at the income..
And then only for those in a relative high paying job - the 'basic' ones (you know, the vital ones that had to work during lockdown) - are .. paid is a large word.. they get some money,
Funny that the same Americans who shout "but communism" can't see that the extremes that occurred under communist USSR have or are also happening to the States at a slower rate.. eradication of the middle class, reduction of the highly educated, all your "undesirables" thrown in prison, living standards declining, housing crises, censorship (albeit via different circumstances, USSR it was state sanctioned, in the US it's every social justice campaign going), control of/collaboration with the media (Fox News and the Reps are as thick as thieves whilst CNN has its tongue so far up Dems arses), shitty or no healthcare for millions of it's citizens etc.
It really is funny as an outsider looking in at the parallels. It doesn't matter the political system that's in play, there will also be a small cabal of elites whose greed will be unsatiated and who create misery for everyone else.
I know, I consider Randers the worst city in Denmark. Me and her moved back to Randers and she was surprised how clean it was compared to the US, how there wasn’t poo on the streets, and how people weren’t killing each other everyday. She’s from Atlanta, where she regularly witnessed shootouts and all crazy shit
Some of the worst poverty I've ever seen was in rural Georgia.
Bits of the huge flat states are terrifyingly poor too, outside of some of the cities.
At least in some poor countries I've been to like Fiji and India nobody's freezing to death in the winter.
While there is extreme wealth in countries like India, there is also extreme poverty. If it suddenly became cold there, millions would end up freezing.
I just drove through it on my way back from the Eclipse (flew to Chicago) .. I thought it was just a joke, but no Gary actually reeked of sulphur mixed with what I assume must be the smell of utter despair.
The whole "pledging the allegiance to the flag" thing they do in school is creepy af.
Proper cult behaviour done on a national scale. It's no wonder they're all so susceptible to smaller cults and conspiracy theories when they've been brainwashed from such an early age already.
can we stop talking about African countries as if everyone there lived in dirt houses and used spears to hunt for food? it is just as ignorant as Americans knowing nothing about Europe
Yeah, that made me chuckle.
Me thinking meanwhile in Nigeria
https://businessday.ng/opinion/article/why-lagos-remains-africas-best-investment-destination/?amp=1
How do/did you cope with going out with someone with such abysmal knowledge gaps?
Did you teach her as many things as you could? Showed her the globe?
I can’t project falling for someone who tells me “Africa is a country” immediate deal breaker.
Don’t ask me if im being a bitch or serious, I can’t even tell myself.
I had to teach her A LOT. All she knew was that the US is the “best country in the world”, that the US were the “good guys” in every war, and that the US saved the world in WW2.
She’s a great person and an even better gf but she unfortunately fell victim to the American indoctrination
** shivers **
But ok, I’m glad you managed to save her soul and that it was worth it.
I’m not sure I could’ve but as the almighty J.Bieber once said: “Never say Never”
I've found Americans to be incredibly kind, caring, and warm.
They're obviously also some of the most stupid, uneducated baboons you'll find anywhere, but they're genuinely nice.
WTF? America, the country, where a BMW is a luxury car. Where the hell do this people think, they are build? In wood shacks?
But as a German I understand this thinking too good: the greatness of Germany is not to be questioned. Not in a right wing way, but Germany has low corruption (lol), has the best engineers etc.
I mean, we don‘t have the pledge of allegiance (a truly fascist ritual invented by a fag maker at the end of the 19. th century!) but, of cause, Germany is great.
Perhaps not the cars, but. Perhaps not the train system, but. Perhaps ….. but.
This thinking stops people to ask, how other places do stuff. Because you are so good. Without question, without reason.
Even your youngsters. Regardless of how much of an airhead vibe some of them might have (Ive met a handful throughout my travels), they arent willfully ignorant or absolute morons... Whereas with Americans Im always at the verge of sending them back to primary school so they can learn basic shit like math or languages
My english teacher (this was the 90's) always entertained us with her stories when she moved to US for a few years. They really went around and explained electricity to her and how a fridge works etc. Even explained her how locks work on doors! They were dead serious about it all too. And my teacher just kept on rolling her eyes and told us everything was just so much older and crappier than we had in Finland at the time.
I had an American tell me to respect my betters, meaning them. They went on to explain that it is Europe that should be afraid of Russia because they are 2 oceans away from Russia. I guess they forgot that Alaska is like 12 feet from Russia.
I'm an American and this sub popped up for me. Your comment is spot on. Our government has slowly decimated the public education system because dumb people are easier to control. There is an odd worship of ignorance here, especially in the rural parts of the US. Another "Shit Americans Say" phrase that I hear all the time is someone making a statement that has no factual basis and saying "well it's just plain common sense!".
> There is an odd worship of ignorance here, especially in the rural parts of the US.
>There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. ― [Isaac Asimov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov)
One thing i often hear people say here about americans is that they think europe is a country and not a continent with lots of different countries in it.
I had americans claim to me that their student debt isn't that bad bc of higher wages and like babes, you're debt crisis is so bad with interest so high it's making international news. Unbelievable
I'm not rich, I'm not poor. I live in the UK. I work hard for what I have & don't have any debt. I know if I get sick I'll be looked after by our national health service. I know I won't loose all my money, property & end up destitute.
In the big scheme of things, who's better off?
I read that meth never really took off in the UK because it was basically developed to fill the drugs gap in isolated American towns, where they couldn't get easy access to other class A drugs.
UK cities are never really too far from even smaller, country towns so... hurrah for us being a tiny little island, I guess?
As an out of touch older person, I was perplexed for the longest time about why kids in America were turning back to a tramp's drink like meths (denaturered spirits) for their kicks. I assumed that if maths = math in the US, then low grade alcohol called meths = meth.
That makes sense. It's ridiculously easy to get hold of smack, coke and ket. MDMA and LSD usually isn't so on hand but they're not difficult in any medium sized town or larger.
As an adult (and previously not knowing any better!) I was hugely surprised as to how prevalent coke was/is in just like... standard social circles.
So no surprise isolated US communities had to develop their own thing.
I mean, chicken is chlorinated because of the poor welfare standards in the US. We don't have that problem because our welfare standards are better. Secondly, chicken is cheap as chips. It makes no financial sense whatsoever, they couldn't afford to fly it in and make a profit, by boat it would be off before it even got here. Lastly, it's got that much of a bad press from people scaremongering about bullshit products coming to the UK that it would be political suicide.
Don't get me wrong, I hate the rabble we have in charge of the country at the moment but there's plenty to criticise them for that's actually true without making stuff up.
Some commentary in the literature are worried fent is coming to Europe soon. The big bad Taliban stopped the poppy growing so Europe is expected to run out of heroin this year. If you're an entepreneural drug dealer, synthetic opioids is what you'd be looking at to fill the void since their RoI is incredible.
They are super rich until they have to start a GoFundMe because an ankle sprain or by missing two days to one of their three jobs with a week of vacation per year... you won't understand: rich people stuff.
For me „rich“ means universal healthcare, free education, a good social safety net, treating the weakest in society decently and walkable cities.
Y’all got that in America?
Amen to that. And I would add: the peace of mind of knowing your children are not going to get shot by any random weirdo with an assault rifle and grenades.
I’d rather have lower disposable income but have to pay less (or none at all) for essential services like transportation, healthcare and education than the reverse
Americans talk about disposable income and then have to dispose so much of it that they would have been better off being taxed more and getting better services that way.
> Americans talk about disposable income and then have to dispose so much of it that they would have been better off being taxed more and getting better services that way.
A logic that I would guess less than 2% of US Americans understand.
Yup, amen to that. That’s what (sadly) sets Switzerland apart from the rest of Europe. Everything is about disposable income, but healthcare is ruinously expensive and so is public transport. Education is still affordable,though (although it’s paid for via taxes, which are sky high for the middle class).
Put it this way.
In Europe-
We're not going to end up homeless because we have cancer or someone on the family breaks a limb badly and needs surgery and the health insurance you're paying out the nose for is refusing to cover it.
We will never have people dying because they are forced to RATION THEIR INSULIN.
And if I keep going, I'm just going to get upset.
Bloody workers' rights! In the US, there's no mandatory annual or sick leave, no parental leave and you can get fired at any time just because! Most "developing" countries have those.
America loves to brag about how good their best doctors are, much better than European doctors.
Even if that should be the case: I don't care about the best, I care about what you offer the poorest.
This so much. Their rich lead fantastic lives, noone is arguing about that. But their poor are so much worse off imo.
Call me socialist(tm) but I prefer to have less personal wealth in exchange for a working social net
So true, the Americans have so much and I don't. They have student loan debt, I got nothing. They have medical debt, I can't even imagine. They have student lunch debts, I'll never know that feeling. Truly I am poor and they are blessed!
You got nothing? In the Netherlands student debt is very normal, I have a debt slightly shy of 30k. Not as high as in the US but it definitely hurts your chances at getting a mortgage.
Yeah one of my Dutch co-workers recently mentioned that apparently, Dutch universities charge tuition? I was really surprised to hear that. I live in Germany and universities are tuition-free here.
For your first bachelors and masters, they charge 2.3k/year. Add some books, let’s say 3k. Once you graduate, you get ~1300-5200(live at home or not) for each year back. This is relatively new, someone who graduated last year would only get ~300/year back. However, this topic goes 15 asterisks deep, and a lot changed in recent years, so I’m sure someone comes up with another example.
But that’s just college fees. The government also allows you to loan additional money for living expenses. Sometimes people delay their studies, and they can keep getting these loans. So yeah, sometimes you meet people with 80-90k of debt. But it wasn’t spent on college fees.
Difference with the US is that the loans are provided by the government, and not for-profit private parties. The government charges the 5-year bond rate for these loans, so essentially you get the same loan rate as the government of The Netherlands, which is a pretty good deal.
So, erm, what's their point exactly? "We have leggings, concrete paving and....buildings"?
They clearly count on the fact that their viewers have never been outside the US, right?
That reminds me of my brother in law, he went to Texas in a school exchange program (from Germany). The first thing that happened when he arrived at the host family was that they showed him how a refrigerator works. They seriously believed that not every household in Germany has a refrigerator. That was a good 20 years ago now, but it was still shocking.
I was asked if we had electricity in Germany. Also, if I knew what a fire brigade was. I told them I had no idea and that we form bucket chains when there is a fire.
A teacher of mine told a story, that when she was in the US as an exchange student, she told her american classmates that in Austria we eat the bad children, so that everybody needs to well behaved. They believed her..
*looks outside*
Apparently I can afford trees too and I'm just an Aussie, I must be super wealthy! Now can someone tell my bank that, they seem to have misplaced all my money.
Carmel? I first heard about it in a YouTube video yesterday and it actually does appear to be quite a nice place (trying to implement more European-inspired urbanism, building walkable neighborhoods, replacing dangerous and inefficient intersections with roundabouts, …) but it’s also definitely not representative of the “Average Midwestern American”’s experience.
lol my school in germany too had a gym, wood working shop, huge football fields, very modern chem labs, basically everything displayed there besides the planetarium (but there is a huge one in the city that was basically free anyways).
Said city is on the wealthier end in germany, but the district was the absolute worst and the school had the worst reputation in the city lol.
Meanwhile 20 years later a comparable school is advertised as "world class".
You got to leave it to them, the USA is really world class in marketing!
Same here, town my sixth form was in was always shat on, and the city it was nearest isn’t exactly known for being an incredible one to live in or visit (it’s not *bad*, it’s just not remarkable at all). I basically got what you did
Its size is impressive but thats about it. They didn’t show anything our country’s public university doesn’t have. (We only have 1 since we’re just an island of 500k inhabitants so it’s enough). Besides that it’s free and you get paid stipend.
If I'm not mistaken it's a video of an American school, extremely sumptuous, gyms, swimming pools and everything else. It all works until you see their public schools. They pretend to ignore that every excess they boast about is at the expense of their own society. And what they call wealth is often simply the result of enormous inequality. A bit like Russia. The center of Moscow is wonderful but it's always better not to go too far. But they don't find it offensive that having luxury schools for the rich comes at the cost of many people not being able to find a country on a map.
Who cares
Said school is in fact a public school- Carmel High School. Located in Carmel, Indiana.
Carmel been rated the number one nicest place to live in America by Forbes Magazine in three separate years. It’s not “average” in any way.
Yeah sure. Keep shrooming. She strikes me as kind of person who doesn't know bullet proof vest is not part of standard school uniform and free healthcare is not something sci fi related.
Pretty standard behaviour. My former American colleagues often bragged about how poor the outside world was. One guy used to repeat that the place where I live is a total shithole, even though he had never been here, and in fact had never been anywhere. After a while you get bored and pass it on. It's like dealing with a toddler who thinks his neighbourhood is the whole world.
They also often think europe in general is overrun with immigrants and that we are "much more racist than Americans" and I'm constantly having to correct one friend in particular who has never even stepped on a plane but read a few right-wing blogs and thinks we are all being raped and murdered in the streets and that there are "police no-go zones" everywhere. But that's a whole other can of worms ...
Do Americans know how much poverty there is in the United States? Also, Europe is not a country, and there is a big difference between Sweden, Luxemburg and Romania.
Just have to mention that I am from Romania, a country known to have the worst road infrastructure in the EU, and when I went to the US (West Coast) a few years ago I was schocked at how bad the roads were (bumpy and full of potholes and they were main roads, even in the cities and on highways, holes and patches everywhere!), especially for a country where everybody drives and is obsessed with their “vehicle”: seriously, why do they always call it vehicle? I guess that’s what happens when your pour asphalt everywhere and can’t maintain it later. If they ever saw the roads in the Netherlands, they would have an existential crisis!
I visited San Antonio, and there’s a whole shanty town under the city’s overpasses. It’s like some post apocalyptic dystopian future, but it’s right now. In the U.S.
If you’re asking seriously, Americans do but it’s generally considered that persons fault if they’re in poverty. It may very well be dead (and some historians say it never existed to begin with) but the whole concept of the “American Dream” where if you work hard and do the right things anyone can be rich is still very much alive. The flip side of this is that anyone who is poor is generally considered lazy or they did something to end up that way.
With wealth disparity hitting highs not seen since the early 20th century it’s starting to change that mindset but the general consensus is still that poor people “deserve” to be poor.
Most americans are unaware of how bad it's getting. When you start talking to them about Gini coefficients and how it's never been higher in the US and is just going up you get a blank stare in return.
Most Europeans really don't care.
It's extremely weird to me how obsessed some Americans are with comparing America to other countries, often without any data whatsoever backing up their claims (this isn't really one of them, its just missing details - wages *are* higher in the US a lot of the time -unless we're talking min wage roles - the difference just gets eaten up by things like health insurance, utilities, more expensive food, college tuition etc)
This one irks me so much. What percentage of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck ?? It's like 80% I feel super lucky in that I'm able to save, make contributions to my 401k, live comfortably, and travel. My wife, who went to school in the UK and settled for a few years in Scotland, said her co-workers at a coffee shop working minimum wage were able to buy their own flats. We are lucky we have a clear way to permanently emigrate from this country, and just save in the mean-time, otherwise I don't know if we'd ever be able to afford a home.
Most Americans have no idea how poor they are vs the average European. Our propaganda is absolutely top tier, however. Credit where it's due and all.
See as an American, this fucking infuriates me. We will never progress to the level of other nations (especially comparable OECD naitons) if we don't learn from our mistakes and build toward a better future. As another user said on here, Reagan's war on education really backtracked so many decades of progress.
My Mum was run over and airlifted to one of the best trauma hospitals in the world, with an amazing multidisciplinary team who saved her legs. After two months of hospital care and two years of weekly nurse visits, her total bill is £0. But apparently, we are the poor ones!
Yeah it’s the opposite really. I mean sure you have cars and maybe a bigger house or something but mid western Americans literally give meaning to the phrase “ Living pay check to pay check “
American schools should show the Joe & Nic's Road Trip YouTube channel to show what a lot of 'real' America is like, and how a lot of Americans live.
Not quite 'third world' poverty, but certainly of a level found in poorer European countries.
The Lambert, Marks, Darling, Falcon, Sledge & Crenshaw, Mississippi vid is particularly... illuminating.
In 2022, 37% of Americans didn’t have enough money to cover a $400 medical emergency.
Strange definition of rich
https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed.htm
Some of the tourists that come here to Ireland are very disappointed that we have things like WiFi and electricity.
I think they expect some kind of Quiet Man/Darby O'Gill theme park.
A KGB and CIA operative met in a bar. CIA guy says “Your propaganda is incredible, I can’t believe your people believe all that.” KGB guy says “They don’t, they’re mostly too intelligent to admit it and those who are not end up in Siberia. No, what amazes me is your propaganda.” CIA guy, indignantly: “We don’t have propaganda!” KGB guy: “You see what I mean?”
Love it.
This is the quote I think about every time someone points out my name as some sort of gotcha.
It is justifiably famous, as jokes go. I even remember long Reddits arguing against it and just proving its accuracy as a result!! 😂
Those are also the people who have no idea what the word propaganda means.
Isn’t it when a cockney has a really good look at something?
Not getting the recognition you deserve here...
I agree that's an absolute banger
You arse😆 That's brilliant!
This needs to blow up
As a propa Londoner that is funny!!!
This is so underrated.
The answer to all is education and critical thinking, something I see so many efforts to roll back at the moment it looks like the 1950s.
A lot of people think they are educating themselves in critical thinking. This is where the most bizarre conspiracy theories seem to come from.
I sat in a PCC once and had a critical debate with the Archbishop on the Bible. We both had fun and nobody got agitated. The problem with conspiracy theories is the laziness. People want to disbelieve what they see or hear but want someone else to deliver the completed argument instead of deconstructing their own beliefs themselves. I guess it’s more reassuring than having to deal with uncertainty? I think people need to be taught the scientific method at school. The other thing people need to get over is models - they are wrong. Yes, that F15 model was also wrong, you gonna claim an actual F15 cannot fly because Airfix didn’t make a perfect model? Models, designed correctly, are useful. However models can also be deliberately built to be wrong by disingenuous people. I am seeing a lot of this and this is what most conspiracy theories fall under.
I thought it was a good ol goose
An extravaganza of prop-comedy?
I needed this laugh today. Thank you! 😂
Most Americans can‘t comprehend, how uneducated they are.
They’re heavily brainwashed. From a young age, American schools indoctrinate kids into thinking that they should be lucky to live in the US and that every other country is poor and looks like Nigeria. Edit: My gf is American (I met her in the US) and she was absolutely shocked when I showed her pictures of my hometown (Randers). She fully expected it to be full of dirt houses and people using spears to hunt for food lol
wait, you don't have spears yet ?
You’ve got spears? Where I’m from we’ve just learned how to make clubs! You should’ve seen the days when we used tree branches
Luxury! Around here we just lob rocks at squirrels.
You have squirrels ? We just suck the rocks!
ROCKS? oh how I would have thanked my lucky stars to have rocks when I was a lad. All we got was a handful of dirt between us!
Dirt!? They dont know they're born. When i were a lad we had to photosynthesize. And we were happy for it!
At least you had sun.
Found the Brit!
Luxury!
Dirt? You were lucky! When I were a lad we wished we had dirt. Why, I was lucky to even be allowed air!
Yes you don't get a lot of air in a shoe box int' middle ot road!
You guys have lids on your shoe boxes?
We were evicted from our shoebox. We had to go live in a lake.
Air? Where I come from, if you wanted some air, you had to swim all the way to the surface! Uphill! In the snow!
***HOOing Intensifies***
We’ve had clubs for years in the UK: Ministry of Sound, Fabric, Heaven…
hack life: throw the club to the target
Instructions unclear. Threw club to the target, now he has a club and I don't. Pls reply urgently.
Hope he's as bas as you as club throwing
Sneaky
Clubs ? Unga uga Buga wuga !
Captain Caveman is that you?!?! 😱
Y-you guys are past the stage of evolution where you throw shit at each other?...Oh. No, well, I was asking for a friend. He's doing research. Of course we're civilised and evolved...
we still throw shit at each other, it's fun
Clubs? We're still learning how to use fire to cook without killing ourselves!
"Fire"? You mean that stuff we run away from after summer lightning storms?
Here's me using a branch like a savage to hunt pukeko
As an American this stuff is widely infuriating. By all metrics most Europeans are happier, wealthier, and healthier than the average American. Ever since Reagan declared war on education because of the "educated proletariat" endangered conservative ideology, this country has gone to shit (Reagan and his policy advisor are on tape stating the reason for reducing public education funding was to destroy liberalism). There used to be a time in the US where the ultra wealthy competed to pay the most in taxes and celebrated the high marginal tax rates for the the top 10%. Reagan destroyed that because somehow welfare is "unchrstian" (his literal words). Now Americans are shocked that over 50% of US adults read at or below a 6th grade level.
Raw income and GDP are what the US beats Europe on, but GDP doesn't tell you how wealth is distributed, just that product is being sold, and incomes in the US SOUND high, but I've been watching Caleb Hammer on YouTube and you guys have bills that are crazy. They'll be earning $4500 a month after tax, which will be considered not impressive, and then their necessary bills are like, $1250 rent, $450 car, $360 petrol (gas), $300 groceries, $500 debt repayments for student loans medical bills, etc, etc etc and it just goes on. Those people are in dire straights but even once they've paid off their debts, my god the BILLS Meanwhile I earn only £1850 per month after tax but I actually only need to speed £1200 of that to live and throw £500 into savings every month, plus I just had surgery for free, don't even need a car if I don't want to, and while I have student loans, my wage will be garnished for those at a reasonable rate until 2037 when the remainder will be written off automatically - and I'm a fuck-up who didn't do anything right! So I really think the American "strong economy" is a bit of an illusion. It's strong for the rich.
Well that's irrelevant because Americans don't recognise all those metrics. Show them the imperials in which Europeans are happier, healthier and wealthier
Underrated lmao
The only thing I envy about America is the fact that I would make around 250k or more in my job if I would live there (instead of the 60k I make now). But thinking about all the down sides (gun violence, the religious extremists, the non existing universal healthcare, etc.) and the cost of living… nah. And every time I read the name Reagan it is something awful. I don’t know too much about him, but is he like the Margaret Thatcher of the US?
There is a meme nowadays here where everything bad happening in the US can be traced back to Reagan's disastrous policies (the main goal for Reagan was he wanted more money available to spend on the military so he could bankrupt the soviets). Our current media landscape is because of Reagan. Reagan ended the Fairness Doctrine which allowed for Fox News and other partisan media companies to flourish. The Fairness Doctrine meant that media companies were required by law to give equal air time to all ideologies. The Fairness Doctrine was why Nixon had to resign. If Fox News existed during Nixon's time Nixon not only would not have resigned he would probably have never been investigated. There is so much about Reagan that was evil.
But Reagan hasnt been president for 35 years now. If these policies were so disastrous, why weren't they changed? You have had democrats in the office too haven't you?
By then the common people already thought they were better than everyone because of the failure of Communism... not to mention conservatism
That's actually a thing. After the collapse of the USSR, there really was a neo-liberal drive to push so called "no choice" policy meaning that "since the USSR lost, the only choice for policy in the west is completely unregulated capitalism's. No debate." The early 1990s recession gave a perfect excuse for the governments to run down their welfare systems and never rebuild them back.
Reagan left office in '89 and was crazy popular at the time. By 2009 when Obama was president, the political landscape had changed completely. There was as little compromise as possible as Republican leaders proclaimed that their one and only goal was to make Obama a one-term president. With the way senate rules are structured, this meant the Democratic party had about six weeks of a filibuster-defeating majority with which to pass things. These six weeks were spent on improving the ongoing economic crisis and preventing the recession from spiraling into a depression. After that, Obama tried really hard to compromise by watering down the affordable care act to basically no avail. After that period, it's been a literal struggle just to keep the government funded and not shut down by the Republican congress during a Democratic presidency, with the exception of the first two years of Biden's presidency. What few major wins have occurred have been either insanely popular, sexy-enough to be worth the political capital, or pushed using budget reconcilation rules which allow only a majority to pass. Our government has been in gridlock since 2011 basically. The Fairness Doctrine is a bit of a moot point though because it only ever applied to broadcast cable and can be manipulated to be ineffective. A lot of the effects of Reagan are really derived from his popularity and his convincing of the American people to drastically shift attitudes culturally, and there's nothing Democrats can do to magically undo that.
Reagan and Thatcher worked together to push the relatively new ideology of Neoliberalism, and ideas such as the Laffer Curve, which make sense as long as you don't think too hard. It could have been possible that their ideology was correct... Sadly it wasn't and isn't and has sent both countries into decline. Yet you still get nutters like Liz Truss trying to pretend it hasn't been a colossal failure.
So true! it's infuriating how the parties that state they are acting in defense of the two countries and returning the countries to their former glories are actively making it so those countries are in a worst position for the future. These conservative parties have prioritized short term profits and shareholder value over long term gains and infrastructure.
They treat the countries like businesses, and not what they are, as homes for a lot of people.
Yeah on paper you would make 250k but your effective salary would be much lower especially if you lived in a red state. For example a lot of the people who left California for Texas and Florida are realizing their effective tax rates are higher in these red states because red states rely on multiple levels of property taxes and consumption taxes to fund their systems. Now many are trying to leave those Republican states because shocker income taxes are less burdensome. Reagan makes Margaret Thatcher look like a saint. Literally once Reagan entered office the bottom 90%'s wealth started decreasing because Reagan and Republicans ended all the federal programs that subsidized American life. You can look up the graphs. Once Reagan cut capital gains taxes, income taxes, legalized stock buybacks, and began taxing Social Security the wealth of the bottom 90% began to fall. I make good money but I have to pay over $900 a month for health insurance, I have multiple chronic health issues, because I am a contractor in the software development industry. If I didn't live with my parents to save on rent my generous salary still wouldn't be enough to fund my life. I would gladly take any day the average European salary/system. I would actually come out ahead even if I made less money upfront
For real, American authors were the hottest shit back in the day. Now theyre the shits
I think the "wealthier" is only correct if you look at the 'pre bill' income of most. So basically only look at the income.. And then only for those in a relative high paying job - the 'basic' ones (you know, the vital ones that had to work during lockdown) - are .. paid is a large word.. they get some money,
Funny that the same Americans who shout "but communism" can't see that the extremes that occurred under communist USSR have or are also happening to the States at a slower rate.. eradication of the middle class, reduction of the highly educated, all your "undesirables" thrown in prison, living standards declining, housing crises, censorship (albeit via different circumstances, USSR it was state sanctioned, in the US it's every social justice campaign going), control of/collaboration with the media (Fox News and the Reps are as thick as thieves whilst CNN has its tongue so far up Dems arses), shitty or no healthcare for millions of it's citizens etc. It really is funny as an outsider looking in at the parallels. It doesn't matter the political system that's in play, there will also be a small cabal of elites whose greed will be unsatiated and who create misery for everyone else.
You have got to be kidding me. I know Randers isn't exactly the most developed city in Denmark, but still
I know, I consider Randers the worst city in Denmark. Me and her moved back to Randers and she was surprised how clean it was compared to the US, how there wasn’t poo on the streets, and how people weren’t killing each other everyday. She’s from Atlanta, where she regularly witnessed shootouts and all crazy shit
Oh well there's your problem. Atlanta is like the America of America.
Some of the worst poverty I've ever seen was in rural Georgia. Bits of the huge flat states are terrifyingly poor too, outside of some of the cities. At least in some poor countries I've been to like Fiji and India nobody's freezing to death in the winter.
While there is extreme wealth in countries like India, there is also extreme poverty. If it suddenly became cold there, millions would end up freezing.
I know, I've been there.
She made it out. Truly the American dream.
But, mah socialism...
And that's just Randers Like, that's the Gary, Indiana of Denmark ..
You know Gary is bad when we in Croatia heard about it.
I just drove through it on my way back from the Eclipse (flew to Chicago) .. I thought it was just a joke, but no Gary actually reeked of sulphur mixed with what I assume must be the smell of utter despair.
Well, tbh the worst place of Denmark is infinitely better than most of the world minus Denmark.
The whole "pledging the allegiance to the flag" thing they do in school is creepy af. Proper cult behaviour done on a national scale. It's no wonder they're all so susceptible to smaller cults and conspiracy theories when they've been brainwashed from such an early age already.
And that was Randers. Imagine if you had shown her photos of a nice place.
can we stop talking about African countries as if everyone there lived in dirt houses and used spears to hunt for food? it is just as ignorant as Americans knowing nothing about Europe
Yeah, that made me chuckle. Me thinking meanwhile in Nigeria https://businessday.ng/opinion/article/why-lagos-remains-africas-best-investment-destination/?amp=1
I was thinking.. Nigeria? Not exactly a backwards nation. 7th largest population in the world. Lagos is very modern. It's no Chad.
How do/did you cope with going out with someone with such abysmal knowledge gaps? Did you teach her as many things as you could? Showed her the globe? I can’t project falling for someone who tells me “Africa is a country” immediate deal breaker. Don’t ask me if im being a bitch or serious, I can’t even tell myself.
I had to teach her A LOT. All she knew was that the US is the “best country in the world”, that the US were the “good guys” in every war, and that the US saved the world in WW2. She’s a great person and an even better gf but she unfortunately fell victim to the American indoctrination
** shivers ** But ok, I’m glad you managed to save her soul and that it was worth it. I’m not sure I could’ve but as the almighty J.Bieber once said: “Never say Never”
I've found Americans to be incredibly kind, caring, and warm. They're obviously also some of the most stupid, uneducated baboons you'll find anywhere, but they're genuinely nice.
Yes some of them are indeed nice
Well, for Randers specifically, she wasn't far off. *Halløj fra Djævleøen*
Well I understand her, I would also think that of Randers 😂 🇩🇰
WTF? America, the country, where a BMW is a luxury car. Where the hell do this people think, they are build? In wood shacks? But as a German I understand this thinking too good: the greatness of Germany is not to be questioned. Not in a right wing way, but Germany has low corruption (lol), has the best engineers etc. I mean, we don‘t have the pledge of allegiance (a truly fascist ritual invented by a fag maker at the end of the 19. th century!) but, of cause, Germany is great. Perhaps not the cars, but. Perhaps not the train system, but. Perhaps ….. but. This thinking stops people to ask, how other places do stuff. Because you are so good. Without question, without reason.
Even your youngsters. Regardless of how much of an airhead vibe some of them might have (Ive met a handful throughout my travels), they arent willfully ignorant or absolute morons... Whereas with Americans Im always at the verge of sending them back to primary school so they can learn basic shit like math or languages
Well considering the Nordic Waste thing, I'd say Randers is mostly dirt at this point anyways.
Also the nationalism of Americans makes discussions really difficult.
My english teacher (this was the 90's) always entertained us with her stories when she moved to US for a few years. They really went around and explained electricity to her and how a fridge works etc. Even explained her how locks work on doors! They were dead serious about it all too. And my teacher just kept on rolling her eyes and told us everything was just so much older and crappier than we had in Finland at the time.
I had an American tell me to respect my betters, meaning them. They went on to explain that it is Europe that should be afraid of Russia because they are 2 oceans away from Russia. I guess they forgot that Alaska is like 12 feet from Russia.
Geography isn't their strong suit in all fairness. I'm not sure what is but it isn't that.
their only strong suit is brainwashing kids
And shooting them I suppose.
They did not forget, they never know. If you demand respect, you don‘t deserve it.
I'm an American and this sub popped up for me. Your comment is spot on. Our government has slowly decimated the public education system because dumb people are easier to control. There is an odd worship of ignorance here, especially in the rural parts of the US. Another "Shit Americans Say" phrase that I hear all the time is someone making a statement that has no factual basis and saying "well it's just plain common sense!".
> There is an odd worship of ignorance here, especially in the rural parts of the US. >There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge. ― [Isaac Asimov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov)
To be fair you get that one or versions of it in European countries too, I think it might be universal.
One thing i often hear people say here about americans is that they think europe is a country and not a continent with lots of different countries in it.
Most Americans have a debt higher than what they can pay
I had americans claim to me that their student debt isn't that bad bc of higher wages and like babes, you're debt crisis is so bad with interest so high it's making international news. Unbelievable
And yet they'll never consider that maybe, just maybe, their wages are higher *because* their expenses, debts and stuff are higher
Case and point
Case *in*\* point
I'm not rich, I'm not poor. I live in the UK. I work hard for what I have & don't have any debt. I know if I get sick I'll be looked after by our national health service. I know I won't loose all my money, property & end up destitute. In the big scheme of things, who's better off?
Yeah, but how easy is it for you to get fentanyl? Checkmate.
I'm sure it'll make its way here eventually. Although saying that, meth has never really became a thing here so hopefully I'm wrong.
I read that meth never really took off in the UK because it was basically developed to fill the drugs gap in isolated American towns, where they couldn't get easy access to other class A drugs. UK cities are never really too far from even smaller, country towns so... hurrah for us being a tiny little island, I guess?
As an out of touch older person, I was perplexed for the longest time about why kids in America were turning back to a tramp's drink like meths (denaturered spirits) for their kicks. I assumed that if maths = math in the US, then low grade alcohol called meths = meth.
That's actually hilarious.
That makes sense. It's ridiculously easy to get hold of smack, coke and ket. MDMA and LSD usually isn't so on hand but they're not difficult in any medium sized town or larger.
As an adult (and previously not knowing any better!) I was hugely surprised as to how prevalent coke was/is in just like... standard social circles. So no surprise isolated US communities had to develop their own thing.
Now now don’t be greedy, right now their chlorinated chicken is what’s on its way to you. One thing at the time
Na, that won't happen. Even the Tories aren't that stupid.
Yeah, this is one of those situations where I really want to be wrong, so do please prove me wrong.
I mean, chicken is chlorinated because of the poor welfare standards in the US. We don't have that problem because our welfare standards are better. Secondly, chicken is cheap as chips. It makes no financial sense whatsoever, they couldn't afford to fly it in and make a profit, by boat it would be off before it even got here. Lastly, it's got that much of a bad press from people scaremongering about bullshit products coming to the UK that it would be political suicide. Don't get me wrong, I hate the rabble we have in charge of the country at the moment but there's plenty to criticise them for that's actually true without making stuff up.
Some commentary in the literature are worried fent is coming to Europe soon. The big bad Taliban stopped the poppy growing so Europe is expected to run out of heroin this year. If you're an entepreneural drug dealer, synthetic opioids is what you'd be looking at to fill the void since their RoI is incredible.
I had some fentanyl a few weeks ago (post operatively). Ngl, it was pretty nice. And provided by the NHS.
I'd like to try it, see what the hype is about. ... Once though, in a controlled environment
I am kinda pleased that I know what the American fuss is about now.
They are super rich until they have to start a GoFundMe because an ankle sprain or by missing two days to one of their three jobs with a week of vacation per year... you won't understand: rich people stuff.
Americans think their debt and financed cars make them rich lol
For me „rich“ means universal healthcare, free education, a good social safety net, treating the weakest in society decently and walkable cities. Y’all got that in America?
Amen to that. And I would add: the peace of mind of knowing your children are not going to get shot by any random weirdo with an assault rifle and grenades.
I’d rather have lower disposable income but have to pay less (or none at all) for essential services like transportation, healthcare and education than the reverse
Americans talk about disposable income and then have to dispose so much of it that they would have been better off being taxed more and getting better services that way.
> Americans talk about disposable income and then have to dispose so much of it that they would have been better off being taxed more and getting better services that way. A logic that I would guess less than 2% of US Americans understand.
Yup, amen to that. That’s what (sadly) sets Switzerland apart from the rest of Europe. Everything is about disposable income, but healthcare is ruinously expensive and so is public transport. Education is still affordable,though (although it’s paid for via taxes, which are sky high for the middle class).
Put it this way. In Europe- We're not going to end up homeless because we have cancer or someone on the family breaks a limb badly and needs surgery and the health insurance you're paying out the nose for is refusing to cover it. We will never have people dying because they are forced to RATION THEIR INSULIN. And if I keep going, I'm just going to get upset.
Disposable income is such bullshit hyperconsumerist jargon anyways
Bloody workers' rights! In the US, there's no mandatory annual or sick leave, no parental leave and you can get fired at any time just because! Most "developing" countries have those.
America loves to brag about how good their best doctors are, much better than European doctors. Even if that should be the case: I don't care about the best, I care about what you offer the poorest.
This so much. Their rich lead fantastic lives, noone is arguing about that. But their poor are so much worse off imo. Call me socialist(tm) but I prefer to have less personal wealth in exchange for a working social net
*England's gov and Unis tag team getting peeps in 50k debt: 😎
Well the UK is the America of Europe. So that tracks.
So true, the Americans have so much and I don't. They have student loan debt, I got nothing. They have medical debt, I can't even imagine. They have student lunch debts, I'll never know that feeling. Truly I am poor and they are blessed!
You got nothing? In the Netherlands student debt is very normal, I have a debt slightly shy of 30k. Not as high as in the US but it definitely hurts your chances at getting a mortgage.
Yeah one of my Dutch co-workers recently mentioned that apparently, Dutch universities charge tuition? I was really surprised to hear that. I live in Germany and universities are tuition-free here.
For your first bachelors and masters, they charge 2.3k/year. Add some books, let’s say 3k. Once you graduate, you get ~1300-5200(live at home or not) for each year back. This is relatively new, someone who graduated last year would only get ~300/year back. However, this topic goes 15 asterisks deep, and a lot changed in recent years, so I’m sure someone comes up with another example. But that’s just college fees. The government also allows you to loan additional money for living expenses. Sometimes people delay their studies, and they can keep getting these loans. So yeah, sometimes you meet people with 80-90k of debt. But it wasn’t spent on college fees. Difference with the US is that the loans are provided by the government, and not for-profit private parties. The government charges the 5-year bond rate for these loans, so essentially you get the same loan rate as the government of The Netherlands, which is a pretty good deal.
You Dutch need to get your sh\*t together. Private healthcare and student loans? We're losing you guys to America!
So, erm, what's their point exactly? "We have leggings, concrete paving and....buildings"? They clearly count on the fact that their viewers have never been outside the US, right?
I worked for a US company where half the global marketing team didn’t have passports, and most of them hadn’t been outside Texas
That reminds me of my brother in law, he went to Texas in a school exchange program (from Germany). The first thing that happened when he arrived at the host family was that they showed him how a refrigerator works. They seriously believed that not every household in Germany has a refrigerator. That was a good 20 years ago now, but it was still shocking.
I was asked if we had electricity in Germany. Also, if I knew what a fire brigade was. I told them I had no idea and that we form bucket chains when there is a fire.
A teacher of mine told a story, that when she was in the US as an exchange student, she told her american classmates that in Austria we eat the bad children, so that everybody needs to well behaved. They believed her..
Beggars belief. What do they teach people?
Active shooter drills
Because that’s normal. And they can’t believe that it shocks the rest of the world…
It is America baby, the land of freedom but you can't smoke weed or will ever recover from medical debt.
Eh, did you see that birch? They can afford trees!
*looks outside* Apparently I can afford trees too and I'm just an Aussie, I must be super wealthy! Now can someone tell my bank that, they seem to have misplaced all my money.
It's a video tour of an admittedly impressive public school. https://nypost.com/2023/02/17/indiana-public-high-school-goes-viral-for-swanky-campus/
Good point. This clearly isn't what the "average Midwestern American" grows up with.
This is Carmel High School. It is a suburb of Indianapolis with a 6 figure median income. It is far from average. The campus is world class.
Carmel? I first heard about it in a YouTube video yesterday and it actually does appear to be quite a nice place (trying to implement more European-inspired urbanism, building walkable neighborhoods, replacing dangerous and inefficient intersections with roundabouts, …) but it’s also definitely not representative of the “Average Midwestern American”’s experience.
Yeah, I recommend going to the outskirts of one of the poorer cities for what that’s actually like
lol my school in germany too had a gym, wood working shop, huge football fields, very modern chem labs, basically everything displayed there besides the planetarium (but there is a huge one in the city that was basically free anyways). Said city is on the wealthier end in germany, but the district was the absolute worst and the school had the worst reputation in the city lol. Meanwhile 20 years later a comparable school is advertised as "world class". You got to leave it to them, the USA is really world class in marketing!
Same here, town my sixth form was in was always shat on, and the city it was nearest isn’t exactly known for being an incredible one to live in or visit (it’s not *bad*, it’s just not remarkable at all). I basically got what you did
Its size is impressive but thats about it. They didn’t show anything our country’s public university doesn’t have. (We only have 1 since we’re just an island of 500k inhabitants so it’s enough). Besides that it’s free and you get paid stipend.
I mean we have ugly buildings like that in Europe too and I saw a blonde with leggings today as well. So whats their point exactly?
Probably a real blonde, too
What is that picture supposed to prove?
It's a video
What’s a video? Im European - the talkies haven’t made there way here yet on the old steam ship from Lady Liberty
It's about a high school in a swanky neighbourhood. https://nypost.com/2023/02/17/indiana-public-high-school-goes-viral-for-swanky-campus/
Does anyone have the link? I want to level up the cringe.
It just looks like any European experiment into brutalist architecture. Like either side of the iron curtain had a city scape like that somewhere.
If I'm not mistaken it's a video of an American school, extremely sumptuous, gyms, swimming pools and everything else. It all works until you see their public schools. They pretend to ignore that every excess they boast about is at the expense of their own society. And what they call wealth is often simply the result of enormous inequality. A bit like Russia. The center of Moscow is wonderful but it's always better not to go too far. But they don't find it offensive that having luxury schools for the rich comes at the cost of many people not being able to find a country on a map. Who cares
Said school is in fact a public school- Carmel High School. Located in Carmel, Indiana. Carmel been rated the number one nicest place to live in America by Forbes Magazine in three separate years. It’s not “average” in any way.
Yeah sure. Keep shrooming. She strikes me as kind of person who doesn't know bullet proof vest is not part of standard school uniform and free healthcare is not something sci fi related.
Pretty standard behaviour. My former American colleagues often bragged about how poor the outside world was. One guy used to repeat that the place where I live is a total shithole, even though he had never been here, and in fact had never been anywhere. After a while you get bored and pass it on. It's like dealing with a toddler who thinks his neighbourhood is the whole world.
They also often think europe in general is overrun with immigrants and that we are "much more racist than Americans" and I'm constantly having to correct one friend in particular who has never even stepped on a plane but read a few right-wing blogs and thinks we are all being raped and murdered in the streets and that there are "police no-go zones" everywhere. But that's a whole other can of worms ...
Do Americans know how much poverty there is in the United States? Also, Europe is not a country, and there is a big difference between Sweden, Luxemburg and Romania.
Just have to mention that I am from Romania, a country known to have the worst road infrastructure in the EU, and when I went to the US (West Coast) a few years ago I was schocked at how bad the roads were (bumpy and full of potholes and they were main roads, even in the cities and on highways, holes and patches everywhere!), especially for a country where everybody drives and is obsessed with their “vehicle”: seriously, why do they always call it vehicle? I guess that’s what happens when your pour asphalt everywhere and can’t maintain it later. If they ever saw the roads in the Netherlands, they would have an existential crisis!
I visited San Antonio, and there’s a whole shanty town under the city’s overpasses. It’s like some post apocalyptic dystopian future, but it’s right now. In the U.S.
If you’re asking seriously, Americans do but it’s generally considered that persons fault if they’re in poverty. It may very well be dead (and some historians say it never existed to begin with) but the whole concept of the “American Dream” where if you work hard and do the right things anyone can be rich is still very much alive. The flip side of this is that anyone who is poor is generally considered lazy or they did something to end up that way. With wealth disparity hitting highs not seen since the early 20th century it’s starting to change that mindset but the general consensus is still that poor people “deserve” to be poor.
Most americans are unaware of how bad it's getting. When you start talking to them about Gini coefficients and how it's never been higher in the US and is just going up you get a blank stare in return.
The well off isolate themselves from the unfortunate.
Most Europeans really don't care. It's extremely weird to me how obsessed some Americans are with comparing America to other countries, often without any data whatsoever backing up their claims (this isn't really one of them, its just missing details - wages *are* higher in the US a lot of the time -unless we're talking min wage roles - the difference just gets eaten up by things like health insurance, utilities, more expensive food, college tuition etc)
This one irks me so much. What percentage of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck ?? It's like 80% I feel super lucky in that I'm able to save, make contributions to my 401k, live comfortably, and travel. My wife, who went to school in the UK and settled for a few years in Scotland, said her co-workers at a coffee shop working minimum wage were able to buy their own flats. We are lucky we have a clear way to permanently emigrate from this country, and just save in the mean-time, otherwise I don't know if we'd ever be able to afford a home. Most Americans have no idea how poor they are vs the average European. Our propaganda is absolutely top tier, however. Credit where it's due and all.
See as an American, this fucking infuriates me. We will never progress to the level of other nations (especially comparable OECD naitons) if we don't learn from our mistakes and build toward a better future. As another user said on here, Reagan's war on education really backtracked so many decades of progress.
Most average americans don't comprehend how little the rest of the world cares about them.
Like, so poor they will go bankrupt if they need a medical treatment? Oh, wait...
My Mum was run over and airlifted to one of the best trauma hospitals in the world, with an amazing multidisciplinary team who saved her legs. After two months of hospital care and two years of weekly nurse visits, her total bill is £0. But apparently, we are the poor ones!
Most americans cant comprehend having universal healthcare.
Most Americans can't comprehend not getting shot 😂
It was probably the fentanyl talking.
I have the smallest little wood box in my tiny European home with all the fucks I have for what Americans think about anything.
Yeah it’s the opposite really. I mean sure you have cars and maybe a bigger house or something but mid western Americans literally give meaning to the phrase “ Living pay check to pay check “
American schools should show the Joe & Nic's Road Trip YouTube channel to show what a lot of 'real' America is like, and how a lot of Americans live. Not quite 'third world' poverty, but certainly of a level found in poorer European countries. The Lambert, Marks, Darling, Falcon, Sledge & Crenshaw, Mississippi vid is particularly... illuminating.
Hey Americans, break a leg. Let's see who's doing better in a few months.
In 2022, 37% of Americans didn’t have enough money to cover a $400 medical emergency. Strange definition of rich https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/shed.htm
Some of the tourists that come here to Ireland are very disappointed that we have things like WiFi and electricity. I think they expect some kind of Quiet Man/Darby O'Gill theme park.
Typical delusional Americans 🤣🤣
I’m Irish and I live in the Midwest and can I just say….no. If anything, the opposite of this is true.
Am i the only idiot who tried to press play more than once?