So I’m European and am aware that American culture is very different in many ways. Idk if this is just some type of thing about American culture and mentality in general that has always been there or if it is a trend that started recently in the past few years.
I don’t wanna generalize any country and know that not everyone is like this but I definitely noticed this type of pattern.
I increasingly noticed in the past years that many Americans are very hateful/cruel, are lacking empathy, become more and more aggressive and it seems like it’s becoming worse.
I’m not sure if this is maybe related to Americans needing to be “though” or something because I always hear about that the American mentality is pretty competitive and individualistic and instead of saying “we will go through this this together” they often have this mentality “it’s either me or you but it can’t be both who will win”. I mean I’m pretty sure that all these things like this biking culture, driving big “manly” pick up trucks, wrestling, football etc. are pretty prevalent in America compared to other countries and American culture generally seems very loud and direct. I think here in Europe people are way more reserved and I guess the strongest opposite to Americans are probably Japanese people. Maybe American culture is generally more “rough” where they aren’t super sensitive and don’t really care how their words come over and just speak their mind (maybe cause they value free speech so much).
But to me this seems to go to the point where many Americans seem to have this attitude and are very ignorant and arrogant and basically think they’re better than anyone else and they only care for themselves.
And it feels like it’s so extreme to the point where everyone is hating, attacking and bashing on everyone and instead of being stronger united they’re just fighting against themselves and putting each other down and they always focus on the negative.
Especially online it seems like that no matter what the topic is and independent from whether they are Democrat or Republican they’re constantly bashing on someone and baselessly calling them “weak” even though in reality they’re probably the ones who are weak and trample onto people cause they’re obviously dissatisfied with themselves and aren’t able to man-up to face the real issues. You just can’t blame everything on others and have to take responsibility for yourself!
Some stuff that I’ve seen on American news like “Fox News” just seemed crazy where the reporters personally attack and bash on people which is something that would be unthinkable in Europe.
Even though many people were saying that Americans have this “fake friendliness” I’m thinking that even that disappeared in the last few years and they’re becoming more open to show what they really think which seems to be that they “don’t give a f* about you”.
Many Americans that I encountered seem so aggressive like they always need to bash onto something in this toxic way even though they’re actually in a very good position and have a lot to be grateful for. Like in other poor countries people have real problems and are literally starving because they have no food or they have war in their country.
I’m always thinking “dude, you need to chill” cause literally no one is attacking them and they’re fully secure. But it seems like they’re always searching for a fight or something.
It seems like many of these people are so disconnected from nature and become less human and I wonder why they can’t just spend meaningful time with other people being positive and not constantly waste their time with hating or complaining about something. Because this just doesn’t work and in a society with multiple people especially in a world where everything is more connected than ever we need to hold together and have empathy for one and another. That is one of the core morals that a human needs!
It seems like many Americans generally have this “cruelness” about them cause I also heard things that many Americans are physically beating their children and even the fact that guns are popular and legal in America to the point where you can’t even safely walk alone in public during the night or safely send your kid to school and also this general mindset of America is doing everything the best and “America first”. I really don’t wanna bash on Americans at all and only want to share my experience because I just haven’t experienced this type of hate here in Europe in that extreme way and it just makes me very uncomfortable because I feel like this mood is affecting the whole world since American media and influence is prevalent everywhere.
To me it feels like this won’t end well and it feels like it’s just a matter of time until something very bad happens like the second civil war or so and the storm on the capitol might be nothing compared to that. But maybe that’s the only way they will finally learn if they’re lacking these core morals and integrity and they don’t get educated about that in school.
It also seems like they can’t handle critique and can’t admit it/stand to those things. When I once asked a similar question on Reddit the only thing I got back was bashing and personal attacks and I hope it’s not the same here, cause that is literally just proving my point. There needs to be constructive discussions.
We’ve had a couple of reports about this post, but I’m going to let it slide for the moment because the discussion seems mostly respectful. Let’s keep it polite though please.
TLDR The US is a mafia-esque arms dealer / financial scam that masquerades as a “moral democracy”. Capital won in America, and this is what happens.
Each person is not a member of a society or community, but is a competitor. We are atomized, severed from our families and communities and increasingly told we are commodities ourselves. This strategy works in favor of central power as it actively works to erode the ties between people, and that makes them isolated and unable to band together as easily.
Sure there’s individualism and other toxic mythologies that play some part, but the country has increasingly become a corrupt business that serves its board of directors and not its employees. I’m sure there are countless moments where you could make an argument that this process went into overdrive, for me it’s around Regan and after and the various policies that led to destruction of unions, led to offshoring and functionally turned the US into a financialized service economy. Maybe that’s just coincidence and the real cause was the collapse of the USSR, like I said there’s probably many moments/causal events one could make a reasonable argument for.
What we have now: some clown dimension right wing that would like to legalize sport hunting immigrants and the homeless while fire sale busting out the entire US govt, and a bloodless “liberal” center-right that merely wants to criminalize, imprison and then work for profit the people the right would like to sport-hunt, while funneling money to their friends and family. Both are fine with genocide, provided the weapons proceeds end up in the correct place. Those two political fronts represent a section of the populace that is likely less than .01%.
It might explain a few things if this was an American thing, as I have experienced similar things as well, and I don’t know why either. Though in my case few of them identify as American.
Thank you for being sane
What do you mean by “identify as American”?
I’m technically American, but America wants me dead. As such, I do not voluntarily identify as American anymore. Dunno if that’s what they’re referring to, but ye.
What do you mean by America wants you dead?
I’m trans. America’s right-wing, who are now in control, have repeatedly talked about how America needs to be purged of “transgenderism”.
That is deff a thing going on unfortunately. Y’all Qaeda needs to go. Good luck out there
We’re scared of the future I guess. Feel free to ask if you are genuinely curious about Americans.
It’s not just the US.
The underlying cause you’re looking for is wealth inequality.
The vast majority of people are worker drones. We will work hard all of our lives in unsatisfying jobs with minimal leisure time, and if we get really lucky we can stop work for a few years before we die when we’re too sick to work any more.
This general discontent will manifest in hatred in one way or another. Social media is channelling it into different things but the underlying cause is the same.
America doesn’t often follow international law, because they often get away with acting poorly.
When a country has the largest economy and the strongest military and does not have neighbours that are equal to it in power they tend swing their weight around.
Same thing can be seen with Russia, China and India.
guns are popular and legal in America to the point where you can’t even safely walk alone in public during the night or safely send your kid to school
Absolutely untrue, hardly ever seen a gun in public that wasn’t on a cop. Born and bred in Oklahoma (extremely conservative), worked in South Chicago (gangbangers everywhere) and now live in NW Florida (conservative again). And I’ve been in a lot of scary places and ran with seriously sketchy people when young.
About half of guns deaths are suicides. Most of the rest are gangs doing gang shit or interpersonal violence. Most murder victims knew their killer, anything but random.
Year in, year out, CDC stats have vehicular death at the same numbers as gun deaths. Stay away from shitty people and places, don’t kill yourself, you’re far more likely to die in or by a car. That scares the crap out of me, yet no one talks about it because it’s normal.
Removed by mod
Random death vs. fear of random death was the point. One of these things is not like the other.
Interesting anecdotes. As a pretentious European (who has visited plenty of America), Oklahoma is my idea of Peak Awful USA. Like a worse version of Texas with even more capital punishment. But of course that’s just generalization and you sound cool!
Suicides should definitely be taken out of the baseline gun statistics IMO.
Mississippi is far worse than Oklahoma. Love those folks, but it’s bad.
Not sure we should remove suicide stats. Makes the numbers less “panicky”, but an easy point-and-click death is something we have to talk about.
So you’re stereotyping a country of 341 million people based off of your personal interactions with a few of them on the internet?
We’re not a monoculture, bud. How would you feel if I asked “Why does it seem like Europeans have become so judgmental and preachy in the past years?”
Typical answer. I wasn’t trying to stereotype but just share my experience. I haven’t experienced this type of hate here in Europe and it was a noticeable difference for me. But of course you are very welcomed to share your bad experiences with Europeans with us as long as it’s constructive.
Typical answer.
In what world is telling someone “typical answer” not a cunt response in a post about being civil
With that I meant that I wasn’t surprised that someone will be offended and condemn me as stereotyping even though I stated multiple times that that’s not my intention. I’m saying if anyone has critique towards Europe I’m very open and interested in it as well. But like I mentioned, if any it’s just proving what I said
Let’s not beat around the bush we’re both adults here. Using charged language is fun but you gotta own it when you do it.
Open mind is more of an aspirational handle I guess
18 days accounts. Only two posts are this. Looks like a troll
Yeah I’m going to shut up now because you may be right. Appreciate it.
See it is as if you want to argue over any price. You’re literally looking to fight with someone but I’m not. All I’m thinking is: why? It’s very immature
My bad if you’re actually trying to better wrap your mind around this. I think my frustration stems from the feeling that Europe doesn’t seem to realize they have much of the same problems as the US, just being 10 years behind, imo. We definitely are on more of a tinder box as a result of there being so many firearms in the country, but right wing populism is growing across the Atlantic just like it is thriving here. Im not going to try to invalidate what your friend has experienced since coming here.
I feel like there’s a bigger trend towards empty populism worldwide and authoritarianism that people aren’t realizing. It makes me feel like posts like this feed into a crab in a bucket kind of situation. It doesn’t help I’m from New Jersey and my state regularly gets mocked domestically so I’m already primed to be on edge. I wouldn’t have posted my last message, in hindsight.
I think I understand now, Europe is a utopia the US is filled with hateful bikers and people driving big trucks?
Don’t be an asshole, lmao. You complain about Americans being bloodthirsty fucks and then you turn around and act like the typical “snooty, judgmental and condescending euro-prick” stereotype we have here in the states.
The reason why I’m engaging with you is because you’re not wrong, America has become extremely angry and bloodthirsty. However, that doesn’t give you an excuse to be condescending about it.
Don’t be an asshole, lmao. You complain about Americans being bloodthirsty fucks and then you turn around and act like the typical “snooty, judgmental and condescending euro-prick” stereotype we have here in the states.
I’m glad you were posting this cause that’s a great example of exactly what I meant. It’s just insulting, hateful and fully unconstructive. It was just a matter of time till one of these posts came.
On the contrary, the above comment gives actionable advice and explains why you’re wrong without using insulting language. This is perhaps the most constructive feedback you’ll get
You should try owning it! This is my solution. For “condescending and pretentious”, I read “intelligent and sophisticated”.
Responding aggressively to a post asking why it appears that American culture has become more aggressive and hateful is not helping as much as you think.
Aggressively? How is “typical answer” aggressive? I think calling me stereotyping, an asshole and “snooty, judgmental and condescending euro-prick” is aggressive.
Bud
America was built on a very fruitful land, the new comers had a lot of room to expand.
There weren’t any existing powers to stifle growth so it was “free” to grow as much as possible (this is what they mean by freedom).
The gold rush happened in California, then a lot (and I mean A LOT for its time) of oil production.
Then Europe had a couple of civil wars (I’m calling it that cause they fought themselves mostly) which gave US even more of an advantage.
The American experiment has had A LOT privileges because it was the new world. Those are ending but Americans believe they can keep the party going forever.
Europe had a similar boost during colonial times and that ended too, so chances are it will happen to US too.
Only two questions remain:
- Will it be as bloody as possible like WWII or more peaceful.
- Will Americans get their shit together after like Europe and form a strong union built on democracy.
This is also what it feels like living here. America teaches everyone that everything is a zero sun game and you can’t get anywhere without putting someone else down. Community is not something most people value, instead preferring isolationism. There’s also a major lack of education.
Funny how people are huge fans of capitalism saying it generates wealth for everyone while thats the actual zero sum game. They worship the ultra-rich and dont realize every dollar one of them makes comes out of their pockets.
As an American, I have despaired every day since the election about where we are headed. My hope is that, as in past times when we have lost our collective minds, we will find a way to self correct. Know that nearly half of all voters did NOT want this direction and many will be mounting a vigorous fight against fascism. Its going ti be ugly, though. I also despair for Europe who are about to see their fascists voices amplified to a very high volume.
You have every right to be worried, the American empire is in decline and its ruling class is becoming increasingly fascist. This is reflected in public and online discourse and you have clearly taken notice. I would note though that what you see on FOX news is not followed by much of the younger generations. This is not to say that reactionaries do not exist amongst our youth, they certainly do and they have a fervor to them as well. They simply follow more contemporary fascist like Shapiro, Peterson, Fuentes, and billionaires like Musk. As well as manosphere content more often than not.
It is worth noting though that leftist political movements are growing rapidly too. We are at quite the disadvantage though.
Keep paying attention, it will get worse.
I’m not American but I think the current wave of ugliness is because Obama was elected, and conservative people who are racist in their hearts didn’t like that an “uppity Negro” was in the most powerful position in the world for eight years, and they couldn’t come up with anyone palatable to beat him. So instead they found who is probably the most obnoxious person in the world to put at the helm of their party, and because conservatives have oppositional defiant disorder, and get off on someone being like they are openly, they flocked to him loudly, where more traditional conservative politicians knocked in vain, and it was just a chance for them to really be themselves. I think they’ve always been this way, but just not as loud about it.
Also Zuckface fuckface fed them a steady diet of weaponized disinformation about anyone who wasn’t white or Republican so it made them even uglier and stupider. But they’ll probably all die of preventable disease as time goes on, so that’s something to look forward to.
This “they’re just racists” theory is now comprehensively debunked. White-trash Indiana voted for Obama, and now brown people of all types are rushing into Trump’s arms.
If America’s progressives stick to this disastrous race essentialism, the Democrats are going to lose and lose and lose again. You need to snap out of it for the sake of the rest of the world.
It’s not about race, it’s about class.
Well I’m not American so it only matters to me in that the orange rapist wants to annex my country, but I did note that people had lynching effigies of Obama when he was elected hanging in their yards and stuff, so. I’m fine with being wrong if you say this is so, it’s just my observation.
Democrats aren’t progressive. That’s a big part of the problem actually.
I hope you’re not naive enough to think it also isn’t happening where you are, too.
It definitely is unfortunately. Source: not an American.
While I fully agree and am very afraid of the current developments this answer kind of comes off as “you too” which feels like a try to belittle the issue.
There’s a lot of context missing in this, like the USA having the biggest army and privately owned guns, just to name one thing.
Media and online interactions play up the differences in US society. They run deep (their civil war, the difference between Democrat and Republican states, racial tensions), but I don’t think they’re as significant as your post suggests.
American culture generally seems very loud and direct. I think here in Europe people are way more reserved
I’ve worked with people from the US, Germans, and Finns. Generally the Germans and Finns have been more direct.
I also heard things that many Americans are physically beating their children
It’s a big country. I’m sure a few are, just like a few Europeans beat their kids, but generally no. I would check your sources on that.
When I once asked a similar question on Reddit the only thing I got back was bashing and personal attacks and I hope it’s not the same here
Your statements and questions seem to reference the worst that we see of the US in social media and mainstream news. For someone who lives in the US (or is cynical), they could come across as trolling.
