Fellow Latin Americans/Africans/Asians/Oceanians, what is something that Americans and/or Europeans have/do that makes no sense to you?
Yanks elect police officers and judges. They also allow corporations to openly bribe politicians and call it lobbying. Somehow, those "corruption index" reports always say the US is clean.
What I've noticed is while there's absolutely corruption at high levels in America, amongst the rich, there's almost no situation where (say) you have to sneakily hand over an extra $20 at the DMV to get your driver's license. Or slip your nurse at the hospital an extra $50 to make sure she cares for you appropriately. Or get a lavish gift for teacher so you can get the grade you need to get into the right school.
I mean, here or there people can try that stuff, but it's still a legit scandal if it happens, it's not baked into society.
Whereas that sort of casual greasing-of-hands with an extra $5 here, extra $20 there $50 there at every single level even amongst not-rich folks can supposedly be common in heavily corrupted societies.
Yeah, there's corruption--but it's pretty over-our-heads for everyday stuff. It's not baked into everyday interactions we have if we go down the street to the grocery store, or want to get a Passport done.
Police officers don't get elected, but the sheriffs do. I think this is mostly a holdover from when the only real law within a hundred miles of a town was the sheriff.
I do agree that electing judges is odd. My state doesn't even allow us to vote on electing them anymore, but just on retaining them in office. I've always voted "No" just because I don't think it's appropriate.
Now if you want to get really weird, most areas also elect their coroner and there usually is no skill or education requirement to be elected.
Haha yup, the sepo take on how they do everything like that boggles my mind.
Just make corruption legal ... see? no corruption, problem solved!
They also allow corporations to openly bribe politicians and call it lobbying. Somehow, those “corruption index” reports always say the US is clean.
and you're saying this doesn't happen in other countries? lmao
Colonizing. I mean, I kinda get that their stupid island had no good spices. But why colonize the world to get all the spices and then never cook with them? Makes no sense.
"Look at this nice chunk of meat I have!"
"Ooh, that would be great to baste, season, and grill. I bet it would be delicious?"
"Eh, it's easier just to throw it in a pot of water."
"I learned it from watching you, ok?"
Being forced to see a GP before a specialist even when you clearly know you have an ear problem and you'll end up being referred to the specialist anyway. money grab policies!
Luckily this one is easyish to get around. Some insurance plans don't require a referral for a specialist; you can just make an appointment to see them directly. You just have to look for the policy when you pick your plan (assuming you have insurance available to you, but that's a whole 'nother issue)
Those plans usually have a more limited network and a higher out of network charge, though.
My work subsidizes both our CCHP and PPO at exactly the same amount. They've made it clear that it's almost always cheaper to go with the CCHP no matter how much healthcare you need in a given year.
Everytime US users call their country 'America' it sounds weird. America is a continent, not a country.
People from a place get to name the place. Americans named it America as a shorthand for USA.
Its no less weird than any other country name, which are similarly arbitrary.
It's both. Same way Australia is both a country and a continent. I know it can also be called Oceania.
As for shortening United States of America to just America, it's no different than los Estados Unidos Mexicanos shortening it to just Mexico.
True that continents are defined differently in different parts of the world. In Europe, there's America and Oceania as continents. In "America", America is a country, and so is Africa :p
(jokes aside, it's true that in the USA continents are defined differently than Europe, for example. There's North America & South America as separate continents, and yes, Australia as a continent).
I'd say at least the europeans I know more readily give away personal information, i.e. stories, anecdotes, details about themselves and their lives. In latin america you never know who's out to get you, what with many abductions being perpetrated by family, friends or other close ones. Particularly money is a no-go topic in public spaces.
I’d say at least the europeans I know more readily give away personal information, i.e. stories, anecdotes, details about themselves and their lives. In latin america you never know who’s out to get you, what with many abductions being perpetrated by family, friends or other close ones. Particularly money is a no-go topic in public spaces.
this seems more like an american thing to share information?
I mean sure, mileage may vary I suppose. In my experience the difference isn't that great, but it's not like I know a lot of people in either continent either, so my perception could definitely be biased.
Sorry i do not understand that parte about "abductions", what do you mean? And about "giving away" personal information it is the opposite, at least most americans and (north)europeans are "closed" to themselves. Europeans from southern countries are more like us latin americans, friendly and open.
Maybe abductions isn't the best word... Kidnappings? Everyone I know has emphasized on some - or several - occasions not to give away info and be trusting because of a supposed risk of being kidnapped for ransom, risk of burglary, etc. Never happened anything to me or people I know, but many people I know have had family or personal friends killed or kidnapped apparently just because, or to ask ransom, and several of my neighbours have had their homes broken into.
more safety but that comes at an cost
Drink tea with hot milk, like wtf? The milk sweetness destroy all that good light bitter flavor of tea.
Milk in tea is only universal for English/Irish breakfast tea(idk how popular they are outside wester Europe but in England/Ireland if someon says tea they mean breakfast tea and will specify otherwise)for something like chai or eal grey 1/3~(anicdotally) of people who drink it wouldn't have mik, and the milk isn't hot it's normally fridge-cold to room-temp the tea bag is steeped in just water, the point is to sweeten the rea and cool it down
If it's milk being added to tea that surprises you, it is a regular drink in south and south-east asia, not unique to the west. The latter especially has this drink called "teh tarik" that uses condensed milk and is awesome but diabetes-inducingly sweet.
I live in Vietnam and we majority haven't drink anything like that, just tea with hot water. Tea and milk is a minority mostly brought in by Westerner
American. I normally drink my tea black, but milk is nice with earl grey on occasion.
And typically, the milk isn't hot. You pour it in already steeped tea, like you would if you drank coffee with cream.
That said, I do occasionally steep my earl grey entirely in steamed milk and add a little vanilla and it's just a nice treat. But I'm not looking for a bitter flavor at that point either.
Honestly, I thought putting milk & sugar in your tea was bonkers until I tried it from my British friends. It works with traditional English teas, but not really with American/orange pekoe teas.
There are some English teas that are so bitter that they need sugar in order to be palatable.
American Patriotism feels weird, we kind of have the reverse sentiment in Brazil (that everything here is worse).
On a side note, when I was a kid if I saw a movie character talking about how awesome America is I thought we south-americans were included on it, kind of awkward to learn it wasn't
Good old cultural cringe :\
I'll copy my comment from the other question:
I should preface my comment that community orientation, respect, and ethnicity/respect for your heritage are big parts of the area i'm from.
I’ve worked in Western Europe. I don’t know why but there seems to be a lot of taxes for everything. You have to get govt permission for everything. People seem to rely on the govt to provide things rather than have some agencies fill niches that aren’t filled by the govt (for example I saw signs like don’t help homeless people, the govt is helping them).
I’m from an Asian country, we don’t have much tax, we don’t rely on the govt for anything (we can’t), and we have many NGOs. I think it’s similar in America.
As an Asian, there are a few things I can note about Europeans.
Europeans seem to have lost their sense of traditions, to me as an Asian it doesn’t make sense since keeping our traditions and values is a huge part of our culture and society. Americans do this too but at least they seem to retain some notion of their ethnicity like they recognize their heritage is Irish or German or Chinese or Native or whatever.
Europeans also accept blame for bad things they did in the past (which is a good thing) but I think they can go overboard to compensate for that (to their detriment). I don’t think accepting blame for things in the past is a thing that’s done in Asia; we rewrite history instead. It would help if we acknowledged what we did and can have better relations with others moving forward.
Europeans identify more with nationality than ethnicity. For example, someone from Czech Republic moving to France is considered French. In North America I think they would be considered Czech-French. In Asia they would be considered to be a Czech expat living in France. Our ethnicity matters a lot.
In North America and Europe for some reason people refer to elders by their first name? We would never in 1000 years think of doing something like that, it's considered extremely rude. We either use their surname (like Mr.X) or Uncle/Auntie.
In terms of politics, both US and Europe seem quite extreme to me. Europe seems very liberal, you can do what you want, there doesn't seem to be any boundaries and people will tolerate anything. In the US people are extremely polarized with politics, both left and right. I've never heard of many other countries where there seem to be so many people per capita with conspiracy theories or violence with protests or lack of support for people (like old people or mental health issues, there's no community support, there's so much individualism). People seem to just accept things that seem unthinkable in a developed country (like texas not giving water to workers in heat).
In North America and Europe for some reason people refer to elders by their first name? We would never in 1000 years think of doing something like that, it’s considered extremely rude. We either use their surname (like Mr.X) or Uncle/Auntie.
In America at least, this is a change in the past 100 years for us, too. If you look at older American media--TV shows, books--you'll start to see depictions of children calling older people/neighbors "Mr. Lastname" or "Mrs. Lastname" and such. Like, if you watch some American black and white shows with kids in it, you'll see "appropriate child behavior" of that era modeled, and it's pretty heavily focused on kids being cute and obedient and chirping "Hello Mr. Smith!" or whatever at the mailman, and absolutely not using first names casually with adults or adults in authority. Heck, I think even older episodes of Sesame Street modeled it, and Mr. Rogers.
I realize there's no reason for non-Americans to be up to date with older American media, but there was absolutely a time within living memory when calling an older adult by their first name casually was pretty rude. I was born in the 1980s, and the shift away from being overly formal with older adults kinda happened somewhere around there because I remember both the "old" and the "new" being modeled around me.
I'm not sure all the cultural reasons behind the shift--there's probably a reason for it, I'm just not educated enough in that realm to know what it is for certain.
Or maybe I'm slightly too young. Perhaps someone from Gen X will understand what was going on there better, they would've been slightly older than me and have better memories of that period.
I may be misinterpreting their comment but I initially read elder as "elderly people" and not just "people older than them" and that the point was about how adults refer to them by first name unless it's in a professional environment (e.g. doctor or government title)
For kids at least formality still mostly applies, I'm Gen Z in northeast US and I grew up calling every adult by Mr./Ms. X, with the only exceptions being family. This could be different in other parts of the US though, I don't mean to generalize.
I’ve worked in Western Europe. I don’t know why but there seems to be a lot of taxes for everything. You have to get govt permission for everything.
Could you expand on "get govt permission for everything"? I'm from Germany, and I honestly can't remember when I last got "government permission", if ever. Maybe my driver's license?
Could you expand on “get govt permission for everything”? I’m from Germany, and I honestly can’t remember when I last got “government permission”, if ever. Maybe my driver’s license?
in the UK it seems there's a regulation for everything and/or you need to get a license for everything, i've even seem memes like "oi bruv have you got a loicense for that"
for example, tv license, getting a dog license, not selling ibuprofen in large quantities (regulation), not selling rubbing alcohol (regulation), the restriction on kitchen knives, butter knives being considered an "offensive weapon"
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1356162-count-dankulas-hate-speech-trial
Could you elaborate on the lost sense of traditions?
Also I don't agree with you about the 'nationality not ethnicity' thing, but that really may vary, and I don't think it would be possible to debate that, as we'd first have to define the difference between nat. and eth., they seem to be ~the same thing to me.
Ethnicity generally includes your skin colour in the description whilst nationality has none of that.
Though I don't agree that someone who just simply moves to another country changes nationality, it's a tricky definition as it can be confused with citizenship but it's more to do with long you stay there and if you embrace the culture.
we'd first have to define the difference between nat. and eth., they seem to be ~the same thing to me
Nationality is the nation you are a citizen of. Ethnicity is the ethnic group(s) you identify with.
In Europe, these are largely the same. The only multi-ethnic countries I can think of are Russia, the UK and Spain.
But in most parts of the world, one country would have multiple ethnic groups, and one ethnic group may be spread across multiple countries. For example, China has Han people, Mongols, Muslims, Tibetans and so on. Of these, the Mongols also live in Mongolia and Russia, the Tibetans also in India and Nepal, and so on.
Again, in Europe it seems to be common for people to identify primarily with their nation (except Catalans, Scots, etc.) But elsewhere, since the borders were often drawn by outsiders, people often identify more with their ethnic group. This unfortunately leads to a lot of conflict.
I don't understand the gun culture. I don't get why it's appealing, why shootings are often featured in Hollywood movies, or why shooting and collecting guns is a hobby. I've watched some informational YT videos of hobbyists talking about their rifles but it's always been so mildly amusing at most.
I'm totally with you. But to add to that there's something that I quite don't understand why it's popular both in America and in Latin America (dunno about other regions). Drug dealers, Mafia, violent criminals, narcos, capos, etc in media, be it documentary-style or fiction. Even in shows where they are meant as the bad guy protagonist lots of people tend to idolize them
Living only for/about/because money.
They buy a lot of useless stuff that doesn't make any sense.
The titles in my feed the last few days have been hilarious.
Time to roast literally everyone.
Canadians: milk in bags? Really? I'd rather drink raw maple syrup than do this.
Muricans: the imperial measurement system is just too confusing for everyone but them (and the Liberians and Burmese as well). Also, their patriotism is just plain weird.
Spaniards: fast talking. Quiero apprender Español, but it's just so difficult to practice when you're basically the conversation equivalent of Eminem. Also, they like speaking with a lisp. I don't know if I can say the same for Latin Americans, but their Spanish is even weirder.
French: the strikes. That alone makes me mad.
Dutch: they. Love. Orange. Also, if you try to speak their language, and you make one small mistake, they immediately switch to speaking English. Bro, I never asked for this. Also, the breakfast is garbage.
Italians: is speaking with your hands considered weird to you? You might as well teach everyone sign language instead of Italian. Not even the Sanmarinese do this.
Austrians: Vienna has some ridiculously different to remember coats of arms. Why do you even need this?
Germans: it's very boring in here. I apparently have no taste in you guys. And my cousin is half German as well.
Belarusians: they still can't get rid of Lukashenko.
Danes: they're speaking Swedish with an apple in their mouth. Try saying "Rødøvre".
Finns: following this year's Eurovision, I noticed that they're suddenly obsessed with neon green. I mean, their entry in the contest was really good, but it's not like it's worth idolizing.
Russians: it's their Holodets that's bad. And maybe their extreme nationalism, but I blame their government for this.
Swedes: they're responsible for Ikea, PewDiePie, Minecraft, Spotify (also known as rubbish), wacky television presenters, a flag that looks cool as hell, what more can I say? Only Spotify coming from here annoys me. Because it's terrible (if you use Spotify, I don't hate you, and you're free to keep using it, I just hate it). Also, I kinda like Loreen.
Swiss: everything is expensive here. Also, Zürich, Geneva and Luganno all speak different languages. Weird. But I guess their chocolate is good?
Belgians: they hate the French, they hate the Dutch, and they're so mixed in culture and ethnicity that they're actually my favorite country. It's just their tendency to also hate each other that I kinda hate.
Luxembourgers: the fact that they're called that. It sounds like food.
Greeks: corruption
Turks: that Erdogan guy
Hungarians: their impossible language. Also, they made a toy that I still can't solve.
Estonians: the fact that nobody can make a flag as good as theirs, I'm basically jealous. And maybe their language as well.
Ukrainians: probably nothing.
Serbs: how do you write a language with two different scripts? Isn't that confusing for you guys?
Moldovans: they're not Romanians.
Czechs: their country name.
Portuguese: they're probably too good at English. How is that even possible? Brazil speaks the same native language as Portugal, and they couldn't even do this. I'm actually jelly again.
Liechtensteiners: their country is basically a 1 million star hotel.
Lithuanians: are they all called Monika? I hope not.
Andorrans: get a proper government, mate.
Slovaks and Slovenes: I still don't know the difference between Slovenčina and Slovenščina.
Cypriots: guys, look. It's the bilingual island that relies on the UN to prevent warfare.
Maltese: they're basically the European clones of Arabs, except for the fact that they're way better.
Irish: you guys literally neglect your own national language. And the language you do speak for the most part... is spoken with an impossible to understand accent.
British: they hate each other, their food is garbage, their weather is pretty bad, they left the EU, I still can't understand you guys. The roadmen especially are just... ugh.
Romanians: they're not Moldovans.
Montenegrins: who even are those guys?
Polish: they speak gibberish.
Latvians: what are those? I only know Lettonians.
Bosniaks AND Herzegovines (idk what to call them): I can't tell the difference between the two. Also, there are Serbs that are trying to cut their country in half.
Macedonians: yes, the people from Greek Macedonia are included. What am I supposed to say about these guys?
Monegasques: no tax? I'm jealous once again.
Croats: my mom bought a tractor.
Sanmarinese: they're surprisingly able to keep their current gov for SO LONG. But their football team doesn't know what they're doing.
Icelanders: you liars, there's too little ice in here.
Georgians: gvprtskvni
Norwegians: two different writing standards? Why do you guys need two of them? Also, their language is so adaptable that you can speak your own way, and lie about being from a different part of Norway.
Armenians: their computers will most likely get viruses.
Azeris: thanks for destroying a bunch of homes back in 2012.
Vaticaners: absolutely nothing.
Australians: these guys abbreviate every single word in the English language to the point of insanity sometimes. Also, why is the word "c*t usef so frequently here?
Albanians: they're drunk Turks. And that's in a good way.
Israelis: you guys are okay with letting your gov destroy the hell out of Palestine? I'm seriously tired of all this fighting. Just make peace with them already.
Moroccans: I'm one of them btw. I love how we pretend that we're patriotic, yet we complain about literally everything in the country. Because we are indeed really bad. You'll see this as soon as come across a Moroccan in Europe. And why are we in Eurovision? How have I never gotten any answers to this?
There. I just wasted your time by making you offended. Now go hit that downvote button. (Edit: you clearly did the exact opposite of what I said)
Fuck Spotify
A sense of entitlement and moral superiority.
All your wealth and development is the direct result of over exploitation of the global south.
You shouldn’t feel pride in your history. You should feel deep, DEEEEP shame. Every waking second of your lives.
I don't agree with "every waking second" of their lives (it's just paralyzing to live like that, wouldn't be productive to help solve the current situation) and maybe other details of your wording but I do agree with the general gist. Once you start critically reading history and looking at the present it's hard not to do that math.
At the very least I would love if I hadn't to periodically suffer some online European conservative (particularly common seem to be the Spaniard and British ones) gloating about their perceived superiority, wealth, civility, etc. Or parroting their learned Official Histories.
Yeah I was pretty mad when I wrote that. Being an immigrant to the more central provinces of the Imperial Core makes you realize the dissonance and hypocrisy much more vividly…
Ofc I don’t think it makes sense for anyone to live paralysed by guilt. Maybe some of the wealthier heirs of colonialism, but like 99.99% of people deserve a chance to learn and understand and change. Guilt can be a tool for that. But it also can be a detriment.
No. And, are you latin yourself ? And, why are you asking ?
Yes, I am. Why? Curiosity. You always see this question regarding what do Europeans find unusual about Americans and vice versa. I am curious to know about the opinions of my non-American, non-Europeans fellows. Our perspectives are not so common to find in websites like Lemmy.
Though a few minutes in I'm already seeing the post in the negatives so I'm assuming this one is sadly already dead.
I hope people answer.
Wanna see what you think we do that is weird!
I don’t want in the future a user telling me “okay, you have this opinion because you are this or that”.
I want my comments to be judged on what it says not who I am. This previous comment I made in here was heavily downvoted and I believe it was fair because my tone was not very good ; sorry about that.
I am sorry also you didn't get more answers ; if you rework your question, just asking :
"What people in the western world do which might look strange from outside"
... I don't know if this form of the question or some other form would be more successful ...
Keep on trying and you will achieve what you want 😀