What is something you wish people in the United States understood or knew more about where you are from?
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Okay, you asked for it. All my personal opinion only.
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What true freedom is (the US is NOT a free country but always pretends to be)
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That the US is not really a First World Country. The social security system is completely rudimentary. Crime is super high in many areas. Average food quality in most shops sucks.
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Geography knowledge. Like really, this is basic knowledge and most US citizen probably can’t even find Australia on the map lol
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How to not dress like an NPC. Speaking of “Joe with his 90ies oversized jeans and the oversized shirt stuck into it” or “Tom in his beige Gap shorts and outdated polo shirt”.
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That being overweight is unhealthy and unattractive and no one outside the US (or UK) supports this body positivity bullshit
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How to communicate directly and not beat around the bush in order to cater to every snowflake. And then how everyone gets instantly offended when they are told directly something they don’t like.
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That American chocolate tastes like shit and no one outside the US wants it. The same goes for most American red wine and beer. If you cannot do it properly, just keep importing from Europe and be grateful.
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That having an American passport means worldwide taxation regardless where you live = total slavery to the US tax system. This is just one more thing of why being a US citizen means to not be free in any way.
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Your military industrial complex is one of the cancers of this planet
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I can’t argue any of that although I have no idea what an NPC is
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Thank you
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I have just one thing that I wish for not only the US but entire west to understand. That almost the entire international narrative about my country India on international level is seriously biased and controlled by what the Indian left wing says. You have never heard anything about the perspective of the Indian Right in any situation, and also they are usually unnecessarily branded as many things like fascists, genocide enablers etc.
I am not painting left vs right as evil vs good here nor do I believe in such a thing, but it is the truth that the narratives never paint the complete picture in western media. Anything you see on India in international news always has a left wing bias and they never even consider getting any opinions or says of the other side of the aisle i.e Indian Right/Non-Left.
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Americans probably need to understand how cringeworthy it is to call their country “leader of the free world”.
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Sure, though I’d love to avoid political arguments.
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Where I’m from, people can be imprisoned for criticizing certain aspects of the government and other taboo subjects. So we discuss these things in private. I envy the freedom of speech that exists in other countries, like the United States.
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In addition to that, lack of freedom of religion. Where I’m from, I am legally unable to no matter how much I wish to. So it’s a privilege to be able to do so, if you can where you’re from.
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On a more positive note, our food is great. I think Americans should try more foreign food. When I came to the US, I was certainly shocked by the sugar and portion sizes there. I don’t think I’d trade our local food for American food.
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Being able to walk wherever I want to, with easy access to public transportation. Good public healthcare services that won’t bankrupt me if I get sick. Affordable public education. I think the US would benefit from this, though I won’t expand on this.
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Sharing nationalities does not mean sharing similar interests/views. What I mean by this though is that I can feel more of a connection to someone from Europe or China than to someone from my own country. When you meet someone from my country, they are so varied and different from each other that it will not fit your stereotypes (conscious or otherwise.)
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That the U.S. holds massive soft power globally. You’d be surprised to see how much the election of a president, the release of a new movie, or the new online discourse that originates from America affects other countries’ politics/culture. This is especially noticeable among the English-educated here, who are oftentimes more up-to-date on American media than they are on local news.
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The U.S. as a whole is generally perceived negatively globally, excluding Western allies of course. Due to recent events, especially negative here where I’m from.
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Where are you from brother?
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I’m not a Canadian but ouch!
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Germany is more than Oktoberfest, Lederhosen etc. Although it’s tiny compared to the USA, we have a vast cultural and traditional landscape.
Differences in language are huge. I needed two years to understand the dialect of a schoolmate living 25 kilometers from me. And I never understood my grandmother who lived 300 km from where I grew up.
We’re not a free country anymore. The owners of the big media companies like random house etc are on first name basis with Merkel and alike.
News seized to question politics and politicians. If you build an opposing party, it’s highly probable, that an ABC agency is raiding your place, disregarding constitution and lawyer client privileges.
Germany isn’t racist by nature. I don’t know anyone who is racist. But I have black, Asian, Arabic friends who experience racism regularly. Even a friend from the US was told to go home back over the pond. There seems to have been an increase since the refugee crises.
I love my homeland. Despite everything above, it’s a beautiful country. Green lush forests and meadows, old castles…
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I belive this a valuable thread and it would be a pity to close it just because one bad comment.
One thing I love about this community is getting to know other perspectives.
Thanks to invictus my perspective on Quatar changed. Thanks to Lion and (…?..) I got a whole new understanding of family life in India and neighboring countries.
The news are so biased. But in here, you get first hand information of how people experience their culture, their nation. That’s why I would ask, to keep this thread alive.
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that one was personal
Just a small note that Slovakia and Czechia are not Eastern Europe but Central.
I bet if they want they will find good quality chocolate even in the US.
I do not consider for example Milka as chocolate but more as sugar with chocolate flavor.
Make chocolate great again! 
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One more thing
Slovakia boasts the highest number of castles (180) / chateaux (425) per capita in the world.
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And yet there’s a scientific explanation. A buddy of mine, who is a chocolate scientist, explained it to me. When chocolate is produced, you put it into a conche to get rid of the tannic acid. But it also costs money of course. So some manufacturers chose to not use a conche, reduce production cost and sell it cheaper. Customers liked to pay less for a lesser quality, so most producers followed and left the conching out. Finally, when there was only bad tasting chocolate available, they increased the price back to normal level.
So now you have only shitty chocolate in the US. At least from the big producers, everywhere available.
My aunt regularly visits NY and used to bring me sweets (she doesn’t eat them). Being used only to German, Swiss and Belgian chocolate, it tasted awful. Even the more expensive off-the-shelf products.
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that’s a fascinating info
i want to find out more about this
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