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Yanks elect police officers and judges. They also allow corporations to openly bribe politicians and call it lobbying. Somehow, those "corruption index" reports always say the US is clean.
What I've noticed is while there's absolutely corruption at high levels in America, amongst the rich, there's almost no situation where (say) you have to sneakily hand over an extra $20 at the DMV to get your driver's license. Or slip your nurse at the hospital an extra $50 to make sure she cares for you appropriately. Or get a lavish gift for teacher so you can get the grade you need to get into the right school.
I mean, here or there people can try that stuff, but it's still a legit scandal if it happens, it's not baked into society.
Whereas that sort of casual greasing-of-hands with an extra $5 here, extra $20 there $50 there at every single level even amongst not-rich folks can supposedly be common in heavily corrupted societies.
Yeah, there's corruption--but it's pretty over-our-heads for everyday stuff. It's not baked into everyday interactions we have if we go down the street to the grocery store, or want to get a Passport done.
Police officers don't get elected, but the sheriffs do. I think this is mostly a holdover from when the only real law within a hundred miles of a town was the sheriff.
I do agree that electing judges is odd. My state doesn't even allow us to vote on electing them anymore, but just on retaining them in office. I've always voted "No" just because I don't think it's appropriate.
Now if you want to get really weird, most areas also elect their coroner and there usually is no skill or education requirement to be elected.
Haha yup, the sepo take on how they do everything like that boggles my mind.
Just make corruption legal ... see? no corruption, problem solved!
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Colonizing. I mean, I kinda get that their stupid island had no good spices. But why colonize the world to get all the spices and then never cook with them? Makes no sense.
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Being forced to see a GP before a specialist even when you clearly know you have an ear problem and you'll end up being referred to the specialist anyway. money grab policies!
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Everytime US users call their country 'America' it sounds weird. America is a continent, not a country.
People from a place get to name the place. Americans named it America as a shorthand for USA.
Its no less weird than any other country name, which are similarly arbitrary.
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Drink tea with hot milk, like wtf? The milk sweetness destroy all that good light bitter flavor of tea.
Milk in tea is only universal for English/Irish breakfast tea(idk how popular they are outside wester Europe but in England/Ireland if someon says tea they mean breakfast tea and will specify otherwise)for something like chai or eal grey 1/3~(anicdotally) of people who drink it wouldn't have mik, and the milk isn't hot it's normally fridge-cold to room-temp the tea bag is steeped in just water, the point is to sweeten the rea and cool it down
If it's milk being added to tea that surprises you, it is a regular drink in south and south-east asia, not unique to the west. The latter especially has this drink called "teh tarik" that uses condensed milk and is awesome but diabetes-inducingly sweet.
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American. I normally drink my tea black, but milk is nice with earl grey on occasion.
And typically, the milk isn't hot. You pour it in already steeped tea, like you would if you drank coffee with cream.
That said, I do occasionally steep my earl grey entirely in steamed milk and add a little vanilla and it's just a nice treat. But I'm not looking for a bitter flavor at that point either.
Honestly, I thought putting milk & sugar in your tea was bonkers until I tried it from my British friends. It works with traditional English teas, but not really with American/orange pekoe teas.
There are some English teas that are so bitter that they need sugar in order to be palatable.
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I'd say at least the europeans I know more readily give away personal information, i.e. stories, anecdotes, details about themselves and their lives. In latin america you never know who's out to get you, what with many abductions being perpetrated by family, friends or other close ones. Particularly money is a no-go topic in public spaces.
Sorry i do not understand that parte about "abductions", what do you mean? And about "giving away" personal information it is the opposite, at least most americans and (north)europeans are "closed" to themselves. Europeans from southern countries are more like us latin americans, friendly and open.
Maybe abductions isn't the best word... Kidnappings? Everyone I know has emphasized on some - or several - occasions not to give away info and be trusting because of a supposed risk of being kidnapped for ransom, risk of burglary, etc. Never happened anything to me or people I know, but many people I know have had family or personal friends killed or kidnapped apparently just because, or to ask ransom, and several of my neighbours have had their homes broken into.
Abduction is a fine word, I think the Alice commenter just didn’t understand
Abduction or kidnapping i guess you are talking about some places of México or Colombia, not the whole latin america.
I’d say at least the europeans I know more readily give away personal information, i.e. stories, anecdotes, details about themselves and their lives. In latin america you never know who’s out to get you, what with many abductions being perpetrated by family, friends or other close ones. Particularly money is a no-go topic in public spaces.
this seems more like an american thing to share information?
I mean sure, mileage may vary I suppose. In my experience the difference isn't that great, but it's not like I know a lot of people in either continent either, so my perception could definitely be biased.
more safety but that comes at an cost
American Patriotism feels weird, we kind of have the reverse sentiment in Brazil (that everything here is worse).
On a side note, when I was a kid if I saw a movie character talking about how awesome America is I thought we south-americans were included on it, kind of awkward to learn it wasn't
Good old cultural cringe :\
I'll copy my comment from the other question:
I should preface my comment that community orientation, respect, and ethnicity/respect for your heritage are big parts of the area i'm from.
I’ve worked in Western Europe. I don’t know why but there seems to be a lot of taxes for everything. You have to get govt permission for everything. People seem to rely on the govt to provide things rather than have some agencies fill niches that aren’t filled by the govt (for example I saw signs like don’t help homeless people, the govt is helping them).
I’m from an Asian country, we don’t have much tax, we don’t rely on the govt for anything (we can’t), and we have many NGOs. I think it’s similar in America.
As an Asian, there are a few things I can note about Europeans.
Europeans seem to have lost their sense of traditions, to me as an Asian it doesn’t make sense since keeping our traditions and values is a huge part of our culture and society. Americans do this too but at least they seem to retain some notion of their ethnicity like they recognize their heritage is Irish or German or Chinese or Native or whatever.
Europeans also accept blame for bad things they did in the past (which is a good thing) but I think they can go overboard to compensate for that (to their detriment). I don’t think accepting blame for things in the past is a thing that’s done in Asia; we rewrite history instead. It would help if we acknowledged what we did and can have better relations with others moving forward.
Europeans identify more with nationality than ethnicity. For example, someone from Czech Republic moving to France is considered French. In North America I think they would be considered Czech-French. In Asia they would be considered to be a Czech expat living in France. Our ethnicity matters a lot.
In North America and Europe for some reason people refer to elders by their first name? We would never in 1000 years think of doing something like that, it's considered extremely rude. We either use their surname (like Mr.X) or Uncle/Auntie.
In terms of politics, both US and Europe seem quite extreme to me. Europe seems very liberal, you can do what you want, there doesn't seem to be any boundaries and people will tolerate anything. In the US people are extremely polarized with politics, both left and right. I've never heard of many other countries where there seem to be so many people per capita with conspiracy theories or violence with protests or lack of support for people (like old people or mental health issues, there's no community support, there's so much individualism). People seem to just accept things that seem unthinkable in a developed country (like texas not giving water to workers in heat).
In North America and Europe for some reason people refer to elders by their first name? We would never in 1000 years think of doing something like that, it’s considered extremely rude. We either use their surname (like Mr.X) or Uncle/Auntie.
In America at least, this is a change in the past 100 years for us, too. If you look at older American media--TV shows, books--you'll start to see depictions of children calling older people/neighbors "Mr. Lastname" or "Mrs. Lastname" and such. Like, if you watch some American black and white shows with kids in it, you'll see "appropriate child behavior" of that era modeled, and it's pretty heavily focused on kids being cute and obedient and chirping "Hello Mr. Smith!" or whatever at the mailman, and absolutely not using first names casually with adults or adults in authority. Heck, I think even older episodes of Sesame Street modeled it, and Mr. Rogers.
I realize there's no reason for non-Americans to be up to date with older American media, but there was absolutely a time within living memory when calling an older adult by their first name casually was pretty rude. I was born in the 1980s, and the shift away from being overly formal with older adults kinda happened somewhere around there because I remember both the "old" and the "new" being modeled around me.
I'm not sure all the cultural reasons behind the shift--there's probably a reason for it, I'm just not educated enough in that realm to know what it is for certain.
Or maybe I'm slightly too young. Perhaps someone from Gen X will understand what was going on there better, they would've been slightly older than me and have better memories of that period.
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I’ve worked in Western Europe. I don’t know why but there seems to be a lot of taxes for everything. You have to get govt permission for everything.
Could you expand on "get govt permission for everything"? I'm from Germany, and I honestly can't remember when I last got "government permission", if ever. Maybe my driver's license?
Could you expand on “get govt permission for everything”? I’m from Germany, and I honestly can’t remember when I last got “government permission”, if ever. Maybe my driver’s license?
in the UK it seems there's a regulation for everything and/or you need to get a license for everything, i've even seem memes like "oi bruv have you got a loicense for that"
for example, tv license, getting a dog license, not selling ibuprofen in large quantities (regulation), not selling rubbing alcohol (regulation), the restriction on kitchen knives, butter knives being considered an "offensive weapon"
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1356162-count-dankulas-hate-speech-trial
Hm, I guess I can see some of that?
tv license
That is indeed strange. Here it's not a license, just a tax that's not really a tax.
getting a dog license
Only in Northern Ireland.
not selling ibuprofen in large quantities (regulation)
That's not a government license, it's a prescription. Don't most countries have something similar, where you can't just buy any medicine you want?
not selling rubbing alcohol (regulation)
I can go on Amazon.co.uk right now and buy some. Could you link the regulation preventing sales?
the restriction on kitchen knives
You mean not being allowed to carry them around in public for no reason? Or not selling them to people under 18?
butter knives being considered an "offensive weapon"
Okay, but what does that have to do with getting government permission?
Only one of those things is kind of a "government permission". Everything else is not regulation for which you need government permission.
Think you need a dog license in Germany too iirc. To be fair, they have the best behaved dogs I’ve met while traveling as a result though.
It depends on the state. There is no general "dog license", but some states require you to take a test in order to own more dangerous breeds.
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Could you elaborate on the lost sense of traditions?
Also I don't agree with you about the 'nationality not ethnicity' thing, but that really may vary, and I don't think it would be possible to debate that, as we'd first have to define the difference between nat. and eth., they seem to be ~the same thing to me.
Ethnicity generally includes your skin colour in the description whilst nationality has none of that.
Though I don't agree that someone who just simply moves to another country changes nationality, it's a tricky definition as it can be confused with citizenship but it's more to do with long you stay there and if you embrace the culture.
Could you elaborate on the lost sense of traditions?
i mean the things that are associated with their home culture is lost, like an associated religion, wedding traditions, etc.
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we'd first have to define the difference between nat. and eth., they seem to be ~the same thing to me
Nationality is the nation you are a citizen of. Ethnicity is the ethnic group(s) you identify with.
In Europe, these are largely the same. The only multi-ethnic countries I can think of are Russia, the UK and Spain.
But in most parts of the world, one country would have multiple ethnic groups, and one ethnic group may be spread across multiple countries. For example, China has Han people, Mongols, Muslims, Tibetans and so on. Of these, the Mongols also live in Mongolia and Russia, the Tibetans also in India and Nepal, and so on.
Again, in Europe it seems to be common for people to identify primarily with their nation (except Catalans, Scots, etc.) But elsewhere, since the borders were often drawn by outsiders, people often identify more with their ethnic group. This unfortunately leads to a lot of conflict.
I don't understand the gun culture. I don't get why it's appealing, why shootings are often featured in Hollywood movies, or why shooting and collecting guns is a hobby. I've watched some informational YT videos of hobbyists talking about their rifles but it's always been so mildly amusing at most.
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Living only for/about/because money.
The titles in my feed the last few days have been hilarious.
They buy a lot of useless stuff that doesn't make any sense.
Time to roast literally everyone.
Canadians: milk in bags? Really? I'd rather drink raw maple syrup than do this.
Muricans: the imperial measurement system is just too confusing for everyone but them (and the Liberians and Burmese as well). Also, their patriotism is just plain weird.
Spaniards: fast talking. Quiero apprender Español, but it's just so difficult to practice when you're basically the conversation equivalent of Eminem. Also, they like speaking with a lisp. I don't know if I can say the same for Latin Americans, but their Spanish is even weirder.
French: the strikes. That alone makes me mad.
Dutch: they. Love. Orange. Also, if you try to speak their language, and you make one small mistake, they immediately switch to speaking English. Bro, I never asked for this. Also, the breakfast is garbage.
Italians: is speaking with your hands considered weird to you? You might as well teach everyone sign language instead of Italian. Not even the Sanmarinese do this.
Austrians: Vienna has some ridiculously different to remember coats of arms. Why do you even need this?
Germans: it's very boring in here. I apparently have no taste in you guys. And my cousin is half German as well.
Belarusians: they still can't get rid of Lukashenko.
Danes: they're speaking Swedish with an apple in their mouth. Try saying "Rødøvre".
Finns: following this year's Eurovision, I noticed that they're suddenly obsessed with neon green. I mean, their entry in the contest was really good, but it's not like it's worth idolizing.
Russians: it's their Holodets that's bad. And maybe their extreme nationalism, but I blame their government for this.
Swedes: they're responsible for Ikea, PewDiePie, Minecraft, Spotify (also known as rubbish), wacky television presenters, a flag that looks cool as hell, what more can I say? Only Spotify coming from here annoys me. Because it's terrible (if you use Spotify, I don't hate you, and you're free to keep using it, I just hate it). Also, I kinda like Loreen.
Swiss: everything is expensive here. Also, Zürich, Geneva and Luganno all speak different languages. Weird. But I guess their chocolate is good?
Belgians: they hate the French, they hate the Dutch, and they're so mixed in culture and ethnicity that they're actually my favorite country. It's just their tendency to also hate each other that I kinda hate.
Luxembourgers: the fact that they're called that. It sounds like food.
Greeks: corruption
Turks: that Erdogan guy
Hungarians: their impossible language. Also, they made a toy that I still can't solve.
Estonians: the fact that nobody can make a flag as good as theirs, I'm basically jealous. And maybe their language as well.
Ukrainians: probably nothing.
Serbs: how do you write a language with two different scripts? Isn't that confusing for you guys?
Moldovans: they're not Romanians.
Czechs: their country name.
Portuguese: they're probably too good at English. How is that even possible? Brazil speaks the same native language as Portugal, and they couldn't even do this. I'm actually jelly again.
Liechtensteiners: their country is basically a 1 million star hotel.
Lithuanians: are they all called Monika? I hope not.
Andorrans: get a proper government, mate.
Slovaks and Slovenes: I still don't know the difference between Slovenčina and Slovenščina.
Cypriots: guys, look. It's the bilingual island that relies on the UN to prevent warfare.
Maltese: they're basically the European clones of Arabs, except for the fact that they're way better.
Irish: you guys literally neglect your own national language. And the language you do speak for the most part... is spoken with an impossible to understand accent.
British: they hate each other, their food is garbage, their weather is pretty bad, they left the EU, I still can't understand you guys. The roadmen especially are just... ugh.
Romanians: they're not Moldovans.
Montenegrins: who even are those guys?
Polish: they speak gibberish.
Latvians: what are those? I only know Lettonians.
Bosniaks AND Herzegovines (idk what to call them): I can't tell the difference between the two. Also, there are Serbs that are trying to cut their country in half.
Macedonians: yes, the people from Greek Macedonia are included. What am I supposed to say about these guys?
Monegasques: no tax? I'm jealous once again.
Croats: my mom bought a tractor.
Sanmarinese: they're surprisingly able to keep their current gov for SO LONG. But their football team doesn't know what they're doing.
Icelanders: you liars, there's too little ice in here.
Georgians: gvprtskvni
Norwegians: two different writing standards? Why do you guys need two of them? Also, their language is so adaptable that you can speak your own way, and lie about being from a different part of Norway.
Armenians: their computers will most likely get viruses.
Azeris: thanks for destroying a bunch of homes back in 2012.
Vaticaners: absolutely nothing.
Australians: these guys abbreviate every single word in the English language to the point of insanity sometimes. Also, why is the word "c**t* usef so frequently here?
Albanians: they're drunk Turks. And that's in a good way.
Israelis: you guys are okay with letting your gov destroy the hell out of Palestine? I'm seriously tired of all this fighting. Just make peace with them already.
Moroccans: I'm one of them btw. I love how we pretend that we're patriotic, yet we complain about literally everything in the country. Because we are indeed really bad. You'll see this as soon as come across a Moroccan in Europe. And why are we in Eurovision? How have I never gotten any answers to this?
There. I just wasted your time by making you offended. Now go hit that downvote button. (Edit: you clearly did the exact opposite of what I said)
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this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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