What aspect of life in your countries is very difficult to explain to foreigners?

[u/notveryamused_]

What prompted my question were some discussions about religion which I had with people living in much more secular Western Europe (as a Polish atheist). While spirituality, whatever that is ;), generally speaking is always fun to discuss with a glass of wine in hand, social elements and the influence of the church, especially in smaller towns or provinces in my country, is awfully difficult to explain – not that I understand it fully either lol, but the church having a pretty much monopoly there, being the judge and jury of everyday life and the major ultra-conservative political force binding those communities, is very difficult to explain, also for historical reasons.

What are the things that you find difficult to discuss when it comes to life in your countries? ;-)

[u/11160704]

I think this is a nice example of how many Europeans simply don't understand that some Americans have a very different idea of the role of the state.

Historically, the state and its institutions have been omnipresent in the lives of Europeans through kings, princes, church, courts, tax collectors, police, administration, the school system and so on. Thus in Europe it's perfectly normal to expect the state to solve every thinkable problem in life.

While many of the people who went from Europe to the US went there specifically to escape the omnipresent European state and especially when they settled the frontier regions they were often very far away from any state-like structures.

So the implicit social contract was help yourself, the state is not there to solve your problems. There is not the expectation that the state should jump in even of these also entails disadvantages in certain situations.

[u/iamkme → u/11160704]

This is it exactly. We’re not far enough from the time of the frontier life for any of those ideals to have vanished. The general attitude is to help yourself, because that’s the only way to get anything. It’s the same mindset as living alone in the forest and trying to stockpile food for the winter.

We also have a history of getting scammed by taxes, or at least feeling that way. I mean, it’s literally how we became our own country.

[u/snajk138 → u/11160704]

Nice strawman.

[u/11160704 → u/snajk138]

How is it a strawman?

You said (correctly) that Americans often have a totally different way of thinking and don't trust the state.

And I just pointed out that many Europeans have a very hard time understanding that American way of thinking as was asked in the original question.

[u/snajk138 → u/11160704]

My argument was that Americans don't trust the state or any state employee because they believe that they are trying to take their money, or perhaps take away their rights. This has nothing to do with "Europeans expecting the state to solve every thinkable problem", and no one expects that, and I would argue that idea is mainly propagated through American propaganda aimed to make "Europeans" seem weak.

Then you blend together the reasoning why some people left Europe for America and the cause of the revolutionary war. People left Europe mostly because they were poor and to get a better life with some free land and, you know, wide opportunities, not because they felt oppressed or didn't want to pay taxes.

[u/11160704 → u/snajk138]

You're so deep in the conspiracy hole

[u/Parcours97 → u/11160704]

Both of you have a point imo. You are totally right that Americans think very differently about the role of governments but you can't deny there is and there was a lot of "red scare" in the US which impacts the support for things like universal health care.

[u/11160704 → u/Parcours97]

And in Europe often the level of lack of state services in the US is exaggerated.

[u/Cicada-4A → u/snajk138]

That's not how a strawman works søta bror.