Topic: How Americans are? Tell an European.

Well, it's a matter of priorities. Southern Italy is basically the opposite, even if people have very little money, they make sure to eat well, prioritizing it over things like having a car or a big house.

So it's like in UK. One pound is 100 pence. In EU one euro is 100 cents. So I guess it's basically the same in US? What am I missing? Japan doesn't have cents BUT they have coins and notes (bills) so at the end of the day is not the same?

@OfNullAndVoid I love that idea and I love croquettes! It's one of my favourite dishes. Anyone else is having a Ratatouille deja vu?

@Agriculture True, in Italy and Spain the food culture is quite important and they have delicious dishes!

@BlueOcean It’s relatively nice weather. Summers are hot and humid, but the winters get bone cold for only like 30-45 days throughout. And it’s more often sunny than not. In fact, I can already see the moon out now at 3:47PM. Lots of farm scenery, so it’s a relaxing 15 minute commute into the town proper. Especially during cotton bloom season. We’ve got corn, cotton, and peanuts in most fields, and I live a few miles up the road from a horse ranch. And hear cows at night whenever they’re moved.
Contrasting @NEStalgia, fuel is $1.93 /gallon right now, and we typically stay under $2.30 during the summer highs. The metro Savannah city is an hour away, and Atlanta is 4, with Jacksonville under 3 in Florida, and Charleston under 3 in South Carolina. So it’s a nice centralized place. After 5 years, I prefer it to suburbs of Charleston.

I've never been to the US, and I only know one British family that lives there (Montana). The main thing that feels unnatural to them is the majority of people being quite full on with their religious values.

I feel like the UK is reassuringly secular nowadays and I would struggle to be respectful if I was confronted with religious stuff on a daily basis.

I would also struggle with the work ethic and perceived relentless pursuit of money. I don't work hard and I play as much as I can get away with. When I die I won't be wishing I'd spent more time working.

But so many great cultural contributions have come from the US, usually having gone international precisely due to work ethic and the pursuit of money, that I am still thankful for it. Four people spring to mind as I write this: Michael Jackson and the sacrifices he made as a child and adult in the name of performance; Sylvester Stallone writing and playing Rocky; Will Smith (I'm quite a big fan of his persona, Fresh Prince, Bad Boys, some of his music); and Harrison Ford (only because Star Wars and Indiana Jones have featured so heavily as inspiration for me, and he always talks about 'hard work', even though I find it hard to believe he has to work that hard).

And the amount of hours I've spent watching Cheers, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymond, and so so many other TV shows and films.

And Cher! GD it, I love Cher.

Gotta take the rough with the smooth...

Never seen any Married With Kids, I'll have to try it.

@BlueOcean That question inherently answers the "gun problem" question too. In politics there's always fingers pointed at "gun violence" and "mass shootings" as a problem here, but if you look at the statistics guns aren't even the majority weapons used in murders. For all the gun murders there's more murders with other objects. We have a violence problem in general, and that pressure of "be the best or else you're a completely disposable failure" is the largest root underlying cause. Completely disposable failures aren't likely to just quietly die without taking a few others with them. So they don't. And there's always more disposable failures than best successes. Which also explains why we have such difficulty addressing the violence problem. All the solutions from weapons restriction to "treatment" are bandaids, and nobody will ever want to acknowledge that solving it involves changing the very underpinnings of the socio-economic system itself. It will never be fixed as a result.

It also lends to the "I'm ok, so nobody else matters, keep the status quo no matter what" mentality. With the gap between being a massive success and a doomed failure, if you settle into a niche, and most do, you can't afford for anything to happen to that niche, so it must be defended against change, and everyone else has to be collateral damage while you defend it. As long as you're ok, the world can burn, and most don't have the luxury of risking their own stability to help others.

It's really the underlying problem of the majority of our woes, when you really dig into it. But it's also a profitable position for the elite....

In a way it's a manic depressive/bipolar culture. If things are good they're really pretty good, and if not they're really quite awful. And there's little in between. That's the current culture, anyway. It wasn't like that so much in the past....most of the good things are things preserved from the past. It's been the last 20 years or so that this new change happened (again, the conformity to global business and being good consumers/labor first and foremost. Effectively mimicking China.)

Recognizing that decline is also why so many are so staunchly traditionalist and refuse to change anything, and the young vs old culture war. Which, again, mirrors the UK with Brexit pretty well. The underlying problems probably date back to Puritans and Quakers and their long term influence on both the UK and US at the time. Here, add in an unhealthy dose of "German work ethics" and it's a bad mixture.

@BlueOcean Coinage, yeah, the US system directly descended from pounds and pence (peniess and ha'pennies were British currency first. Silvers, and coppers, etc.) Those were also the currency here in the 18th century.

@OfNullAndVoid
Never saw that one no, I was wary of certain foods because they cover it in some sort of mayonnaise sauce and I can’t stand it.

@NEStalgia Good Post. I mean I'd basically covered it with my whole 'rough with the smooth' spiel, but good post nonetheless

It's the natural laws of balance and relativity - you can't have great things without having awful things.

The United States is a joke, just look at our president and all the backwards idgets that support him.

On the other hand, there is a fierce movement for social justice in this country, everything from me too, to black lives matter, to movements for climate justice. These things are inspiring and extremely important.

And there’s no way to have a conversation like this without discussing politics. You brought up politics in your opening statement about same sex marriage in Europe. Everything is political. Nothing wrong with that.

I think discussing politics and disparaging those with a different point of view are different things, though. Just my two cents.

@JackEatsSparrows It sounds great, I love the countryside. I like big cities but I'd rather spend most of my time in the countryside to be honest.

@gcunit It seems that religions are much more important in US. They are extended and they are experienced publicly. If I was there I'd just say that I am not part of that is someone asked because I am not religious at all and it's that simple. I've never been and I don't feel any need to be. The obsession with money is not for me either. My biggest satisfaction is doing well what I like doing but not getting more money. In spite of this, there are so many American things to enjoy. I relate to you.

@NEStalgia I will never understand that, failure has always been part of success. The most brilliant people have failed many times and perfection doesn't exist. All that seems like an unreal bubble that only makes people frustrated. I would say it's capitalism but capitalism has always been in here too, only USSR and the East are/were communist.

Yeah, I think the religion thing can become a barrier to sharing ideas and viewpoints in the us. And I sort of get where it comes from, as far as insular communities and early American settlements. Plus, I tend to think we’re a more nomadic and and tribal groupthink because of the massively varied landmass. So when u get something a group can rally around and reinforce, it gains clout. But too many folks use it as a crutch to find more differences between each other than similarities.

Any folks in Scotland? I’m a fifth generation immigrant, and I know part of the fam that’s Bruce came from there to Wedt Virginia

@SuperWeird @JackEatsSparrows You both are right. I said "no politics" because at that point I was trying to keep things nice, I wanted to end the aggressiveness. This thread is interesting so if someone is disrespectful the right thing to do is to report them rather than asking for a thread to be closed on other threads (ahem). To be fair, only two people were fighting so it wasn't that bad. I have seen much worse threads.

Obviously, everyone has an opinion and politics are part of life and we can and should talk about it freely. I believe that this thread is more than politics though, we are sharing thoughts, experiences, anecdotes, points of view and even junk food stories.

For most it isn't a matter of priorities. Where I live in central Pennsylvania, you have to drive several miles to get to work and there is little to no public transportation. So a car is a necessity. Eating well is hard to do. There are only 3 places to get groceries and one of those is Walmart, so we are lacking in high end grocers.

@BlueOcean It's capitalism with it's fresh new mercantilism bent adopted by business learning from China how the exploitation of labor can lead to tremendous profits, but mixed with the cultural leanings that were set by the early Puritan/Quaker dominant thought process here of work for the sake of work is an end unto itself and a means of worship and any idleness other than work is to serve the devil, the led to a work-first mentality. Home, family, enjoyment are all second to the constant drum of work. The mercantilist capitalist modern version simply adds the priority of metrically verifiable continuous productivity into that mix, so it's not just work for the sake of work but work to be the most productive for the overseers that is the meaning of life. And yes, it is an unreal bubble that makes people frustrated, and more important, fearful. Nothing must ever go wrong. Not ever. You are always one failure away from being valueless, and you're reminded of that daily. There's an unfortunate similarity to Communism actually....which probably isn't by accident given how much money the USSR poured into invading the structures of US society, but collapsed before they could actually fully enact their intended plans. Their stated goal was to quietly convert us into them. They did a good job of setting it up but it only half came true in weird ways since the leadership structure to set the plan into gear failed before it happened, but the pieces were already in place.

@NESlover85 That sucks. No good food near home or work?

EDIT:

@NEStalgia It's as if we were slaves thinking that we are free.

There are farmers markets where you can buy fresh fruits, veg, and meat. Except they are open while I'm at work and closed by the time I get done.

@NESlover85 Farmers markets sound ideal. Hopefully you can sort it out eventually.

As for how we view Europeans, a lot of central Pennsylvania's culture is still influenced by the Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish. I think quite a few of our customs are probably similar.

As for Modern Family, I have tried watching the show several times and just can't get into it. I don't find it funny and a bit irritating actually.

I guess I never fully adresssd the main question. Here in Houston, everything is pretty much either Hispanic or German influenced because of the region’s origins tracing mainly back to those ethnic groups. The whole do the best you can or go to hell thing is certainly true, as well as having state tax, which is 8%. It’s still pretty normal here, except flood control isn’t great and the temperature has been wonky for a while, which really does affect the lifestyle. Instead of going outside and playing around under the sun, like most Texans do during a usual winter, everything is indoors since it’s too cold outside .

I think our perception of the UK and other parts of Europe really does depend on how media portrays it. Also the stereotypes, such as tea and crumpets, nude models, and the overall “Europeans are more formal and polite” assumption.