What does the USA do better than other countries?

[December Flower]

While often I might come across as quite Anti-American when it comes to your government and political structure, your education and..
I really don't want to indulge in that, and I don't want to be misconstrued as being one-sided on the argument
I want to see things that the US does better than other governments, or US Americans do better than people from other countries.

For starters I think the way the US handles marihuana way better than here in Europe.
We're tip-toeing around this issue, but can't really find a handle on it. I could still get a fine of over 3000€ for having barely enough weed for a joint,
and that after our government already stated that the legalisation-process is in motion.

Bureaucracy: I can only speak for Germany and EU-law here, but German bureaucracy is an absolute nightmare.
To take the marihuana legalisation as an example: They made the decision in November 2021:
It might not be legalised till 2024, that's the last statement we got.

American Bureaucracy is so non-existent in comparison, it's really a cakewalk.
We have regulations for fucking everything in Germany, like when it's allowed to mow the lawn or play the piano(and for how long), etc pp

What do you think the US or its citizens do better than the rest of the world?

 

[CFC]

Restaurant meal portions (very large and comfy)
Train carriage seat sizes (very large and comfy)
Car/truck sizes (very large and comfy)
House sizes (very large and comfy)(though Oz is actually slightly bigger, the US is a worthy 2nd)

 

[December Flower]

Restaurant meal portions (very large and comfy)
Train carriage seat sizes (very large and comfy)
Car/truck sizes (very large and comfy)
House sizes (very large and comfy)(though Oz is actually slightly bigger, the US is a worthy 2nd)

oh I love that you can refill your drink in the US

 

[Cream Gravy?]

We’re better at having freedom? You describe not being able to mow the lawn or play the piano at certain hours… I can do those things, really anything I want at any hour, because I don’t share walls with other people. We have land and space and that’s something that people undervalue. Having single family dwellings is a wonderful thing.

We also have the freedom to protect ourselves and our nation from violent threats. I look on in horror at England and the like with how they will literally imprison citizens for protecting themselves in violent situations. Here most states have stand your ground and castle doctrine laws that let you kill anyone who truly threatens your homestead, without legal repercussions (assuming they were indeed a violent threat to you), and that is a wonderful wonderful wonderful right to have. Wunderbar!

I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Humans are evil and violent the whole planet over. Might as well be ready and able to stop them from harming you and your family.

Also we saved y’all’s asses in WWII. I mostly jest because the US waited so long to enter the war, but imagine if the Third Reich had been permitted to run all of Europe… not a great thought eh?

 

[December Flower]

We’re better at having freedom? You describe not being able to mow the lawn or play the piano at certain hours… I can do those things, really anything I want at any hour, because I don’t share walls with other people. We have land and space and that’s something that people undervalue. Having single family dwellings is a wonderful thing.

We also have the freedom to protect ourselves and our nation from violent threats. I look on in horror at England and the like with how they will literally imprison citizens for protecting themselves in violent situations. Here most states have stand your ground and castle doctrine laws that let you kill anyone who truly threatens your homestead, without legal repercussions (assuming they were indeed a violent threat to you), and that is a wonderful wonderful wonderful right to have. Wunderbar!

I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Humans are evil and violent the whole planet over. Might as well be ready and able to stop them from harming you and your family.

Also we saved y’all’s asses in WWII. I mostly jest because the US waited so long to enter the war, but imagine if the Third Reich had been permitted to run all of Europe… not a great thought eh?

Waitwaitwait: WWII wihout America: Russia gets all of Germany and control of central Europe.
The Third Reich was already 90% beaten when the US entered the war. The big hosts were all wiped out in Russia.
Russia lost the most people, paid the biggest economic price, and they went for Hitler in Berlin, while the US went to bomb our cities for some reason.

You helped free France, and that is amazing by itself. You did not defeat The Third Reich, that is just untrue

So, you saved us from Russian control, but is American control that different?
And the US didn't do this out of goodness, it saw an opportunity to take over Europe and took it.

Well, in Europe we wouldn't agree with your ethics of freedom.
Freedom here ends where someone else's freedom begins, so laws like stand your ground especially sound absolutely cookoo to us.
Self-defense is a thing here too, and if you act in self-defense you will not be held accountable by the law.

 

[CFC]

Humans are evil and violent the whole planet over. Might as well be ready and able to stop them from harming you and your family.

I might be inclined to respond that this isn't a thought process most Western Europeans have to contend with or bother intellectualizing because we generally enjoy more peaceful societies and don't live in fear of getting shot every time we pop out to the store. I might also be inclined to respond that your freedom thus comes with certain costs that invalidate the idea that it's actually freedom. But, eh, anyway...

 

[December Flower]

I might be inclined to respond that this isn't a thought process most Western Europeans have to contend with or bother intellectualizing because we generally enjoy more peaceful societies and don't live in fear of getting shot every time we pop out to the store

Lol, we have a murder here in the Landkreis every 6 years.
And we're only 30 minutes from Munich.

This is actually one of the most negative points i see in US society,
how normal the thought of "danger" is, it's kind of unbelievable really.

Hard to put oneself into the mindset.
Only time I felt unsafe was during the terror attacks in Europe 5 years ago,
but even then we had the police guarding everything with semi-automatics

edit: To put something positive on this:
It must take a lot of psychological strength to have that constant sitting in the back of your brain.
I think in many ways Americans have a very strong resolve, and I honor that.
Even if it's sometimes quite nonsensical to a European.

 

[Cream Gravy?]

I might be inclined to respond that this isn't a thought process most Western Europeans have to contend with or bother intellectualizing because we generally enjoy more peaceful societies and don't live in fear of getting shot every time we pop out to the store. I might also be inclined to respond that your freedom thus comes with certain costs that invalidate the idea that it's actually freedom. But, eh, anyway...

It helps that y’all have more homogenized cultures. Sure there’s the Turks brought into Germany to fill the role of labor post war, but aside from them and asylum seekers in recent years, most of Germany, most of France, most of England (well maybe not England after the empire collapsed) is filled with people of the same background and culture. In the U.S. we have a melting pot, and we don’t agree on anything because our culture is a mish-mash of every culture on the planet.

So, you saved us from Russian control, but is American control that different?

That was mostly in jest, I’m well aware of how the U.S. filled that power vacuum after Japan and Germany were overthrown. America is an empire and has done its evils and is arguably the Fourth Reich. But I’ll only believe we’re the Fourth Reich the day we disarm our citizens.

Freedom here ends where someone else's freedom begins

but same here lol. Our freedom ends where someone else’s begins. But… ahh I don’t know. I feel so strongly about homesteading and firearm culture. Like people who think fetuses are humans, my mind can’t be changed. And perhaps y’all don’t have much violence yet, but give it another decade or two of this new world we’re living in, and I’m sure y’all will experience the violence we have here. Europe is the only place I feel comfortable with the idea of visiting outside the U.S. I’m scared of just going to Chicago.


I’m sure it’s lovely to live in a more homogenized society with public amenities and government support for certain things. If I was born into it I’d hold onto it tightly. But it simply isn’t possible here in the U.S.

 

[mal3volent]

So if someone breaks into your house to steal your shit or hurt you/a loved one what are you gonna do? Help them load your property into their car? Ask them to please avoid an artery when they stab you so that the ambulance will have time to get there?

Or maybe home invasions/armed robbery does't happen anywhere besides here?

 

[deficiT]

Lol, we have a murder here in the Landkreis every 6 years.
And we're only 30 minutes from Munich.

This is actually one of the most negative points i see in US society,
how normal the thought of "danger" is, it's kind of unbelievable really.

Hard to put oneself into the mindset.
Only time I felt unsafe was during the terror attacks in Europe 5 years ago,
but even then we had the police guarding everything with semi-automatics

edit: To put something positive on this:
It must take a lot of psychological strength to have that constant sitting in the back of your brain.
I think in many ways Americans have a very strong resolve, and I honor that.
Even if it's sometimes quite nonsensical to a European.

I grew up in the Washington DC suburbs during the DC sniper attacks, which were of course right after 9/11. That was especially terrifying to be right up in it. I mean, not as bad as NY I'm sure, but being so close to such a big target like the nations capital.

They were telling us to zig zag as we walked to school during the sniper attacks. The evacuation during 9/11 was truly insane. My Dad picked me and my little sister up from school and zoomed as fast as he could west over the mountain to his brother's house.

Some of that stuff has become so normalized that you almost don't think anything of it, but it is always interesting to hear other people's perspectives on how insane the violence in America appears to be.

 

[December Flower]

That was mostly in jest, I’m well aware of how the U.S. filled that power vacuum after Japan and Germany were overthrown. America is an empire and has done its evils and is arguably the Fourth Reich. But I’ll only believe we’re the Fourth Reich the day we disarm our citizens.

but same here lol. Our freedom ends where someone else’s begins. But… ahh I don’t know. I feel so strongly about homesteading and firearm culture. Like people who think fetuses are humans, my mind can’t be changed. And perhaps y’all don’t have much violence yet, but give it another decade or two of this new world we’re living in, and I’m sure y’all will experience the violence we have here. Europe is the only place I feel comfortable with the idea of visiting outside the U.S. I’m scared of just going to Chicago because their backwards laws won’t let me bring weapons, yet TSA lets you check handguns in luggage if you’re going to a *shudders as he uses the vernacular* cucked state. And yet they have some of the highest rates of organized crime issues.


I’m sure it’s lovely to live in a more homogenized society with public amenities and government support for certain things. If I was born into it I’d hold onto it tightly. But it simply isn’t possible here in the U.S.

Third Reich means it's the Third German Empire. You don't classify as a German Empire
First: Holy Roman Empire. Karl der Große
Second: Bismarck's Reich: Wilhelm I & Friedrich III, and Wilhelm II
Third: Hitler

The negative connotation with the German Empire comes solely from Hitler,
the other 2 were pretty awesome, and Bismarck held the peace in Europe for a long time
Thanks to Bismarck WWI didn't happen much sooner

OK, in Europe we wouldn't define it as "your freedom ending where someone else's begins" when you can kill someone you feel "threatened by". I've seen cases of this stand your ground law twisted in crazy dimensions. Yes, in self-defense you could certainly wound them or even kill them in Europe, but that's after already being attacked, not by "feeling threatened" or by someone entering your property

 

[December Flower]

So if someone breaks into your house to steal your shit or hurt you/a loved one what are you gonna do? Help them load your property into their car? Ask them to please avoid an artery when they stab you so that the ambulance will have time to get there?

Or maybe home invasions/armed robbery does't happen anywhere besides here?

Shoot them? Hit them in the head with a baseball bat? Do you think we don't have guns?
If someone breaks into my home they are dead.
We have high regulations on guns, but anyone with a sane mind and the determination to practice at the shooting range once a week can have a gun.

 

[Cream Gravy?]

I grew up in the Washington DC suburbs during the DC sniper attacks, which were of course right after 9/11. That was especially terrifying to be right up in it. I mean, not as bad as NY I'm sure, but being so close to such a big target like the nations capital.

They were telling us to zig zag as we walked to school during the sniper attacks. The evacuation during 9/11 was truly insane. My Dad picked me and my little sister up from school and zoomed as fast as he could west over the mountain to his brother's house.

Some of that stuff has become so normalized that you almost don't think anything of it, but it is always interesting to hear other people's perspectives on how insane the violence in America appears to be.

That’s something interesting; sure before 9/11 we had violent crime and fear. The 94 firearms ban did nothing to quell it. But after 9/11… man it all went to shit. America became even more extreme in its divisiveness.

I still recall the days when Columbine was the only recent school shooting (which happened in 99… under the most intensely anti-gun period in our history) and all the way through when I graduated college in 2015 it never crossed my mind that a person would ever shoot up a school near me. Suddenly in 2018 I was miles away from a national headline breaking shooting at a local school. Still I wasn’t worried, I worked in schools as a substitute for a while after. Only today am I actually scared to be in schools. I only started buying firearms as a response to the violent crime uptick during 2020.

So it didn’t used to be like this. And I don’t think it’s our freedom to own weaponry that is killing us. I think we’re killing our kids with bad parenting and a society that inherently hates itself and everyone else.

 

[Cream Gravy?]

You don't classify as a German Empire

I’d say we do because all our weaponry today is based off of Third Reich technology. Hell we stole all the scientists we could and gave them amnesty for their crimes. America wouldn’t be the superpower it is today without German ingenuity pumped into our military.

 

[Cream Gravy?]

Shoot them? Hit them in the head with a baseball bat? Do you think we don't have guns?
If someone breaks into my home they are dead.
We have high regulations on guns, but anyone with a sane mind and the determination to practice at the shooting range once a week can have a gun.

Interesting. Honestly I just assume most of Europe follows England in these matters and I don’t consume much French or German media, not nearly as much as I do English. So that’s a misunderstanding.

Still, can y’all own “military” style firearms? I say that in quotes because we’ve been prohibited from them since 86 but what we do still have is still leaps and bounds more advanced than what your average European can acquire legally.

 

[December Flower]

I grew up in the Washington DC suburbs during the DC sniper attacks, which were of course right after 9/11. That was especially terrifying to be right up in it. I mean, not as bad as NY I'm sure, but being so close to such a big target like the nations capital.

They were telling us to zig zag as we walked to school during the sniper attacks. The evacuation during 9/11 was truly insane. My Dad picked me and my little sister up from school and zoomed as fast as he could west over the mountain to his brother's house.

Some of that stuff has become so normalized that you almost don't think anything of it, but it is always interesting to hear other people's perspectives on how insane the violence in America appears to be.

Absolutely killing me how normal it is. The "teaching kids to run in zig zags" absolutely fucks my mind.
Imagine the pressure you're going to feel as a kid, if this is what you learn.

I didn't even know what a gun was til I was around 7 or 8 and got interested in Wild West history

I’d say we do because all our weaponry today is based off of Third Reich technology. Hell we stole all the scientists we could and have them amnesty for their crimes. America wouldn’t be the superpower it is today without German ingenuity pumped into our military.

I mean, yeah sure, Paperclip is a thing. But the scientists were mostly just scientists, not Nazis per se,
just people who didn't want to die. That was the choice: be with them or get deported or forced into labor.
You also made Viktor Schauberger disappear and then took a shit on his legacy.



But people, this is a positive thread: I love old American cars, esp from the 20s and 30s

 

[mal3volent]

Shoot them? Hit them in the head with a baseball bat? Do you think we don't have guns?
If someone breaks into my home they are dead.
We have high regulations on guns, but anyone with a sane mind and the determination to practice at the shooting range once a week can have a gun.

you just said "Yes, in self-defense you could certainly wound them or even kill them in Europe, but that's after already being attacked, not by "feeling threatened" or by someone entering your property"

 

[Cream Gravy?]

But people, this is a positive thread: I love old American cars, esp from the 20s and 30s

I think the 60s/70s was the peak of American automobiles.

But actually as an American I’ve always bought Japanese. The y make wayyy better cars then we have since the 80s.

 

[December Flower]

Interesting. Honestly I just assume most of Europe follows England in these matters and I don’t consume much French or German media, not nearly as much as I do English. So that’s a misunderstanding.

Still, can y’all own “military” style firearms? I say that in quotes because we’ve been prohibited from them since 86 but what we do still have is still leaps and bounds more advanced than what your average European can acquire legally. My grandfather had an M16 that he literally used to fend off a gang attack on his home back in the 70s. He was a high profile target so that’s not common, but it did happen. My family has a long history of actually being shot at and shooting back lol

No we could not own a semi/fully-automatic rifle.

We could own a Sniper Rifle, a double-barrel shotgun, anything really, but no semi/fully-automatics
We have gun clubs who hold massive parades, guns at funerals, etc pp
Germany, especially Bavaria is pretty pro-gun.

Rly? Switzerland gun-law is one of the most liberal in the world, pretty much anyone can have a gun there.

We just don't have gun-culture like that.

 

[Cream Gravy?]

Rly? Switzerland gun-law is one of the most liberal in the world, pretty much anyone can have a gun there.

I always forget about them, no offense to the Swiss. But again, highly homogenized culture with low violence and a highly armed populace with mandated two year military service. No wonder everyone gets along there.

I can’t overemphasize the way our melting pot helps us to learn hate.