Social IssuesJUL 4, 2022

Americans Share Harsh Truths The Rest Of The World Is Probably Not Ready To Hear Yet, Here Are Their 30 Answers

It’s no secret that the most powerful country in the world often stands out from the rest. And if there’s one thing we can all agree on, people seem obsessed with sharing deeply held beliefs about the nation. Whether it's hilarious memes that poke fun at the country or things America is doing right, opinions about the US are split. But as they say, with great power comes great responsibility, so why don’t we let the citizens themselves speak their minds for a change?

Well, Redditor Tell_me_why- did precisely that when they reached out to the Ask Reddit community: "Americans, what is the rest of the world not ready to hear?" The post immediately became a hit. Thousands of users wasted no time typing out the quirky things that people from other countries are unaware of, and sharing some hard truths along the way.

To get to the bottom of this question, we’ve gone through the thread and picked out some of the most surprising and thought-provoking responses to share with you all. Continue scrolling to read through these answers, as well as our interview with travel writer and blogger from the US, Megan Starr. Then upvote the posts you agree with and be sure to share your own takes with us below in the comments!

#21

Americans Share Harsh Truths The Rest Of The World Is Probably Not Ready To Hear Yet, Here Are Their 30 Answers

America is more welcoming than most other countries.

For example, I've been living in Korea for almost three years. I could speak the language perfectly, interact with the community, learn the customs and traditions, and yet I still wouldn't be considered Korean, or even be looked at as a Korean citizen. I wouldn't belong, because I don't look Korean.

But in the U.S, you can be from pretty much anywhere and be accepted as an American. You might look African, Asian, European, but you would be considered American. And you would belong. And it's awesome.

The U.S is one of the most welcoming places in the world.

Bioreaver, Andrew Neel

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98points

Megan pointed out that negative comments about the US usually stem from the fact that the country’s news, media, and movies are blasted on TVs and screens across the world, "so most people have a rough idea of what is going on." Moreover, she explained that it feels like it almost became acceptable to ridicule and share harsh reactions about her native country. "Whereas if this happened to another place, it would not be so accepted."

"Interestingly enough, many of the comments come from people who donʻt even know their own political systems. I had people from Australia and Germany come at me a decade ago for same-sex marriage not being federally legal in the US. It was also illegal in both countries (and didnʻt get passed until after the United States made it legal)," Megan told us.

#22

Most Americans, be they liberal or conservative, are not nearly as hateful as you might assume from reading Reddit posts or watching American news programs.

screaminporch

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92points

#23

M*A*S*H is better without the laugh track.

McFlyFarm, imdb

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90points

#24

Not all Americans have money

Edit: most don't

Passion-Interesting

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80points

"We are a big country and our views are anything but homogenous. Many of us are fighting as hard as we can against a system that is set up for the wealthy white man," she said. "But it is not an easy fight, especially when the system does 'work' for some people and they have the mentality of 'if it ainʻt broke, why fix it.'"

#25

We won't stop until the rest of you are as fat as us.

BlackLetterLies

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79points

#26

Americans are not the only annoying tourists in the world. We can be bad sure, but I have met PLENTY of [jerks] from all sorts of countries visiting.

Sometimes reading through Reddit you get the sense that the only people in the world with bad travel manners are Americans.

GarbageBoyJr, David Todd McCarty

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75points

#27

The use of the Metric system is way more prevalent than you think.

Foresight2187, Sven Mieke

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74points

#28

Henry Winkler gets even cooler after happy days.

myclueis, Super Festivals

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70points

#29

Most people in the US do NOT have guns. The reason for the "There are 400,000,000 guns in the US" is because guns are counted when they are sold, but they are not counted when they are destroyed, broken or disposed of (legally or illegally) so when you have a number that only goes up, guess what. It gets really big. It's also possible guns are double counted when one owner sells a gun to another person. Also, most gun owners own more than one gun, so you can't just divide the number of guns by the number of people because you have that one guy with 20 guns.

So, when you come to visit, relax. There aren't cowboys and gangbangers on every street corner.

ClownfishSoup

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63points

#30

Twitter is a very small community where just 10% of users make up 80% of the content.

user_bits

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49points

Ilona BaliūnaitėBoredPanda Staff

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