American Couple Reacts 'Explaining Europe to Americans'

African American Couple Reacts "Explaining Europe to Americans"| The Demouchets REACT Europe
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[olsa]

It's perfectly ok to say "I have roots from x" or "I have ancestors from x", "my family come from x". What many Europeans react to is when someone who has never set foot in x and does not speak the language says "I AM from x", because their grandmother's grandfather came from there. So far I've only heard Americans say that.
Many Americans. Because many Europeans got annoyed by it, it's a thing. You are not from somewhere you have never been, your grandmother's grandfather was from there, you have roots from there, YOU are not from there. That's the difference.

[CelestialLight]

As a European that has lived in the US and been to many different European countries there is a massive difference between Europeans and white Americans. Our culture, history, cuisine, mentality, upbringing, mannerisms, sports, art, music, education, etc it’s way different. Europeans from different countries in Europe while having unique and diverse cultures have more in common with each other than with white Americans or white Canadians.

[MN-skpj]

'Open a map before you open your mouth!' 🤣🤣, 'If you ever see a Scandinavian laugh, it's sincere!' 🤣🤣 Tell them girl!!!

[erikbehaeghel]

I have French and Dutch ancestors but born in Belgium, so I consider myself Belgian and not French or Dutch. If you are born in America, you are American wherever your ancestors come from

[thisismaria]

There is nothing wrong with saying you have for example italian heritage or your ancestors are from Italy, but a lot of american tourists claim a country as their own that they have no cultural part in, haven't lived in and just some distant great-great-grandmother came from. But there is nothing wrong with claiming your heritage at all, many people had to flee to the US bc of dictatorships in Europe and ofc we don't resent anybody for that. There is just a difference between having a german great-great grandmother and living in Germany.

[kubi]

Ok, I'd like to clarify some points she made.

1. The main point is that there is no such thing as a universal european culture, as she said "Europe is a continent with many countries in it". Every country has its own history, culture, political system and etc. So you should look at each country in an individual way, because even though there might be a lot of similarities with other countries there are also a lot of differences. Nationality and cultural heritage is somethign that people are very proud of and is what makes every nation individual and unique, so putting it into a larger group ( for example: all easter europe is basically Russia, or eastern europeans speak russian) is really offensive, its equivalent to saying something like All of Eastern Asia is basically China and everyone speaks chinese.

2. About the whole ancestral background thing. I won't go into a deepdive in ethnical theories because that would take forever, as an anthropologist I will try to simplify this huge subject as best I can. Basically there is no one official thery about ethnicity, every nation decides for itself what markers make a person part of this nation (for example: religion, language, ethnicity and etc). To be a part of a certain cultura one must be born and raised into this culture because its the culture that we're born in that shapes our understanding of the world (ethnocentrism). In other words, genetic heritage means noithing without the cultural and national background.

3. While there are racists all over the world, the main issue in Europe is nationalism not racism. As she mentioned, there are a lot of conflicts over history, culture, land, ethnicity and etc. which are the main issues european nations have with each other. Race, ethnicity and nationality are 3 different things that for some reason a lot of people all over the world don't seem to differentiate for some reason.

[Elis_Nordgall]

Here’s the thing, it’s not that we mind Americans being proud of their ancestry. My mother is from Scotland, I am proud of my Scottish heritage, but the difference is that I don’t claim the Scottish culture, I’m not from there.
It’s that some Americans claim to be us, be a part of our culture, when they have no connection to it at all.

Americans can be like 4+ generations removed and they still consider themselves Italian, Irish, Swedish etc.
It’s just so weird to me.
Like no, you’re American, you have no connection to the culture whatsoever, you’re not from here, you likely don’t even speak the language.
It doesn’t matter if you celebrate Midsummer or whatever, you’re still not Swedish. It doesn’t matter if you can pronounce Cappuccino correctly, you’re not Italian. It doesn’t matter that you celebrate St. Patrick’s day, you’re not Irish. If that is your only connection to us, that doesn’t make you us.

We don’t care if you consider yourself to be a certain ethnicity or whatnot. It’s when you claim our culture, when you likely actually know little to nothing about it, that it annoys us.

Does that make sense?

[nj]

Maybe it's not general trend but it can be seen in 'white america' tv/internet content that some people "claim" to be 'Irish', "Italian".. just becasue they hit some % on ancestry test. To people in Europe it sounds a bit weird. Maybe there is a miscommunication in expression of these stuff; but I think her dig was at those cases only. Having pride and remebering your ancestry is a totally different thing and I can't think of anyone having issue with it - people appretiate it rather than anything else :)

[kerrydoutch]

The whole nationality/ethnicity thing seems to be, at the risk of generalising, very American. I have heard, via tv and movies and some videos, people calling themselves specifically Irish or Italian American. Or even Italian (and I have heard complaints on videos about bad Mexican food in Austraia) . Im Australian and we have generations of immigrant families from all over Europe England Scotland Wales and Ireland. But no one refers to themselves as Irish Australian for instance. We're just Australian. Im fascinated by family history and my ancestors are 50 50 UK and Irish. I also have 2 English convict ancestors who definitely didnt volunteer to come here. thats 4? 5? generations back. Theres definitely a connection but Im Australian not British or Irish Australian. Ive visited for interests sake but I dont tell local people Im Irish or English. Im Australian checking out my ancestry.

[ileana]

Love, how being "big on manners", because you are from the south is mentioned as a differentiator when it comes to resttaurants service. In Europe we are big on manners as well. The defintion is different. First and foremost in Europe it is considered bad manners, if the waiter is interrupting you constantly whilst you are eating or even enjoying your time with your company. He is expected to leave you alone unless you wanna order something, need something or dishes have to be cleaned. The bill will be brought upon request.
We as well set value on opening up doors for elderly, pregnant, disabled etc., as well as respecting poeple by using the formal ´´you´. Although you will find a good amount of entitled brats under 20yo running around in every country, not giving a s... about manners. 😉

[DSP]

She was wrong with one thing: When counting Europe with the russian part (until Ural mountain range) then Europe is a little bit bigger than the United States. (USA (total land area+ waters): 3, 796, 742 sq mi vs. Europe (Continent not the European Union): 3, 930, 000 sq mi).

[pepepote]

In Spain they will never ask for a tip, it is considered bad taste and rude, the best reward is that you come back another day...

[ashleytrinis]

To clear up The rule of ancestry in Italy. It applies to all Italian ancestry background regardless of race because Europe classifies you on nationality versus race/ethnicity like here in the U.S. This is why she stated just because your DNA or ancestry says your Italian doesn't mean you can claim to be Italian. This is most important when it comes to citizenship moreso than anything. You cannot claim citizenship just because your great great great great grandfather was Italian or even lived in Italy. Italy has a law that if you were born there and grew up there you can't claim citizenship until you are 18/an adult. As an example if I have a baby in Italy and we live there and the child grows up there that child still is not considered a citizen until they become an adult and apply for citizenship. Many Italians are fighting for change in this law especially black Italians whose parents reside there because they were born, raised and fully evolved in Italy. So many of them do not feel its fair to have to go through the citizenship process when they are in fact Italian. Also There were black italians way back in the day and that number is rising everyday due to African immigrants migrating to Italy and France specifically from the Haiti and Somalia Region and they are having kids there. I am a black Italian by blood I have many ancestors both black and white who were Italian But I can't claim that I am Italian because I didn't grow up there and I have no current immediate living relatives there but I do speak Italian and I own and reside in a home in Italy a few months out of the year but even that won't qualify me for citizenship only residency. So its not that Italy is asking Americans to not associate their ancestry or DNA history to being Italian but moreso based on the nationality aspect you're not Italian. I'm also French and German by blood but again I don't claim to be either of those nationalities because I grew up in America and I was born in the Caribbean. If asked I will say I have an Italian bloodline or I have Italian ancestry/history.

[Viennery]

“Where are all the people at”

As a Canadian who’s travelled to Europe, I can confidently answer this. The cities!

European cities are much more densely populated than our own, taking full advantage of the spaces available to house as many people comfortably as possible.

Their homes tend to be a lot smaller than what you find in North America, but A LOT more public amenities. The outdoor space feels like an extension of your home, not just a space you travel through.

Historically this makes sense, because many wars were fought over agricultural land. When you have that many people, you got to feed them and if you can’t produce any more food… you need more farmland.

In the case of the fjord lands of Scandinavia, farmland was so scarce that rotting fish became a delicacy and the North Sea empire was born from Vikings trying to secure farmland from Western Europe.

This cycle of violence to feed your people went on for millennia until the discovery of fertilizers that improved yields, and an entire new continent was discovered.

[AncientBriton]

You mentioned giving birth in a specific country possibly because of benefits, well Europe doesn't operate the same as the US. If you're born In the US I believe you automatically qualify as a US citizen whereas in Europe we tend to work on the basis that a dog born in a stable doesn't make it a horse. I quite sure that if a birth happens unexpectedly it would be treated as an emergency with little to no cost to the parents but the child's nationality depends on their parents.

[iron_side]

If you do a deepdive into European History it is WILD.

From Germanic Tribes, to them growing into Empires of their own, to them ending the Roman Empire TWICE, yeah you heard that right.
The Scandinavians basically ignoring most everyone else and waging war against each other for a while.

Scandinavians Gauls and Saxons Fighting over Britain and warring against the Gaels.
Spain fighting the entirety of North Africa and losing, but then taking Iberia back by force.
And of course what is todays Turkey, fighting pretty much the entirety of the Middle east one after another, being conquered by them sometimes and then those guys fought the rest of the middle east.

And all of that in the last 1500 years, and that is only scratching the surface.

And then of course you got the, quite recent, Holy Roman Empire, that had nothing to do with Romans at all.
That period is basically EVERYTHING you think of when you think "Medieval"
Castles, peasants paying tithes, warring Dukedoms, Sieges.

Everything Medieval you can think of basically happened in or around central Europe until the Industrial Revolution, i believe.

[IceWolf]

Also, is the first time I'm hearing about this theory about the countries in Eastern Europe wanting to be called "Slavic" instead of Eastern European. I know at least one who doesn't, my country, Romania. Nothing wrong with Slavic countries but we are a Latin one and we never thought of calling us anything else but Latin.

[shakya]

Africans think the same about Black-Americans as Europeans about White-Americans. You aren't them in their eyes. It isn't because you have 20% Senegalese DNA that you are Senegalese for them. Your ancestors have been living in the USA for centuries, you don't have any cultural/family link to them and are mixed. You are mixed with different African ethnicities and most of you even have European DNA. So, from a cultural, ethnic, historical, geographical pov, you are your own kind. Americans and Black-Americans.

[Niki-HR]

To us US- Americans are just US-Americans, especially if your families ( for whatever reason) are there for generations. Due to history and how some thing went ofc you will have a background outside of the States but the ties to any european countries are cut. The only people you could tie to us are people ofc who recently moved to the US and whose parents moved to the US but still have connections like family in the country of origin and know how to speak the language and kinda understand the culture and history.

You two for example are also just Americans to us even though your roots are from somewhere in Africa and perhaps even Europe most likely British.

Its nice to know, if you are able to find out, where your ancestors came from but the majority of the people in the States are just American, especially what you call white people. We dont claim these people anymore.

Also the girl in the video has a great sense of humour.

[MrKiltak]

1:50 most (there's one or two exceptions) European countries follow "Jus Sanguinis" for births in the country: the child gets the parents nationality. "Jus Soli" (birthright citizenship) is common only in the Americas (Colombia being the exception there).