American Culture

[@userk9]

Saw the first ask “🔥 on American culture” and immediately thought it was a jab at the California Forest Fires that happened a year or few back

[@justarandomtechpriest1578]

You mean yearly

[@nortalian549]

Hopefully not this year since we are getting so much rain this winter! Or at least, not one as bad as the previous years’ fires were.

[@userk9]

@@nortalian549 nice, I wish you the best for luck for the new year

[@randomtangle4629]

It’s like dialects: You don’t hear your own, only others.

[@cass6020]

I'm stuck in a permanent state of being aware that I have *some form* of accent but I can't tell what state my accent is the most like. It's so weird to kind of notice but not be able to identify

[@GreatGraniteState]

​@@cass6020saaaaaaaame although I've been told I have a very intense American accent so maybe that's just it

[@fuel-pcbox]

Bruh, despite growing up in and living in Texas ALL MY LIFE (albeit a VERY suburban part of it), I've NEVER heard people IRL speak with a stereotypical Texan accent, and when I DO hear people speaking with that kind of accent, it's SUPER annoying and grates on my ears a TON. I don't speak with that kind of accent either, and neither do either of my parents, despite my dad ALSO having spent his whole life in Texas, and my mom growing up in the adjacent Oklahoma in a small town, so you'd expect her to also have a stereotypical Southern accent too, but she just... doesn't lol. My mom DOES say both "pen" and "pin" both as "pin" a lot of the time, and that DEFINITELY annoys me though. I myself actively fight the pin-pen merger in my own speech by making an EFFORT to pronounce them correctly and distinctly from one another lol.

[@randomtangle4629]

@@fuel-pcbox I’m against prescriptivism but I can get behind fighting the pin-pen merger.

[@TheMimiSard]

I think one notices one's own accent more if one hears a lot of other accents but rarely one's own. I'll Australian, the vast majority of people I see in media are American or English. My own accent is not common, and more often than not, Aussie actors who have gone international are very good at doing other accents. However it seems notoriously hard for other nationalities to do Aussie and Kiwi accents, so mostly accurate ones come from actors from Australia and New Zealand. I still adore Omega and Emerie Karr of Bad Batch fame because they both have an authentic Kiwi accents, which is the close sibling to Aussie accents. Even the male Clones don't sound authentic, because Dee Bradley Baker is an American trying to do Kiwi.

[@rubyamateurtactician4354]

As an American who constantly worries about whether I am being screwed over by the corporate at work, or how I am going to afford to move out of my parents' house, I really needed these warm fuzzies today.

[@54lolman]

Agreed. Just so tired of the whole "America has no culture diatribe" I hear often.

[@anonymousfog501]

As an American this video is made me realize how difficult it is to actually see the good traits in this place because the bad traits are oh so loud Either that, or it's because I naturally expect everyone to be nice, so that when someone isn't nice it really sticks out

[@geoshark12]

Its like how you won’t remember the guy who held the door for you but you will remember the guy that spilt there hot coffee on you

[@JakubWojciechowski933]

I believe we as people are just more inclined to notice the bad than the good. If something about your culture, or anything else really, is good, you barely notice it - everything's fine, so there's nothing to talk about. Meanwhile, when things are bad, we can disscuss it for ours

[@Alex_K221]

One thing all Americans will agree on, no matter our backgrounds, we all hate the government.

[@connermckeone4915]

as the founding fathers intended

[@LeetleToady7]

Yeah, fuck the government of the party I don’t like! The party I like is alright… but still, fuck ‘em. Generally my ideology lol.

[@Zekiraeth]

I was actually a bit surprised when they described American culture as very casual, because compared to Denmark, where I'm from, they aren't really. That's because Danish culture is casual in many of the same ways as America, except slightly more so. For example, at no level of education or employment are we expected to refer to anyone by their last name and honorific. Americans are also very uptight about swearwords. In America, there's a lot of circumstances where saying 'fuck' is enough to get you in trouble. If I remember correctly, there's even a law or standard industry practice rule in place on TV demanding that all swears be bleeped out until after 10pm. In Denmark, negative reactions to swearing start gradually disappearing around age 12 or so. Danish swearwords are mostly just considered informal and are used quite freely even in the workplace. English swears are also commonly used and in my experience are actually seen as a bit more edgy than Danish ones, but still not to the point where anyone will bat an eye at someone using them in a casual setting. I think depending on the region of America in question, we might be very similar in that area, (from what I understand, New York seems to be very ok with swearing a lot, unlike the South) but the thing about not calling teachers and bosses by their first name definitely seems like a country-wide thing.

[@sele6138]

The name one! I'm from Finland and we call our teachers by their first name too. I've only ever had one teacher who I had to call by last name, a high school english teacher who insisted we do so bc that's how it's done in english speaking countries

[@randomtangle4629]

America is casual except when it comes to (generally speaking) sex and swearing, I believe due to the Protestant and conservative culture. Religion definitely isn’t as prevalent as it once was, but it still affects wider American culture.

[@esobelisk3110]

i’m from Denmark, too, and i had a similar thought. the only teacher i’ve called by their last name was a history teacher who had a really common first name, and a really cool last name. no honourifics were involved. in fact, i don’t think i’ve ever called someone (or been called) an honorific outside of joking around with friends, and going to a living history museum. on the other hand, we’re definitely less casual with strangers than the Americans. from what i hear, they talk to strangers on public transport. i think the only situations where you might find a conversation between two willing strangers on public transport in Denmark, is if one offered to help with the other one’s luggage, one asked to talk to the other one’s dog, or if they’re on an unbearably hot and overstuffed train, and everyone’s commiserating together. or they’re both Americans. i actually have mixed feelings about that. on one hand, i get pretty anxious when talking to strangers, so i’m glad i can avoid that most of the time. on the other hand, i feel like i’m missing out on some potentially interesting conversations with people who wouldn’t otherwise find themselves in the same place as me, because we lead very different lives. and by extension, i feel like we as a culture are missing out on those conversations, which is sad because there’s so many different kinds of people here, and maybe we would be a bit better at living with each other if we spent more time talking to people who aren’t just the ones that we have enough in common with to choose to spend our time doing the same things as each other. idk. this got off topic. tl;dr: Denmark is casual but we don’t talk to strangers, living history museums are fun, the last paragraph is mostly unrelated to the discussion edit: tried to make this a little easier to read

[@amberspark9434]

Hey, on the New York comment do you mean the state or the city? (I assume you mean the city, but New York City and New York State as a whole can actually have remarkably different cultures-) But in general a lot of stereotypes about NYC aren’t correct. From my time visiting the city I’ve like- never encountered anyone rude. Quite the opposite actually, everyone was so much nicer than where I’m from, at least to strangers. Also the crime rate proportional to the population is actually the lowest for a city in that state for most crimes, with petty crime (stealing a couple dollars from inside a car) being much more common than violent, or any form of major crime. Idk, I feel like NYC gets a worse rep than is actually accurate

[@humanperson2480]

Seems to be true for all of Scandinavia from what I’ve heard. I’m Swedish and I didn’t even know teachers had last names until I was like 9 lol

[@lanfae9353]

America is also in the weird position of having our culture uniquely co-opted in some ways as "international" culture, especially when it comes to music, movies, and the internet. It's rare in America to watch foreign movies/TV shows, except for maybe some very popular British ones and some Japanese media that's been produced/localized specifically to appeal to an American audience. By contrast, every online friend I've talked to who lives in another country is familiar with a TON of American movies and TV shows. So a lot of people outside America grow up with a very strong awareness of what American culture is (at least the Hollywood version) and how it differs from their own culture, but most Americans don't grow up with that. It's easy to just assume that American culture is just "default settings" when that's kind of how it is in international media. The biggest film festivals have a separate film category for non-American films, not a category for each country or no distinction at all. I've noticed a sort of hostility sometimes, especially from European people on the internet, about how little Americans are taught about European culture, but think about it this way: how much would you actually know about American culture if you don't watch any American movies or TV shows, listen to any American music, or browse any American websites on the internet? This is the position that Americans are in. It's not a matter of not being educated, we just don't get advertisements for your movies, we don't hear your music on the radio, and your websites are made to American standards because American companies control a lot of the internet. It's not a good thing or bad thing, it's just how it is. Until the cross-cultural media stream starts flowing the other way, Americans just aren't going to be exposed to foreign media the way the rest of the world is exposed to American media.

[@BookWyrmOnAString]

Yup. The fact is, lots of American stuff seems global to Americans bc we usually experience other cultures through a blend with American culture; such as immigrants, and other countries being influenced by the US due to our government's power.

[@WolvericCatkin]

In the UK, ethnic diversity tends to be concentrated in areas which are the economic centres of the county, as it tends to be a result of people migrating for better employment prospects, and bringing their families along with them.

[@aussiemerican750]

Yeah in America it can be very different, as people were just kinda always migrating here for a really long time just to get a better life, as that’s what America was seen as for a long time. So there’s a lot of diversity pretty much everywhere, because people just moved in wherever they could and took whatever jobs they could get.

[@donschnulione6646]

as someone from germany, I can absolutely see a lot of these points in the way that they are certainly different in germany. It agree that it is wrong to say that america has no culture, In fact I think its pretty damn unique.

[@Lene02]

As a non-english european, at some point I stopped listening (it's just that I can't really focus for an extended period of time on a foreign language), but I was just relaxing to the music and your voice, wich is by the way really pleasant to listen to. Your voice is really appeasing.

[@bumblegoot1139]

This is a lovely video that brings a positive light to our overly pessimistic world. Thanks!

[@9nikola]

"Culture" isn't what you're proud of and openly gloating about to prove that your country is better than another. "Culture" is the normal things that you don't notice until you go somewhere else and are surprised by the lack of it. The US didn't strip cultures away from everyone who came there, it united them into a huge mesh of diversity and creativity. I'm not from the US. I've never even been there. Yet most of my free time is spent experiencing culture from the US, not because I am especially interested in their culture, but because their culture is so vast and diverse that it's so easy to find something I'll love. In fact, it's become so common in my country to experience American culture through movies and tv-shows and social media, that at this point it might as well be part of my culture to look at American culture. Now, whose culture is that erasing, and who is to blame?

[@crayolaclouds2696]

Thank you ♡

[@zachlewis9751]

You know what the best cuisine that came from the US of A? Tex-Mex. We took the best of food south of the Rio Grande and combined it with ingredients commonly used north of the Rio Grande and perfected it until it now has it's own name. Fellow citizens of the US of A, you have never had real Mexican food and you would not like it, what you love is Tex-Mex and we love it because it's literally perfect. American Culture is what made up the American people, a combination of everything that was here and came here.

[@gavinwilson5324]

Most Americans haven't even had real Tex-Mex. Stuff like Taco Bell is a narrow imitation of the real deal. I've met people from outside Texas who hadn't even heard of a breakfast taco before they visited.

[@meliponalord8892]

Oh, absolutely. Go to a good taco place down here in Texas and your life'll be changed the moment the server delivers your chips and queso and glass of lemonade.

[@samuelbedsole5089]

The best way I can describe American Culture is like 30 tiny people in a trenchcoat, and each of those tiny people is also like 3 tinier people in their own trenchcoats. The US is less one country as it is 50 different smaller countries that were squeezed together and forced to get along, and each of those smaller countries are either divvied up into even smaller "micronations" (like California) or form odd alliances across state lines based on cultural similarities (like the South or Appalachia). Heck, if you want to get REAL specific each county in each state can have their own distinct culture compared to their neighbors complete with their own accents and cuisine. In short, America doesn't have *A* culture, it has *multiple* cultures that are so spread out and self contained across a literal continent that the average person isn't going to pick up on them unless they really start to dig.

[@wisecatstudioz]

you can see this really easily with some things, for example in utah we have "pink sauce" other states near utah call it fry sauce but if you go down to texas or even cali, if you say fry sauce no one is gonna know what that is(for those of you who are curious it's mayo, ketchup, and sometimes people will add barbeque sauce or pickle juice, if you want to try making it I'd recommend just mayo and ketchup, more mayo than ketchup, should mix to be light pink. very good on fries, sandwiches, etc)

[@seantaggart7382]

Indeed fry sauce is delicious

[@OptimusPhillip]

Sounds interesting, like a variation on Thousand Island dressing. I think the most unique food item I know from here in Maine is the red snapper hot dog. It's basically a hot dog, but with a red casing that makes a snapping sound when you bite into it. Of course, lobster is pretty big here, too.

[@MahouShoujoNobue]

As a Japanese person with a New Englander friend, let me just say that the more rude a group of Americans is, the more ride-or-die they are with each other. For example, look at the typical Bostonian, and then look how the entire city came together after the Boston Marathon Bombing. They actually had the Northern Italians and the Irish Southies agreeing on something.

[@ymmijx6061]

well yea. you treat strangers politely because you don't know what they are like, what they are going through, and what they consider normal. but you KNOW what your friends are like. you know what they can take and what won't really offend them.

[@seanmcfadden3712]

Interesting. I wonder what these people would think of Australian culture. There are definitely similarities to American culture and British Culture, but I like to think we do have some uniqueness of our own. For example, I'm pretty sure we're even more relaxed about how we speak with authority figures, provided it's not in an official/business conversation. In fact, the more we respect you, the less formal we'll speak when just being polite or conversational. If an Australian is being formal and it isn't a big business conversation or something, you've definitely done something to upset them.

[@geoshark12]

So more swears more respect Jk sorry couldn’t resist

[@seanmcfadden3712]

@@geoshark12 Haha. Depends on your relationship with the person and whether or not there's kids around. Gotta watch your language around the kiddos.

[@osheridan]

@@seanmcfadden3712 As an Australian child, nobody blocks swearing around me lol- I don't mind, though

[@artomaton776]

And the fact that it’s legal to drink at 18, but I know several underage people who drink and smoke.

[@Endless-fire]

@@geoshark12 correct, the australian word for best friend is "cunt".

[@humanperson2480]

Most of the points in the start seemed fair, but it always sets off huge red flags for me any time someone mentions “European culture”. There is no such thing as European culture. Europe is so big, and each country has vastly different cultures that are simply impossible to generalize. For example: the video is just plain wrong about the school system, and are clearly only comparing British and American schools. As someone who lives in europe, the American system is actually remarkably harsh and authoritarian compared to what I’ve grown up with.

[@PinguinKeks]

If I hear one more american who keeps talking about european things when they have literally only seen one city in the uk or ireland, I will go insane.

[@sarbe6625]

Yeah, like, almost every single thing about "european culture" that got mentioned I just did not recognize in the slightest from my own country.

[@cherrybomby6355]

Also vise versa If I hear one more european who keeps talking about american things when they have literally only seen one city in the U.S.A., I will go insane.

[@The_True_Mx_Pink]

European culture changes drastically between country borders and American culture changes drastically between state borders. Some general things here and there, but separate identities in one big giant pot.

[@b.k.5667]

@@The_True_Mx_Pink i mean. Even across the borders of the states of European countries the culture changes drastically. I can atleast say that about Germany. The typical image that Americans have of Germany with lederhosen and Oktoberfest and all that stuff is Bavarian culture, which is only around 13 percent of the German population. Other German states are completely different, differences in religion, traditions, language (there are tons of different German dialects), etc. etc. I think European countries are more culturally diverse than you think

[@Elimaybe616]

A part of regional culture i have seen is near Spokane Washington potato wedges/ stake fries are called jojos and mayo + ketchup is fry sauce

[@Ghosttoast_yum]

This is a smidge unrelated but your voice is weirdly nostalgic and its really nice

[@onewingedangel9189]

From what I've seen it's less that America has no culture and more that there's very little uniting culture. There's tons of regional, racial, and immigrant cultures that don't really come together that often. Very similar to Europe, it's just harder to tell because we mostly all speak the same one or two languages.

[@owencmyk]

I think another part of it is that a lot of American culture has sorta been absorbed by the rest of the world. Like if you think about it Pop music and Rock music are both distinctly American culture, but we don't see them that was anymore because other people have slowly began to take those things and use them themselves. In general though, I don't see people taking bits from other cultures as a bad thing unless you're actively harming the reputation or identity of the original culture in some way. I think most of the stink people make about "cultural appropriation" is just for clout, under most circumstances it's usually a positive thing and leads to progress in the world, as opposed to just pure segragation where everyone is afraid to do what others are doing.

[@eldritchomen]

Yeah A lot of people don't understand the difference between "cultural appropriation" (Absorbing culture and making it part of yours/participating in one that you weren't born into) and "cultural MISappropriation" (The first thing but in a harmful bad way) And/or think they're both misappropriation bc they are an idiot

[@sarbe6625]

Isn't it like, a very common occurrence that you see a situation like this? Person A: is from culture A, does something associated with culture B Person B: is from culture A or C, accuses person A of cultural appropriation. Person C: is from culture B, praises person A for the respectful representation of their culture.

[@lanfae9353]

Yes! This happens so much with American media. Our movies and TV shows also get international releases in a way that foreign films (the fact that the term exists as a whole genre just for non-American films speaks volumes) often don't. A lot of "internet culture" is also American culture, such as American slang (especially from the Black community) being used as general internet slang by people who have never even met an American IRL. And I don't think that's a bad thing, but it is currently a very one-sided dynamic.

[@meliponalord8892]

Agreed, very big difference between cultural appropriation and cultural assimilation that a lot of people don't see. Cultural assimilation is when it naturally becomes part of your identity and culture, like how, being a Texan, I frequently casually use Spanish words, like greeting someone with "hola", or moving to a new country and adapting to their accent and mannerisms. Cultural appropriation is when you do it in a harmful way that enforces stereotypes or disrespects the culture, like wearing a war bonnet despite not having earned it, just for the looks, or using hard taco shells instead of actual tortillas.

[@owencmyk]

@@meliponalord8892 Bro... using hard taco shells isn't cultural appropriation, some people just like food differently and that's okay. I'm from Canada, if somebody in the US started serving poutine with beef in it or something, I'm not going to get offended, they have a right to eat whatever they want to eat.

[@themightyeagle21]

Ya know, I recently realized that US politics isn't really just a two-party system, but more like a two-coalition system, where there are two coalitions made up of different types of groups on either "side" of the spectrum. Like you have the radicals and moderates on both sides. The fascists and socialists, most of which identify with the two main "parties" instead of their own. With basic research, I could go more in-depth (like for example, Rhino Republicans are a different type of Republican, but still considered Republican. There's probably a version of Rhinos for Democrats, but I'm too lazy).

[@GusCraft460]

Needing a permit from the government to protest the government is very weird. We should protest it!

[@autisticwitch7581]

On cultural integration, I recently learned about the Native American name 'Miakoda'. It means 'power of the moon'. But the name can also be broken down into 'Mia', a Mediterranean name meaning 'beloved', and 'Koda', a Japanese name meaning 'friend'. So through imagination, 'Miakoda' has gained a second, beautiful meaning, 'beloved friend'.

[@madmanwithaplan1826]

I had a similar conversation with my wife early into our relationship and i also had to explain to her that she cant see her culture cause shes apart of it and can only see others through the differences. I also had to explain how you cant say oh thats not your culture you stole it from somewhere else. Because no shit thats how culture works. Its a living thing like language. Two people meet and find things they agree with and disagree with and most of the things they come into conflict over get left behind in order to be more agreeable over time. Culture is lost and it grows at the same time this is a natural process of finding common ground and kinship with people.

[@mushroomy9899]

Yeah, after I went on a 20 hour road trip from Indiana to Colorado, even for just a week, I feel like I noticed a lot of differences there. Not just in languages but how people acted, though there were many more languages spoken there compared to my home state which was strange to me. And yeah, road trips are clearly as American as pizza taller than the Empire State.

[@axelprino]

Huh, curious, I've never been to the US myself but quite a few of my relatives have gone either for tourism or work and their description of the culture there sounds quite different from this. According to them they say American people tend to be very polite and friendly on the surface but quite cold and detached if you bother to hold a conversation for longer than a few seconds, also they say nothing is done in moderation, everything is big and loud for the sake of it. They also said that they're aggressively professional in how they act when their job is involved, to the point that being casual when working can cause offense, which seems drastically different to our very informal work culture in here. And finally all agree that society seems shockingly fine with implied violence, to the point that they seemed to expect it at any time and come off as a bit paranoid as a result. Still everyone agrees that Americans absolutely have their sh*t together when it comes to having a functioning society when compared to us Argentinians and our culture where nothing works as intended.

[@gavinwilson5324]

Some explanations: Much (though certainly not all) of the perceived politeness and friendliness is purely a formality. We find it very important to make a good impression on strangers, even though it doesn't really matter. Once a stranger becomes someone we have to interact with for real, our priorities change. Many things are certainly big for the sake of it, but things are usually only "loud" in superficial ways. Things are much smaller and quieter outside of urban areas as well. American work culture is EXTREMELY varied. Generally, people with less job security are more likely to show that aggressive professionalism your relatives observed, simply out of necessity. I find it interesting that you see the US as having its shit together. I agree, but most non-Americans I've heard from (mainly Europeans) have the opposite perception. That's probably because of our very vocal attentiveness to our own issues compared to other countries, which was mentioned in the video. It's refreshing to see a new outside perspective.

[@axelprino]

@@gavinwilson5324 I don't know if the people my relatives dealt with would qualify as having less job security. My grandpa stayed in Wichita for a couple of months back in the 70's to do a course, he's a retired pilot, so he mostly dealt with flight instructors and people working on an airplane factory. My mom lived in New York for about half a year in the 80's working on a UN project of some kind, she's a lawyer. The other relatives of mine that visited the US did so as tourist, and I think all of them went to Florida since that's apparently the only place where Argentinians go when vacationing on the States, or at least it's the only place being publicized by tourism agencies. I've always said that from a South American point of view the United States appears to be composed of a total of three states: Florida, California, and New York. Ngl, it does sound like I'm taking out of my a** when I read what I wrote, and on top of that it's all second hand information, but I'm repeating that second hand info as I recall it. After all I've never been to the US, so every piece of information I know about it is technically second hand, the country itself could be a carefully crafted hoax and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

[@gavinwilson5324]

@@axelprino Pilots and lawyers... Ok, I can definitely see where you're coming from about the professionalism now. My job security explanation was just one facet of the topic, but now I see that perhaps the baseline of expected professionalism here is higher than other places. That's pretty interesting, I didn't really know about that until now. It really is hard to see your own culture from the inside.

[@axelprino]

@@gavinwilson5324 maybe I'm not quite expressing it right, it's not necessarily about being actually professional during work hours but rather being too serious and formal about it even among coworkers, again it might be just me fixating too much on it when they were retelling it. It's about how my grandpa told me that during lunch everyone just ate alone and nobody talked to each other, only the foreigners were friendly with each other regardless of where they were from, or how when they were invited by someone local to dinner the hosts mostly limited themselves to eat with very little chatter. As if socializing is just a thing done as a custom and not out of actual interest. Then there's also the fact that there's a very real language barrier when it comes to formality, since the way we indicate it in Spanish is completely incompatible with English. Spanish has a total of five second persons when adding all dialects (only three are used but which ones change depending on the country), each one with their own set of conjugations for verbs, and this is the main way of signaling if you're being formal or casual with someone. So when you have to cram all of that in just one second person ("you") it can seriously feel like everyone is overly serious all the time, it took me a few years to be familiar enough with English to even know how informality is conveyed (it still feels too vague), and that was thanks to interactions online. At this point I'm really starting to doubt if I'm just BS-ing my way through this conversation, so... I'd recommend taking everything I said with a grain of salt the size of one of those pink salt rock lamps.

[@gavinwilson5324]

​@@axelprino Foreword: I got carried away, and this comment ended up being really long. If you don't want to read through it all, that's fine. Each paragraph's topic is mentioned in its first few sentences, so feel free to use that to skim through if you want. Ha ha, I was starting to worry that I was BS-ing a bit, too. Don't worry, everything you're saying makes sense to me. To be honest, that's pretty much what I had in mind when I said "professionalism." Maybe this all stems from a different cultural understanding of what it means to act professional. Like, Americans see it as being more superficially stern and less social, or something like that. Take that with a grain of salt, though. To be honest, I don't know a ton about work culture, since I don't have a lot of firsthand experience working (I'm still in university). Most of what I've said has been deliberately vague, and learned secondhand from friends, family, and movies/TV. I do have some thoughts on what you said about people eating lunch alone and in silence, though. I'm absolutely certain that some workplaces are like that, but I'm not sure it's standard. Could just be that my perception is skewed by all the dialogue in movies and shows, so I can't be sure how common it is. And the part about being invited to dinner only for the hosts to eat quietly reminds me a lot of how family dinners are portrayed in stuff from around the 70s. If media from back then is reflective of the values of the time, (which I'm pretty sure it is,) then dinner was traditionally thought of as a time for families to spend together - not necessarily to socialize, but to simply appreciate loved ones' company, which may involve some quiet reflection. An invitation to such a dinner was usually an offer of hospitality, as it meant caring and providing for a guest by welcoming them not only into one's home, but into one's family bonding time. This is still what dinner is like in some households, more commonly in some regions than others, but for (I think) most people, dinner just isn't really a family thing anymore. In those cases, families still usually eat dinner together, but more out of the convenience of making one batch of food for everybody than out of sentiment. You're not likely to be specifically invited to this kind of dinner, but if someone happens to have a guest over around dinnertime, it's common courtesy to offer them food. This is the most I've ever thought about the cultural significance of how meals are eaten. I just came up with that whole analysis while writing this comment. I have spent way too long on this. There's one more big thing to mention, and I can actually say it with confidence: the dawn of the Information Age has obviously brought sweeping changes to American culture. Constant opportunities to socialize and connect with others has probably contributed to the value of family time being diminished, or maybe has given people a somewhat homogenized view of their interpersonal relationships, leading to more active friendliness toward family during quality time. (Those examples are speculation, take them with a grain of salt.) The prevalence of digital data storage and the high speeds and long distances now available for data transfer have built and destroyed entire industries, and fundamentally changed what white-collar work entails. The core values Americans hold shouldn't have changed much at all since your relatives visited, and many customs are too entrenched in their societies to be removed by new technology, but a lot of the more dynamic aspects of our culture, including workplace behavior, will definitely look a fair bit different. (Again, I'm not an expert on work culture, so I can't really give any examples, sorry.) I know this comment is really long already, but I'm something of a linguistics nerd, so excuse me for geeking out a bit during this next part. So yeah, I'm aware of the formality distinction in Spanish. In fact, I actually speak some Spanish, so I'd say I'm comfortably familiar with at least one form of it. I knew that languages are a part of culture, but at first I thought it was mostly irrelevant here since English and Spanish are fairly similar overall. But you pointed out a really good example of how language barriers matter. Native speakers of languages that clearly distinguish formality or familiarity could have some difficulty interpreting people's tone in languages without such clear distinctions, and _of course_ that would affect their perception of cultures that speak those languages. That hadn't occurred to me until now, and I find it _fascinating_. I wonder if English only having one second person makes formality more or less prominent in American culture. As you can attest, it can certainly make it seem more formal, but maybe it leads Americans to be more relaxed about status and respect, with the formality they exhibit coming from some other factor. I think that might be more in line with the distrust of authority mentioned in the video; it's true that we don't regard authority as highly as other cultures might, which is a mindset that's very much compatible with English's disregard for rank and role. As an aside, I think that part of the video didn't explain it very well. I don't think that, as a rule, Americans outright _dis_trust authority. I'd say it's more that we just don't have any particular inclination to _trust_ it in the first place, so we're rather quick to distrust it. In general, we don't really consider authority to be absolute - any unilateral decision can be questioned or opposed, and it's a point of national pride that we're willing to do so, and that many means thereof are integrally built into our government. Anyway, now that I'm thinking about the role of language in culture more carefully, I wonder what other aspects of American society are caused by - or at least compatible with - the particulars of the English language. And how does regional variation in dialect play into that? Could the differences between various subcultures be related to the specific accents of the regions? I could go on, but I'm starting to get tired of typing at this point. So to end off, here's a quick fun fact I wanted to mention: English used to have a formality distinction in its second person pronouns. "Thou"/"thee" was singular and informal, _exactly_ like "tú"/"te." Meanwhile, "ye"/"you" was either the plural (no formality distinction in that case, just like "ustedes"/"los" in some varieties) or the formal singular (like "usted"/"lo"). Eventually, "ye"/"you" became "you"/"you" as it is today, and "thou"/"thee" fell out of use. I hope that notation made sense.

[@Lukas.Cancelosi]

Americans also like keeping our mechanical and electronic history, some may call it "hoarding" but a lot of Americans struggle to throw out any piece of complex machinery especially if it serves a purpose and still partially functions and when it doesn't Americans will still prefer it fixed rather than replaced. It's the reason America still has 50,000 road-worthy Ford model Ts mostly owned by private citizens where cars that old in Europe are usually nonfunctional museum exhibits.

[@akashasteele8943]

I loved this video it made me so happy but I wanna say something for all the European people in the comments. Both America and Europe are soooo big. You can't say American culture or European culture. They're both regional, and schools, restaurants, and work places are different from region to region. This comment section has a lot of European people talking about how people are wrongly saying European culture when they've only visited one place in Europe. People do this with America too. I see you guys it get it. This is a really feel good video so I wanted to say something for you guys too. ❤️❤️🥰

[@BookWyrmOnAString]

Agree. Take the continent of North America. Divide It into 3 pieces. 1 of those pieces is the size of the USA without Alaska or any islands. Now take the USA and divide it into 5 pieces. Imagine getting a 6th of those pieces. Put all 6 together and that's the size of Europe, also a continent.

[@nova_strife]

God this is a breath of fresh air to listen too

[@geoshark12]

This is hello form the norther neighbour, canada and the usa have different cultures but we do have overlaps , it’s kinda turned into a feedback loop

[@crayolaclouds2696]

Thank you for poutine lmao hey from your southern neighbor 👋

[@geoshark12]

@@crayolaclouds2696 i hope you are able to get the good stuff with hot gravy and cheese curds

[@CosmicTherian]

American culture is one big smushed up ball of other cultures, and a bit of the unknown.

[@Ammiteur9]

5:10 Oh my god, the amount of times someone just casually called me friend on the internet completely makes sense now.

[@ymmijx6061]

i called someone friend once on discord when talking with them and they said i was being condescending.

[@Ammiteur9]

@@ymmijx6061 okay, that's kinda sad

[@fntthesmth423]

A few months ago I moved out of my home city for the first time since adulthood. The place i moved to is literally less than an hour away, but i've still felt a bit of culture clash. Some guy i started with a conversation with the other day said that starting a convo with a stranger was a city thing to do. Which makes sense for a region that basically requires the use of a car to get anywhere--seeing people is opt-in in suburbia, where in the urban area it's compulsory.

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

You can see a lot of American culture in its cultural production, just like any other country. The stories that Americans tell about each other and themselves. And there's quite the variety there, with its good and bad. Complicating it is that there isn't such a thing as "American culture", but rather different cultures, unified under a common coin and language, and kinda sorta government. Hell, Americans even have their own folklore, just one that is distinctively flavored after the era it was popularized in. You've got your Mothmans and Yetis, but also shit like UFOs and aliens have entered the collective consciousness in a depiction that might as well just be a variation on pixies and the Fair Folk.

[@kylewhite5695]

A lot of the unique elements about America compared to Asia and Europe come form the sheer scale of the country. Only China competes in size and most of the population of China is along the coast. Americans often travel across the whole country. Guns, Cars, Friendliness, mistrust of authority, and diversity all are influenced by a sense that you have to look out for yourself and those around you because help is far away and may not understand the situation well. Heck I’ve seen complaints that the people in Sacramento, the regional capital of my region don’t understand what’s it’s like to be a Californian because they live too far away. That’s how big the US is.

[@seantaggart7382]

Proud to be an united states citizen U S A! Edit: after reading someone else's comment I changed from American to The USA because same thing happens to europe aka Generalization

[@oreolaw9911]

as a non American who has lived in the US for a brief period I disagree with some of the points not all of it the latest stuff that was stated I did personally saw a lot of during my time in the US and my time with Americans outside of the US. this was very interesting to see a Americans point of view on this stuff.

[@DeepHibiscus]

One thing I would like to add is that Americans speak almost musically. A hum and sing alot. Like if I walk down a street for 30-40 minutes I will hear someone humming or softly singing to themselves.

[@alehaim]

I must say that the American live affair with the car has been the most disastrous thing in US history driven by corporations and their propaganda which had a profit incentive to everyone driving a car (tire, oil, car and road construction companies), while causing the destruction of many cities in the name of paving the way for cars over the ruins of earlier more vibrant often walkable cities.

[@immutablebrew]

The first reply is wrong, fundamentally, but the way they're wrong also speaks to American culture. Capitalism is sort of woven into the culture intrinsically, for good or ill. And, as a nation founded by Puritans, there is an expectation to fall in line. But the fierce individualism overrides so much of that. You're expected, of course, to take up for your neighbors, your city, etc., but never at the cost of who you are. And a lot of the consumerism and homogenization that happen are the result of being strangers in strange lands, and doing what you can with what you have, or dealing with the pressure those strangers exert. Ever at odds with ourselves, ever clashing and raging, refining like iron in a crucible. And that arrogance so many see as intrinsically American? It's part of how we're raised. We're the children of Manifest Destiny, the proctors of the Great Experiment. We're raised being told that nothing is impossible with enough effort, and both out history and cultural myth pay proof to that very idea. We go into something with full confidence that we can do it, or we'll figure out how to do it. Failure isn't an option because we don't think about it. And, even if we fail, we pick up and try again, having failed forward, or, in defeat, realized where our strengths really lie, and pursue the things we can do.

[@mizeress4454]

People always find it weird - but the first thing you hear nearly any European that visits America say is that everyone is really nice. But it actually kind of makes sense when you think back on it. I'm fairly introverted but there have been situations where I've had entire conversations with a stranger before where an outside observer would have no idea we had never met before. Most people are taught to be polite from a young age and give people help if they can. Things we just view as good manners - like smiling and thanking a cashier or nodding to someone you happen to make eye contact with - can be viewed as Americans being nice.

[@moomoo3689]

Honestly, as a person born in America to a parent who immigrated, I love this post. I honestly hate the current state of things, and while the posts here are generalizations of American culture as a whole, it makes me feel good. I've had a discussion on this sort of topic before, and it feels nice to think about how a collection of cultures helps support the culture of America. It's no perfect, it's no always going to be the same in one place as it is to another, but it's what we got.

[@GlitchedMuse]

Even states in America have their own culture. For example: my mom has lived in Texas for a good portion of her life. However, she's from Missouri. A while ago, she went back there to spend some time with some of her closest friends. And while she was driving there, she moved over to the shoulder of the road to let someone who was riding her bumper pass. Her friend kinda freaked out and asked her what she was doing. Turns out, that's not something people do in other states. It's technically not even legal in Texas. But we don't really care. Because in Texas, road safety laws are viewed more as a suggestion than a requirement. Even the speed limit. If the speed limit said 60, everyone is going 70. You could even look at how other people talk to see some culture. Down here in the south, we abbreviate as much as we can when speaking. "Y'all" "ain't" what're" etc. I noticed that because I like to write and tell stories. And in those stories, i use a lot of fantacy elements, because i like fantasy. And I, on instinct, write those abbreviations because it's natural to me. However, it doesn't fit for a character who is supposed to be, say, an eldrich being older than the conceivable universe. I highly doubt Cathulhu is saying "I'm gonna eat your sanity now," or something. It's probably something more along the lines of "I shall feast upon what shreds of sanity remain in your fractured mind!" But that's not how I talk, so that's not normally how I'd write dialogue. Point being, exact what the video said; you do have culture, you just don't realize it because of how normal it is to you.

[@52flyingbicycles]

American culture to an American is like the ocean to a fish. Though to me, the water feels more or less the same everywhere.

[@wizardcretio9096]

I live in the UK, and this is video seems like the list of the things us brits hate about the USA

[@uniquename6925]

Considering one of those points was "more racial diversity" You hate our diversity then? lmao (Joking hopefully)

[@humanperson2480]

In fairness, I’m pretty sure by “European” the writer meant “UK”. Because that’s what most Americans mean when they say aureole. You can tell by the fact that none of the comparisons work if you compare literally any other European countries

[@wizardcretio9096]

@@uniquename6925 mate our hate for the americans is a jokey thing and more of an annoyance with some cultural differences (seriously football isnt called soccer :>>>) But in all seriousness in some sense other people in yhe country would think this. 😭 but that id how the world works

[@jambott5520]

@@uniquename6925 while I don't know if the commenter thinks that more racial diversity is bad, a lot of people in the UK do think that way.

[@christiangarza8122]

@@wizardcretio9096 Ask Ireland

[@charliekahn4205]

I consider "American culture," i.e. the cultural factors that all Americans share, to be just the bare minimum amount of common culture required to not have all the subcultures always be fighting each other. The pervasive libertarianism exists in order to add cultural tolerance to the crossroads of the world so NYC won't blow up every hour. Cars are prioritized so that people can get to their own destinations that they set, rather than being forced into common areas and thus assimilating more easily into a larger hegemonic culture. Our friendliness standard is based on active behavior, so that anyone can signal a greeting to someone of another identity. America is essentially the UN General Assembly but 24/7 and personal, designed to create distinct enclaves to preserve refugees' cultures. This is why New Haven, CT is home to a unique dialect of southern Italian, and why Pennsylvania Dutch is still a living language.

[@commanderfoxtrot]

As someone from Canada who went to the UK for 2 months, I honestly prefer wandering the streets and living in an abandoned tent on the outskirts of town temporarily over having to go to a job I hate every day just to make enough to house myself. In Canada, most people show disdain or even hate towards the houseless, and very few make significant-enough donations. Whenever a new shelter goes up, people in that neighbourhood complain to high hell that it lowers the property value and that crime will inherently increase (much to the same degree a white-trash family will complain of the same thing if a black family moves in nearby, which most-certainly happens here), while people outside the neighbourhood are happy that they’ll see less houseless in their district and that crime will clear up, as if the houseless are just some band of pirates and undesirables that’ll screw everyone over, when in the reality barely anyone ever sees, they’re some of the nicest and most-welcoming people. But that side doesn’t flourish in Canada. Let’s take a look at the UK, now. Administration doesn’t want to look as bad as it really is, so stats are noticeably different, but from my observations most people away from the capitals (Dublin, Edinburgh, and London - but not Manchester or Glasgow) live in subsidized/low-income housing, in farms far-enough away to not be bothered and can sustain themselves, or as squatters of one of the many run-down and abandoned buildings that the UK has to offer. Because there are _lots._ And there most-certainly are housing initiatives to get people off the streets and into these few-established in-city communes, however even street-people are quite prevalent, the ones who keep all their belongings on the upper slabs under the overhangs of abandoned and destroyed properties, and receive donations from the many to survive. And receive donations and bounty they most-certainly do. One woman had several blankets, with trinkets spread across, and a little coin box of Oriental style for pounds and pence to be deposited into, the charity of the passing crowd easily keeping her sustained on those sidewalk blocks. Another guy and his wife had a dog, and one would sit with the dog and collect coin while the other would make the trek to a nearby grocery store day-in, day-out to buy food for the poor pupper too. It was a simple life for them, but one they most-certainly made work, thriving on charity alone, in a place where it was abundant. Brits pay each other back because they’re not in a real state of extreme need, and they recognize that charity is best-reserved for the people on the streets, who need it to survive. That’s just one of the many topics covered in this video that I’ve debunked. I could do the whole 8 minutes, _but not here._

[@cass6020]

Culture is largely dictated by what resources a group of people has access to and how they respond to the abundance or absence of those resources. That affects values, which causes a ripple effect with how people shape their environment and interact with others and a lot of other things. Technically it's more than just resources, but the impact resources have goes very very deep. That's why there's rich culture and poor culture, and they're really distinct from each other. That's why everyone who lives in the desert loves rain, even if they're not interested in moving to a location that gets more of it. That's why *insert thing here* lol

[@icklemon07]

Thank God, I needed this!

[@something-bitstudios831]

On the note of diversity, america seems to be around 20-30 x more diverse than my country, which just seems like… so much. No wonder some people complain about not enough diversity in medieval european settings, they expect around 20-30x what is here currently (even if they expected 10x less for a medieval setting, still more than now), and I highly doubt it was ever higher.

[@Blnksto]

I've living in California all my life, I've been out of state 3 times, all very different locations. Once in Washington State, once in North Carolina, and once in Nevada. I've also gone to Mexico and Canada. ALL of them have shockingly different cultures and such than in California, and have much different ethnicities, which showed in the food there for the most part. Where I'm from is a mostly Lantio community, over half of all people here are from that demographic. In Washington and the parts of North Carolina I was in, it was mostly white. Same in Nevada. Obviously, when I went to Mexico there was hardly anyone there who wasn't Mexican, or that I couldn't tell was Mexican, but in Vancouver I was surprised to find that, while most were white, there was also a significant Asian population where I visited. Also, one big thing I found in American culture is that it isn't the country as a whole that people most identify with, it's their states and the culture of the community around ethnicity and the foreign cultures that made their roots. It's just super interesting that the US has a culture that imprints on most people, and then a smaller layer of state cultures. Also, side note, accents are SO jarring. It was most clear when I was in North Carolina, but every time I heard a local speak I was taken aback, and I'd assume people were also taken aback by hearing a Californian speak.

[@Pyeryte]

This is an old video but I can't help but notice that the hemospectrum is the background color. I keep trying to tell myself like "no no. it can't be." but it's really hitting EVERY single hue. I hate this.

[@dave2.077]

when speaking of something "having culture" we thinnk of sets of rules and given behavioural patterns because thats what european culture does. its ridgitity gives structure but not in a opressive way, just as your cars seat belt restricts you but its for the better. culture is in itself chaotical and a sideproduct of humans existing but how we think of this phenomenon can influence how we influence it

[@Blaineworld]

i read harry potter as a child and thought it was weird that characters called each other their last names.

[@castingspells_cz]

Hell yeah America. Thats the reason youre the best in the world.

[@liamgavinwells]

First time I've felt national pride in I don't know how long

[@seantaggart7382]

Same USA!

[@liamgavinwells]

@@seantaggart7382 Oh say can you see By the dawn's early light

[@seantaggart7382]

@@liamgavinwells WAS SO PRO-- i forgot most of the anthem Oops

[@anxiety_ridden3]

I just realized that the background may be becoming more and more saturated as time goes on

[@BThings]

I think the casualness and disdain for authority kind-of go hand-in-hand. Like, I don’t care what your job, educational background, or other perceived “status” is relative to mine, I expect you to treat me like a human being, and I will do the same to you…but I won’t worship you, or bow or do anything like that, just as you shouldn’t do any of those things to me. Hierarchies definitely exist in the US, but I think they’re often resented to some degree by all but the ones at the top.

[@dizzydots4786]

So, I live my life in a very dissociated state, and in near constant depersonal/dereal (DPDR). You can call it... Obnoxiously flamboyant eccentricity. But I've always had a distaste for the US, because unfortunately the most toxic of the citizens are the loudest. But this video opened my eyes to a lot of things. I'm Scottish, lived in an English boarding school for a long time, and been fortunate enough to visit many places on very short terms (cruises, holidays, school trips etc). But my entire life has been spent in Europe. I would love to visit places outside the continent, but because I'm not shy about my sexuality, gender, disabilities, opinions etc, it does leave me vulnerable, and I'm aware of that. Perhaps hyperalert to it. Idk. But this video did force me to confront some of my views about USA.

[@harshbarj]

I'd argue that car culture is bad. Given the number of deaths it directly causes and the overall negative effect on health brought about by a lack of walking. Even if it is just to the bus stop. If any other product caused this many deaths, it would be banned. I mean look at the weighted blankets recently recalled. 2 children died and a recall was issued. Just 2 and there was a recall. On average 102 are killed in car crashes DAILY and nothing is done. Not slowing down cars, or anything. We will however restrict pedestrians and bicycle riders to try to reduce deaths strangely rather than address the root of the problem. Sorry for the rant, but this is one the United States is VERY wrong on.

[@comfortablydumb2137]

If i may raise a point about the negatives of car culture, they're really only applicable to city or suburban living. As someone in a rural area, cars are a necessity here. And the point of banning them would quite literally impact, if not irreversibly damage the lives and livelihoods of rural communities. That said, I don't think being wholly reliant on cars is good. I just get tired of the alarmist logic that cars=bad when they play an essential role in the work/living people do outside of urban areas. Public transport is still good though. The same goes for making areas more focused on pedestrians. Just don't expect the average rural American to be willing or capable of biking 8-15 miles to the nearest town with a proper grocery store. As for suburbs? Those are the worst things to happen to the American populace, and they're so deeply intertwined with the rise of the automobile and corporate control of daily life here. If anything, that's what people should be focusing on; not the cars themselves. Edit: I don't mean to write a novel, but suburbs are a big reason for the decline of public transport and walkability, sheerly for profit. They came about during the gilded age, and only grew in the postwar era, when American car culture was at its respective apex.

[@mygills3050]

1:16 “Brightness light and color” definitely the first two judging by the starless sky

[@meatkirbo]

“Does not carry a requirement of paying back” Note that this does not apply to strangers, only friends. To us, this is just one way friends show they care for each other

[@amog8202]

7:00 Mississippian here! I'm not sure on how urban it really is; places like Texas and a good bit of the south have a lot of diversity, I'll see all sorts of people in my HS's hallway!

[@ACAB.forcutie]

This is bringing tears to my eyes.. this is beautiful ❤

[@dutchstewart9462]

Anybody who wants to see a serious protest search for videos of French protests specifically ones involving firefighters

[@bat7544]

You only notice the air when it changes, after all.

[@tompatierno5606]

Biggest difference in Colorado culture vs Northeast culture, the complete lack of Dunkin Donuts. Also you can't get a good slice of pizza anywhere but Wooster Street, New Haven. Also the seafood game is nonexistent. Also people are more into fitness, climbing, skiing, mountain biking. America is the Borg of culture. We will take your uniqueness and add it to our own. Viva la fusion cuisine!

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

I was writing a different comment for a different video and I found something out that I feel like I have to share here (It regards my thoughts as a European[Dutch, half-Irish] on how your regions and states can best be translated to the non-North American mind. Please hear me out on this, I've done my best on it): You know Rhode island right? It's the smallest US state. It just so happens that it's roughly the same size of Noord Holland, a Dutch province. Well in Rhode island there is one main dialect if I understand: Southeastern New England English. Shared with a couple other places if I understand correctly. Now how many dialects do you think are in Noord Holland? Don't be shy, nobody's judging. Just guess what you think is close. Have you got your answer? Good! Well the answer according to the Dutch Wikipedia page on Noord Holland at 2024-05-20 at 00:23 UTC +2(?, it's summer time) says that it's.... Drumroll please.... Last chance to make a guess.... Nine. Nine! Not counting subdialects or whatever they're called. Americans (and Ozzie's a as well) have difficulty understanding the density of different history and (historic)culture in Europe. If I drive for two hours (my driving limit without getting carsick) I'm in Germany already. And I can take the direct train to Berlin quite easily. It's not that difficult to get to a place where the languages, laws, customs and history are Completely different. Not forgetting the holidays! Now what does this mean? It seems like I'm just going "Oh, Europe is better! We are much more regionally diverse", but that is not what I'm trying to say. I just noticed that US states are not different enough to say they are "as different as countries" because they are not. Most of yous speak the same language or couple languages. If I go to the south part of Belgium they don't even speak a language of the same language family as I do! Yous are more alike then you think. There is more binding yous then yous feel there is. So what are your states? Not as culturally grown together as the current provinces of the Netherlands (There used to be massive differences, they used to be separate states. But not anymore. It's all to close now for that). It seems to me that being from a certain states matters a lot more to yous then it would matter to a Dutch person. It seems to me you actually take real PRIDE, full caps PRIDE, in your state. And not just the farmers who've lived on the same piece of land since that the Merovingians still ruled. Nor is it just the people who are culturally just that smidgen more distinct. *Cough * * Cough* Friesland. *Cough * * Cough*. No. To me it seems like EVERY person over there seems to have a genuine care, appreciation, love and PRIDE in their hart for their state. As only Americans can. So what does that translate too in the European (though secretly specifically Dutch) mind? Well, history nerd as I am, what I thought of was the Dutch provinces AFTER they lost most of their autonomy (AKA they couldn't fight with each other anymore), but while their identity was still strong. I'd say after 1815 (With the establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands) to when I don't really know. But I'm guessing after WW2 (IDK. That's too modern for me. The fact I'm even going as far as having guns is a very recent experience. Due entirely thanks to doing voluntary work for the local fortress museum. I used to not go beyond the middle ages, because guns made things too boring). Alternatively, I'm guessing Swiss states will also work. But I don't know I'm not Swiss. If neither of the two are equivalent, then I don't know if there even IS an equivalent. Let me know if you've thought of one, but otherwise it's pretty cool. Having something so unique as that. Quite nifty, I would say. Yous should be proud of it. PS.: Please keep in mind that European countries are very different, so say who you're talking about if you have experience there. And BRITAIN, ESPECIALLY ENGLAND, AREN'T REPRESENTATIVE! For the last couple centuries they've culturally pretended they're not Europe because they're "not connected". Even now they tend to culturally pretend that they are in the middle of the Atlantic between the USA and the other Europeans. PPS.: Did you notice how I said I'm Dutch, half-Irish. If you wondered why I'm only half Irish, that's because I grew up in the Netherlands. I've been there loads, and I'm a citizen, but that's just how I choose to count which nationality I'm from. Mainly from the country I grew up in, and the others by percentage of ancestors. So: Ireland: 50% due to one side of the family being from there and being a citizen. The Netherlands: 50% from the other side of the family being from there and being a citizen, AND 50% due to growing up there. So this made me wonder, why do so many Americans say they are "Irish" or "Italian" or whatever, when they are American-Irish, and American-Italian and American-whatever. Trust me, I get that feeling of pride and imposterishness you can get by being from multiple cultures. And I fully understand the need to keep that tie through the generations. Actually, I applaud it. Very cool! But have some pride in being American! You are more then just Irish, just Italian, just whatever. You are part of a unique blend of cultures not found anywhere else! Mainly because nobody else really makes as big of a deal of which type of immigrants you are as America. But that's also a thing to be proud about! Because it seems to be really good at integrating people, without those people losing their identity without verzuiling (old Dutch societal concept. The idea was immigrants become just another zuil, which means pillar, and it kinda worked. It's just that the other pillars collapsed right around the time this one was erected). And that's great! It also allows for a lot more mixing of cultures! Which is a good thing! You should be proud of it! So have some pride in being American. Because from where I look it looks like yous try your best to be anything but. I know it doesn't help that it may seem like the default. Thanks to such things as: The size of your country. The cultural isolationism (yous get a lot less non-US films then US ones, and yous learn a lot LOT less about other countries and the world outside of your country then others). And your cultural domination victory means that it seems like the entire world does US things even though that's not the case. Which is why it may seem like the bland option. But trust me, being Muricayan is anything but the bland option. It is very much like vanilla in this way. But if you want to know about typically American things, just talk to a European about US vs EU. It won't be good for your self esteem, but you will know what is different (worse, they're European after all. Insulting each others country is considered polite banter here [kinda]) in the US. Look at Chinese and North Korean propaganda for the good bits. Anyways, there's enough to be proud about. So be proud to be American.

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

BTW, I did this on my phone from roughly midnight to 01:42. So please forgive any errors or mistakes or things that don't read well or bad quality, I can't edit on my phone and I'm in no state to.

[@MaridoDoFelps]

I will be adopting this video, because while I know this is about the USAmericans, the other Americas are also like that. More colorful, friendly, diverse, casual. So, even though I usually dislike USAmericans saying "americans" referring only to themselves, this time I will ignore it and act like they were talking about the Americas in general XD And yeah, I live in Italy and I can confirm. People are so cold here... I come from a country in which strangers will greet each other with a kiss on the cheek, while here you're lucky if they smile while coldly shaking your hand. And god, the food. You can like italian food all you want, but 70% of it is the same ingredients built in a different way. South America? My guy, we have food from all over the world. Our cultural food consists of indigenous food, african, asian, arabic, european, indian (yeh yeh african is too broad of a category, but you get what I mean), every single place left a bit of their culture in our culture

[@sarbe6625]

Important reminder for two things. Just because these these things are true, that does not mean they aren't exclusive to American culture. And second, mostly all of the statements about "european culture" are flat out, fundamentally, wrong, in a very characteristically american way. Europe is a continent, not a country. Each single country l Europe has centuries of history tied to it, all of which has caused it to develop unique cultures. It's honestly kind of really fucking offensive to hear some outsider talk about my "european culture" and then hear them describe nothing but traits associated with different cultures that have nothing to do with the culture of my homeland. It kind of seems like a hyper-efficient way of devaluing and slowly erasing a culture. Which is, I hope is obvious, fucked up.

[@SYKRAL1]

Honestly, i think it comes from one specific place. America is what happens when you take the EU, turn it into an actual country, and erase the fact that it was ever separate. We view Europe as a monolith because it’s similar to America in size and cross country laws. There are states bigger than some countries in europe. It is very easy for Americans to lump all of Europe together and not even realize that they are doing it.

[@sarbe6625]

@@SYKRAL1 I guess it's a typical case of Americans seeing other parts of the worlds in the most superficial way possible, assuming similarity with themselves, and just rolling with it with an unearned degree of confidence.

[@Rhino-Prime]

I fail to see how the food one is a downside. I mean, that's shit's how we got pizza, hot dogs, name anything that has a noodle in it, macaroons ,etc

[@tuberculosisterrence567]

To be fair to European countries when it comes to protest, the Dutch are there prime minister, and the French go through 10 governments a year. They can party down with the rest of us

[@LazyNVersions]

American culture varies, and in Wyoming I know that if I were to bring up Rocky Mountain Oysters to a random person from Florida they probably won’t know what I’m talking about

[@fuel-pcbox]

Bruh I've lived in Texas my WHOLE LIFE, as well as occasionally traveling to other US states (albeit never outside the US, sadly) to help my parents who were convention vendors at the time, but I've NEVER had either Thai or Indian food. Hell, I've never had ANY kind of curry, despite that being common across ALL of Asia, AND in the UK, due to a relatively large population of Indian people there. Curry of ANY kind is just too fucking expensive to buy the ingredients to make it at home, and there aren't very many restaurants in my city that sell curry either. There are literally restaurants (PLURAL) that specialize in fucking authentic Japanese ramen in my city, and I'VE BEEN TO ONE OF THEM. That restaurant was EXTREMELY fucking expensive though, literally $15 MINIMUM for a SINGLE bowl of ramen, whereas you can get a decently-sized bowl of ramen AND sides in Japan for like, $3-5??? Authentic Mexican food is pretty cheap and easy to get here though thankfully, even from chain restaurants like Rosa's Cafe, even through a goddamn drive thru that's FASTER than the local Taco Bell half the time. There's also a local Chinese restaurant in my city that I've had, but I question their authenticity, even though a LOT of their employees (even their delivery people for some reason????) hardly speak English, but that's mostly just because Chinese takeout here in the US has a bad reputation for being inauthentic, and I've never been outside the country myself to verify. :/ EDIT: Also, I've never even HEARD of a grocery store in my city that specifically sells foreign groceries. I've never even seen a specifically Mexican grocery store, LET ALONE a specifically Asian grocery store, here in my city :/

[@HipsterShiningArmor]

Ok so speaking as a non-american, i think most of the things they listed seem pretty reasonable, but i would disagree about americans hating authority. I would say that american culture places a very high importance on the aesthetic of hating authority, but what they really hate are rules, which is not the same thing. I think this is part of why Trump strikes a chord with so many americans, as those who like him view him as an "anti-authority leader", which is to say he doesn't let pesky things like rules and norms get in the way of making the decisions he believes are the best course of action. Whether you believe said best course of action is best for the country or simply best for his bank account (and whether you think those are two different things in the first place) is, I suppose, dependent on your political orientation. But my invocation of Trump here is simply to serve as a rather blatant example of what I'm talking about; in no way am I saying this phenomenon only exists on the political right.

[@hollowinside9511]

The first person (the one who was like "aMerIcA haS nO cUlTuRe") i 100% guarantee is (or was at the time) extremely racist but convinced they were a saint and the most progressive person on earth

[@bob-u5b]

strongest nihilist vs weakest optimist

[@davebob4973]

thats a pessimist

[@PeoplecallmeLucifer]

I see this and realize this only refers to Western Europe Meanwhile me from Balkans : "haha ha haaaah"

[@PinguinKeks]

No this only really refers to england

[@PeoplecallmeLucifer]

@@PinguinKeks good point

[@existincey]

the diversity part sounds like an essay

[@EnjoyCar]

Americans are friendly- I will give them that. Atleast, in the nicer parts of the country. Where I come from, you cannot trust anyone- even in the quiet small towns or suburbs where you would normally expect decent people to live in the USA. The smiling, friendly person you met might be the last you would meet- as is the case often in other countries. You would be raised to always have your guard up and to trust not one soul. Which was a shock to me how people in the USA would so casually go around town alone or exercise by themselves in public after dark. A low-trust society is something you don't really encounter much in the USA.

[@N3pTUn3142]

Papyrus: SSSAAAANNNSS, I JUST SNORTED A SUITCASE FULL OF COKE, AND IM STARTING TO FEEL THE EFFECTS *"DISTORTED NEHY HEHE"*

[@booyahboogie3350]

i feel a bit better about my country now :]

[@ULTRAKILLPenelope]

I'm so glad this has been said

[@Gusthebusisreal]

I will say our love for cars is bad. I wish we would move away frome it.

[@supasoljas7824]

Now, gun memes aside, as far as I know, (I'm not 'Murican myself) in a fair few regions of the United Stated, guns and the act of shooting at ranges and the likes is also a fairly big part of culture that isn't as common in most places. There is only one place I can somewhat confidently think of in Europe, and that would be the Swiss, gun ownership is a big thing there. In all honestly, it's very easy to shit on Americans and I had a few arguments with friends about the US in general. A friend of mine is certain that more than 2/3rds of the US is stupid, like fuckin' really? I genuinely hate how easily people tend to write off a country that's the size of a bloody continent as a stereotype of Hyper Vegan Hyper Hillbilly Capitalist Globalist Gun-toting Racist Idiots. I wouldn't mind it as much if there wouldn't be people who didn't buy this shit. Though one thing that caught my eye is that lots of Americans tend to bunch the whole of Europe together as if it were... well, a United States of Europe. Europe varies just as wildly in cultures than the US does. We have rather woke people on the western side of the world and we have the super harsh, near-dictatorships that are against everything that's not Soviet (obviously being a little hyperbolic) to the east. There isn't a singular American culture, just as much as there isn't a singular European culture. There are cultures of regions within these landmasses. There are overarching cultures yes, but chalking that up as a culture of a country/continent seems rather odd. Regardless, the video was very nice, I just thought I'd give my two cents about the topic P.S. Holy shit your voice is relaxing

[@piercexlr878]

As someone who often bunchs up basically the entire Eurasian land mass at times. I find it's a useful tool for when referring to someone I know is somewhere over there but not exactly where because it means a lot of the unique things about America often won't make a lot of sense. It also gives a good indication if they know America by being American or by hearing about America since the 2 tend to have very different perspectives. Its a good tool for saying they probably won't understand X since that's largely an American thing but not very god about saying anything about what they do know or the kind of culture they do have.

[@supasoljas7824]

@@piercexlr878 I mean, if I have an American friend, I'd expect them to go on talking about only American stuff anyways, because I simply find it interesting. As for knowing if they know of something because they are Americans or just heard about stuff, I can get that. I was mostly referring to people saying stuff along the lines of "American/European culture" as the two are very very *very* broad terms which I find to be rather.... well, I personally find them a little distasteful in the sense that it overly broadens things. Nuances get lost, stuff like that. If you're calling someone from the Eurasian landmass an Eurasian instead of, say, German, that's fine I'd say. I won't usually go out of my way to call someone a Texan, it's far more convenient to say American. Now if I were talking about the culture that's surrounding a Texan, I will call that the Texan culture, as people in Maine would have a different culture, even if they would share some overarching things.

[@piercexlr878]

@Supa Soljas Yeah its terrible at specifics but there's a lot of very broad differences that it can be useful for describing.

[@supasoljas7824]

@@piercexlr878 Yeah yeah, I get'cha, I also genuinely didn't think of that when I first commented. I suppose I should've, but it just hasn't come up much for me.

[@seantaggart7382]

Indeed And that's what makes us human If you take away that culture you take away our humanity *something is shining* Oh? Heh so that's how to beat her

[@SarahAbramova]

Yeah, so tired of "America has no culture". Like no, we literally have so much culture. Forgetting the fact that we have so many people from different cultures, we also have our own, as explained. I can't walk a single street without bumping into something culturally significant.

[@luisenriqueal507]

As someone who has lived in the UK for most of my life the food thing is so true. I feel like I’ve barely tried other food because there is not really many options around where I live

[@rowandunning6877]

During that whole diversity thing, doesn’t apply to me cause I’m from New Hampshire where everyone’s white

[@JaharNarishma]

This video must be one of the more commented on because its contents is so ignorant. My impression is that most Americans are proud of their culture, so how can the premise be that the US lacks culture? Talking about one part of the UK and generalise for the entirety of Europe is very controversial. They even mentioned Brexit, a thing that is presented as both an economic thing and as an anti job-immigration thing, with a majority of voiced arguments being about differences in culture. It's so backwards with "Europe has one culture and I've seen it in the country that voted out of EU due to cultures clashing." There are some general things that I can see as American culture. The population is made up of immigrants from all over the world, and that has consequences. The colour of the skin will vary, each individual knows how to cook "their" food so food options will vary, and people seek out those similar to themselves so local cultures will vary. Then we have the car centric structure of the US. With an infrastructure that is actively bad for anything that isn't a motor vehicle, of course children will dream about having a driver's licence. This will lead to a fascination for cars in a lot of people. There is so much here. I will leave it at that.

[@LuckyOtter_WorldBuilding]

where's the link to this thread i have a contribution to it i'd like to make

[@kaitlynboss3497]

I wonder if any other country thinks they have no culture. Seems like an American thing to me

[@osheridan]

I'm sorry, I'm sure you had a very compelling argument. But the moment you just say 'Europe' when you really just mean the UK, I physically cannot take you seriously

[@PinguinKeks]

As someone from germany, please stop saying europe when you very clearly mean that one english city you visited.

[@oreolaw9911]

yeah it's so irritating even in England one city is completely different to the city next to it because of the rich deep history but Americans don't see that unfortunately

[@PinguinKeks]

@@oreolaw9911 You'd expect them to understand since their own country has more cultures than most people think, but they'll say europe anyway

[@oreolaw9911]

@@PinguinKeks I do not intend to sound offensive but sometimes Americans especially when it's about the outer world can be ignorant they believe that the rest of the world works the same as in the US . I don't know how many Americans I have talked to who believe that New Zealand is a state of Australia

[@PinguinKeks]

@@oreolaw9911 This is probably why they think they have no culture. They think their culture is the default. It's like the protagonist syndrome on a national level

[@oreolaw9911]

@@PinguinKeks that is a really good way of putting it . of course not all Americans are like that but the educational system in the US really doesn't help

[@lordfelidae4505]

So Americans are just extra.

[@ThirrinDiamond]

"We didn't strip these things from their culture" is quite literally erasing history though, including the history of slavery. I get what the person meant but yikes going compelete opposite as if america is solely good vibes is not healthy either

[@ThirrinDiamond]

Like the person is blatantly ignoring the original persons point and making it seem as if the original persons complaint was ethnically diverse restaurants and not the fact that kids get harrassed and threatened for bringing their culture's food to school

[@ThirrinDiamond]

Also the reason the original person is exasperated is because the people in power *aren't* having the conversation and the argument This whole thing just vibes as the person got offended because the other person is personally exhausted with fighting for the right thing. Responding with "but hey there are good things" will just invalidate their pain and frustration instead of going "yeah thats fucked up, let's change it. Oh btw i also noticed this cute thing we did" Like you can share what you love about your country without trying to pretend that things are just "slightly bad" when children are actually dying, tortured and homeless and millions of indigenous women and black women are currently missing and or murdered in cold cases Chalking that up to a woopsie or "oh we got it wrong" is horrifying

[@slimeinabox]

Finally someone talks about the truth.

[@JaxonJJB]

best 8.02 ive speent on nothing all day 👍

[@DeandaGe]

Is it rude to disagree with like... a good amount of those? I'm sorry but my experience being in the US wasn't everyone smiling a lot, it was people calling me a fucking idiot after they ran into me, calling my POC friend a hobo for trying to ask for directions with poor english skills and the only real smiles comimg from waiters and other tip-dependent jobs who HAVE to smile or else they literally starve.