How America Got So Stupid... | Americans React | Loners

[@emrk6517]

Yule is another name for Christmas, the old European pre-Christian holiday. That is still what we call it in the North of Europe instead of anything related to what Jesus is called.

[@TukikoTroy]

And 'Easter' is derived from the Pagan festival of the fertility goddess 'Eostre'. The early Christian church had a habit of taken the locals Pagan events and superimposing a Christian meaning on them... Conversion by stealth.

[@stefanomartello3786]

Well in most neolatin speaking countries Christmas has technically no "Christ" in the name. For all of us is just called Natale/Navidad/Noël/Natal which just means "Birth" (which is still a reference to Jesus of course but only in Greek and English the name contains the word "christ" as far as I know) Anyway in the roman world there were similar events to Yule in this period which were called Saturnalia so it's not a special nordic feature. It's just that the days around the winter solstice were considered important more or less everywhere.

[@emrk6517]

@@stefanomartello3786 That's true, I know that since I also speak some French and Spanish. The point was the continuous non-Christian tradition.

[@martar.2085]

Well, in Polish we call it "Boże Narodzenie" which is literally "God's Birth", so, no, these are not the only lgs with the reference (though it's true that Jesus Christ is not literally in the PL name).​@@stefanomartello3786

[@stefanomartello3786]

@@martar.2085 yes, of course neolatin are not the only ones, in fact I said Greek and English are the only european ones I'm aware of that contains directly the name of Christ while the others obviously refer to it (being a religious festivity) but only indirectly.

[@gedsmart7109]

Surely the French must like Americans they gave you Statue of Liberty

[@baronmeduse]

When he said 'Americans used to be quite well-read...' Just be aware that in British English (or 'English' as it is better known) the word quite means 'fairly' or 'relatively'.

[@TukikoTroy]

You sound surprised that all these movie award shows are pay to win.

[@fionagregory9147]

We never say gotten. It's not a British word.

[@whitecompany18]

There's a hell of a lot of American movies filmed in England ... Like most of 'full metal jacket ' filmed in the middle of London, note you can't see the bottoms of the palm trees because they were in pots .😄👍

[@grahamsmith9541]

I lived near the Beckton gas works when they were filming there. We all received a letter from the film company. Asking everyone to stop phoning the Fire service. About fires at the gas works because it is special effects and under control. Unfortunately have lost the letter over the years, but was a great unusual piece of film memorabilia.

[@babalonkie]

Alien, Aliens... the list goes on. Holywood has invested more in the UK the last couple of years than in USA... All their big studios have created filming studio plots here. It was only in the start of the 20th century did USA become a isolationist media maker. The UK however has been a performer in plays, acting and literature for literately millennia, Celts used to perform acting stories for their kids, families and friends and it's where a lot of modern western folk lore came from. After that the romans came and commercialised it, obviously telling their own stories and having coliseums from their homeland etc... Later churches and Fryer's organised events to tell stories... so the UK natural merged them and kept the tradition going... hence the west end and panto's.

[@meteerbil2078]

When the french movie Les Visiteurs was a big hit throughout europe in the 90s america had to do a remake, Just visiting. Beacause americans cant read subs. The list goes on. Hidden dragon was at least in english

[@bzs187]

Or making any really good dubs, so they just make a shittier versions.

[@lesjolissouvenirs7751]

"Les Visiteurs" remake were so bad.

[@meteerbil2078]

@@lesjolissouvenirs7751 I dont understand how Jean Reno could agree to do the american version. He is such a good actor. He didnt need to be in that one.

[@darland3821]

It really would be good to record these videos while fully awake. You two are virtually comatose.

[@Temeraire101]

Krampus is a fictional historical character from Northern Europe. A good movie loosely based on Krampus is a Finnish film called Rare Exports. Its really good

[@inotoni6148]

Yeah, it is a good film. Greetings from Germany

[@tubekulose]

That's not true! Krampus has nothing to do with Northern folklore. He is prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe, where his day is celebrated on the 5th of December (and on the 6th, when he accompanies St. Nicholas). He exclusively is a thing in Austria, Bavaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Northern Italy, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

[@bertkassing8541]

Oooh, man, man, man, European movies (films) are so much better!

[@gillcawthorn7572]

And Japanese and Australian/New Zealand

[@AdamMPick]

"Everything is online." Yeah and we have geo-blocking. Plus social media is controlled by what? Meta, Alphabet, Tencent. TickTock is not a news source. "Taking stuff at face value." Does not mean what you think it means.

[@Deadwoods84]

I think it was a great idea from the beginning but peoples want to be rich has taken over and now they only want us to know things that increase their wealth. And because of social media you can no longer know whats real or not, without maybe really going in to the subject in question. That´s at least my take on it 🤷‍♂

[@maximushaughton2404]

Hollywood also twists the truth alot, it also rewrites history as well, just to make Americans happy. Take the film U-571, a film about the capture of the enigma machine, set in 1942, about how brave an American submarine crew were, to get hold of the 1st enigma machine, so they could crack the codes that Germany were using, and thereby turning the war. The thing is, it was done in 1941, before the US joined the war, and by a British submarine. Oh!! And don't look up the real stroy of Pocahontas, not if you like the Disney film.

[@eld0ntyr3ll]

Jacques Tati is an icon of French cinema, and you have to watch what he actually did when he managed to get money (and get bankrupt in the process), the movie Playtime. It's a mostly silent movie released in 1967, so there's no reading subtitles required. Believe me when i say that after watching it you will not watch movies the same way. Most unfortunately i don't think it's on netflix, his movies are licensed by Criterion. Also as brian referred to French culture influence, and as the video described the global takeover of US culture and medias post WW2, you need to understand that in the early 1900s Paris was the world's cultural center, and that transpired through many US authors and artists throughout the 20th century. And to stay on the cinema side of things, what the French New Wave actually did in the 60s, is simply break Hollywood's movie formatting, that also echoes to what you said about watching that irish movie, US studios movies are extremely formatted and uniform, and that's also something you deeply feel watching Korean Movies which are completely under Hollywood's influence, or use it to their advantage, as the South Korean cultural political plan was to use US movie format to produce large budget heavily subsidized Korean Movies for local and international market, as a soft power tool. Really do yourself a favor, watch Tati's movie Playtime.

[@Bunyipp66]

So glad you mention Jacque Tati. Many of his films are masterpieces of cinema. I mentioned him in a discussion about films at work with a few colleagues in their 30's and they had never heard of him! Similarly with other classic French films such as Jean de Florette.

[@eld0ntyr3ll]

@@Bunyipp66 yeah i don't know why but his movies do not air on French tv that often, i actually can't remember seeing any of them on public broadcasts in my youth, although you can argue they are not really movies for kids but still, i'm sure my parents would have made me watch some of them.. He got some spotlight a few years back when his movies were remastered but you can't really say that they are very popular in France.

[@bengtolsson5436]

That Americans are restricted is because the media is private. Then they become what the owner wants. In Europe we have large state TV companies that are objective and have news from all over the world and are Independent from both state and private interests.

[@Sidistic_Atheist]

So many Americans (back in my day) in the 60's. Didn't even know that their much loved iconic "Laurel and Hardy" movies. Didn't even know that Stan Laurel was actually a British actor.

[@addydodd1414]

I would really like to see you react to an installment of the BBC News. How does it compare to News in America?

[@PaladinesAngel]

I definitely get what you were trying to say about the films in America vs the Irish film. There’s a kind of glossy filter on traditional American movies vs the more down to earth and real feel of films made over here. Ours seem a little less polished and almost more amateur filmed than the glossy schmooze of the American movie.

[@chucku00]

To my eyes, it's a good thing not knowing who Sarkozy is, not a bad thing. Sometimes, ignorance can be bliss. 6:43 This French law isn't about reducing American music broadcast but about having at least 40% of songs to be in French language on generalist commercial radio stations, specialized radio stations (classical, instrumental, rock, rap, jazz, world music...) aren't concerned with this law. Although the majority of foreign songs you can hear on French radio stations are American, there's still a sizeable number of British songs too. So this _rosbif_ is worse than ignorant, he's misinformed, therefore rendering his point invalid. 10:43 Jacques Tati won the 1959 best foreign language film Oscar with "Mon oncle" (My uncle), a film that depicts France's transition between the ancient and newer way of life, and points at some absurdities carried within this impicitly imposed evolution. BTW, it's quite ironic (and sad) Jacques Tati is more well known amongst young British people than young French people. 16:37 Most French people don't dislike Americans : there are US references in a lot of domains in France (pop culture in general, American brands and businesses) but some of them feel bloated (or even threatened for the most paranoid ones) by this ubiquity. This feeling of French people not liking Americans is a multilayered misconception that can be explained by some big social behavior differences in everyday life (French don't smile when they're walking in the street, don't engage in smalltalk with people they don't know, always say "bonjour", "merci" and "au revoir" to the storekeeper when they go shopping...), US media also plays a role in this misconception : like anywhere else in the world they're more inclined to speak about disagreements or conflicts, there's not much to say when everything goes well. Another thing : French people looove to express their opinion whether it's a positive or negative one, but they usually shut down about something they really hate, it's a specific way to express their total disregard. There's a French proverb which summarizes quite well this situation : "Qui aime bien châtie bien" (roughly : Who likes well chastises well) and before applying it to foreign people they apply it to themselves in the first place.

[@FacelessJanus]

He means the pagan term Jule Tide. Krampus is a character, and known under different terms mainly in Germany, and maybe in a few areas of Austria. Lynda, most social media are located or operated from the US, and saying or stating negative things about the US is strictly censured. (Even I got a YT strike against me, for stating my proper thoughts about the FDA, for example.) So the so-called freedom of speech only applies if it does not violate US laws, or if it does not imply any negativity against the US. So, can one call that freedom of speech ?? Brian, he could have at least ended it with "inglorious b*" seeing the segment on movies was rather long.

[@edmeshar]

Search wikipedia for: Private actors, private property, private companies Despite the common misconception that the First Amendment prohibits anyone from limiting free speech,[79] the text of the amendment only prohibits the US Congress (and, by extension, those that derive their powers from Congress) from doing so.[80] Starting with the 1925 U.S. Supreme Court decision Gitlow v. New York, this prohibition has been incorporated to apply to state and local governments as well, based on the text of the Fourteenth Amendment. Search www for: The First Amendment protects speech from government censorship. But what about free speech on social media? Social media platforms are private companies and are not bound by the First Amendment. In fact, they have their own First Amendment rights. This means they can moderate the content people post on their websites without violating those users’ First Amendment rights. It also means that the government cannot tell social media sites how to moderate content. Many state laws to regulate how social media companies can moderate content have failed on First Amendment grounds.

[@timou_93]

If you like animation movies, you could take a look to "Le Roi et L'Oiseau", a french animation movie, which influenced Ghibli founders. Really poetic. Also The Last Samurai is inspired of the real story of a french officer : p

[@TomRuthemann]

If you haven't seen any Jaques Tati films yet you really have to. Absolutely brill.

[@Jeni10]

Brian, find copies of the Akira Kurosawa films, “Seven Samurai” and “High and Low”, and the Irish film “Waking Ned Devine”. Also the original French film “La Cage au Folles”. The two Japanese films are of the highest calibre and while they were made before colour film was readily available, Kurosawa’s masterful direction shows how he understands how to present an atmosphere within his sets and his characters that keep you enthralled. The other two films are high class comedies. Since these films were all made before you were born, don’t just dismiss them out of hand, they’re all worth your time.

[@Agemus6139]

I’m Gen X and, along with close relatives, have always had an interest in other cultures. I’m multilingual as are several of my siblings and their kids. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, we didn’t have much of a way to find out about other cultures unless you went to a library, which I did. I also enjoy cooking a wide variety of foods for dinner. Yesterday I made Japanese styled curry for the first time. Luckily it was good. Today is potato soup and cornbread. Yeah most people around me are dumber than the people in Idiocracy, but not all of us are that stupid. I live in West Virginia and have been poor most of my life btw. So no excuses people.

[@ChokyoDK]

A lot of good European movies. One good movie is "Another Round" with Mads Mikkelsen. Great movie about alcohol/alcoholism.

[@maxxie84]

As a french guy, I can tell you, I love you guys :p

[@andreashofer4442]

We got human dignity infront of free speech, that's the main diiifference to Europe. You still can say what you want, but not randomly insulting PPL.

[@Steve-s5p]

Please correct your self. On led Zeppelin Only a couple songs were copied. 95% are original by them personally I have seen them live 3 times

[@daftphil9706]

The funniest - The American Army turning up all over the world to fight the Silver Surfer. With not a local army in sight.😁

[@LadyHeathersLair]

Isn't Krampus the evil version of Santa? ;)

[@Why-D]

Krampus is better known in Austria and only southern Germany, while in the rest of Germany Knecht Ruprecht supports the Nikolaus.

[@thomasalbrecht5914]

Nice video, but given that Sarkozy was president of France at the time... Britmonkey can now make a video about how the British voted out of the EU and then started to google what that decision entailed... the day after the vote. Most English speaking countries have a limited understanding of other cultures, even if they are more interested, simply because of the general laziness with foreign languages, and a far lower ratio of translations of books etc. from foreign languages. It’s an economic advantage if the rest of the world understands your language, but it’s a blindfold to your own capacity of understanding them.

[@elisabethforsberg9027]

We have Jul in sweden ,christmasevening is Julafton🤗

[@cupid_stunt7414]

Best foreign films (obviously only if your not French or Brazilian) are La Haine and City of God...highly recommend watching if not seen

[@Osti67]

If you are into crime and thriller, there is a pretty good genre called nordic noire which is really worth your time ;)

[@williamwilkes9873]

Yule has a nice feel to it........less greed & money spinniing........

[@williamwilkes9873]

Zeppelin loved old blues & enhanced impoverished early black musicians , paying for recording rights etc., when America wanted to be the Dion or from California.........England 's influence was/is incredible..........stuff your crooners..........

[@bjartejohansen4]

led zeppelin was cleared of plaigarism.

[@gagada124]

Since having Netflix I have rarely watched a film made in the US as they are all the same these days, and where have all the great actors gone?

[@gindrinkersline3285]

0:40 "God Jul"

[@Steve-s5p]

I work in film production transport in the UK. We make lots of so called American movies. Just a few I have worked on here maleficent. Snow White and huntsman. Dark shadows. Star wars. Fast n furious 6 world war Z just to name a few our studios are lager the Hollywood studios All marvel movies are made at longcross studios Netflix make lots here and are partners in lots of studios here

[@Dee-JayW]

Hollywood films all over Canada and then pretend it is in the USA. 😂 Large industry here. 🇨🇦 Same with Bollywood, I love their movies. Russia has some excellent series, you can watch anything online. PS: You seem to be unaware that those famous black musicians of the 40s 50s 60s, went to EUROPE to become famous? Because of racism in the USA? No one STOLE any music. Many of the bands in those eras have said they were influenced by blues, etc.. from black US artists.

[@Davo-i1s]

Plenty of Hollywood movies have also been filmed in Australia especially at studios on the Gold Coast and in Sydney, Pirates of Carribean and The Matrix are a couple that spring to mind but there are plenty of others. You cant export your music around the world then complain if people copy that style Aussie artists readily admit that they were influenced by both US and British music but then like Led Zeppelin they put their own take on it.

[@lorreporre7467]

We are cool 🇫🇷 Cheers from Paris !

[@nigelsookram882]

The Ethan and Wendy show lol

[@williamwilkes9873]

A natural gift as you puritans boast !

[@maxxie84]

Maybe this is why the US is so scared of Tik Tok and banning it as much as possible for the government officials ahah (though I do not use it myself either)

[@kasperjensen363]

Have you seen the pink panther movies?

[@charlescorbee9498]

Some great not American movies - The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (True story) - The 39 Steps (A Hitchcock) - A Lady Vanishes (A Hitchcock) - Fanfare (Dutch with eng.sub. Titles)

[@renebakx1963]

What you think of Harry Potter (English) Lord of the Ring (New Zealand), they claim a lot what is not US.

[@norkannen]

Could it be that Hollywood films have brit influence 😎🇧🇻

[@Davo-i1s]

As an Aussie it seems pretty ironic that a Brit would be critical of the US for trying to export their culture to other parts of the world - isnt that what colonial powers did for centuries especially Britian.

[@KeesBoons]

I'm sorry, but if that's what you take away from this video, you didn't really watch the video.

[@Davo-i1s]

@@KeesBoons I certainly watched the video and the message I took from it was that the US had exported their culture such as film, music, media etc. and had prevented the rest of the world from sharing theirs which resulted in ignorance even stupidity. I reckon I could interview people in any country (including my own) and selectively find the same level of ignorance especially within the younger generations. As I said 150 years ago you could have made similar comments about the British who genuinely believed that they were superior to every other country on earth. They destroyed the culture of the indigineous peoples in the parts of the world that they colonised and for better or worse they imposed their own laws, beliefs and values on them. If you had asked the average person in Britain back in those days what they knew about places like South Africa, Australia, NZ, Inda etc. it probably wouldnt have been much different - that was my point. The title of the video was nothing more than click bait and I fell for it.

[@KeesBoons]

@@Davo-i1s I do think there are comparisons with the British in the times of their empire, but the extent of the propaganda towards the own population and isolation from the rest of the world is something else. The fact that the postal service, as well as customs, still just block delivery of shipments because they feel like it's improper for the US culture and never inform the sender, nor the addressed person is mind-boggling to me. I don't get it that the export of their culture is what you point out, as that's not what the video is about at all. It's only used as a backlight against their own restrictions and how this influenced the knowledge of their own citizens about "the outside world". That's what I intended with my comment, not your stab towards Britain, as I couldn't care less about that.

[@phillipstephens4522]

​. "As I said 150 years ago...". I think you are lying. You are NOT that old. If you said it 150 years ago that means you have to be 165-185 five and nobody but nobody lives that long. Punctuation matters. Like -- As I said, 150 years ago... instead of As I said 150 years ago. One single comma totally changes the meaning!! LOL!!

[@cloverite]

@@Davo-i1skeep being ignorant. If the British destroyed the countries within the Empire how do those cultures still exist. The British introduced trial by jury, parliamentary democracy and infrastructure like railways and roads. How incredibly terrible of them.

[@royramse7389]

❤

[@micade2518]

Meanwhile, in Deauville (Normandy, France), there has been an annual Festival of American Cinema since 1975 that, of course, focuses on, and rewards independant productions, certainly not the high street blockbusters. That Festival emphasizes Art rather than special effects ... The French "New Wave" cinema I've always found awfully boring. Thank goodness, there is much more to French cinema than that passing, now outdated genre (the clip with the woman('s back) endlessly wondering if and why and how, ... she'd do this or that, ...or not, is what I call "intellectual masturbation", which was the brand of that cinema genre). But it has its numerous aficionados. More generally on the subject, I really don't think that the Americans are "dumb" but they lack curiosity, hence interest in most things that are foreign to them: it's intellectual laziness here! Thank goodness we didn't have to rely on them for the great scientific discoveries and to go see what was beyond the horizon! Well, OK, they did go to the Moon, but wasn't that triggered by their determination to beat the Russians in that race? :o) In answer to your question, Bryan, the French - generally! - are analytical and they love intense discussions - in our culture, Philosophy is still a big subject studied at University. They are cartesian (influenced by Descartes, a XVIth century philosopher, scientist and mathematician who laid the foundation of 17th-century continental rationalism). Which makes them less flippant, I suppose? But, to think of it, I wonder if our culture will resist the smartphones, TikTok (sorry, Lynda) and other decadent gadgets of our modern society ... :o(

[@williamwilkes9873]

Are people scared of sub - titles ? Some great fillms use them...........

[@SunWuKongStaf1968]

Are you guys high?

[@daluzsoares]

Someone is very nice here, but quickly feels uncomfortable so I'm not going to mention it!!

[@siriuspyramid7441]

Hi Loners! French have nothing against USA but a lot against your gouvernement ! Beacause they tell they want to take care about peoples around the the world but don’t care about their own citizen, we have no word to explain this mess! 😔. But american citizen in general are cool (and more clevever than what we see in staged videos). In general in France we are open minded we dont care cause our culture is strong (yes it’s true😅) but loving and respect tradition around us like Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg and of course Germany. In general we love them all. But France is note only what you think we are on every continent(with a lot of different cultures) as you don’t have a doubt about the beauty of underrrated countries of Europe.

[@siriuspyramid7441]

I d’identité mention it but a lot of western french women were raped in the WW2 and german women too but documentaires about it are very rares.

[@fionagregory9147]

Government*

[@fionagregory9147]

​@@siriuspyramid7441rare*

[@siriuspyramid7441]

@@fionagregory9147 thanks 😉.

[@Kwstas_Vagias]

We call Christmas "Χριστούγεννα" in Greece which literally mean birth of Crist.

[@theubiquejim]

i feel that you guys are too american, you really donr seem to grasp the idea of foreign films and therefore foreign ideas

[@reyals1234]

name a woman I though Hillery aswell first lol

[@gloriaramirez462]

She looks always tired

[@classesanytime]

I think it's because all that GMO shit that's in their crap food!

[@N.Oriiii]

not really, its mainly social medias censoring what americans see, news channels now show what they want people to know and not whats really happening. its americans being brainwashed.

[@vogel2280]

There are plenty of video's out there about the "dance of the lemons" It is when schools try to get rid of teachers that don't teach. Since public school teachers cannot be fired, they can only be passed on to another school. A trade, because when you pass off 2 teachers into the dance, you'll get 2 others back. It is completely incomprehensible to people outside the USA that that system still exists after it became apparent it is unacceptable.... over 30 years ago

[@Waldorf73]

Has Linda turned 31 yet?

[@darrenj.griffiths9507]

I don't like this. We don't all think Americans are stupid and I think that is generalising unnecessarily. And the weird ass guy in the video offering insults against Americans doesn't represent us at all. I think it's very unfair.

[@Rasmanni]

like drink something man

[@ALANL4460]

Thankfully theres youtube and tiktok now bursting the bubbles of ignorance even for those who dont travel

[@Nigelly]

I've never seen a bad Irish movie ... just saying lol

[@whitecompany18]

Shrooms

[@whitecompany18]

Oh, and Titanic...the bloody boat didn't even get there 😆👍

[@annedunne4526]

​@@whitecompany18Not Irish.

[@albin2232]

America isn't stupid. It's just unlucky.

[@davidstreet3505]

Wow you totally mangled the name of the Banshee’s of Enniskillen

[@annedunne4526]

It's " The Banshees of Inisheerin", a fictional place

[@MrSnail999]

To much chatter slow and boring

[@tolstoyed]

superhero movies won’t change things much

[@Temeraire101]

"Africa"