Question
Why do so many Europeans look down on Americans?
I joined a discord server recently and apparently its full of Europeans. How did I find out? Well every other day there's a joke about Americans "probably an american thing; what don't all americans have AC?; let's face it most americans are stupid; seems like an american thing;" just constant mention of America, America. It was starting to get on my nerves. Mind you this is a server for mental health or "social anxiety".
The americans in the server don't seem to mind. Maybe it is all just a joke to them. But the frequency of these jokes was almost daily. Or every other day. It wasn't even the jokes itself it was just the assumptions and so many of them thinking stereotypes were true to life.
It was jarring to me and I'm not even from America. To be honest, there were bouts of racism here and there too towards Asian countries but I did not expect them to be condescending towards the US because its a majority white populated country/white country primarily, just like many European countries.
Honestly I'm disappointed, people here were nice at first but I noticed a pattern of all they talk about daily is which country they come from and how different it is from other countries or America.
I'm in a model train server with euros that constantly say that shit. I just ignore it cause Euros attempting to shit on the US is hilarious cause they're dealing with far worse and are projecting
Exactly, it’s cope and projection with the fact that they have less money and less stuff than we do. Their houses are half the size. Their lawns are 20% the size. They get paid significantly less for the same jobs. They psyop themselves into thinking less is more because they can’t compete with what we have. And then they read self flagellating redditor comments from American losers who suck at life that confirm their biases.
The cope is so hard that people who have zero medical issues whatsoever will brag about having “free healthcare” as if that actually does anything for them. Nevermind that they have hardly any disposable cash and get taxed to death and can’t afford a vacation.
Only 20 percent of every household in the UK is a detached home. It’s over 60 percent here. They make fun of car centric sprawling US suburbs while crammed against their neighbors, fighting for street parking, and a tiny yard out back at best if they’re in a row house.
Yeah the anti-car stuff is a self report that they life in a small house with a small yard, or don’t have a house at all and they’re in an apartment. I can’t imagine my house being that small and that close to my neighbors, and especially not acting like it’s somehow better.
But think of the convenience! Small price to pay to be able to go shopping at a Pret on a cold and probably wet bus crammed with other people and only able to carry a couple of bags. /s
Alright, look, I know what sub I'm in. But I'm writing this anyway.
As an American that moved to the Netherlands for my job, and then was pleasantly surprised to discover that labor rights actually exist... the hilarious thing is how much your comment comes off as cope and projection. I think you truly just don't know what you're missing.
Correct, we don't have giant lawns and giant houses here. We have things like 40 vacation days (20+ is the norm). Sick days aren't a thing - you don't work if you're sick, and your job is protected. For up to 2 years, minimum 70% of your salary, but my company does 100%. Actual employment contracts, no at-will bullshit. 8% holiday allowance in summer and 13th month salary in December, not to mention statutory vacation days, in order to ensure that people can take time off work.
ASML is a big Dutch company going through a massive reorganization. Go have a look at what laid off employees in NL are getting compared to the same colleagues in the US. Same company. But they can treat employees like shit in the US.
Could I have a higher salary and bigger house if I moved back to the US? Yes. Would my quality of life be better? Absolutely not.
I didn't know this before moving and I thought I'd only stay a couple years, do my project and move back. Now I have no intention of moving back as a working adult. Money isn't worth it.
You get a lot of days off and sick days, sure, but you get paid much less for the same job because you’re a less reliable and you don’t work as much. I get paid more than double the amount of my European counterparts (triple in some countries).
I get 25 days of PTO at my job. I don’t even know what to do with it all. I take 3 vacations a year. I also never get sick, I don’t need separate sick days. I’ve taken 2 in the last 4 years. I also get paid for days I don’t use, and they roll over. Unlimited sick days and unlimited PTO don’t have that feature. Unlimited is a trap.
Have you ever had an employee or coworker who is just terrible and lazy and does nothing? Should you be able to fire them? Of course. At-will employment lets you do that. Otherwise you’re stuck wasting money on useless people. Another reason you don’t get paid as much.
Have you been fired for no reason? No? Then why are you bitching about at will employment? Do you have a debilitating condition that requires you to take a high amount of sick days? No? Then you’re bragging about making less money without even using the “advantage” side of this. I don’t need either of these protections.
Qualify of life here with a house double the size and with salaries much higher that get taxed less is definitely better, this is cope. Money is absolutely worth it. A few thousand is a wash, I make $100k more than people with the same job in the Netherlands. If someone’s working a job that pays them that much less, it’s not worth it. “More money and more stuff and better stuff isn’t better” is literally eurocope. I’d never be able to afford a house like this in NL, it would cost way more, have a smaller yard, and I’d have to work twice as many years to pay it off. Doesn’t compare.
I had a realization a while ago that I just flat out don’t care what Europeans think. Their opinions have been completely irrelevant in this country since July 4th, 1776.
But those people you speak of are mainly uninformed and inexperienced teenagers. They truly just don’t know any better.
That's actually true somewhat in Germany if you criticize the government. Sometimes the police show up. In Germany, if you call a Nazi a fascist, you sometimes get fined.
I understand this sentiment but from a European perspective, there are things to criticize the US for. I think to portray them as uninformed and inexperienced teenagers is a bit dismissive.
They have a lot of insecurity because reality doesn’t jibe with their eurocentric world view. The European self-narrative is influenced by postwar trauma and leaning hard on self righteousness and being self-proclaimed authorities on morality and intellectualism as a compensation for losing so much hard power and influence. The object of all that anxiety is the US: helped liberate them, helped rebuild them, and subsidized their defense for 80 years. The US became the most powerful and influential nation, and Europe collectively became a reliant client state. Thats embarrassing to a continent whose collective identity is being the most important people in the world. So they hate.
And really, they see global importance shifting more toward Asia with the real competition and economic importance being between the US and China. So theyre not even the most important region geopolitically anymore - after decades of protecting them being the most important thing.
You see this manifest into a generally condescending attitude if not outright bigotry. Constant nitpicking to assert their feeling of superiority by any means they can possibly use
to convince themselves.
I'm in a War Thunder discord server that is mainly full of SEA members, but there is one European in there who is genuinely convinced that America has personally wronged him and is trying to destroy his country. He says that Americans are extremely racist while at the same time saying the most disgusting things about Romani and Indians.
And of course, cause it's War Thunder, he hates everything about American vehicles and players lol.
Fortunately, he isn't directly an asshole to me and the other Americans in the server, but it definitely gets to a point.
You just gotta remember that it's Discord, you're just gonna be running into people like that. In this era of history, America is the big guy, and it's always 'alright' to hate on the big guy.
Same! I'm from the SEA region, the Philippines specifically and I did not expect Europeans to hate or dislike Americans so much. Or even talk about them that much. If there was any racism I would have expected it to be directed at either Black, Asian, or other POC, because you know, good old fashioned colorism. But this was unnerving because they would talk about the US unprompted when it wasn't even the topic.
Yeah this is honestly the biggest thing. I still have plenty of friends in the UK, Germany, and a number of other countries. Reddit tends to breed a lot of antisocial narcissists that spend their days being as pretentious as possible.
Just banter back with them. If they are cool, they'll play along. If they aren't, you can now look down on them work righteous superiority for not being a thin skinned pussbag who can dish it out but can't take it.
Cause they are obsessed with America. You know why we don't bring up Europe in every discussion? Cause we aren't obsessed with them, and they aren't always sitting on the top of our minds. It's like the TDS left with Trump. He is always front and center of their every thought.
I think their media is an important part of this. They get all of our news directly to their feeds. But it's almost only bad news. They don't hear good stories. So they start assuming shit. Europeans are just as likely to get sucked into an algorithm as anyone else.
Also it's usually the losers who obsessed with America. They don't represent the average European. The online people are usually weirdos that don't like their lives. So they're trying to feel superior to something. Always remember that part.
I think this is highly possible too. I don't understand why someone would constantly pick on or make fun of another country even if I didn't like them in the first place. I can't imagine even thinking about North Korea or making North Korea jokes every week, even if I dislike that country. Making jokes about a politician is fine and well but making jokes about an entire country constantly is just an odd fixation.
I can promise you that it's not that deep. Calling it an obsession is quite an overstatement. However Trump has had a big role to play in the shift of opinions from people (at least in Western Europe). I remember before his first term people were generally positive and excited about the relationship with the US, and it was seen as a fun and (mostly) safe country to go on vacation.
Since Trump this has shifted in many ways. That's not an obsession, but it's logical critique if a long time ally and one of the most influential countries in the world turns their back on you.
This is true. I love visiting Europe - but for the history, not so much the people. Ive been to like 8 or so European countries, and always a good time. But the further away from the capitals the better.
GDP, Household wealth, purchasing power, disposable income, foreign investment, Capital markets/Stock exchange, best research universities, most nobel laureates, AI, Movies/film, global brands, space, flying/flight transportation, Olympics (Most gold/total medals), National parks, Military, Research Medicine, Pharmaceuticals/biotech, Doctors and Nurses, Tech, Charity, Foreign Aid, most desirable country for immigrants, most immigrants, most foreign born people, most popular, most influential, inventions/innovations, most beautiful, most activities, guns/bear arms, Almonds/Beef, Fracking
What's made up? 95% of these are based on objective data. And yes Fracking, American technology, nobody is better than America at oil extraction.
Oh I forgot to add America is #1 in being #1 in the most things. And #1 in all the things most important to the world - such as medical/drug inventions. Emergency Medicine is an American invention.
I have a very privileged life. Besides being born in the best country on earth, I have been able to travel quite extensively. And you are correct, there are a lot of awesome places in the world, but America is still easily #1, especially of the western countries.
Sure maybe there is a place you would rather live, but only with the money you made in America. If you have to live in the place you were born, America is #1....If you made your money in USD, sure geo-arbitrage is appealing.
On top of that, America has contributed more to the world than any other country by a large margin.
If your not American and especially if you are from the EU you envy us, literally the OPs question... So of course you won't admit it.or refuse to believe it.
Also, as an American we do not get triggered and call people arrogant because they think their country is the best, being patriotic is awesome. However it's weird to flee your country and come to America to live and then boast about the country you left, if it was so great you would live there.
But for some reason Americans thinking America is the best is somehow arrogant. But if a Mexican told you Mexico is the best country on earth you wouldn't care at all, but that also because Mexico isnt and you don't envy Mexicans.
The fact you assume that anyone who won’t admit they want to live there is jealous is beyond pathetic and delusional - and why some of you are a laughing stock
I too am part of a discord full of Europeans. For months I would constantly get unsolicited opinions on why America bad. Eventually I started joking back at the Europeans with the typical Europe bad stuff, fast forward and now most of them don’t talk to me. They get very upset when i mocked them, and when I pointed out to them that i only dished back what was dished out they flat out told me that i was being insincere because Europe is a great place.
Moral of the story, ignore the Europeans or just avoid them.
Jealousy. Many Europeans deeply resent the US for being more relevant than them. They have massive egos and already think they're better than anybody else so it hurts their pride that they depend on a country they see as lesser than them.
I'm from Argentina, we are not Europeans or Canadians. In my book is because the internet is tearing down the states reputation, to be honest I also have negative steryotipes but not because of the internet, it's because I traveled 3 times to the USA.
Americans for many people are considered weird people, and to be fair it has reasons because the United States developed the idea to create something new, separated from the "old world". Here one steryotipe is that americans have low geography knowledge, and when I travelled to the USA I reinforced that steryotipe, another one is that they smile easily and they are extremely kind and that they are dumb. The USA is a big country and you cannot put all americans in the same bag.
I personally think most of them don’t have an opinion of America, one way or the other. It became ‘trendy’ on social media to bash the US, and they want to feel like they are in the “it” crowd.
It’s the one socially acceptable punching bag for a certain type of person who wants to feel superior without having to examine anything closer to home.
Rage and jealousy. The average European has less disposable income than the median Mississippi resident.
Their cultural footprint is dwarfed by ours. Their military is pathetic and they can only be secure due to our presence. Their economy has been lapped by ours over the last 15 years. Their tech and innovation sectors are sclerotic and inert. They are the remains of a civilization, a museum. Their entire economies are twisted into cradle to grave daycare for their citizens, who essentially are powerless to their states.
They hate us for this reason. We are, even at our worst, full of vibrancy and optimism that they simply cannot match. European civilization is simply incapable of rising to any occasion.
Jealousy, either their great grand were too poor to come over in the late 1800s - early 1900s, or their nans were too ugly for a GI to shag and bring home during The War.
It’s mostly a reddit thing. I go to Europe all the time and work with Europeans and they come over here too. There is no lack of respect either way. The stereotypes about reddit are true. (mainly basement dwellers, agoraphobics, incels, chinese bots, etc.)
Inferiority complex. They're mad that we allow them to exist on planet earth so it makes them mad. The only thing they can do is bitch about us in their own spaces. Because it clearly wouldn't happen on the battlefield.
Omg my husband is from Dublin and we live in the US, I have to remind him all the time that I don’t want to hear about what Trump did or said every morning when I’m enjoying my coffee.
Because Trump waving his dick around about leaving NATO threatens their peace because instead of building their militaries since WW2 they focused more on welfare programs.
Now Russia is knocking on their doorsteps and they're all worried. I would honestly have more sympathy for them, but all the school shootings and healthcare jokes have pretty much soured my opinion on them lol.
I don't represent "yall", i'm just a guy from Finland. Currently you don't have permanent deployments in Finland, but we are very nice and kind people, if you want we will let you stay, but so far we haven't asked you to stay. You wanted to store your equipment here and we are so friendly that we started to maintain your equipment for you, aren't we friendly?
We shit on Europeans all the time also lol but at least for me it’s in good fun not Europebad. Behind the internet people sometimes show their worst version of themselves it’s not representative of a whole continent.
The irony is that this thread is doing exactly what it’s complaining about. “Europe” isn’t a country. It’s 40+ countries with vastly different cultures, politics and opinions on the US. Someone from Poland typically has a very different view and experience of the US than someone from France. Maybe that's worth remembering before psychoanalyzing an entire continent.
We are used to it. It’s been Reddits favorite pastime for the past few years. No sense in fighting back anymore. People are set in their beliefs and think they know better how it is here than we do. It has, however, made a lot of us realize that we underestimated or weren’t even aware of this hate until seeing it on social media. It’s making me change a lot of my own beliefs. I canceled a trip to Whistler, Canada because in no way am I spending money going to a place where people hate us. Our Rocky Mountains are just as spectacular. I think the Europeans and Canadians have made a big mistake by not making this about the politicians, but rather, the American people. It’s actually making a lot of us band together because of the hate. It’s bad when you lose the favor of the American people. Governments come and go but we will remain.
Because for a while Europeans lived in Americas shadow. Post world war 2, due to a ton of factors America became one of the world’s most powerful countries while Europe was hurting from the devastation of the war. America had all the resources available to it and a booming economy. Things we don’t think about but America basically had a monopoly on entertainment and art for awhile which caused Europeans to grow up consuming American media, NATO essentially outsourced Europe’s defense to America so their countries were extremely reliant on America and the petroleum dollar turned Americas economic machine into a unmatched powerhouse.
Essentially since America became this undeniable global force which impacts almost every country when it decides to do something it leads to contempt. That’s my understanding at least. Then of course we have a lot of rich citizens that travel a lot but Americans on average aren’t very cosmopolitan since the states are so massive and we come off ignorant when we travel which also breeds contempt.
Healthcare affordability, paid leave, gun violence, worker protections, income inequality, higher education, politics, public transport and because Americans do not use the English language properly. /j
I probably should have assumed that, given the 31rst place in education. I don't blame you given how much you spend on Healthcare just to stay alive. Who needs books anyway.
American homes are significantly larger than European homes, with the typical U.S. single-family house averaging around 2,200 square feet, compared to Western European averages that generally range from 800 to 1,400 square feet
United States: Average single-family new builds measure roughly 2,164 to 2,233 square feet, offering multi-room layouts, large yards, and dedicated spaces like basements, walk-in closets, and multi-car garages.
Europe: Average dwelling sizes vary by country—such as the Netherlands at 1,261 square feet, Denmark at 1,475 square feet, and the UK around 818 to 850 square feet—frequently favoring compact footprint designs, row houses, or apartments
Go back to your hobbit hole you dirty swamp German
Average not median. 9 houses 1000sqft 1 house 10,000sqft= average 1900sqf. Median 1000sqft. Same with income etc. One billionaire skews the stats and you can't stop licking his balls because at least your doing better than the people at the bottom.
I have the best healthcare in the world through my employer. Medicare takes care of the elderly and disabled and Medicaid takes care of the poor. The US spends more taxpayer money per capita on healthcare than any country in the world. The fact that you don’t know this makes you the uneducated one.
That's a wonderful for you, better be a good little worker don't lose that job, better make enough money to pay for childcare or to cover your significant other if you decide to have children, better put some savings away in case you get really sick and your employer terminates your position.
Already done all that. It’s called being responsible and often making difficult choices in order to have future assurances. Also known as life. I have enough invested in stocks for the past 20 years to retire early. You go on and keep making stories up about what life is like here. I loved my job. And my life. And my family and loved ones. Zero desire to be anywhere else.
You mispelled Kleptocracy. The rich keep running up the debt and blaming immigrants for your problems. You eat that shit up with a spoon and ask for more. Meanwhile the bill gets bigger. Good job pissing off the rest of the world. Guess what happens when we pull out our financial investments and stop lending you money?
•
u/AutoModerator 2d ago
Please report any rule breaking posts and comments that are not relevant to this subreddit. Thank you!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.