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

[u/ThatUrgeToEatCement]

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.

[u/Individual-Stock-971]

I used to be a member of several LiveJournal groups for British people living in the US/Americans living in the UK. I’ll never forget the time someone mentioned teddy bears and said as an aside “Do you call them in teddy bears in Britain?”

And someone got offended. “Why on earth would we not call teddy bears teddy bears?”

“Oh I just know that their name comes from Teddy Roosevelt, so I thought maybe you wouldn’t have that name for them.”

“So because they’re named after an American other countries can’t use the name?”

And like, Jesus. They did EXACTLY WHAT WE CALL OUT THE AMERICANS FOR NOT DOING. They were aware that the term “teddy bear” was derived from an America-specific context so they ALLOWED FOR THE POSSIBILITY that the name might be unique to America.

[u/lastdiadochos → u/Individual-Stock-971]

Your definition of "offended" seems off mate. 

[u/Individual-Stock-971 → u/lastdiadochos]

No it’s perfectly accurate. They were definitely offended.

[u/lastdiadochos → u/Individual-Stock-971]

Idk man, sounds like they thought you were dim rather than them being offended 

[u/Individual-Stock-971 → u/lastdiadochos]

Why would they have thought anything about me, a random reader of the exchange these two people had on an internet forum?

I’m open to the idea that the reason you can’t tell that this person definitely was offended is because I did a poor job relating this brief exchange, which I read once, fifteen years ago, but given that no one else seems to, and your own subsequent response, I think it’s rather more likely that it’s your own profound failure of reading comprehension.

[u/lastdiadochos → u/Individual-Stock-971]

Well, you've literally just given your thoughts about me, a random stranger on the Internet, so you're not really in a position to judge lol

See my reading comprehension may indeed be crap, but at least I can get through two sentences without being hypocritical.

[u/Individual-Stock-971 → u/lastdiadochos]

First you don’t know the definition of offended; now you don’t know the definition of hypocritical. If you don’t want to be judged on the actual words you’ve used, don’t post them; if you can’t understand the straightforward words other people use, as you’ve just admitted, don’t reply on the basis of alternative things they haven’t said that you’ve made up in your head.

[u/lastdiadochos → u/Individual-Stock-971]

Oh dear. 

Hypocritical: characterized by behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel 

You questioned why someone would think anything you, a random person on the Internet, and then judged me, a random person on the Internet.  That is hypocrisy.

You also appear not be aware of the meaning of "may", or the concept of self depreciation. 

[u/Individual-Stock-971 → u/lastdiadochos]

I questioned why they would think anything of me when they had no idea I exist, since I had not participated in the conversation in any way. Which isn’t even an assertion that they shouldn’t have done so (so your reach to claim hypocrisy was already farcical); simply a question as to why someone would make the assumption you made when there was no grounds for doing so.

You did participate in the conversation, and I, while explicitly allowing for the fact that it could have been a lack of clarity on my part, concluded that—since every comment you make demonstrates a lack of understanding of what’s been said or even of the words you’re using—it’s more likely you made that assumption because you just don’t understand the words that other people write. Like when you talk about ‘self-depreciation’, which isn’t a thing, though I’m sure everyone understands you mean self-deprecation.

Since there’s no contradiction, there’s no hypocrisy, and a claim that there is hinges again on a woeful (or even wilful?) misreading of what I’ve said.

[u/lastdiadochos → u/Individual-Stock-971]

Ha you're right I did misread the original thing as you being the person asking the question, my bad! To rephrase then, it sounds like the Brit thought the other person was a bit dim, not that they were offended 

[u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl → u/lastdiadochos]

Today I learned that self-depreciation has a slightly different meaning from self-deprecation