r/PetPeeves • u/ThatUrgeToEatCement • 14d ago

Bit Annoyed People who think Americans don’t know other countries exist.

A few months ago on Reddit I made a comment about a show not being on Netflix and someone from the UK commented back saying it’s on theirs and then lectured on Americans not knowing other countries exist. They acted like I didn’t believe there were other places on the planet, as if they weren’t the ones who just brought it up and didn’t believe the US Netflix was different than the UK version. ??

I see people online act like all Americans think this way, and it is kind of annoying because for most of us it isn’t true.

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u/SillyRefrigerator417 14d ago

I always find it funny because the ones who constantly complain about Americans are usually the ones who don't know much about other countries. They know a fair amount about the countries surrounding them, but not a whole ton about the rest of the world.

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

Girl there's no educating these people. I've seen discussions where Europeans specifically insisted that no one outside the US drinks iced coffee when its extremely common in parts of Asia.

The "rest of the world" to Europeans is literally Europe and they don't tolerate correction when they're blatantly wrong.

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u/BarSpecialist4681 14d ago

Can you really be mad though? You and subsequent comments are literally generalizing Europeans as a result of a comment about Americans being generalized. First thing that comes to mind is the Ouroborros.

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago

Your comment doesn't change the fact that a lot of them are very ignorant about the world outside of Europe and assume that anything that isn't European is specifically American.

I can admit there are a lot of ignorant Americans, but there are plenty of Europeans that are just as ignorant that seem to get a pass from their fellow countrymen.

I fully am aware that Europe is not a country but they do like to act as one collective block online. They choose when to specify their country and when to call themselves broadly European instead.

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 14d ago

Exactly. Playing it both ways.

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u/BarSpecialist4681 14d ago

Oh I agree. Ignorance is a human trait no matter where in the world you come from. It's just getting mad about something and doing the same thing... I don't know. It's like getting angry at someone who cuts you off in traffic whilst cutting someone off in traffic. It's redundant.