America Is Not Europe

I can be wrong, and I will be wrong.

Please check out IntoEurope. It's a great channel that is extremely bingeable and produces European content (if the name didn't give it away already):

Sources:

The source document will always be posted on the website:

About this video:

This is the most American-centric video I think I will make a in long time.

I am not trying to claim that these differences between the United States and Europe are the most relevant (consumption tax and inequality overall, education financing, coddling of Americans, and the political system generally), or that these are the only differences that exist.

I made this video mainly because I've always felt that Americans and Europeans both engage in just looking at each other and thinking there are these simple differences that could be tweaked easily, and I just think that's far from the case. There are a lot of large and relevant differences between the two regions.

Also, this video engages in a bunch of generalizations, and there are enough relevant differences between 'East' and 'Western' Europe already not even including the differences with the US. That being said, I wouldn't be making this channel if I didn't think there were more similarities between Europeans that we would care to admit.

Assets:

Images:

[Figure of Cultural Groups in Europe] American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

[Mark Zuckerberg Image] added black and white filter and mosaic modifier
Author: JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Elon Musk Image
Author: Duncan Hull
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Bill Gates Image
Author: Kuhlmann /MSC
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Germany

Plenaire zaal Tweede Kamer Image
Author: Husky
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Inside Parliament of Sweden
Author: Suyash Dwivedi
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Deutscher Bundestag Plenarsaal Seitenansicht
Author: Times
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Footage:

[Senator Ted Cruz][59:36] Sen. Cruz and Sen. Sanders Debate Tax Reform on CNN - October 18, 2017

[France 24] Emmanuel Macron Video. Can’t find the link anymore but the title was ‘France - Emmanuel Macron réunit le parlement pour tenter de se relancer.’ Video was also used as an image.

[NBC News] 1988 Flashback: George H.W. Bush Says, ‘Read My lips: No New Taxes’ | NBC News

[Bloomberg Quicktake Now | CSPAN] Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema Votes Against $15 Minimum Wage Effort

[Bill Gates] The wicked problem of school funding

[Big Think] How overparenting backfired on Americans | Jonathan Haidt | Big Think

[CPSAN] Constitutional Role of Judges

Music:
Expand by Hazy

Wonder by Hazy

Title: Blue Wednesday, tender spring - Exhale
Artist: Blue Wednesday

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction
01:00 - Taxation
02:26 - Federal Responsibility
03:05 - Education
04:58 - Coddling of the American Mind
06:19 - Scalia Rant
08:01 - Conclusion

[hoogyoutube]

!! BIG ERROR: SWITCH RED AND BLUE AT 1:35: Blue should be top 1% and red should be bottom 50%. !!

I was not expecting this video to do as well as it did, and it is really not as polished as I would like it. There are mistakes, and please take this video with a grain of salt. I may delete it in the future.

Some housekeeping:


The comment section helps nuance the video, and if I see comments that add important corrections or more nuance, I will put them in that document.



It's a fascinating read, and it was written by some very smart Europeans.

4. This is the most American-centric video I will make in a while, so apologies in advance if you expect more content on America like this in the immediate future.

5. I was trying to be less attention grabbing with this video, slower, and less focused on the timing of certain clips. I don't think that will help the analytics, but, either way, I enjoyed making the animations, and I hope you guys enjoy the slower paced video.

[Therealsimone]

As a European, i'll admit i'm not American

[Touhou]

"America Is Not Europe"
me: *looks at map* Seems correct

[McRoma]

That point about allowing children independence is also affected by american infrastructure. In europe, you could walk or bike almost anywhere you needed to go, and most schools were extremely close to the houses that they taught. In the US, thanks to suburban developement, this almost never happens, and to go almost anywhere you need a car, which you only get when your 16 at the very youngest

[deltoid-nick]

That comment about children's autonomy really struck a chord with me.

I didn't have autonomy until I was 16 and when I first started navigating the streets I had no idea what to do when I got lost I quickly learned how to right after that

but it's very interesting that European children are more independent alone.

[wjzav]

As a European, I have to admit that we often discuss America with our own cultural and political lens.
I had to learn a few years ago that Americans, while they do seem very similar to us on a surface level, DO have quite different values and different political views across the entire spectrum.

[breefolf]

as a so-called "european", the word "europe" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, there is vast differences in economic policy from the uk to germany to sweden to hungary to russia

[omital-ittna]

I'd just like to point out a falsehood here. While it is true that everybody pays for VAT in Europe, a lot of goods purchases by companies are VAT-free and even if they pay VAT, they can write it off in their corporate taxes. The whole idea of VAT is that the final "user" pays for it. Trust me. I'm an accountant.

[sarahshaw]

My favourite part of living in Europe is that I’m not in America

Edit: to all the Americans who keep saying their favourite part of being in america is that they’re not in Europe I have 1 word for you

Cope

[Amadi]

As a Polish kid. I started walking to school alone when I was 7. One day there was this small dog in my path that was barking at me. Since I was bitten by a dog as a young child, I became so afraid that I turned around and went home. When my mom came home she wrote I note justifying my absence saying that I was sick. But she told me that I have to get my shit together tomorrow. So for couple of weeks I took very long path around the location of that dog. Until one day I was walking to school with neighbor girl that was older than me. She said that there is a dog that she always feeds on her way to school. I didn't want to seem like a coward so I walked with her. I gave food to that dog with her. I wasn't afraid of dogs ever since.

[KNYD]

I love that affordable cheese was on top of the list. I'm a Finn and we are the biggest dairy consumers in the world, couldn't imagine life without affordable cheese.

[Watchingvideoslikeu]

It’s easy to blame “Washington” than your own state legislatures

[nojatha]

I like how you addressed the issue of kids not having enough freedom. Parents use to give rules to children and then let them have their own adventures. It would build character.

[its.waynesworld]

As someone who lives in Bridgeport, CT, it’s ridiculous how inequitable education is here. 10 miles separates the best and worst high schools in the nation. Your zip code truly defines a child’s future.

[MonsieurDean]

Wrong, if you look at a map, Europe is just an island of North America that strayed too far and hit into Asia.

[Kraut_the_Parrot]

That list at the end... lol.

I once thought about making a video explaining European food safety and quality regulations to our friends across the Atlantic, and realized it would turn into a cooking video about what makes all regional European foods unique. From the Backlava of Western Turkey, to the walnut pies of Southern France.

[NotKimiRaikkonen]

I try explaining this to my brother when he tells me we should just adopt what Japan does to solve all of our problems. Which is crazy, cause we're not Japan, we don't have a Japanese economy or a population of Japanese people and Japanese society. You can't copy-paste anyone else's solutions to fit your own.

[aaronl]

A far more fair comparison is the US and Canada, they have a lot of similarities, the culture, the taxing system, the problems, etc. But they also have a lot of differences, which people can debate on which one is better, but you never really see Canada be brought up, it’s always Europe.

[josephsshitpostemporium]

An important thing to keep in mind, that explains a lot of the weird power structures in the US, is that it was intended to be a collection of smaller nations/countries under a central government.

[NAUM_Areas]

Every time I feel lucky for the freedom I had as a kid. Living in a small town in Iowa, I could go quite a bit of places. I even would pedal the three miles to the next town for little league baseball practice. It was a great childhood.