Y’all, it’s tough to be an American. Yeah, yeah, yeah, some of us think it’s the greatest country in the world but the truth is that most people from most countries think their country is the best in the world; they just don’t put as much thought into it as Americans – with their patriotism flying – do.
I mean, we’re so recognizable that you can spot American tourists like us from a mile away…not just from the clothing we wear, but apparently our behavior is uniquely “American,” too.
The thing is, there are quite a few things we Americans do that the rest of the world finds, well, kind of quirky. And if you think about it, yeah, they’re probably right. Of course, sometimes quirky can be kind of endearing. And other times quirky can be annoying as all get out.
Not long ago, someone on Reddit asked:
What elements of U.S. culture annoy you?
The answers – all 2.5k of them – were pretty telling and brought up some good conversation. Here are some of the better ones; they’ve only been edited for clarity, length or adult language.
Treating political parties like sports teams
That was the response of a Redditor who goes by the moniker Strawberry_Pretzels. However it was the responses to their reply that I found more interesting and telling:
- And people who shape their entire identity around it. Modern politics are far too nuanced to think in such black and white terms. — Kruse
- Not just that, but being so unapologetically and ignorantly biased that damn near everyone completely ignores the negative aspects of their “team” and overlooks the positive aspects of any other. — AddressThese9568
- Political candidates spending more time trashing the other candidate rather than saying ANYTHING they have or will accomplish themselves and how. I would like to hear an action plan vs. the empty useless promises or just how bad the other candidate is. Great. They are bad. But what makes you good? — Traditional_Fan_2655
We seem to hate any sort of public transit expansion
Someone named caronson mentioned that one. Responses included:
- Any sort of development because of NIMBYs — RecentSpecial181 (I took that one to heart. I live in a community where the expansion of the Brightline train was supposed to run parallel to a local highway in my neighborhood. It would have been visible to less than 100 homes [our neighborhood has something like 25,000 residents] and because it’s electric, Brightline makes hardly any noise. It also wouldn’t stop in our neighborhood; would just pass through. The NIMBYs made such a stink that Brightline agreed to move the path, thereby doubling the cost)
- There always seems to be enough money to go to war, but never enough to implement programs that would actually help people. — TheDragonSlayingCat
Materialism and the constant advertisements. Buy, buy, buy more crap that really will not make you much happier.
That came from troymclure79. It brought about some other thoughtful comments:
- Here is my haul from shien or temu of cheap bulls**t that will be broken within a week or never used in the first place. — my_son_is_a_box
- After spending the last few years abroad in western Europe, one major difference I’ve seen over there is that travel and experiential wealth seems to weigh much more heavily into social status, while accumulation of material property has always seemed more important to folks where I grew up (the American Midwest). The difference between saving up for a new polebarn vs saving up for a surf holiday somewhere in the tropics. — clearisland
- Extreme materialism but also “thoughts and prayers” when somebody actually needs material help– m0j0m0j
A user named MightjawK1911 wrote a list:
- Anti-intellectualism
- Proud ignorance
- Unable to accept being wrong
- Normalized selfishness
- Tipping
Others either replied to those 5, or followed suit to add to the list:
- I’ve lived in Alabama my whole life, and I cringe every time I see someone proudly display a Confederate flag.– Loganp812
- I keep hearing “I don’t understand why…” with the unspoken “and I don’t want to” afterwards. No critical thought, but no curiosity either. What a bleak world where everything is just how it seems, and anything that deviates from that is either bulls**t or frightening.– NeuHead
- When one of the only things that makes us human is our rich and intricate languages, able to pass on very specific sets of information to one another, it’s kinda shocking people are so proud of lacking richness in their lives. Probably why they lack nuance too, and generally see the world in black and white. They see the world in simpler concepts, but not even the good type of simple where you can pinpoint something’s “essence” idea, no, the bad kind where it strips any and all amount of intricacy away, leaving it a bastardized version of itself.– Unlucky-Candidate198
- There’s a really weird and dangerous concept that some people cling to, that any kind of self-improvement is somehow a form of disrespect to the people around you. That unless you always stay the exact same and maintain the same baseline as the least-progressed person in your immediate social and familial circles, you might as well be spitting in everyone’s face around you.– spaghettifiasco
- I’d add 6. superiority complex as well. I don’t necessarily think that every American thinks that the US is the best at everything…. but there is more than a handful that I’ve had personal experience with. Had to physically walk away from one once cause I couldn’t talk about literally anything without this melt coming up with some reason why the US “does it better”. Got old very very quickly. — maruiki
There were other replies. Plenty of others. Health care being tied to employment. American Evangelicalism. Our obsession with guns. Tipping. The insular nature of some American cultures. Using personal freedom or belief as a reason to ignore social responsibility. American exceptionalism (America is the best just because it’s America). Several people mentioned MAGA and/or jingoism.
I think I liked this one the best:
“There’s a persistent mismatch between what this country says it values (freedom, opportunity, progress) and what it actually rewards: conformity, consumption, and corner-cutting.” — ma2is
It’s a good read and I must say that people from other countries certainly have us pegged. Here’s the rest, if you want to take a look.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.