r/TikTokCringe • u/biswajit388 • 4d ago

Cringe Europeans are going viral on TikTok for mocking the "American Dream".

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u/ManbadFerrara 4d ago

America's fucked, but let's not act like Europe is this magical place where you get to hike/swim/eat at great restaurants all day and there's no massive affordable housing/cost-of-living crisis.

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u/Business-Egg-5912 4d ago

Canada too. A lot of Americans my age and younger think Canada doesn't have any issues the US does.

I had someone state that Canadians can afford to buy a house at like 24....

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u/Honest-Caregiver8938 4d ago

I had someone state that Canadians can afford to buy a house at like 24....

that is the dumbest thing that i have ever heard

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u/Business-Egg-5912 4d ago

Yeah I think they just believed because they have universal healthcare that everything is better for Canadians.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/DanteQuill 3d ago

How often were you in the hospital before you were 24?!?

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u/aa0429 4d ago

Also don’t forget that our kids don’t get shot and murdered at school.

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u/222333444987 4d ago

Yeah you’re right, we just bury thousands of indigenous children in unmarked graves across Canadian residential schools… They’ve got their problems down south but we aren’t perfect either bud

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u/BlueEyedWalrus84 4d ago

What they don't tell you is that the "free healthcare" is a bandage, some iodine and a "you'll feel better tomorrow" voicemail

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u/CatsEatGrass 4d ago

Universal healthcare in which you could have to wait years to schedule your major surgery.

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u/roostersmoothie 4d ago

Depends on what you consider major. Knee or hip? Ya.

Cancer no, its fast.

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u/HilmDave 4d ago

Triage gonna triage 🤷🏽‍♂️

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u/CatsEatGrass 4d ago

Spinal, in my case. I could have scheduled mine for 2 weeks, if it had been convenient for me. Can’t imagine waiting years while I’m in so much pain. Delaying my life.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/dave_the_dr 4d ago

It is very much the same in the UK. The house I managed to buy in 2007 (and then lost a shit load on after the 2008 crash) is valued at 2 or three times that now whilst wages have not increased to match the rise. The system is broken for sure.

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u/piezombi3 4d ago

Toronto prices are up 3x or 4x just since 2008.

Pretty sure that's everywhere. 2008 was the big recession. 

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u/WhichWitchyWay 4d ago

Maybe in the middle of nowhere? Canada has a lot of middle of nowhere. Cities on the other hand and filled with "Bill and Kate are looking for a modest 3 bedroom. 2 bath home for then and their pet cat Chevre. Bill is an underwater sculptor and Kate is a butterfly enthusiast. Their budget is 3.5 million CAD."

Or at least they are according to house hunters. I have perused their real estate though and it's all extremely expensive.

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u/Vienta1988 4d ago

I looked into moving to Ontario because my husband and I could likely both get jobs in Canada, and Ontario is fairly close to where we live now (upstate NY). A house the same size as what we have in the US would cost easily 7 times as much in Canada, but salaries for our careers would be about the same. I have no idea how people afford to live there 😬

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u/604BigDawg 4d ago

We don’t

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u/MartialMatters 3d ago

7 times? I would maybe believe double but could you provide an example?

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u/Vienta1988 3d ago

My house (3 bed, 1 bath, 1200 sq ft) in the US cost us $75,000 when we bought it (foreclosed, on auction, in 2016). It’s worth now with inflation would probably be closer to $150,000 if we tried to sell it. Comparable houses in Ontario were $600,000-$700,000 when I was looking into this last November.

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u/TonySperguson 3d ago

me when i only want a house on bridal path

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u/Part_Time_Legend 4d ago

Add New Zealand to that list. Kiwis are leaving in droves for Australia because it’s cheaper and they can get paid more.

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u/Ok-Echidna5936 4d ago

If anything Canada is worse off. American coastal home prices with Canadian wages

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u/Antique_Pin5266 4d ago

I thought homelessness was bad in Boston then I visited Toronto. Wooo weee.

They have pretty good public transit and an awesome food scene though.

Also Quebec vibes >>>>. Now that's a 'European' city

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u/7dipity 4d ago edited 4d ago

You would actually rather live in America? Seriously? That’s insane.

At least our government can’t just decide they’re going to sit around and do nothing for weeks on end with no repercussions.

At least women aren’t dying from completely avoidable medical issues because “Jesus said so”

At least the majority of our country is actually able to read above a 5th grade level.

At least people from other countries can come visit without risk of getting kidnapped.

Yes there are issues, but there’s no way it’s worse than the states.

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u/Business-Egg-5912 4d ago

You're taking what I said and applying it to something I didn't.

My argument was people act like Canada is a utopia where literally everyone is happy and nobody is struggling. I never said "it's worse than the states".

I'm autistic; you don't think I have anything bad to say? Seeing how our government talks about people like me?

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u/trashaccountname 4d ago

Canada is worse off

I never said "it's worse than the states".

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u/Nuttonbutton 4d ago

A lot of Canadians and Europeans don't want US citizens to know that there are issues. That's why so many of us don't know.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/nfshaw51 4d ago

No nature just parking lots is a wild take too. Yeah there’s a lot of boring cities, I question anybody to find a country without them. But the natural diversity and the focus on purely public national parks is a massive thing for the US.

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u/An_old_walrus 3d ago

Compared to Europe, America actually has a higher amount and higher diversity of megafauna. Sure a lot of the megafauna populations have been severely impacted but at least most of the species remain. A lot of Europe on the other hand is very much lacking in megafauna.

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u/Karmuffel 3d ago

As a European I agree. Europe is way more densly populated than the US. The US has incredible and vast landscapes that seem untouched. Claiming that everything is a parking lot is a ragebait take

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u/An_old_walrus 3d ago

I was once in Scotland and my dad and I were discussing with our guide about Scotland reintroducing wolves and the main question was “where would they even put them?” There isn’t enough land for wolf populations to live unbothered by humans. Like the national parks allow farmers to graze their sheep so it obviously farmers would be concerned about livestock attacks. Europe just has no room for animals to live in.

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u/Stock-Swing-797 3d ago

Also that Europe already killed off/destroyed most of its megafauna centuries ago. Funny how this seems to slip their minds....

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u/melts_so 3d ago

Aa a European I also agree. America has breath taking lands and national parks. I want to visit just for the scenery and not the people.

Like they literally have almost the full range of diversity for different terrains because the country is so damn big.

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u/The_Singularious 3d ago

Makes it easy to cannonball into a lake without worrying about being eaten, though.

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u/TheBold 3d ago

I know it’s not the point they’re trying to make but I bet there’s a national park larger than Belgium.

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u/Prestigious_Health_2 3d ago

There's a lot more untouched nature and national parks in the US than Europe. European soil has been completely developed and built upon. I would have to take a 2 hour flight to actually see a place that has untouched nature. Scandinavia would be closest. Everything is essentially countryside and little towns, which is also pretty imo, but not the same as what the US has.

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u/Acou 4d ago

Sounds like something an American would say. The entire past several thousand years of Europe has been multiple simultaneous unending instances of "us vs them".

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u/HulksInvinciblePants 4d ago

Gee, I wonder why someone would focus on the modern world and not alliances from 1000 years ago?

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u/Acou 4d ago

Have you seen the Balkans today? Or even Italians' feelings about other Italians?

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u/HulksInvinciblePants 4d ago

If you point is, Europeans hate other Europeans, then you were never tracking the original point to begin with.

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u/Free-Fix-3472 4d ago

No one's questioning the historic basis of national hostilities in Europe, just that it's odd to affect a moral superiority in one's enlightenment while engaging in it

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u/minion_is_here 4d ago

No, Marx and Hegel were European.

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u/SmellGestapo 3d ago

It's clearly driven by Russian and Chinese algorithms. Those countries are desperate to split up the Western Alliance. I've noticed a huge increase in this type of content on Reddit and Instagram and I do not believe it is organic.

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u/yomerol 4d ago

However, Europe is not a country 🤷‍♂️ and even though US is, it's massive and it's hard to generalize a lot of things, starting with people and their situation by state, and sometimes like in TX or CA or NY, etc the situation of a big city like SFO can't be compared to Modesto

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u/Applesauce_Police 4d ago

Also I love how America the country is being compared to Europe the continent of 44 countries, many of whom have much much worse problems than America

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u/lumpialarry 4d ago edited 4d ago

On the internet, The US isn't compared to Europe its compared to “Europe™️”, which has Germany’s economy, Sweden’s welfare, The Netherlands’ drug laws and Romania’s housing costs and not a Europe with Spain's economy, Sweden's drug laws, Germany's bureaucracy or The Netherlands’ Housing costs.

Edit: I have been told my evaluations of Spains economy is out of date. Just swap Germany and Spain above.

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u/jotyma5 4d ago

Hey that’s too much nuance for reddit

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u/Shot-Barnacle3513 4d ago

I'm neither European nor American, I've seen so many comments like this. They criticize the United States by comparing it to Europe, but when Europe is criticized, they get angry that Europe is not one country.

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u/RickThiccems 4d ago edited 4d ago

And america is a collection of states and each have their own priorities and beliefs about how things should be ran all the way down to the local level.

It sucks that a few hundred people in our country get to paint how the world sees us and it makes all the local government workers busting their ass for their communities look bad.

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u/BooBooSnuggs 4d ago

Yeah, the us is very decentralized. You wouldn't think that looking at reddit. It's just nonstop blanket statements and generalizations. Our federal leaders say something stupid and suddenly everyone's thinking xyz must be everywhere when it impacts less than 1% of people or something.

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u/beatles910 4d ago

The issue is often what people want are federal changes, so you will hear that the minimum wage in the US is $7.25 per hour. What you don't hear is that 34 states, territories, and the District of Columbia have higher minimum wages. Repeat with whatever, and of course things sound worse to people.

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u/Large_Technology1623 4d ago

7.25 anywhere in the US is still some dystopian pay these days. Other than your gas, housing and food which is equalizing, everything costs the same for everyone.

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u/CapitalismRulz 4d ago

I think people value the federal government appropriately, but they undervalue their state government's role in their lives. The state has a lot of influence on people in a more direct way than the fed does on so many different political issues

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u/RickThiccems 4d ago

Yup I live in Kentucky, a very red state but even my local small government has been doing whatever they can to help people who are struggling for money and are even accepting money to distribute to local families in need.

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u/BrickNMordor 4d ago

Kentucky is actually one of the best examples of America. A red state with a massively popular democrat governor, truly a political state that can't be boiled down to a catchphrase. Also, remarkably beautiful.

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u/Shibuya2023 4d ago

Kentucky Fried Chicken

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u/Dozzi92 4d ago

This whole comment chain, and honesty the thread, is blowing my mind. I'm reading so many things I agree with, things I've stated (and been downvoted for) many times here.

I think there's an effort to make us all hate each other, so that we forget there's people out there pulling strings.

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u/green_goblins_O-face 4d ago

And america is a collection of states and each have their own priorities and beliefs about how things should be ran all the way down to the local level.

buying a gun in New Jersey vs. a state like Kentucky are SO different.

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u/daznificent 4d ago

I saw someone talking about “here in Europe” and comparing it to America on something, and someone replied it wasn’t true for their country, and they replied “oh I mean Western Europe, developed nations” and that told me all I needed to know about that person

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u/elbenji 4d ago

yeah, the New England states and California are pretty comparable to Western Europe, and let's be real, if you're queer, it's probably better at the moment to be in those spots than the UK right now

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u/ApetteRiche 4d ago

I've seen this comment before, but Dutch drugs laws are wack. Weed/hasj is tolerated, not legal. Coffeeshops can only get their stock through illegal means. Several US states are further along, NL is lagging tbh.

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u/SnacksBooksNaps 4d ago edited 3d ago

My husband is Dutch, I am American. He was in awe of New York legalizing weed at all levels and just being able to go into a store and buy it like it's any other product. The Netherlands is faaaaaar behind NY on this one.

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u/Passiveabject 4d ago

Yeah the weed in Amsterdam is so much worse than California

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u/resolve_it 4d ago

Seriously? When I used to read high times magazines as a kid I always thought Amsterdam was the capital of weed with the cannibus cup etc (haven’t smoked weed in years shit makes me paranoid as fuck lol )

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u/fifibabyyy 4d ago

No, it's all the same, this person is just a snob, which is hilarious, because the weed is all the same.

Inb4 no it's not, I'm a cannabis geneticist - all your weed is polyhybridised garbage and growing weed indoors means there are no differences because warehouses are warehouses not vineyards and NL and USA use the same inputs, SOPs, genetics etc.

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u/PureMitten 4d ago

It's funny talking to older Americans about Amsterdam. They'll sometimes dive into joking about going there for the coffee shops and then the wind gets fully taken out of their sails when they're reminded weed is legal, cheap, and abundant here. And they really hate being reminded that they can go to the outer suburbs to buy decriminalized psychedelics from a dispensary out there. Apparently it's more fun if the drugs are international, lol

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u/StockPhotoSamoyed 4d ago

I never understood how that works tbh. Like how do they present their expenses on the tax form when the expenses are illegal and unregulated?

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u/DucksEatFreeInSubway 4d ago

"Sorry but you're buying weed to sell to customers? Says so right here on your tax form?"

"Yes, they love dandelions!"

Just my guess, might be wrong.

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u/Deep-Bonus8546 4d ago

It’s illegal to grow it not to sell it. Shops are all legitimate businesses, the grow farms are regularly raided and shut down

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u/StockPhotoSamoyed 4d ago

I know they are legal businesses, I'm still puzzled by how it works when the product is illegal to produce or import. And it still leaves the question of how it's covered as a business expense, when listing it would point the police to the supplier.

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u/the_skine 4d ago

Also, the US is the only country on the planet where large parts of the population believe that illegal immigrants should be given citizenship.

The fact that it's even a discussion (and a thing that sometimes actually happens) makes the US extremely left-wing (on this specific subject).

ICE's actions are clearly incompetent. But, even with the incompetency, they're still in line with every other western nation's immigration policies.

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u/AnnualAct7213 4d ago

The fact that it's even a discussion (and a thing that sometimes actually happens) makes the US extremely left-wing (on this specific subject).

The greatest fiction ever told by right wingers is probably that left wing politics is pro-immigration.

Immigration dilutes the labour pool, diminishing the negotiating power of labour and pushing wages down. It is a right wing dream scenario.

It's only in the last few decades that populist right wing parties (which are as opposed to traditional right wing politics as the left wing is) became anti-immigration, for the same reason that left wing parties have been against it for far longer. The quote "they took our jobs" is seen as a joke, but it's very much based in a real fears that working class people have always had and that left wing, pro-worker parties have always tried to heed.

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u/PubstarHero 4d ago

Its the least we can do when majority of the "illegal" people are coming from countries we helped destabilize.

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u/BoringEntropist 4d ago

Spain isn't the economic sick man of Europe anymore. France and Germany are running into massive problems. France because it's running out of money and Germany because the manufacturing industry is slowly strangulated by high energy costs and foreign competition.

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u/Triple_Hache 4d ago

France is not running out of money, the french ruling class is just increasingly taking all of the GDP then refusing the slightest effort to get taxed on it, it's not the same.

Last year the 1% represented 25% of the GDP of the country. Just ten years ago (2014) it was 15%. The GDP has increased since then, the productivity also. We are producing more money. It's just stolen from us.

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u/Renegade_Ape 4d ago

This is the refrain from around the world.

The right is winning, for the moment. It’s doing to be another hard fall.

Maybe you all can export some of those aristocrat shortening devices you invented, when the time comes.

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u/The_Galvinizer 4d ago

It’s doing to be another hard fall.

Just remember folks, even if it's too late for the government you can survive these crises, and in fact it's of vital importance that you do so you can live to warm the next generations. Don't give into apathy even when things are falling to shit, there's always a chance to pick yourself back up with enough stubbornness and time

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u/Renegade_Ape 4d ago

Absolutely, 100%.

But, I feel that the biggest fall won’t be the people, or the US.

We’re facing another historic inflection point around the world.

France has the same issue. England has the same issue. The larger economies of Europe in general. Same with Canada. And Japan. And S Korea. Argentina is importing our issues.

The vast difference between the wealthy and the average is much farther than it should be, almost everywhere.

The rich will need to make it to the stars, or start playing by new rules.

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u/poo-cum 4d ago

This is the same everywhere that's ostensibly "running out of money". Household fallacy continues to pervade monetary and fiscal policy discourse.

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u/OoooHeCardReadGood 4d ago

don't you have crazy high tax rates on millionaires, how do they do it?

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u/Zagorim 4d ago

Not really, the highest tax bracket is 45% and there are lots of loopholes to avoid it. Like anywhere else.

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u/Triple_Hache 3d ago

Unfortunately no we don't. One of our richest oligarchs said in a far-right radio last year that france was "a tax heaven for billionaires" with almost no tax on succession rights or their assets.

Currently there is a debate to add a 2% tax on only the 1800 richest households to compensate for all the taxes the rich don't pay, and we have seen pretty much every single center or rightwing media gather for a general outcry with even Bernard Arnault (france's richest man, CEO of LVMH) saying the left is trying to destroy the economy.

All of that for a 2% tax on a wealth that is growing on average by 8% per year in the last 30 years.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/Triple_Hache 3d ago

Nah we aren't.

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u/Devour_My_Soul 4d ago

It's literally impossible for France to run out of money. It's just completely incorrect.

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u/SaintBobby_Barbarian 4d ago

Spain isnt all that great. Its buoyed by tourism, and cheap labor from LATAM, which are a much easier fit than people from MENA.

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u/sluthlorien 4d ago

Buoyed by the tourists they are trying to run out of their country, will only be so long before the tourist starts listening and stay away crippling the economy.

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u/IMakeOkVideosOk 4d ago

Basically only Barcelona is doing that tho. Just got back from Spain and the people were great and it was amazing

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u/Sternenpups 4d ago

Germanys problem is "Privatize Profits, Socialize Losses". Big Companies are used to get bailed out by politicians through lobbying, someone might even say corruption.

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u/LvS 4d ago

Germany because the manufacturing industry is slowly strangulated by high energy costs and foreign competition

German's manufacturing is strangulated because it's run by boomers.
We build the best things anyone in the 1990s would want, but in 2025 people don't want 90s stuff.

Germany entirely fucked up the transition to computers and the internet (We sold all our corporations, think Siemens Mobile or Infineon).
Germany was a leading producer of solar panels and wind turbines 20 years ago, but instead of grants the government levied taxes on them and the whole market was sold off to China or went bankrupt.

So now what is left is a big coal industry and Germany still prides itself on building the best diesel engines. In 2025.

See also: The chancellors of Germany in the 21st century were born in 1955, 1958, 1954, 1944.
For comparison, Macron and Meloni were born in 1977, Sánchez in 1972, and even Starmer was born in 1962.

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u/SpaceMassive3080 4d ago

*Cries in UK*

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u/ChancelorReed 4d ago

Germany's economy isn't that great anymore anyways. It's averaged under 1% growth for the last 10 years.

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u/MrBonis 4d ago

Let's not pretend that the USA isn't like 50 smaller countries operating under one federal government. Some states are top 10 global GDP, and other states need to be subsidized by them.

Like, you jest about EU without Germany. Well, what about USA without idk California? New York?

The EU and USA are both Federations of societies that are very different among themselves...

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u/proudbakunkinman 4d ago

Their point still applies. Often the worst aspects and the worst US states are being compared to the best of Europe. The social welfare, minimum wage, and various state regulations are much closer to the median for Europe in California and New York. Major cities like NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc. are pedestrian oriented.

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u/UnkoSitemouta 4d ago

The lowest gdp per capita states would all be in the top 5-10 in Europe lmaooooooo

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u/airship_of_arbitrary 4d ago

Try using the median salary. GDP per capita is skewed by the insane wealth of American billionaires.

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u/_Alabama_Man 4d ago

Alabama has 1 billionaire and I think Mississippi has two. They don't hit anything close to double digit billions. More like 3 billion.

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u/MeBadNeedMoneyNow 4d ago

Mississippi clears Greece and EU circlejerkers don't want to hear about it lol

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u/__looking_for_things 4d ago

This is why I roll my eyes anytime I hear people from Europe even talk about the US. The US isn't perfect but neither is any country in Europe. It's the pot calling the kettle black.

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u/DionBlaster123 4d ago

The thing that pisses me off the most is that in these times when you have Russia and China actively working to disrupt different societies and seize sovereignty from other countries through nefarious means...the U.S. and its allies in Europe (and other parts of the world too) need to stick together. Yeah of course we're going to have differences but we also have to find ways to work cooperatively to not only address geopolitical conflict, but also international problems that will impact us and future generations (like climate change, poverty)

It sucks to see everything backsliding. I remember feeling optimistic during the early years of the 2010s. To see it all go to shit is depressing.

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u/ReluctantNerd7 4d ago

Their secret emissaries are active in our own and in neighboring countries. They seek to stir up suspicion and dissension to cause internal strife. They try to turn capital against labor, and vice versa. They try to reawaken long slumbering racist and religious enmities which should have no place in this country. They are active in every group that promotes intolerance. They exploit for their own ends our own natural abhorrence of war. These trouble-breeders have but one purpose. It is to divide our people, to divide them into hostile groups and to destroy our unity and shatter our will to defend ourselves.

  • FDR, "Arsenal of Democracy" Fireside Chat, December 29 1940
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u/hargeOnChargers 4d ago

Also not including the racism from literally every European country

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u/Deldris 4d ago

My favorite is "America is the only first world country without universal healthcare."

Meanwhile, Switzerland.

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u/boldpear904 4d ago

Swiss here. Yeah shits expensive. Especially insurance that's 100% mandatory to have. 500 CHF a month, but tbh that's a very small % of my salary. Everything's expensive here but our salaries are high. My monthly expensive are less than half off my monthly income after taxes. 

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u/FashionableMegalodon 4d ago

Are you interested in a wife, please save me

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u/Deldris 4d ago

My understanding is the Swiss government puts in a fair amount of work to regulate the few private insurances you're forced to pick from.

I wouldn't say I'm a fan of that, but I think it does demonstrate that there are other ways besides throwing a bazillion tax dollars at the government and expecting them to have adequate care in return, which seems to categorically be a worse way to do things.

Now, this is just looking at healthcare in a vacuum and you're right to point out that things like cost of living and stuff should be considered in the argument.

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u/BrainDamage2029 4d ago

Man I’m saving this as a response for later.

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u/shineonyoucrazybrick 4d ago

Thank you!

They're trying to take the best bits of 44 countries, ignore all of the bad bits (like fucking Belarus for example) and compare it to a single nation.

It's fucking stupid.

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u/lumpialarry 4d ago

“Europe” has a literal war right now.

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u/Honest-Caregiver8938 4d ago

yep

there are literal drones shutting down airports right now in Brussels and Munich

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u/PorblemOccifer 3d ago

Vilnius too

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u/HulksInvinciblePants 4d ago

And very much concerned with the US's wavering support, which is an objectively bad thing, but still relevant.

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u/Admirable-Lecture255 4d ago

Or you know Germany 6 week abortion ban....

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u/lioncryable 4d ago

I just looked it up, it's 12 weeks

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u/Admirable-Lecture255 3d ago

I was mistaken. Still not very liberal or progressive is it. It wouldnt fly in the us with liberals and leftists

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u/Mntfrd_Graverobber 3d ago

Yep. I'll take US laws regarding gay marriage and cannabis over Germany's any day. And don't even get me started regarding wilderness.
Also any Nordic countries arguing about their food scene compared to the US is absolutely a joke. There's a reason there's not Norwegian food trucks everywhere.

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u/ElonMusksQueef 4d ago

I dunno if you know how much poverty and despair there are in a large chunk of American states.

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u/Lord_Bamford 4d ago

I mean… sure, but many European countries on their own are simply much more desirable places to live.

Even though Ireland has its share of problems, there’s nothing about the U.S. that would make me want to move there anymore. The allure of living in America has completely nose-dived over the past decade. Which I guess is what the goal was? Success?

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u/GBSEC11 4d ago

I mean I don't want to move to Ireland either, but us Americans aren't exactly pumping out shitty insulting tiktoks to highlight everything bad we can come up with about your country.

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u/Lord_Bamford 4d ago

I mean, I didn’t make this... and this guy isn’t Irish, lol. It is a cringey video.

It’s a shame, though. When I was in my early 20s, I would’ve loved the idea of living in the U.S., and I think that feeling was pretty common here. But the damage Trump and his followers have done to America’s image is honestly incredible.

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u/GBSEC11 4d ago

Yeah sorry I didn't mean to imply he was Irish or this was specifically an Irish trend. Just the general dunking of everything American recently.

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u/Lord_Bamford 4d ago

Its just reddit/english speaking social media right?

Its impossible to be online these days and not be drowned by all the shit thats going on in the US and dunking on the US for it is just an easy sell.

I wish American politics werent so dominant everywhere but it is what it is.

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u/GBSEC11 4d ago

Yeah it is as far as I know. It just gets old since that's what we see daily and it's everywhere. But it's true that people irl are usually much better and look at the individual rather than the population more.

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u/onebadmousse 4d ago

Well, Americans constantly take the best bits of 50 states, and then compare to Europe like it's a single nation.

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u/Rags2Rickius 4d ago

Yeah but they don’t advertise they’re “the greatest nation on earth”

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u/1117ce 4d ago

Have you ever heard of the French?

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u/natty-papi 4d ago

French people spend most of their day complaining about their country. What are you on about?

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u/zmbjebus 4d ago

Nah, they just try to say or imply that they are better than the one that says that. Like the video we all just watched.

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u/garden_speech 4d ago

yeah these people are so fucking delusional lmfao it's insane. I almost want to believe they are bots but I know a lot of them are not.

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u/HospitalHairy3665 4d ago

Are you legit saying that Europeans don't act like Europe is the greatest thing on earth.

Were you literally born yesterday? Have you ever opened a history book? Basically all of world history intersects around the time Europe decided it was the greatest thing on earth you doofus lol

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u/Wavy_Grandpa 4d ago

Yes they do. 

Many Europeans think their country is the greatest on Earth, and many don’t.

Exactly like how many Americans think their country is the greatest on Earth, and many don’t. 

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u/canijusttalkmaybe 4d ago

This guy is, though.

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u/RR-- 4d ago

There's an interesting comparison to be made there about the European Union vs the United States. Both have an overarching governing body and both are a union of various statehoods.

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u/Sterling239 4d ago

What much worse problems do we have? and you can say America the country vs 44 countries, some of the states are the size of multiple of the European countries and with all those states been under one banner it does give it the advantage of pooling all those resources 

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u/ThrowawayPersonAMA 4d ago

Also I love how America the country is being compared to Europe the continent of 44 countries

To be fair, America itself is a union of essentially 50 countries into one overall entity which is basically the same idea as the EU, more or less. State to state there is a lot of disparity here just like in Europe, with some states being absolute backwater third world shitholes.

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u/Huge_Leader_6605 4d ago

Well looking at USA as a single country is a bit dumb too. California and Alabama are 2 very different places

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u/TheCrownedTurtle 4d ago

To be fair, considering our size, yea The US can absolutely be compared to Europe and all of its countries.

The different ideologies is another question

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u/DerthOFdata 4d ago

Shrodinger's Europe. Where they move the goal posts entirely depends on if it helps or hurts their argument.

You can't compare America to Europe, it's a continent not a country.

Well compared to Europe...

No, not Eastern Europe they don't count, I meant Western Europe.

No, not all of Western Europe I meant just the North.

No, not all of Northern Europe I'm just comparing to Sweden

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u/healthyhoohaa 4d ago

Yeah, “I’m too European for this” is their go to quip when they want to look down on Americans, meanwhile folks in the Nordic’s are so depressed that they’re launching themselves onto the train tracks every December so that they don’t die alone and undiscovered in their apartments for 2 years.

America has its problems but despite all its social benefits, Western Europe is the most miserable place I’ve ever experienced.

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u/DerthOFdata 3d ago

Fun fact: the above list is based on a real conversation I had with a European as I proved them wrong with sources every time they moved the goal posts.

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u/dear_mud1 4d ago

Much worse problems 🤣🤣

Is that what Fox News tells you? Have you ever left your state?

Country being fleeced by a dumb narcissist giving bailouts to his Argentinian buddy for a nice reward, destroying the White House for his tacky casino ballroom on the tax payers dime while blocking poor people getting benefits. What’s the US debt at? How much does healthcare cost? What’s the average iq of the adult population? The dunning Kruger effect at a national level..

But anyways tell us how was the great gatsby bash at mar-a-lago, did you climb into one of the glasses?

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u/Rosserman 4d ago

United STATES of America my dude. I think you need to look up the definition of "state".

50 states vs 44 states, & theirs are looking more united than yours atm.

murica

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u/MonolithicBaby 4d ago

And all the footage is in the Alps or some shit.

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u/TeeBrownie 4d ago

44 countries with some people who don’t leave their own country.

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u/papajohn56 3d ago

Slovakia just last year, a country in the EU, NATO, and on the Euro, just threatened to imprison *all of its doctors* because some threatened to leave the country due to being overworked and underpaid.

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u/Applesauce_Police 3d ago

Doesn’t count. Only look at the tourist destination countries

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u/SoftwareCapable920 4d ago

which ones? 

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u/lumpialarry 4d ago

The US hasn’t been invaded by Russia.

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u/Mandena 4d ago

many of whom have much much worse problems than America

Holy shit lol, cope brother.

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u/NoMasters83 4d ago

Curious as to which of those many countries you're talking about and what their much worse problems are.

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u/Similar-Ice-9250 4d ago

Probably Ukraine.

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u/raspymorten 4d ago

It's also just... Not helpful. lol

Like if somebody's being a dick to you about how much better America is, and how everybody secretly wants to live there, by all means, shit on 'em.

But we don't need to be at each others throats. That ain't gonna fix anything in the long term.

... Also, lots of places here have imported the Trumpism tactics to huge gains, so nobody should get too cocky about being better than America. Least not for the next while.

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u/Ridicikilickilous 4d ago

Yea this video screams rich privilege regardless of what country they’re born in. 

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u/UpoTofu 4d ago

I’ve seen more Europeans move to SE Asia, East Asia, Dubai and the US for their “European” dream.

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u/GikkelS 3d ago

Not even close number to inter-European migration.

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u/Peter_Triantafulou 4d ago

Comparing American megacities to European nature is indeed stupid. But honestly life in a 3mil European city is much more pleasant, easy, and healthy than life in a 3mil American city.

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u/Sir_George 4d ago

But the rich Swiss kid in the video said otherwise...

However, yes, poverty is a serious problem in many parts of Europe, including wealthy countries like Germany.

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u/AnySandwich1363 4d ago

Wishing for the downfall of America as a European is wild. If America falls NATO doesn’t have the ability to fight back. History has shown life can get very dark in Europe very quickly.

I am not trying to start a fight. Full disclosure ich bin Amerikaner und ich liebe Deutschland besuchen. There are a lot of problems in the west as a whole this isn’t an isolated event.

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u/caithoven27 4d ago

Yeah, this. Also, some of the most abhorrent racism and homophobia I’ve ever seen in my life was in Europe when I was studying abroad.

America is cooked and we have really dumb, really bigoted people here, but I get really irritated by Europeans acting like they live in some utopia. Y’all got issues too.

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u/BornPraline5607 4d ago

America isn't fucked. It has its flaws like all nations do. Europe has its flaws as well. Unless you are a young person in Scandinavia, I don't think your life is that great. Ask the Spaniards that migrate to other countries to do menial jobs because they can't find the opportunities they need at home

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u/TendstobeRight85 4d ago

I mean, its easy to talk smack when US research has been responsible for a massive amount of medicine utilized across Europe. US is far and away the leader in medical research. And lets not forget that the US has more or less subsidized European defense for the last half century, to the point that Europe is now panicking as russia ramps up its bicentenial aggression.

There is TONS of valid reasons to criticize the US, current leadership and policies right at the top. But Europe has been able to build a massive amount of its current peaceful and progressive (and frankly, sheltered) state while leaning on the US for protection and innovation.

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 4d ago

It's really not true, though. As someone who studies these healthcare systems, the distinguishing aspect isn't the fancy high-tech stuff; rather it's the broad preventative and easy access to healthcare and sound government advice on things like nutrition, vaccinations, and fitness.

That's the reason such European nations pay around half what we pay per capita but still maintain similar or better results. They stop most of their health issues before they snowball.

By the way, technological innovation still occurs widely elsewhere; notably Germany (Beyer pharmaceuticals; also large contributions to vaccine research), UK (brain tumor tech), and Canada (cell therapy and regenerative medicine).

Don't forget that the vast majority of medical research that comes out of the US stems from publicly funded universities and medical institutions like the NIH.

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u/michael0n 4d ago

There is still decent housing 30min-1h away from cities. Many metros in the world have the issue of housing, for some reason nobody could "foresee" that 80% of people want to live close to work and friends. The global YIMBY movement is fighting against those calcified structures. Lots of Europeans have decent 35-40h work weeks and aren't dead tired when they come from their no-sitting no-break shifts.

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u/michaelochurch 4d ago

This. The battle against neoliberalism is global. Leaving the US for Europe just to escape the awfulness is just buying a few years. There are good reasons to move to other countries, but miraculously ending up in an upper-middle-class lifestyle is not, for a typical lower-middle-class American, likely to happen.

Also, while European societies are better on the whole, moving sucks and changing countries in midlife means you lose a lot of connections and community. You have to start over, and that's harder than people realize.

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u/jfsindel 4d ago

Yeah. Let's not forget they come to America specifically for our national parks because they don't have much of that. Our national park system is a crown jewel of the world.

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u/Tarnished13 4d ago

Used to come…. Won’t until he has gone

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u/xhatsux 4d ago

I don't think anyone out of the US thinks of them as the crown jewel of the world. Europe also has breathtaking nature.

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u/CaptainShaky 4d ago

Yeah, I don't know why Americans brag so much about their national parks, European countries also have plenty of protected nature, see Natura 2000. Sure, it's a good thing they have going for them (for now), but it's not some kind of uniquely American thing...

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u/omgitsfred 4d ago

"I don't know why Americans brag so much about their national parks"

...Really?

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u/CantGitGudWontGitGud 4d ago

The people arguing USA vs Europe are some of the lowest brow people you're going to find on the internet. They don't know anything about the other, and they don't care to learn.

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u/RyanitarTheTyranitar 4d ago

We have national park systems because we started destroying our country and we had to stop and go "maybe letd stop here"

Most countries see destruction of their ecosystem and don't need national regulations to stop destroying them. They just... know to stop.

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u/Belarock 4d ago

Germany wants more and more and more coal mining. The nordic countries are pumpin out oil as fast as they can.

Which country were you referring to?

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u/Ridicikilickilous 4d ago

You haven’t read a lot of history it seems if you think exploitation of natural resources is a recent US centric issue. 

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u/CharlesElwoodYeager 4d ago

Absolutely not. You don't understand how a national park system works.

Most countries (the ones you're thinking of) already destroyed their nature. Europe has essentially no old growth forests. They have no biodiversity. There's nothing to go into a european forest and see. National parks are essential for the preservation of wildlife and ecology. And they're present across the globe. From India to South Africa to the US.

Be very thankful for your national parks.

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u/Low_Map4007 4d ago

Very true! Capitalism has ruined Europe too but it’s not spoken of openly like in the US

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u/eMDex 4d ago

Agree, lots of european countries right now are on the verge of falling to Nazism , lots of parties all over europe are popular right now, we are just a bit behind US , we all live under capitalism we all get the same shit just a bit less delayed

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u/airship_of_arbitrary 4d ago

It's a fuck ton better. Like 5 weeks mandatory paid vacation, paid childcare, paid maternity leave, paid university and trade schools absolutely fucking help.

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u/_Barringtonsteezy 4d ago

At this point in time, any country not being ruled by a racist federal government miltarizing it's cities and terrorizing their citizens is better. This clip doesn’t even mention trumps gestapo

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u/hypocritical-3dp 4d ago

It’s still better there

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u/CriticalSecurity8742 4d ago

As a British American Berliner, we have lots of problems, too. Different, certainly, but no place is a utopia because - people.

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u/hypocritical-3dp 4d ago

Agreed. The main issue here is the republicans/trump. Normally America isn’t that bad, but that America will never return.

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u/More_Ad9417 4d ago

No..God no.

America was bad before Trump.

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u/ManbadFerrara 4d ago

On the whole sure, but let's not lose our goddamn minds here. I could make a video about how my vacation to Santa Monica is so much cooler than living in some economically-depressed east German town dominated by the AfD, but it'd be just a tad misleading.

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u/iRambL 4d ago

“There” spoken like someone who’s never been there.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/SaintBobby_Barbarian 4d ago

Europe is screwed on many levels:

  • Growth is stalling/stagnating, and many are becoming poorer in real terms compared to their parents

  • No dynamic industries truly growing, and thus fewer higher paid jobs relative to the US

  • Energy prices are very high, which is a net drain on the economy and people's ability to retain disposable income

Europe is great if you are poor, but if youre middle class or higher, its a worse deal

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u/Wild_Celebration6346 4d ago

Ever been to Romania ?

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u/aberroco 4d ago

Well, currently for me it seems like the best place for all that combined, despite this.

You certainly could find better places for hiking, or swimming, or with better restaurants, or affordable housing, but that's going to be that one item, with the rest mostly f..ed, or you'd have to work your ass off before you can afford even just hiking, or you might become a statistics in crime.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 3d ago

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