Why Do Europeans Dislike Americans So Much?

I'm asking questions about how Europeans see Americans I think it's [Music] stupid American tick tockers they earn too much money with what they do like in Belgium we have to work for money and they just make videos and that's it you know I might be completely wrong about this but I think it was a little bit cooler to be American when I was a kid [Music] I've lived in Europe for several years now and look I've romanticized this continent quite a bit I really like living here but there's a funny feeling that I cannot shake and I think it has to do with how Europeans view Americans or how Europeans view me when they discover that I'm American and it's not entirely positive this feeling has not gone away even though I've been here for a few years now and it's not hatred it's more like negative undertones offhand comments or jokes that are made and it makes me feel not very cool and by the way I recognize not all Europeans dislike Americans that is a massive generalization but I'm bringing this up because it's been enough of a trend for me to confidently talk about this as something that's really happening in the world I don't think it's just in my head it just seems like when it comes to European's view of Americans there's a lot to dislike I don't necessarily entirely disagree I have plenty of my own criticisms about the United States and the way of life over there and I think that all places all societies Merit criticism that's how we get better so this applies to everyone but there's something deeper going on here that I want to explore on a personal level my own identity as an American but also the identity of Americans on the global stage we don't live in a bubble and it turns out the whole world has opinions about us now I have my own theories about what's going on here but I thought I'd get to the root of the matter and ask Europeans themselves it makes me a little bit nervous talking to strangers but I'm just gonna go for it what are the stereotypes um that's a good question donkey sauce the fast food okay we said image actually I like Americans because they are like very chilled America is like so expensive for good food like yeah for like fruits and all this fresh stuff it's like so expensive okay do you think the stereotypes about Americans are true kind of I have a classmate that is American and we are talking like about our our traditional foods and the American was like my typical food is hamburger ice cream like the McDonald one and we are like oh so McDonald's use your typical food she was like yeah kind of can I just take a couple minutes ask a couple questions it's okay if you don't have time okay all good have a nice day the Americans don't have time for me that's that's kind of funny would you mind if I asked you a couple questions yeah more than the Netherlands much more do younger people feel the same way or differently about American I think even stronger even stronger I think okay yeah the the older people I feel maybe thinking of the World War II and World War One in which the Americans did a very good job Yeah by helping because Europe was not doing very well yeah they know about their own country but not about like other stuff in the world they're overrated they're overrated how like they received too much attention too much hype too much internet are you also german yes I am and in Germany you feel like German people have a positive view of Americans or not really no okay so more negative yeah I think so do you feel that there's been a change at all in terms of how Americans are viewed like in the last 10 15 years I think so yes especially due to the Trump and the Tea Party things happening it got more polarized and that made it more negative in my view there's more that I'd like to say about why I believe this Dynamic is happening why Europeans see Americans in this way but before I do I want to thank the sponsor of this video which is betterhelp and look therapy is a really powerful tool when it comes to anything and everything identity related I absolutely love living abroad I wouldn't exchange it for the world but it has come with its own emotionally challenging situations and it's been helpful to work with a therapist over the years loneliness my own self-image my self-worth those are the kinds of things that I've been working at developing a deeper understanding of over the years thanks to therapy betterhelp is a hundred percent online and designed to be convenient and flexible to adapt to your schedule and what works for you you can message your therapist at any time and schedule live sessions when it works for you they give you access to a very large network of licensed therapists and so if the therapist that you're working with doesn't work out it isn't a good fit you can switch to a new one at no additional charge so if you're interested in checking it out you can get 10 off your first month if you sign up at betterhelp.com Nathaniel Drew and I'll leave that link in the description as well it's one of the best ways to support my work thank you better help for sponsoring this video all right time for me to share some of my own personal theories here here's why I think it was maybe a little bit cooler to be American in the past I was born in the 90s maybe like some of you and back in the 90s it's not like the United States or the world for that matter didn't have its problems it definitely did you're not gonna get any of that classic nostalgic those were the days kind of thing for me but one thing I think we can all agree on is that back in the 90s the internet had not yet completely taken over our lives like it has now and in my view the internet feels like it's taken whatever problems already existed and made them bigger and louder that might actually be what the internet is best at the fast transmission of ideas and information which in turn amplifies them and there's another thing that the internet is really good at which is that it is a canvas or less curated or filtered versions of that information or ideas there are less Gatekeepers so anyone can say anything my theory is that as time has gone on and as the internet has played a bigger and bigger a role in our lives the world has been exposed to a less curated version of the United States you know you had movies and TV and pop music reaching the entire world but it wasn't like it is today with social media and even the news reaching so many more people nowadays it feels like you cannot escape the news about the mass shootings that are constantly happening in the U.S or the insane election Cycles I think in some ways the internet might have taken away some of our innocence right some of our naivete as a result even more curated versions of culture like the highly produced TV shows and movies are reflecting the things that we're seeing the unintelligent or simple American is a very believable archetype and not a new one you've got at least one and often more than one character that perfectly fits that archetype in pretty much all American sitcoms from friends to How I Met Your Mother and there are plenty of shows that play off of this very intentionally I think of South Park and Family Guy in The Simpsons and internet nationally the contrast is even more Stark and it might just be me but it does feel like the perception of Americans is deteriorating I mean I'm thinking about shows like Emily in Paris or the White Lotus the White Lotus in particular blew me away because it felt so believable and oftentimes in a very depressing way clearly Americans are not known for being refined or in touch with reality this is particularly true of wealthy Americans and why wouldn't Europeans feel this way we are famously terrible at learning foreign languages too many were seen as living in our own giant bubbles a lot of people beforehand used to think like the US was like very cool and this really lovely place to go to but I feel like everyone just thinks it's dangerous and that they don't care about their citizen there's all these shootings going on like their health care is horrible their schools school is horrible so there's been a change I think it's always been like that I think there's a change now because like so like social media is like is bringing making it more apparent America used to be you know the American [Music] are our big and fat but I love America with their friends the Siri friends don't care yeah they could take positivity they could be negative right okay okay yeah okay so once you clarify you're a Canadian [Music] for me it's like a lot about the money like the times I went to New York and and it's like you know winners and losers and you know you gotta make it and you gotta made loads of money and and then like if you don't have money you're like basically I would say extremes extreme it's like an extreme you know country like very very rich very very poor eat very much eat very very very healthy like extreme healthy extreme like xxxl McDonald's or whatever where are you from England perfect so I'm doing a video on European's view of Americans okay I don't know if you have any opinions do you feel like it's a more positive or A negative view of Americans I'd say negative I feel like there's a there's a lot going on now that's just a bit backwards yeah like I feel like we need to move along yeah they're like you know the all the abortion was coming in yeah like all the gun crimes things like that like I imagine like the most of the country is absolutely lovely but there's some of the morals that are just a little bit off for me so I struggle with that I agree but I do think you all like proper chatty and that and you really energetic yes that's a positive thing yeah it out as well it's lovely to meet Americans yeah I love meeting America okay so why am I so interested in this topic well over the last few years I have shared my journey moving abroad and looking for a home because that home is not the United States I just don't feel connected to that country not as a home even though I'm coming to realize that it did shape me in many ways I'm just trying to find my place but as I've said before different people will treat you in different ways based off of how they perceive you the first time I experienced this was during my high school Exchange in France when I was 16 years old Obama was President and regardless of your personal political opinions or feelings he was seen in generally positive light abroad so in a weird way even though I was not responsible for electing him I wasn't even of age to vote that scored me some cool points and then on top of it 16 year old French kids living in a small town in the west of France thought it was cool that I rode a yellow bus to school and that I had my own personal Locker in the United States so I was benefiting from all these things that I didn't really control at all then I get to Argentina a few years later and I see what it's like to be on the flip side where the general sentiment was more negative I'm generalizing here but there's a bit of an anti-American streak in Argentina I think this comes down to the image that the United States has of being a bit of a bully I mean Che Guevara is a bit of an anti-American anti-capitalist symbol right so that was a very different experience and now I'm back in Europe and I've been here for a while and the perception has changed yet again 90 percent of the Dutchman think Trump is quite strange yeah they think Republicans are also quite strange the Americans are very Puritan this might just be me but I do feel like the image of Americans has deteriorated a little bit over the last 10 years that might come down to the government that's currently in power it might come down to social media this is a very complex thing so I can't point to a single reason but it's definitely a feeling that's there now on a personal level before I realized that this was going on I was kind of unintentionally overcompensating I felt like I needed to show that I wasn't the out of touch American in Europe and the same thing happened to me in Argentina where I was speaking with as much slang as I possibly could that I picked up over there even when it was just way too much when it was inappropriate why was I acting like that was there a deeper need within me to be accepted by the people that I am surrounded by to me it's a little bit cringy to behave that way because it's overcompensating for something which in this case was the identity that people were associating with me whatever it was the out of touch stupid American whatever it might be but that's actually a me problem not a problem with the world I've come to realize that people can think whatever they want about you it doesn't change who you are if people see me as yet another dumb American it doesn't mean that's true and also it doesn't mean all Americans are that way I think we all know this we all know that individuals don't necessarily follow the stereotypes but it's also how people operate in a world of eight billion people I can't blame people for having formulated an idea about the place that I'm from considering how much culture is exported from that place a part of me used to try to distance myself as much as possible from anything and everything American but the truth is that at least some part of me some piece of me has been influenced by my upbringing there there are a lot of things I don't like but there are some things that I do it's genuinely being very enthusiastically excited about simple things is the dumb American thing to do then fine maybe I'm a dumb American sometimes because that is something that comes naturally to me I would rather be myself and accept the consequences than try to be someone that I'm not and you know what everyone wants to feel welcome wherever they are and especially in their home but the reality is that that's actually a luxury not a given so many immigrants in the United States were never made to feel that way despite the fact that the country benefited tremendously from all the immigration all the people that risked their lives to go build something over there honestly I don't have it that bad who am I kidding I don't have it bad at all it could be so much worse and oftentimes it is exploring this topic has really given me quite a bit of empathy for the immigrants that are very poorly received all around the world so what do you think about everything I just share charge here what is your perception of Americans or of Europeans towards Americans I would be curious to hear because this is a giant open-ended topic and I invite all different opinions and perspectives on this it's just something I love to explore also apologies to all Latin Americans and Canadians who are Americans in their own right I have decided to use that word in this video because there isn't really another word that has been widely adopted to still speak of the people of the United States so I just used it for Simplicity and I hope that you can forgive me thank you so much for watching and I'll see all of you very soon bye

Channel: Nathaniel Drew

Views: 2,717,503

Keywords: nathnaiel drew, nathaniel derw, europe vs usa, interviews, strangers, europeans dislike, dislike, what do people think of americans, what do europeans think of americans, america's image, life in the us, what is life like in the us, living in europe as an american, living abroad, culture shock, life abroad

Id: ouWenUaQL6A

Length: 16min 30sec (990 seconds)

Published: Wed May 31 2023