How America got so Stupid

And why American culture became everything, everywhere, all at once.

[BritMonkey]

I have no idea why YouTube has only rendered this in 720p, hopefully it fixes itself but otherwise just pretend it's 2010 or something.

[dingleberry]

You would expect Americans to be very educated about the world, given how they are involved in so many foreign affairs.

[Segalocus]

Honestly, as an American, I feel like a lot of people here are becoming proud of how stupid they are. You see it everywhere on social media

[moarschtuff]

As an American living in Asia, I find myself routinely embarrassed about the fact that I come across many non-native English speakers who can properly speak and write in English better than most Americans do, even when their native scripts use a non-Latin alphabet.

[tadeoguerrero]

I work as a tour guide in Buenos Aires. Many of my guests are from USA, they tend to be friendly, but I have to focus things quite differently. Less intellectual, sometimes from the very basics, more about "world records", and walk much less.
But the thing that frustrates me the most is when they don't show interest in authenticity and prefer USA focused activities, like going to McDonald's instead of a traditional local restaurant which is cheaper and nicer.

[Dreyno]

In fairness, knowing who the British prime minister is at a given time in recent years isn’t an easy question to answer.

[rainydays]

I spoke with a waitress in Georgia who told me she failed history after writing an essay on how the US bombed Pearl Harbor.

[yeniferperezgarcia]

I'm cuban, i live in new york rigth now and i have to listen to people asking in what part of Mexico Spain is ._.

[peterritchie]

From Canada:
A few years ago in Texas I was having lunch with a few college instructors. One insisted adamantly that Texas was bigger than Europe. He absolutely refused to hear a differing opinion. Aghast I fashioned a small bet and loaded up the facts for our meeting the next day.
I pointed out that France is about 70% the size of Texas. Then adding the size of Portugal I pointed out these two countries were bigger than Texas. I went on to present a few more European countries and soon the numbers showed Europe to be manymultiple sizes bigger than Texas.
Without the slightest morsel of chagrin he very reluctantly paid the tiny wager and said “yah, but you included the Scandinavian countries”.

[ElizabethReynolds-tgmb]

As an American yes large percentage of us are very stupid, i got into a legitimate argument with a coworker because he didn't think trees were plants, i asked him what he thought they were then and he didn't know but he "knew they weren't plants", took a Google search and 10 minutes of explaining plant taxonomy to finally convince a 35 year old man that trees are indeed plants😑

[degeneratemale]

As an American, I can confirm that my IQ is in the negatives.

The fact that I’m even literate is a miracle from god

[mono-no-aware.Lem.]

“an above average episode of the news” is the most hilarious way to describe 9/11 I’ve ever heard

[laggedesusse]

I once spoke with an American who told me he had seen the world and been to places such as Texas and Florida.

[googane]

As a foreigner watching american news like Fox and MSNBC i was amazed by just how partisan the media is. They will say and do whatever that makes their party look good and diseregard any nuance or intepretation. Its very hard to find information that isn't biased and allow for any critical thought. No wonder america is so divided.

[masscreationbroadcasts]

This video is unfair.
As a non American, I can be stoopid too, it's my God given right.

[wngmv]

I was once asked "what's the weather like in china". When i answered by saying China is as big as Continental US, spanning roughly from Maine to Florida they looked at me stupid.

[FullOrange_]

I’m Canadian and lived in the US and I was asked on multiple occasions to speak Canadian. It’s just ridiculous sometimes.

[siryeetus]

I'm a Romanian studying in the US. Almost everytime I'd mention I'm from Romania, they would ask me one of the following:
Where is Romania?
What's Romania?
Wait, Romania is a country?
Oh, where's Romania in Ohio?
Wow, you're from Africa?
So you're communist?
Where is Romania in the US?
And when I'd mention I'm from the Transylvanian region, they would immediately ask me about the Hotel in Transylvania movie. Some even debated me if Transylvania is a real place.

[mogumogu-taberuze]

I'm Japanese, but I lived in the U.S. as as kid.
One day I was eating lunch at the school cafeteria, munching on an rice ball my mother made for me.
An American friend of mine came over, seemingly excited, exclaiming "Sushi! Sushi!"

I told him calmly that sushi is made using raw sliced fish and vinegared rice, whereas the rice ball I was eating at the moment was neither.
My friend responded with, "No, no, no! That's definitely sushi. You're eating sushi."

It remains to this day a bizzare question why my friend thought he was more informed about Japanese food culture than the Japanese kid in front of him, but as I grew up and got to know more about U.S. culture, and met more people like him, I gradually learned to just deal with it.

[andrewrobinson]

In the "Land of the Free", employees only get TWO WEEKS free time a year 😮.