What Americans Don't Understand About Europe

I’ve noticed an increasingly negative attitude of US-Americans to Europeans, and the other way round. It makes me sad because I think there’s much to admire in both America and Europe. Today I want to talk a little about what I think is going on, and what we have in common –and what not.

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#usa #europe

[baktunuinal]

As someone who has lived in 5 countries in this world (France, Greece, Japan, Sweden and the USA) I think people are stupid everywhere. They are just stupid in different ways. 🙂

[Justin_the_Analog_IC_architect]

Regarding the comment about too much tax. I live in Austria, which I think has a slightly higher tax burden than Germany. I'm self employed meaning that instead of getting a sum of money every month from my employer with all deductions removed, I pay my own deductions every month. I have 2 distinct deductions. One is income tax and the other one covers health insurance.

Now - I used to live in the USA. I made more money there than I do here, but I somehow ended up with less in my bank account every month. 2 things caused this. 1 - the cost of living is cheaper here (and I didn't live in a particularly expensive area before I left) 2 - I don't pay anything like as much for my basic health needs (I'm not unhealthy) as I did in the US. My doctor here doesn't ask for a co-pay and while I pay my health insurance directly myself (so I know how much it costs) it's less than the amount I had to pay to make up the difference that my US employer wouldn't pay. When I need the health service here, it's amazing. In the US it was dreadful.

[HarryH]

I am a Brit married to an American. My observation is that English as a common language masks how different the two cultures really are. Culturally the UK has much more in common with France and Denmark and to a lesser extent Germany, Netherlands and Sweden.
The other thing is that America is a big country and has maybe 5ish countries worth of culture in it.
New England and parts of the East Coast are more European in outlook than other parts of the States I have visited.

[joelcraig]

Im paraphrasing a Keith Richards quote here.. "Americans proclaim to be such staunch capitalists but no one's got any".

[JulioRochaBH]

In Brazil, we pay European-level taxes while relying on an American-style social security system. Meanwhile, our politicians and judges continue to amass significant wealth.

[edmundas]

I think bot Americans and Europeans are equally stupid, but Americans show it with more confidence.

[xJetbrains]

Everyone is stupid. Except for me. I can't be stupid.

[mongomorganstern]

You hit the nail on the head. A well balanced and well thought out analysis. Thanks Sabine.

[JosephJanitorius-pv]

As an American who has lived in Germany nearly 30 years, the one difference I find the biggest is the German concept of "Solidarität" and its absence in American culture.

[mrmooney]

To be fair, any American that lives outside of New York can't comprehend the lack of garbage bins there either.

[dieresis]

I majored in German language and literature and was able to study and work in Germany over several summer terms. What I remember most is the balanced view of life that folks had. We worked hard, but also made time to know and appreciate one another. Stores were closed on Sundays and museum fees were waived, so there was time for long walks, seeing exhibits, and sitting in outdoor cafes. I learned the importance of living each day to the full. I’m the better person for the time I spent in Germany.

[jeffjaystone]

I've an American who has lived in Germany for thirty years now. I think that by far the biggest misunderstanding is how diverse the USA is. California is not Alabama. New York is not Wisconsin. Texas is not Missouri. Actually, Texas is not Texas: Abilene is not Houston. And Houston is not Houston...and so on. We can see something like this in Germany: Hamburg is not Munich. But it's all complicated in the extreme by America's much more complex federal structure. There is no American "education", for example: even before the recent assault on the Department of Education, ALL education is administrated locally by school districts in accordance with state regulations. Oh...and add the cultural and linguistic diversity (about a fifth of Americans speak Spanish at home; actually, there are over a million who speak German!). Black culture is a real thing in the USA...in Germany? Spain? The Netherlands? The USA is big, diverse, complicated and wild...and let's be honest, Sabine, you can't really generalize easily about people there in any precise or scientific way, even if you spend a lifetime living there or studying it. Your video was nicely done and respectful, though. I'm not complaining. Just making a rather obvious point: go live in, say, Nebraska for thirty years and you won't know any more about the people in Mississippi than I do about the people than I do in, say, Belgium. America is no more culturally unified than Europe is.

[vootman]

Im first generation European, Californian, which is a whole different beast than rest of the country. My Swedish father loved California's open land and warm weather. My mother was from war devastated Poland, (she was of German/Polish decent) and came to the US for a new life, but its a far different country to the place they came to in the 50s. My daughter in living in Germany and wants to stay, so that tells you something...my family came full circle.

[TheQuickSilver]

A little bit of understanding and compassion for each other goes a long way. My parents taught me from a young age to try to see things from other folks perspective. Even if you don't understand or agree with it attempting to see things a from a different angle is a good way to not hate other people

[asmodean]

In Russia our top 3 parties if political system was okay would be: socialist (because people are very poor), libertarian (because people want the government to stop telling them which values to have and who to love) and liberal - (because people have no rights - they only hope that government just doesn’t care enough to destroy them for something they did or just as a by-product of another goal). Those 3 parties aren’t just losing elections - they don’t exist, because only useless Putin-certified parties that are of no threat to his “United Russia” are allowed to exist. So yes, we literally aren’t represented by our parties in Russia, not in the sense that they don’t protect us or something, but in the sense that we don’t even have an actual representative. You guys from USA and EU still have it quite nice. Good thing that I left Russia when the war began.

[phoenixmichaels]

I spent some time in Germany, then Italy, and finally Amsterdam. I enjoyed being immersed in totally different cultures. My biggest takeaway was how very differently they all lived than we Americans. Not worse, not better, just very different. I did discover I absolutely prefer living the American lifestyle. While in Solingen, Germany in 1992, I discovered the front doors to our hotel were locked at 9PM. An attendant told me the doors were locked because everything in town was already closed... there was nowhere to go and nothing to do. I am of course accustomed to being able to see lights everywhere, signs beckoning me in, and many businesses open 24 hours. In Solingen, it was just dark outside, and I assume the sidewalks rolled up. In any similar sized town in America, there would be a 7-11 on every 3rd corner, drive through fast food up and running, nightclubs blazing, 24 hour Wal Marts... just everything bustling well into 3AM. Culture shock.

[chrishall]

My daughter used to be a synchronized skater and I distinctly remember a discussion I had with some German supporters of Team Berlin at a skating competition that we attended in either Prague or Neuchatel (can't remember which competition). The topic turned to ice time availability, a topic vital to competitive skaters, and the Germans complained that they had very little ice time for their team. They said that they had been trying to get the local government to build a new ice rink for a couple of decades with no luck. My wife and I then told them that a local private group in our home town gathered figure skaters and hockey skaters together, made a proposal and raised private capital to build a new rink. This took about two years in total and the rink became self sustaining. We asked the Germans why they didn't do something similar and they just looked at us as if we came from another planet.

[pandreis]

From a Canadian point of view, I’ve seen reports that we have a productivity crisis here, compared to the Americans. If productivity is a measure of gross domestic product divided by the number of people and hours worked, it may be skewed in the USA because of the number of undocumented workers working to produce that GDP.

[pssurvivor]

i live in europe, i have a tiny fridge. i don't need a huge ass fridge because if i run out of groceries i can just walk down to/take a tram to the store and buy stuff

[donjohnstone]

The 3 characteristics that are common to all people: 1- Every person is a human being. 2- Every person is a unique individual. 3- Every person is both intelligent and stupid in their own particular way.