The United States upholds its status as the major global power through economic strength, technological innovation, military capabilities, and diplomatic influence.
As the leader of the free world, the country remains relevant to virtually everyone abroad, too. However, people’s perception of it can vary dramatically, and due to factors such as media bias, political agenda, and historical context, misleading information can find its way into these talks as well.
So when Reddit user PW6YLenen made a post on the platform, asking others to share the lies about America that they’re sick and tired of hearing, many had things to say.
#1
A lot of people in Eastern Europe think that Americans are all rich. Meanwhile, the Americans are trying to budget for toast and trim their own toenail infection to avoid going to the hospital.
Image credits: Patterson_hill_dream
#2
How racist it is. I’m Egyptian and you can tell I’m Arab just by my appearance. There’s way more racism in my homeland AND in surrounding region than the west in general tbh.
Apart from a comment here or there, mostly from some inebriated youths, I haven’t had a racial experience. (I live in the south). All are friendly and sweet and also soooo polite. They seem to take a genuine interest in where I am from etc.
USA actually has discriminatory and anti racism laws. America is a fabulous country and I’m glad to be an American today.
Image credits: No-Bake-947
#3
There are a lot more important ones, but I constantly hear that we all wear shoes in the house. No one I know hangs around the house in shoes.
Image credits: Birdy304
#4
That it’s a meritocracy. Talent, skill, and hard work make a difference, but not as big a difference as wealth and connections especially when combined with a willingness to exploit
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#5
That we dip most things in ranch and we are all addicted to fentanyl which is a LIE. I can’t stand ranch and I dip EVERYTHING in fentanyl.
Image credits: jollysaintthick
#6
That we have no concept of the metric system.
Look, we know it exists. We learn about it in school. And it’s used exclusively in medical and scientific applications.
But it’s just not what we use in our day to day lives.
Image credits: SonuvaGunderson
#7
That we are all the screaming, loudmouth, karen tourists that visit other countries and yell “why don’t you speak english.” Believe me we hate those people too.
Image credits: Irondaddy_29
#8
This one seems silly but.. For some reason, people think we are the only country with those cheaply made public bathroom stall doors etc – the metal ones with the cracks that you can kind of see into, etc. I’ve used bathrooms that have these in three different countries just this year.
Image credits: DebrecenMolnar
#9
That we’re all intellectually disabled, morbidly obese larda**es who binge reality TV all day while munching on butter sticks and guzzling alfredo sauce.
Image credits: kiss-shot
#10
The American dream, anyone can start homeless and become a billionaire just through hard work, ingenuity, and good ol’ American bootstraps.
It’s b******t. America is something like 27th for economic mobility.
Image credits: JubalHarshawII
#11
I’m not necessarily sick of hearing it, but when I went to Europe I had TWO separate people ask me why American men like fat girls so much. I said, “What do you mean?” They said, “I see pictures of American women and they’re all fat. So, your men must like that?”
I was so caught off guard I just laughed.
Image credits: mrsmadtux
#12
I got so tired of hearing from foreign exchange students that America has no culture. Like b***h, you’ve visited one f*****g state, you can’t just decide the whole country is absent of culture.
Image credits: Mumbles_Stiltskin
#13
I do think it’s funny when these 95% white European nations that are really hard to move to and gain citizenship as opposed to the US, call us racist.
Image credits: Barner_Burner
#14
That American has no culture.
For starters, American food is so much more than hamburgers & fries. The South has particularly delicious food with jambalaya & gumbo from LA, shrimp & grits, key lime pie, & lowcountry boil from the lowcountry of GA & SC, barbecue from NC & TN, biscuits & gravy from Appalachia, & soul food from the deep south. American food is actually amazing.
The US is also home to music genres like jazz, country, & rock. We have unique dances like Appalachian flatfooting & American contra dance.
There is SO much more to the US than what the world sees in media!
Image credits: Middle-Holiday-245
#15
Something that surprises me a lot is that there are people who really believe the U.S. has absolutely no gun restrictions or regulations. We actually have a lot, but like many things, it’s a very complicated issue that there is no simple or easy solution for. No, we can’t just order a gun off the internet and have it delivered straight to our homes with no method of verification or background checks. No, we can’t buy fully automatic guns right off the shelves. No, you can’t legally purchase or own a gun if you’re a convicted felon (or convicted of misdemeanor Domestic Abuse). There’s also very little risk you’ll go anywhere that you’ll encounter gun violence of any kind.
That being said, there are things that absolutely could be done better that would help with the issues we do have. Like everything else, it’s more complicated than the stereotypical discussion. Guns in America is the equivalent of the jokes about *everything* in Australia trying to kill you.
#16
that we are all Yankees. really tired of explaining the civil war to people.
Image credits: Fluffy-Hotel-5184
#17
That it costs everyone like $50k to have a baby.
There was this woman on Instagram who broke down her costs after insurance and it was $6k from conception to discharging from the hospital. Half the comments were Europeans losing their s**t that it costed anything, and the other half were people who didn’t believe her (very real) numbers because they assumed all births cost more than that here. I get it that our healthcare system needs some work and some people have complications and / or s****y insurance, but *average* insurance will cover an *average* birth for $6k easily.
This goes for injuries too. For every “I went bankrupt over a broken foot” there are a dozen “it was a few thousand but I got a decent payment plan with the hospital” stories. You just never hear about those. And when you try to tell them everyone just flips out because they think you’re saying our system is perfect. It’s not perfect. It’s just not as s****y as Reddit would have to believe.
#18
That Americans aren’t “well traveled” for having never been out of the country.
B***h, it is 2,791 miles from NYC to LA. It is 286 miles from London to Paris. It would take less than ,10 miles to travel from Portugal to Finland than crossing the entire Continental US. You can travel so far in the US without crossing the border, entering into multiple biomes/climates.
Just bc Americans may not leave the US doesn’t mean they aren’t well traveled, and that’s excluding Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
Image credits: thatsharkchick
#19
Not from the US but have lived there. Mine would be that people are only surface nice but nothing beyond that and then become rude.
Very untrue – my family was met with a lot of genuine kindness from the beginning and a lot of people went above and beyond providing help and expected nothing in return. Just sweet, helpful and nice people in thr local community.
Image credits: anon
#20
Not so much a lie as a misconception. I’ve seen a few English bloggers remark about how hard it is to get vegetables in US grocery stores, and remarking that the only things available are pre-made salads and the like.
My guess is that they walked into a Texaco expecting it to be like Tesco, and we’re understandably disappointed. 7-11, Walgreens, and CVS aren’t grocery stores either. Look for an Aldi, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Sweetbay, or a Walmart Neighborhood Market. If you don’t care about money, you can check out Sprouts or Whole Foods.
Image credits: Kenkron
#21
Americans being ignorant about foreign languages and monolingual. It’s a true stereotype, but not about Americans. It’s true to native English speakers- as UK & Australia have similar rates of monolingualism.
There are also many states in the United States where that just simply isn’t as true as they think it is, like LA county, southern Arizona, Texas, southern Florida etc.
Image credits: Rimurooooo
#22
One of the stranger myths I see repeated about America by foreigners is about food. Usually it’s something like “American [beer/cheese/chocolate/bread/etc.] is all crappy and terrible.” No, you just picked the cheapest version from a chain grocery store and then acted like it’s the only one we have. It’s like if I went to the UK and s**ttalked British food because all I ate was sausage rolls from Greggs.
Image credits: AdmiralAkbar1
#23
That we are fat and lazy.
I’m not fat…
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#24
That we’re all dumb. I had several men in England come up to me and tell me that, and surprisingly, later expect me to go home with them.
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#25
Mistake number 1: referring to America as a monolith. Virtually all of these comments are both true and false to varying degrees depending on the part of the country you’re in. The US is a f*****g massive country, and a lot of folks, especially Europeans don’t seem to get just how truly gargantuan it is. Their countries are more comparable to individual states than the US as a whole.
#26
That it’s crazy dangerous, just like every other country don’t go to the crappy areas other than that it’s very safe.
#27
That we have bad health care. We have bad health insurance options for some people.
Image credits: ForsakenRacism
#28
The US is one of the most racially and culturally tolerant nation. Don’t get me wrong, we have plenty of issues, but we call it out, we’re trying to change it. Almost every other nation in the world is a homogenous culture/genetic group dealing with immigration as if it’s a novel concept that humans move, when humans have been moving for thousands of years. Further countries that have diverse native populations, there’s the issue of erasing those cultural differences. China had like a dozen distinctrregional cultures like a century ago, and they’re being homogenized. The US is not the only nation to genocide indigenous peoples.
#29
That we are all as divided as the media (or social media) would have us to believe. Most people are actually good people. You see the extremes online and in the news. There is an exhausted majority who isn’t filled with extremist hate.
Image credits: RedFoxWhiteFox
#30
That we don’t know geography. A British friend of mine was somehow shocked that I can name and point to every country in Europe (capital cities as well) on a map, as well as every country in Southwest Asia except Kuwait. “But you’re American.” What gave it away, the good dental hygiene?????
Image credits: mooseinnawoods
#31
Every American is brash, loud, and dumb.
I also often hear from people in second/third world countries that Americans have such a great life and should be grateful because they never experienced “True hardship”. Difference is, many of us and our ancestors fought for the “great life” that you claim we have. I’m still fighting and struggling; s**t is only getting more hard and more expensive. Sure I’m not living on less than a dollar a day, but comparing my issues to yours are not helping anyone.
#32
How terrible it is – as told by people who’ve never been there or have never been anywhere else.
#33
Americans are fat because they’re lazy and can’t control themselves. In truth, the available food is garbage. You have to go out of your way to choose health, and even the things that claim to be healthy are mostly advertising loopholes. “Low fat” means “high sugar.”
Image credits: nudist_reddit_mom
#34
Oh, the list goes on, Americans are stupid, Americans are racist, Americans don’t know anything about the world. I once had a German foreign exchange student tell me we were just a bunch of cowboys who liked to shoot things up and wallpaper our culture over whatever was left who knew nothing about the world and most of us thought Australia was the only country in Oceania. I named 10 off the top of my head and asked him to do the same for South America. Dude started with Florida
Image credits: Blissfully_Arrogant
#35
That we are any more stupid than the people of any country. Stupidity doesn’t discriminate, America just has the camera pointed at them 24/7. (Edit: I’m not trying to imply we are smart)
Image credits: qandocabca
#36
I live overseas and one of my Chinese friends always asks me about gun violence and how scary America must be.
I found out recently she’s from Xinjiang, aka the place where Uighurs are being sent to concentration camps.
#37
That we are all rich or doing good in life. This is false. A staggering amount of people live paycheck to paycheck. Most Americans can not afford a 1,000$ emergency expense and there are people in this country who starve to death or die due to lack of medical care.
#38
Rural America is not all BS, guns and racism. Mostly we’re all just getting by like everyone else, trying to be good people and want everyone to be nice.
Image credits: Meet_the_Meat
#39
“America has no history”. Blatantly untrue and offensive, to say the least.
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#40
American beer is watered down.
Addressing the alcohol content, the average American beer has roughly the same alcohol content as a European beer. This is such a ridiculous myth and takes 2 minutes of Googling to disprove.
As far as tasting watered down, WTF do they expect when Europe is getting our cheapest, most mass produced c**p? People don’t buy Miller Light because it tastes good. They buy it because it’s cheap. I’d rather just not drink beer than drink those beers.
Similarly, the best selling beer in Europe is Heineken, which tastes awful. There are a billion good breweries in the US. You can’t just judge us on the mass produced stuff that makes it overseas. Just like I know I can’t judge Europe on Heineken. One of the best beers I’ve had was a Dutch beer in Aruba.
I once asked a bartender in Dublin if anybody ever orders the Coors Light he had on tap, as I noticed all the pubs had Coors Light. He said he usually can’t keep it in stock as he pulled the handle and nothing came out.
This whole rant probably applies to food and candy, as well.