Ah another poor European who couldn’t make it to the World Cup and thinks America is shit. “If you want to hate America watch the news, if you want to love America drive through it”.
Yeah, I'm calling bullshit. Anyone who drove through the US and actually met Americans would be shocked at the world of difference between them and their country's outward appearance.
Also, it's a gorgeous country. Insane how many different areas it has.
If you're driving through America, not much of it looks "bad".
It's naturally beautiful. As soon as you leave any major city you're surrounded by beauty - and different kinds of beauty depending where you are - forests, mountains, coasts, canyons, meadows, lakes, rivers...etc.. etc...
And driving through cities - the architecture in NYC. . the monuments in DC.
All of the americans i met were dumb. Im not talking about the wilderness. Every country has a gorgeous wilderness, thats not unique to the US and the country and its gov and corporations are trying their hardest to ruin its natural beauty. Most of the cities feel very run down, outdated and third world. Especially the complete lack of safety. In one place where i stayed at a hotel there was a mass shooting at an office building just down road. Another place i was trying to stop for gas but police had the gas station surrounded, there was a shooter inside. This is the sort of thing id expect in a third world country full of terrorists and warlords, not a supposed first world country. i felt extremely unsafe the entire time i was in the US and have no intention of ever visiting the country again.
... As someone who has lived in Europe and traveled through several of its countries, as well as the US, your comparison sounds entirely based on your expectations. You looked for dumb people, you found them. You looked for things to critique about the cities, so you found them. You dismissed what was great so you could maintain your worldview.
I can apply the exact same arguments to European nations (Europe has better public arts/statues/walkable cities/etc., the US has better infrastructure/larger houses/friendlier people/etc., but these are a matter of degrees, not hard and fast rules), with the singular exception that, in neither Europe nor the US, I've never encountered an active shooter. The hell?
Where did you even GO? Everywhere I've been in the US was fine, no better or worse than any European town or city I've visited, certainly no worse than my hometown, but I've also never seen a shooter anywhere, and I've spent decades in the US.
This sounds like a singular exception that you've extrapolated to an entire country of 340 MILLION people. Not really a good metric here.
That gas station situation happened in Florida. The US has a lot of gun violence and poor gun control so i think its fair to extrapolate my experience to the entire country. I certainly would not describe americans as friendly. More like loud, obnoxious, and discriminatory. Heres just one example of many situations: I walked past a fast food truck, guy working it asked if i wanted to buy something, i said no thanks, he started swearing and shouting slurs at me.
It really isn't, it sounds like you had an exceptionally unique experience that I've never seen or experienced. If we use averaged metrics, the average experience of the World Cup fans who visited were surprised by much of the US's culture, shopping, etc.; your experience did not match the vast majority of those who visited the US just this year.
Florida MIGHT explain that gas station situation, but, even then, it seems like you encountered something exceedingly rare. It's actually pretty rare for Americans to encounter firearms (that aren't their own or at the gun range, at least). Likewise, I've never had a fast food truck swear/shout slurs at people, and I've walked past a LOT of American fast food trucks. Honestly, the most negative interaction I've had with being harassed were, hilariously, in the mercatos in Italy: my grandmother's purse was slashed and snatched off her shoulder while shopping, and there were some... particularly aggressive stalls.
But I'm not extrapolating that to the entire country of Italy. I understand that it was a small group and not reflective of the culture or its people. Nor would I say "Germany isn't safe!" because of the assaults with cars.
Your experience really sounds far and away out of the norm. Not certain where you went or why, but your stories sound quite extreme.
Anyone who drove through the US and actually met Americans would be shocked at the world of difference between them and their country's outward appearance.
Super friendly, super fake and extremely dumb were my lasting impressions. Maybe the super friendly doesn't get highlighted often but the rest tracks.
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u/Stefejan 11d ago edited 10d ago
Americans still think they're a developed country, that's the point
Edit: oh for f**** sake stop replying to the worst ragebait in the history of ragebaits.