Some gems gathered on the web...

[Starfox]

I know that it's only a minority of Americans involved but here are some examples of what can be found on the web these days, and it's not a great ad for a country. I've been blessed myself because I've mainly known intelligent, well educated Americans but the amount of stupidity and arrogance one can sometime find on twitter, Reddit and the like blows your brain off... to simplify, yellow is for Americans, green for other people (when discussion is involved).

"The French don't have a word for 'entrepeneur'"
Dude, it's literally a French word.

"Celsius is used by Communist, Fahrenheit is for Freedom"
Wow, an American admitting that the US lost the cold war. How does it feels to be surrounded by communists countries? I think that this guy found it funny to make a play on CC and FF... well... failed.

"Americans pay for the healthcare of Europe"
Try repeating that one without laughing... Each European pays for the healthcare of the country they reside in. Are you a resident of a European country? Because the only reason an American would pay for the healthcare system in Europe would be because they reside or work here, in which case they would have automatic access to free healthcare, like any European. Meaning, Americans can have free healthcare, just not in the US.

"Europoors don't even use modern technology in their home (AC and microwaves)"
Seriously I'd like to know where the term "Europoors" come from and why... Try to convince my microwave that it's not operating in France. And you'll find many A/C in the southern part of Europe but true, we don't have A/C in the Northern part because we don't need it there. It's not worth the hassle nor the electric bill to use A/C for a couple of weeks of heatwave per year.

"I'd rather receive false information and keep my conservative views than receive true information and follow a socialistic agenda."
I'm virtually speechless here. How can you respond to such a fine logic?

"Red, white and blue are America's colors only!!!"
Out of the top of my head... France, United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Czechoslovakia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Iceland, Cuba, North Korea and that's only the ones that immediately come to mind. And considering the state North Korea and Russia are in currently, I think it's safe to say that red, white and blue are not even the colors of freedom...

Sometimes I think some Americans are just trolling. One cannot be that ignorant, right?

"Non-Americans of Reddit. What is YOUR country doing to celebrate the 4th of July?"
What is the USA doing to celebrate Bastille day (known to French as the 14th of July)? I'm assuming not a lot, which is only fair because Bastille Day is NOT an American celebration! Each country in the world has its own date to celebrate which is not the 4th of July. Weird concept, right?

"The world is our playground, you just rent the space." (This was directed to all non-Americans)
This has MAGA stamped all over it. Just saying... Also, the planet is not yours nor anyone's. For 125 millions years it belonged to the dinosaurs. Guess what... except for a few descendants (like birds, chicken, lizards, crocodiles...) they have been extinct for 65 millions years. Our species have been here for what... 5 millions years at best, and in our current modern form (homo sapiens-sapiens) we've only been really active for the past 10,000. If you have to look at a species who could claim to own the place, it would be... sharks. They've been roaming the oceans of Earth for an astounding 450 millions years, more than any other vertebrate, they were there even before the dinosaurs and best of all evolution only changed them very little in all this time, like if they were created perfect for what they had to be since the very beginning.

That next one is absolutely hilarious and I included the response that was made to it (on reddit I believe). To be fair, I think the poster wanted to say "one of the oldest constitutions" and not "the oldest country". Those are two very different things as a constitution is a political act which in many cases does not reflect the time at which a nation was actually formed because a nation is a cultural thing, people coming together with shared language, culture and values. A Constitution is simply solidifying on paper what already exists. If you look only at the oldest constitution (and forgetting all the amendments written in) then yes, the US Constitution is one of the oldest.

"The USA is the oldest country in the world. Next year we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country. And there's pretty much no country on Earth that tops that."

And the hilarious answer was:

"My local pub is older than your country."


The following is an the answer of an American to what another American pointed out, being that a vial of insulin was costing only $8.87 on average around the world instead of being overpriced like in the US. And the ridiculous and insane answer was:

"Insulin is a privilege not a right. It defies the natural order of life. You need to appreciate it through the price system, otherwise you would waste it."

So first thing, insulin is naturally produced by the human body. How is that defying the "natural order of life"? Additional intake of insulin is necessary to some people to even continue to live because their body doesn't produce enough. So essentially what this guy says is that if you don't have the means to afford insulin then you just have to die.

Second thing is... how can you even waste insulin? Too little and you die. Too much and you die too. So there no way to waste it, one just take the quantity prescribed.

As for the bit about defying the laws of life (I guess, in the mind of this poster, if you have cancer then life decided you have to die) it is some of the most insane bullshit I have ever read. Only thing I hope is that if this guy has a real problem someday and needs to be rescued from death, someone will remind them of this post. "Why would we heal you? Medicine is defying the laws of life."

I don't even know how so much crap can be produced by a single brain...

"The country of Georgia? lmao you really expect us to take our information from someone who doesn't know the difference between a state and a country?"
"The country of Georgia - a country in Europe - existed before the American state of Georgia, look it up."
"Even if there is a country called Georgia, I doubt it's older than the US."
What do we learn here? Not only this person doesn't check their facts when advised to, but they double down on their ignorance with stupidity due to an insane amount of arrogance. We live in a world where the total sum of the human knowledge is available to everyone using the Internet -- one only needs to Google it or ask ChatGPT -- but no, some people will never learn because they just don't want to. For some reason they seem to prefer remaining ignorant.

To remain a bit with Georgia (the state, not the country):
"Wait, is there another city called Rome that doesn't exist in Georgia USA? I was listening to Fox News and they mentioned Rome in Italy. Is there a Rome in Italy?"
The precious moment when an American realized that a lot of city names in the US are borrowed from European city names. Rome (Italy), Paris (France), "New" York (England), "New" Orleans (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Berlin (Germany), Florence (Italy), Warsaw (Poland), Athens (Greece), Copenhagen (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), Dublin (Ireland)... and so on. That alone should be enough to counter the "oldest country in the world" argument.

To be fair though, this American seems willing to inform and educate themselves, so there's that. When you don't know, you ask. That's normal. I won't fault them for that.


That one is a doozy... Context: it was when people where reluctant to have Trump present at late Pope Francis funerals.
"The president of North America cannot be prevented from attending. This is LAW!"
This is just the first sentence and there's already an obvious problem. Since when did the USA become North America exactly? I wasn't aware that Mexico, Canada, Panama and all the others were annexed yet (even though Trump made no secret of his pretensions). BTW Saint Pierre et Miquelon is French and is also a part of North America.
"The Vatican isn't in North America."
"We have more military personnel than people that lives in the Vatican btw"
What is this fact even doing here? Does this guy plans to attack Vatican city because he doesn't get his way?
"And? US laws still don't apply to it."
"North America law is law all across the world."
Again, which ones? Mexican laws? Canadian laws? Or the US laws? Doesn't matter, none of them apply to other countries. International laws are the only ones applying everywhere and there's nothing there stating that a US president must be accepted in all events across the world.

"oh, I just found out that South Africa is a country AND is also part of Africa, which makes no sense. How can a country be part of another country? #confused"
"You and your boyfriend use condoms, right?"
"lol, ya why?"
"Thank God"
OK, that was very mean (albeit a little funny) from the person who responded but seriously, she found out that South Africa is a country (good for her) but couldn't find out at the same time that Africa is a continent?

"The BIBLE was written by the greatest American who ever lived, JESUS"
"This a joke or what?"
"It's called history sweety, look it up"
Ooh, reverse psychology! Let me stop laughing first. Seriously, yeah, look it up, Original Poster. Facts: there is no actual historical evidence that Jesus existed, only clues mostly left by roman historians and officials of the time, however most scholars today tend to agree that he was an actual person. The Bible was partly written long before and after the death of Jesus so certainly not by him (the Old Testament was written during the thousand years that preceded the birth of Jesus and the New Testament started to appear about 15 years after his death. He was Judean, Jewish and a subject of Rome (because Rome was controlling Judea at the time), not American and the US didn't exist back then. Again, look it up is a good advice that should have been applied before posting that.

"Canadians think that the titanic was a real event and not just a movie. How dumb can you be?"
Well, about as dumb as you for even saying that. The passenger liner RMS Titanic sunk on April 15, 1912. It's so good for the over 1,500 persons who lost their lives that day to know that it was just an illusion and they are just fictional people invented by Hollywood so no worries. It's also no doubt a great disappointment to Robert Ballard and Jean Louis Michel to learn that they didn't actually find the wreck of the Titanic in 1985. Maybe they're just fictional characters too.

You know, ChatGPT can be your friend. You just have to ask "Tell me about the Titanic".

"Yeah, and if Canada keeps waiting the US could pass legislation to force them to open up their border"
"We're not part of your country. Pass whatever legislation you want, if we say no, we say no. Can't override our laws with your own."
"US has jurisdiction over all of North America if it comes down to it."
Really again, what's with the confusion between the USA and North America? Country = continent now?

"Why do brits speak English, an American language instead of some European language?"
Ooh, ooh, I know the answer... let me remember... because the English language was invented in England? I know, absolutely stunning right? English are speaking English... Who knew?

___________

Final thoughts:

I could go on for hours with that kind of stuff. I mean, the web is literally littered with that, like a background noise you cannot get rid of. Now you know why other countries think that Americans are stupid, ignorant and arrogant. This is because of such guys. There are thousands like them and they are very vocal on the internet, like if stupidity and ignorance was a badge of honor to be proudly displayed.

America isn't the only country with idiots and dumb people (every country on the planet has them) but when it comes to going around the web, spreading wrong facts and idiocy, they are the Guinness World Record owners hands down.

Again I only know that most Americans are not like that because I've been mostly in relation with Americans who were by no mean dumb or idiot, but think of all those people who only know Americans via that sort of crap day in and day out.

Still, the majority of Americans are normal and well educated people, so we have to be thankful for that. I have to ask though what is going wrong with the US education system nowadays?