this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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So I'm European and am aware that American culture is very different in many ways. Idk if this is just some type of thing about American culture and mentality in general that has always been there or if it is a trend that started recently in the past few years.

I don't wanna generalize any country and know that not everyone is like this but I definitely noticed this type of pattern.

I increasingly noticed in the past years that many Americans are very hateful/cruel, are lacking empathy, become more and more aggressive and it seems like it’s becoming worse.

I'm not sure if this is maybe related to Americans needing to be "though" or something because I always hear about that the American mentality is pretty competitive and individualistic and instead of saying "we will go through this this together" they often have this mentality "it's either me or you but it can't be both who will win". I mean I'm pretty sure that all these things like this biking culture, driving big "manly" pick up trucks, wrestling, football etc. are pretty prevalent in America compared to other countries and American culture generally seems very loud and direct. I think here in Europe people are way more reserved and I guess the strongest opposite to Americans are probably Japanese people. Maybe American culture is generally more "rough" where they aren't super sensitive and don't really care how their words come over and just speak their mind (maybe cause they value free speech so much).

But to me this seems to go to the point where many Americans seem to have this attitude and are very ignorant and arrogant and basically think they're better than anyone else and they only care for themselves.

And it feels like it's so extreme to the point where everyone is hating, attacking and bashing on everyone and instead of being stronger united they're just fighting against themselves and putting each other down and they always focus on the negative.

Especially online it seems like that no matter what the topic is and independent from whether they are Democrat or Republican they're constantly bashing on someone and baselessly calling them "weak" even though in reality they're probably the ones who are weak and trample onto people cause they're obviously dissatisfied with themselves and aren't able to man-up to face the real issues. You just can't blame everything on others and have to take responsibility for yourself!

Some stuff that I've seen on American news like "Fox News" just seemed crazy where the reporters personally attack and bash on people which is something that would be unthinkable in Europe.

Even though many people were saying that Americans have this "fake friendliness" I'm thinking that even that disappeared in the last few years and they're becoming more open to show what they really think which seems to be that they "don't give a f* about you".

Many Americans that I encountered seem so aggressive like they always need to bash onto something in this toxic way even though they're actually in a very good position and have a lot to be grateful for. Like in other poor countries people have real problems and are literally starving because they have no food or they have war in their country.

I'm always thinking "dude, you need to chill" cause literally no one is attacking them and they're fully secure. But it seems like they're always searching for a fight or something.

It seems like many of these people are so disconnected from nature and become less human and I wonder why they can't just spend meaningful time with other people being positive and not constantly waste their time with hating or complaining about something. Because this just doesn't work and in a society with multiple people especially in a world where everything is more connected than ever we need to hold together and have empathy for one and another. That is one of the core morals that a human needs!

It seems like many Americans generally have this "cruelness" about them cause I also heard things that many Americans are physically beating their children and even the fact that guns are popular and legal in America to the point where you can't even safely walk alone in public during the night or safely send your kid to school and also this general mindset of America is doing everything the best and "America first". I really don't wanna bash on Americans at all and only want to share my experience because I just haven't experienced this type of hate here in Europe in that extreme way and it just makes me very uncomfortable because I feel like this mood is affecting the whole world since American media and influence is prevalent everywhere.

To me it feels like this won't end well and it feels like it's just a matter of time until something very bad happens like the second civil war or so and the storm on the capitol might be nothing compared to that. But maybe that's the only way they will finally learn if they're lacking these core morals and integrity and they don't get educated about that in school.

It also seems like they can't handle critique and can't admit it/stand to those things. When I once asked a similar question on Reddit the only thing I got back was bashing and personal attacks and I hope it's not the same here, cause that is literally just proving my point. There needs to be constructive discussions.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It's the old trope ... the perception of the future gets worse for some group and then society fractures into people that are willing to take ownership and do something about it vs people that accept polarized answers that "it's not their fault, they've been treated unfairly, and the other guy caused all their problems."

Once you have a significant portion of people blaming "the other" society just stops working right and fights with itself. In many cases it's self imposed, but social media has added fuel to the fire and festered and inflamed old wounds (with the help of foreign governments seeking to do just that).

We have half of society blaming liberals, gays, blacks, the poor, the colleges, and immigrants. Then we have the other half of society blaming conservatives, christians, old white men, the rich, hillbillies, and the uneducated.

Frankly, we all need to take a chill pill and realize most people want to be left alone to do their own thing. Then we need to sit down at the table and look at which politicians are building bridges and which politicians are burning them. Most of us want similar things, we've just been conditioned to focus on our differences.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Exactly.

It's not so much that Americans are like this in general, there are always people like this and people who are opposite from this in any county, America included. But because of social media, the voice of specifically this kind of people get magnified and appeared much louder than the voice of people not like this.

Many American ran social media (those offered by Meta especially) are specifically designed this way because they operate in such a way where engagement generate ad revenues, and conflicts, destructive and otherwise rage inducing content are the most effective ways for generating engagement on the internet in general. Unfortunately over a course of lack of regulatory actions they have perfected a balance between as much rage inducing content as possible and not too much destructiveness to a point where they get into legal troubles.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

it’s either me or you but it can’t be both who will win

Others have covered potential answers, but this one part made me immediately think of an old trope in American cowboy media:

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

America was built on a very fruitful land, the new comers had a lot of room to expand.

There weren’t any existing powers to stifle growth so it was “free” to grow as much as possible (this is what they mean by freedom).

The gold rush happened in California, then a lot (and I mean A LOT for its time) of oil production.

Then Europe had a couple of civil wars (I’m calling it that cause they fought themselves mostly) which gave US even more of an advantage.

The American experiment has had A LOT privileges because it was the new world. Those are ending but Americans believe they can keep the party going forever.

Europe had a similar boost during colonial times and that ended too, so chances are it will happen to US too.

Only two questions remain:

  • Will it be as bloody as possible like WWII or more peaceful.
  • Will Americans get their shit together after like Europe and form a strong union built on democracy.
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

As an American, I have despaired every day since the election about where we are headed. My hope is that, as in past times when we have lost our collective minds, we will find a way to self correct. Know that nearly half of all voters did NOT want this direction and many will be mounting a vigorous fight against fascism. Its going ti be ugly, though. I also despair for Europe who are about to see their fascists voices amplified to a very high volume.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It might explain a few things if this was an American thing, as I have experienced similar things as well, and I don't know why either. Though in my case few of them identify as American.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

You're welcome. Sometimes I don't know how I got this far.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (4 children)

What do you mean by "identify as American"?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

We're scared of the future I guess. Feel free to ask if you are genuinely curious about Americans.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

America doesn’t often follow international law, because they often get away with acting poorly.

When a country has the largest economy and the strongest military and does not have neighbours that are equal to it in power they tend swing their weight around.

Same thing can be seen with Russia, China and India.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I suspect what you're seeing is the increased frequency of vulgar American bigotry showing up in mass media, thanks to the unfiltered exposure of their behavior.

But I have to point out... this isn't something new in the American psyche. Keep in mind that America has always been a deeply hateful and bigoted place. Go back to the years following 9/11 and look at how many mosques got burned. Consider that Congress banned French Fries in the cafeteria because the French PM wouldn't toss in with our genocidal Iraq invasion.

Go back further than that, and you've got horrifying police violence aimed at African Americans, Latinos, and East Asians going back... centuries. All endorsed by a parochial upper class that funneled money to Apartheid South Africa, Nun-raping Contra Rebels in Nicaragua, and Fascist Mafiosos crawling all over the Mediterranean during the Years of Lead.

Our mass media has been overflowing with bigotry from modern day Steven Crowder all the way back to Father Coughlin's antisemitic rants during the Great Depression.

America is a deeply rotten country full of awful people. And while we're hardly alone in that regard, we export so much of that vileness abroad that its hard for outsiders to ignore.

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