30 Non-Americans Explain What They Like Best About The United States And Their Answers Go Viral

Imsosadsoveryverysad told Bored Panda about what inspired them to create the thread in the first place. "I have found it real frustrating and depressing to be in America lately. Between Trump’s botched handling of the pandemic, and the racism, hatred, police brutality, etc., it has just been weighing on me."

The redditor continued: "The willful ignorance of many Americans who refuse to wear masks or deny that systemic racism exists, when you don’t even have to look very hard to find it, has just been upsetting me a lot lately. I actually kinda needed to be reminded about the good that America brings, because we’ve seen so much bad lately. I figured asking non-Americans, potentially anti-Americans, what they thought was good, could give me a more unbiased look at the positives of our country."

Imsosadsoveryverysad said that they did not expect the thread to get so much attention. "I have posted things on Sundays randomly before that took off. I knew I could get some eyes on it, but really I was just hoping for enough responses to create what I considered to be a solid sample size (for me). It’s nice that it got bigger than I hoped just get more feedback."

According to the redditor, the most surprising positive about the US that came up multiple times was free refills and ice for drinks. However, when it came to the most eye-opening responses, it was all about how convenient many people said the US is.

"I have actually considered it pretty inconvenient compared to European setups that allow you to walk everywhere or walk to a train quickly to get places farther away. But the commenters helped me see that things I take completely for granted, like stores and restaurants being open late, quick shopping for online orders, being able to buy a car on the lot and not having to wait weeks for it to be shipped to you etc. It helped me see there are more ways to measure convenience than I have been."

Bored Panda was also interested to get Imsosadsoveryverysad's take on why some people tend to forget about the positives of the US, especially during times of crisis. "It’s easy for media to grab the low hanging fruit and project it to the country and the world. Right now, the low hanging fruit is coronavirus numbers and the tension in our country. Are these topics important? Hell yes. Do they need to be reported on? Absolutely, they do, people need to be informed. Could we search out better stories to break up the monotony every now and then? Probably."

They continued: "But I have a neighbor who has been trying to fight an insurance company to get her house rebuilt after it got struck by lightening. It’s been over a year. The media outlets she’s gone too specifically told her they wouldn’t run her story because they only want coronavirus stories right now. So with that attitude, we’re doing it to ourselves."

The redditor told us that they tried to reply to every single person who commented on their thread to start a dialogue with as many people as they could. "Unfortunately, it just became impossible. I remember having about 700 unread messages in my inbox, replying to 100, refreshing, and having over 700 again. It happened multiple times. For those I missed, I’m sorry," Imsosadsoveryverysad said.

"Finally, I’m just thankful for all the replies. Like I said, it’s been a frustrating and depressing couple months. Most commenters really helped me appreciate certain aspects of the country again. I’ve gotten multiple DMs from other users, as well as comments on the main thread that have said the same thing. We are all thankful for the kind words of the users who took a couple minutes out of their day to comment."

Imsosadsoveryverysad’s Reddit thread got over 4.5k comments and some of the positives that people share were very unexpected and eye-opening. Everyone has an opinion about the United States and we could all argue about the various subtleties and politics through the night.

Opinions about America can be very patriotic but it’s important to do some fact-checking. Some claim that the US has the best social mobility, better than any other country, though the data doesn’t back that opinion up. While others joke that small things like the invention of sliced bread, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and landing on the Moon make it ‘the best in the history of the world.’

In terms of cold hard facts, the US dominates several fields worldwide. America spends more than any other country on its military; it’s also the world’s biggest exporter of arms. However, it’s not just waging war that the US is good at.

It also dominates the field of medical research (it spent 543 billion dollars on medical research and development in 2017). The US also spends more money on healthcare than any other country, though you can’t deny that the system has some flaws. You also can’t deny the United States is a behemoth in the realm of technological innovation.