I'm asking questions about how Europeans see Americans I think it's [Music] stupid American tick tockers they earn too much money with what they do like in Belgium we have to work for money and they just make videos and that's it you know I might be completely wrong about this but I think it was a little bit cooler to be American when I was a kid [Music] I've lived in Europe for several years now and look I've romanticized this continent quite a bit I really like living here but there's a funny
feeling that I cannot shake and I think it has to do with how Europeans view Americans or how Europeans view me when they discover that I'm American and it's not entirely positive this feeling has not gone away even though I've been here for a few years now and it's not hatred it's more like negative undertones offhand comments or jokes that are made and it makes me feel not very cool and by the way I recognize not all Europeans dislike Americans that is a massive generalization but I'm bringing
this up because it's been enough of a trend for me to confidently talk about this as something that's really happening in the world I don't think it's just in my head it just seems like when it comes to European's view of Americans there's a lot to dislike I don't necessarily entirely disagree I have plenty of my own criticisms about the United States and the way of life over there and I think that all places all societies Merit criticism that's how we get better so this applies to everyone but
there's something deeper going on here that I want to explore on a personal level my own identity as an American but also the identity of Americans on the global stage we don't live in a bubble and it turns out the whole world has opinions about us now I have my own theories about what's going on here but I thought I'd get to the root of the matter and ask Europeans themselves it makes me a little bit nervous talking to strangers but I'm just gonna go for it what are the stereotypes um that's a
good question donkey sauce the fast food okay we said image actually I like Americans because they are like very chilled America is like so expensive for good food like yeah for like fruits and all this fresh stuff it's like so expensive okay do you think the stereotypes about Americans are true kind of I have a classmate that is American and we are talking like about our our traditional foods and the American was like my typical food is hamburger ice cream like the McDonald one and we are like
oh so McDonald's use your typical food she was like yeah kind of can I just take a couple minutes ask a couple questions it's okay if you don't have time okay all good have a nice day the Americans don't have time for me that's that's kind of funny would you mind if I asked you a couple questions yeah more than the Netherlands much more do younger people feel the same way or differently about American I think even stronger even stronger I think okay yeah the the older people I feel maybe thinki
ng of the World War II and World War One in which the Americans did a very good job Yeah by helping because Europe was not doing very well yeah they know about their own country but not about like other stuff in the world they're overrated they're overrated how like they received too much attention too much hype too much internet are you also german yes I am and in Germany you feel like German people have a positive view of Americans or not really no okay so more negative yeah I think so do you
feel that there's been a change at all in terms of how Americans are viewed like in the last 10 15 years I think so yes especially due to the Trump and the Tea Party things happening it got more polarized and that made it more negative in my view there's more that I'd like to say about why I believe this Dynamic is happening why Europeans see Americans in this way but before I do I want to thank the sponsor of this video which is betterhelp and look therapy is a really powerful tool when it come
s to anything and everything identity related I absolutely love living abroad I wouldn't exchange it for the world but it has come with its own emotionally challenging situations and it's been helpful to work with a therapist over the years loneliness my own self-image my self-worth those are the kinds of things that I've been working at developing a deeper understanding of over the years thanks to therapy betterhelp is a hundred percent online and designed to be convenient and flexible to adapt
to your schedule and what works for you you can message your therapist at any time and schedule live sessions when it works for you they give you access to a very large network of licensed therapists and so if the therapist that you're working with doesn't work out it isn't a good fit you can switch to a new one at no additional charge so if you're interested in checking it out you can get 10 off your first month if you sign up at betterhelp.com Nathaniel Drew and I'll leave that link in the de
scription as well it's one of the best ways to support my work thank you better help for sponsoring this video all right time for me to share some of my own personal theories here here's why I think it was maybe a little bit cooler to be American in the past I was born in the 90s maybe like some of you and back in the 90s it's not like the United States or the world for that matter didn't have its problems it definitely did you're not gonna get any of that classic nostalgic those were the days k
ind of thing for me but one thing I think we can all agree on is that back in the 90s the internet had not yet completely taken over our lives like it has now and in my view the internet feels like it's taken whatever problems already existed and made them bigger and louder that might actually be what the internet is best at the fast transmission of ideas and information which in turn amplifies them and there's another thing that the internet is really good at which is that it is a canvas or les
s curated or filtered versions of that information or ideas there are less Gatekeepers so anyone can say anything my theory is that as time has gone on and as the internet has played a bigger and bigger a role in our lives the world has been exposed to a less curated version of the United States you know you had movies and TV and pop music reaching the entire world but it wasn't like it is today with social media and even the news reaching so many more people nowadays it feels like you cannot es
cape the news about the mass shootings that are constantly happening in the U.S or the insane election Cycles I think in some ways the internet might have taken away some of our innocence right some of our naivete as a result even more curated versions of culture like the highly produced TV shows and movies are reflecting the things that we're seeing the unintelligent or simple American is a very believable archetype and not a new one you've got at least one and often more than one character tha
t perfectly fits that archetype in pretty much all American sitcoms from friends to How I Met Your Mother and there are plenty of shows that play off of this very intentionally I think of South Park and Family Guy in The Simpsons and internet nationally the contrast is even more Stark and it might just be me but it does feel like the perception of Americans is deteriorating I mean I'm thinking about shows like Emily in Paris or the White Lotus the White Lotus in particular blew me away because i
t felt so believable and oftentimes in a very depressing way clearly Americans are not known for being refined or in touch with reality this is particularly true of wealthy Americans and why wouldn't Europeans feel this way we are famously terrible at learning foreign languages too many were seen as living in our own giant bubbles a lot of people beforehand used to think like the US was like very cool and this really lovely place to go to but I feel like everyone just thinks it's dangerous and t
hat they don't care about their citizen there's all these shootings going on like their health care is horrible their schools school is horrible so there's been a change I think it's always been like that I think there's a change now because like so like social media is like is bringing making it more apparent America used to be you know the American [Music] are our big and fat but I love America with their friends the Siri friends don't care yeah they could take positivity they could be negativ
e right okay okay yeah okay so once you clarify you're a Canadian [Music] for me it's like a lot about the money like the times I went to New York and and it's like you know winners and losers and you know you gotta make it and you gotta made loads of money and and then like if you don't have money you're like basically I would say extremes extreme it's like an extreme you know country like very very rich very very poor eat very much eat very very very healthy like extreme healthy extreme like x
xxl McDonald's or whatever where are you from England perfect so I'm doing a video on European's view of Americans okay I don't know if you have any opinions do you feel like it's a more positive or A negative view of Americans I'd say negative I feel like there's a there's a lot going on now that's just a bit backwards yeah like I feel like we need to move along yeah they're like you know the all the abortion was coming in yeah like all the gun crimes things like that like I imagine like the mo
st of the country is absolutely lovely but there's some of the morals that are just a little bit off for me so I struggle with that I agree but I do think you all like proper chatty and that and you really energetic yes that's a positive thing yeah it out as well it's lovely to meet Americans yeah I love meeting America okay so why am I so interested in this topic well over the last few years I have shared my journey moving abroad and looking for a home because that home is not the United States
I just don't feel connected to that country not as a home even though I'm coming to realize that it did shape me in many ways I'm just trying to find my place but as I've said before different people will treat you in different ways based off of how they perceive you the first time I experienced this was during my high school Exchange in France when I was 16 years old Obama was President and regardless of your personal political opinions or feelings he was seen in generally positive light abroa
d so in a weird way even though I was not responsible for electing him I wasn't even of age to vote that scored me some cool points and then on top of it 16 year old French kids living in a small town in the west of France thought it was cool that I rode a yellow bus to school and that I had my own personal Locker in the United States so I was benefiting from all these things that I didn't really control at all then I get to Argentina a few years later and I see what it's like to be on the flip
side where the general sentiment was more negative I'm generalizing here but there's a bit of an anti-American streak in Argentina I think this comes down to the image that the United States has of being a bit of a bully I mean Che Guevara is a bit of an anti-American anti-capitalist symbol right so that was a very different experience and now I'm back in Europe and I've been here for a while and the perception has changed yet again 90 percent of the Dutchman think Trump is quite strange yeah th
ey think Republicans are also quite strange the Americans are very Puritan this might just be me but I do feel like the image of Americans has deteriorated a little bit over the last 10 years that might come down to the government that's currently in power it might come down to social media this is a very complex thing so I can't point to a single reason but it's definitely a feeling that's there now on a personal level before I realized that this was going on I was kind of unintentionally overc
ompensating I felt like I needed to show that I wasn't the out of touch American in Europe and the same thing happened to me in Argentina where I was speaking with as much slang as I possibly could that I picked up over there even when it was just way too much when it was inappropriate why was I acting like that was there a deeper need within me to be accepted by the people that I am surrounded by to me it's a little bit cringy to behave that way because it's overcompensating for something which
in this case was the identity that people were associating with me whatever it was the out of touch stupid American whatever it might be but that's actually a me problem not a problem with the world I've come to realize that people can think whatever they want about you it doesn't change who you are if people see me as yet another dumb American it doesn't mean that's true and also it doesn't mean all Americans are that way I think we all know this we all know that individuals don't necessarily
follow the stereotypes but it's also how people operate in a world of eight billion people I can't blame people for having formulated an idea about the place that I'm from considering how much culture is exported from that place a part of me used to try to distance myself as much as possible from anything and everything American but the truth is that at least some part of me some piece of me has been influenced by my upbringing there there are a lot of things I don't like but there are some thin
gs that I do it's genuinely being very enthusiastically excited about simple things is the dumb American thing to do then fine maybe I'm a dumb American sometimes because that is something that comes naturally to me I would rather be myself and accept the consequences than try to be someone that I'm not and you know what everyone wants to feel welcome wherever they are and especially in their home but the reality is that that's actually a luxury not a given so many immigrants in the United State
s were never made to feel that way despite the fact that the country benefited tremendously from all the immigration all the people that risked their lives to go build something over there honestly I don't have it that bad who am I kidding I don't have it bad at all it could be so much worse and oftentimes it is exploring this topic has really given me quite a bit of empathy for the immigrants that are very poorly received all around the world so what do you think about everything I just share c
harge here what is your perception of Americans or of Europeans towards Americans I would be curious to hear because this is a giant open-ended topic and I invite all different opinions and perspectives on this it's just something I love to explore also apologies to all Latin Americans and Canadians who are Americans in their own right I have decided to use that word in this video because there isn't really another word that has been widely adopted to still speak of the people of the United Stat
es so I just used it for Simplicity and I hope that you can forgive me thank you so much for watching and I'll see all of you very soon bye
Comments
As an American, I feel like we don’t take the step to try to understand the world outside of our country. When Americans travel abroad they get upset when people don’t speak English, but when there are tourist in America we say learn the language. I believe America has lost the respect of other countries and we aren’t doing anything to fix it.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned how different urban planning and design is in much of Europe and the US (walkable cities vs. car centric design) and how that affects the population physically and psychologically.
I am European and although I dislike some things about America, having been there twice for almost half a year, I have to say that I love how open Americans are and how someone will walk up to you and chat about anything. I went hiking a lot and run into people whom I started talking with just because they said "good weather today, huh?" and they caught from my accent that I was not American and we chatted from there. I felt very welcome. I also liked the variety of food from other cultures in the shops, which I don't have in southern Europe unless I go to a specific shop. Another thing that I loved and that I'm very jealous of is the low unemployment rate. If I was American, I know for sure I'd have a job with my qualifications, but in my country you can only work as a doctor or as in tech to have a job. I liked the food (not fast-food, but local cuisines, such as cajun etc).
I'm an American and have traveled throughout Europe. The only country where I truly felt hated was in Greece. The country where I felt people were the friendliest were Italy and actually in France as well. The most helpful were Germans and Austrians however you definitely have to approach them first.
As Dutchie I've been to America for 3 weeks and this is a summary of my experience: - Some lady asked me which language I was speaking to my sister. So I told her that I came from te Netherlands and speaks Dutch. The lady then turned to her husband in excitement saying she thought we came from Latvia and that her guess was really close... - Countless homeless people in cities as Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles that even lost the ability to speak because of drug addiction was really saddening and scary because they could be in possession of guns. -Those 1.500 Kcal Oreo milkshakes.... We tried to recreate those milkshakes at home and it was impossible to reach 1.500 Kcal without adding loads of fat and a mountain of sugar. - Some country radio station was arguing if tomatoes should be seen as vegetable or candy. - If you have a complaint at your hotel you will get bribed with candy and cookies. We surely took our advantage of that. Nature is awesome in the USA and most of the people are so kind it almost feels unnatural. But I strongly believe that they should be more kind to the people who are "weaker" in society. People shouldn't be left on the streets to rot.
LMAO. That one British girl, "derp, we left the EU, we are not European". Then her friend saying, we are still in Europe. That made me spit my drink.
My wife and I just returned from three weeks in Germany and Hungary (she was born and raised in Budapest). Two comments on your vids: first, you're very thoughtful and I appreciate how you try to get below the surface in your work; second, it would be interesting to hear Europeans discussing what they think of each other, and leave us out of the mix. For example, how do Germans think about the Brits or the French? How do the Poles think about the Hungarians or the Ukrainians? Please don't take this as a criticism, but as Americans we naturally want to know what other folks think about us - I'd love to hear them discuss other Europeans. Good work!
Twelve years ago I and my daughter traveled around in France and Spain. Growing up in the Southwestern part of the US, near Mexico, and growing up around kids who spoke the local Spanish dialect and having taken classes in Spanish all through my childhood, I was pretty comfortable speaking Spanish. I also had taken four semesters of French in college, so in the months before we were to embark on our trip I did my best to "resurrect the French I had learned." As it turned out I was able to get along quite well in both languages, though at times I would feel exhausted by the end of the day just from the constant intellectual demand of having to communicate in languages in which I was only borderline fluent. I found both the French and the Spanish to be very open and helpful, even in Paris, where I had been told to expect rudeness. Not sure what my point is except to say people are people wherever you go and tend to be very kind and helpful if you make even the smallest effort to fit into their culture. It's a simple sign of respect.
As an Italian, I was victim of stereotypes so many times that I lost the count. We are the country of Pizza, pasta, mafia (all that with the typical accent from Mario) and that’s pretty much all for some people. Truth is, some people will only see a part of the real picture. Same happens with the USA. Having said that, I can give you my point of view as an European who lived across Europe in the last 5 years. The perception of the US like you said in the video has definitely changed in the last years. When I was young I used to fantasise my life there, due to the amount of inputs we were receiving from movies, music industry etc. Then reality hits and you have to look at other aspects if you consider moving. Our cultures are completely different to start with. In Europe we pay healthcare through taxes, our public educational system is usually better than the American one (whereas US has better education in college which are super expensive and for which you are usually extinguishing debts thorough all your life), our cities are usually very walkable and distances are relatively short, we have a strong food culture and variety of diets and ingredients, we tend to be more family oriented and less self made women/men and our cities are relatively safer than a lot of American ones. These are the typical things we debate on when we talk about how bad is America and Europe is better and on one hand I must agree. But US is much more than this. Americans are usually very chatty, fun, enthusiasts and typically open minded. I like the “can do” attitude that makes you achieve big results, universities are great, landscapes are amazing, the mix of cultures makes the US very interesting so relegating the US to ignorance and stupidity is unfair and superficial. All the stereotypes hide a bit of truth, but we usually use them just cause we heard of them, or generally we refer to the average citizen, not the whole representation of a country.
A professor from England said something like this in a lecture in 1980: "When I came here in the 1950's, no one asked why I came to America. It was obvious. The most freedom, the highest standard of living, the most rights, etc. Now, people ask me why I came."
Your video is BY FAR MUCH BETTER THAN MANY OTHERS I SEEN WHICH WERE A SET UP PROPAGAND BUT YOURS IS FELT HONES AND NICE PRESENTATION> gretings from here in Europe.
I recently became an American citizen from Canada, and at first I felt critical of Americans because they didn’t know so much about the world outside it. However, since I have lived here for a while, I realize that America is so huge and has such diversity within it, there is so much to explore, so many breathtaking places, within its borders that it really does take a stretch to want to travel abroad. Here people work hard and long hours. They take their families on road trips that are much longer than what it would take to travel within say the UK. There is a culture of RV travel that is well entrenched as well. So I think this must be taken into account. Very often it is only the well to do who can travel to Europe and the UK.
I'm a half Italian half Peruvian guy that has lived in both Italy and Perú as well as in the US (though for a brief time) and after noticing so many common patterns across these countries I noticed that I don't like tarnishing entire countries with so many different sides. Instead, I generally dislike very narcissistic, boorish and self entitled jerks, no matter the culture or country they may come from.
I appreciate your perspective. As a Russian who lived 10 years in Ukraine and left because of an attack of my own country (insanity), I face condemnation of my nationality in Europe. A doctor in Germany refused to see me when he found out I was Russian. I can really understand why Ukrainians hate all Russians — they have a lot of pain, death, loss. It's very hard to get over it without generalizing that everyone is bad. But what seems unfair to me among other things is the treatment of me as bad from other people, not Ukrainians, although I have never in my life voted for Putin. When I lived in Moscow, I went to protests. And I even lost my flat and my job in Ukraine and my friends. I volunteered during the war and helped Ukrainians for free. But still I am discriminated against. I am not writing to complain but just to tell my story. Let the war end as soon as possible and people stop dying. Thank you for your videos.
As a fellow European immigrant from the US, I am delighted to have heard your thoughts on the matter. Your insights and comments are quite valuable
👋 Hey, American here, and I have to say this was a well thought out and sincere video. I really enjoyed it and I appreciate the honest take on perception shaped by environment, influence and experience. I wish you all of the luck in the world.
Couldn’t help but laugh out loud when they’re saying that Americans don’t know about geography, and then this British girl says “Wait, we’re not from Europe. We left the EU” 😂
As a anti war Russian I can relate to being received poorly for the things that are off your control.
One of the observations I had while living in France as an American was the pessimism. There was this feeling that people were "stuck" in their situation over there and that everything was "no" and "you cannot do that". However, in America there is an overwhelming sense of optimism and that you can do anything as long as you work for it and people are genuinely willing to help you succeed if they see you working for it. Also, the French were a lot like Americans in a certain sense that they think France has everything, they never learned a foreign language, and a lot of people I met had never traveled or gone to another county (even though Germany was only a 45 minute drive away).
I have many American friends, and i have to say they are positive, and super easy to get along with. The portrayal we get in media is always of the extremes, left or right, regardless of which way you go, it is the same lunacy the further you go out to the extremes. We have the same thing here. Only the margins differ.