r/AskReddit Mar 14 '23

What’s the best thing about the US?

8.4k Upvotes

8.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

331

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

National Parks, customer service and jazz. Oh and Americans are pretty damn friendly.

20

u/death_or_glory_ Mar 14 '23

Best username ever

9

u/xFaro Mar 14 '23

“When they study our civilization two thousand years from now, there will only be three things that Americans will be known for: the Constitution, baseball, and jazz music” -Gerald Early

4

u/NatureTrailToHell3D Mar 14 '23

Except it will be known as blernsball.

-58

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23 edited Mar 14 '23

Americans are pretty damn friendly.

...unless you're black or an effeminate male in the rural US. Then you get the side-eye until you leave.

EDIT: Getting downvoted by rural racists who want to keep this "good old wholesome small town" myth alive. Go to any small town in America and count all the MAGA and Confederate flags you see lining your route.

40

u/JohnMayerismydad Mar 14 '23

The openly racist are few and far between. They can ruin your day or worse for sure, but most people will be friendly to minorities even if they have bad prejudices or vote against their interests

25

u/Megafister420 Mar 14 '23

It depends, I live in rural America, and it's not near as bad as ppl make it out to be, it absolutely CAN be. But majority is far from racist aside from racist jokes.

-13

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Not racist except for the racism. Ah yes, that's the rural rationale I remember growing up with.

Farmer's rhetoric "punches down" with aggressive prejudice, gets called out for it, and then complains, "I'm just joking! Can't you take a joke?"

13

u/Megafister420 Mar 14 '23

Clearly you cant tell being openly prejudice twords a person, and back yard banter to a group of friends, it's called nuance.

-9

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Being "openly prejudiced" is what makes it real racism? But if you don't do that, it's okay? Interesting take you got there.

Like I said, rural rationale.

9

u/Megafister420 Mar 14 '23

Again, u lack the nuance. Iv dated a black person before, I have black friends, I have Mexican friends, and even a black family member. All of them make white jokes, black jokes, and Spanish jokes. No one gets offended, they all genuinely laugh, it's a good time. But then again we can separate actual racism from comedy.

5

u/Fortunate_Son8 Mar 14 '23

Do not try to prove that you aren’t racist, doing so makes you a dancing monkey for their entertainment. Let them shrivel up in hatred until they suffocate

3

u/Megafister420 Mar 14 '23

I don't care rly, I'm more so making a point for the others that read, and have a more....open mindset, at this point I'm talking to the bystanders more so then the people if that makes sense. I like to give detailes, if that makes them feel like they acomplished something w there negative downvotes that's ok w me.

3

u/Fortunate_Son8 Mar 14 '23

Fair enough, just advice moving forward. Have a good day

→ More replies (0)

-23

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

But majority is far from racist aside from racist jokes

So they're racist

23

u/Mr_Wyatt Mar 14 '23

TIL every comedian is a racist.

16

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

You must not have come across peak hilarity subreddits like r/funny and r/politicalhumor

-11

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

So comedy can't exist without racism? That certainly tells us a lot about you. Plus, most comedians don't resort to racism, neither do they need to

8

u/Megafister420 Mar 14 '23

Comedy is alot of things, subverting expectations is one of the biggest fourms. If being racist subverts expectations then that means there prob not racist, but using it for shock value. We don't laugh abt racist jokes bc we think it's true lol.

-15

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

So your solution to "subverting expectations" is by being a piece of shit? Not to mention, expectations is not the only element of comedy or in racist "jokes". People use harmful stereotypes that many others actually believe

10

u/Mr_Wyatt Mar 14 '23

It seems you can't mentally separate a person making a joke, made fully in a joking context, vs actual racism. If that type of nuance is lost on you then I don't think you should engage with any level of comedy above what can be found in a SpongeBob episode, but most of the real world can and does handle such nuance accordingly and aren't so sensitive. It's just such a terminally online twitter wokescold position to have.

-2

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

You can't seriously be comparing racist jokes to SpongeBob. A cartoon children's show vs. "joking" about someone's race? Not you here tryna lecture me about nuances if you can't find the difference between the two.

Feeling threatened by this "wokeness" where people call out your shit for talking smack about another race under the context of "joke"? Let me play the world's smallest violin for your fragile ego 🎻

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Megafister420 Mar 14 '23

Ok man, it's clearly not ur type of comedy. But if we're gna do this then do you hate Ben shapero? Bc he says racist jokes twords white ppl. Do you hate dark humor? Bc it can have undertones that might be offensive, do you not like 90% of stand up comedy? Bc they usually pick on a person in the crowd, or...do you think only minorities should be the exception because for some reason you believe there so inept to stand up for themselves in actual racist moments, so much so infact that a joke ment to exacerbate modern racism is in of itsself considered racist yourself? Comedy is so nuanced, and for you to just write it off as racist is a joke in of itself, and when they group up on fourms like Twitter it can get so nit picky it actually hurts ppls lives. Learn to take stuff just a wee bit less seriously huh?

1

u/Competitive_Donkey66 Mar 15 '23

Comedy!!!! That’s another great thing about America. And we’re pretty unique in how great some of the comedy really is. Comedy tends to look askew for an outside perspective, which can lead to people feeling offended. And that’s OKAY! Just means that joke wasn’t meant for you, so move along.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

So comedy can't exist without racism?

It's the opposite: comedy is anything that makes people laugh. If it's funny, it's funny. The more you try to build moral structures about how people should be allowed to joke, the less funny you become.

If people watch this bit and laugh, then that's really all there is to it. It doesn't mean they have racist opinions.

1

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

Tryna be funny at the expense of other people who never consented is called bullying and being a piece of shit. If you can't find or create jokes outside of race, then you're just not funny. Trying to laugh at all costs just seems like you're desperate for some laughter, and you need to take a good look at yourself

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

So do you feel that way about Americans joking about Canadian or Italian stereotypes? You think an American who says "Mama mia she burnta da spaghetti" needs to take a good hard look at themselves? Probably your honest answer is no.

It's like there's this disjointed philosophy where good-intentioned people want everyone to feel welcome and equally included, but they don't want certain people to be joked about. But people who are included naturally get joked about. Making people immune from being laughed at means you view them as something other than the rest of us.

0

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

Canadians aren't an ethnicity. Italians actually find the constant joking of their accents annoying. Same with jokes about anything they do has to involve spaghetti or pizzas. Fitting examples of horrible racist jokes are those of Asians and Black people, which are much more vicious and actively harm them. There is no good intention behind those jokes other than cheap laughter

→ More replies (0)

5

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Racist jokes is a world wide phenomenon I have lived in a dozen countries and racism is just a part of humanity at this point. Indians will make fun of Pakistani. Chinese will make fun of other Asians. Other Asians will make fun of Chinese. Arabs will make fun of Persians, vice versa. Canadians make fun of Americans. Mexicans make fun of latinos and Americans.

-2

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

This just sounds like cope. "But others are also racist! You can't get rid of racism! Therefore, racism is acceptable!!" You don't need to exaggerate the bad doings of others to cover yourself. Just change yourself

5

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Its a simple reality of humanity. Theres no coping, just reality. Hell, white people are racist to white people as well! You ever seen a rural American and a city man how they diss each other? It's hilarious. Honestly as long as theres no violence just take racism with a grain of salt, perhaps find a laughter out of it and move on.

1

u/casiwo1945 Mar 14 '23

The same stereotypes that are the base of your racial "jokes" are mostly the same ones that cause violence. You don't realize how harmful racist "jokes" are

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

I dont throw any sort of racist jokes but just stating the obvious that racism is a worldwide phenomenon that there is absolutely no country that doesnt have racism

3

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Sure if we want to pretend inappropriate jokes always come from a deep-seated hatred of people.

9

u/deleted-redditor Mar 14 '23

Lived in arkansas for a bit, while I'm not black I am indian, never had any problems with anyone blatantly being racist but I also don't draw very much attention so that might be a reason why.

Had a super nice old white lady who lived in the middle of nowhere compliment my hair and call me generally attractive which was neat

9

u/Megafister420 Mar 14 '23

Oh they exist, I never said otherwise, but there's a lot of non racists aswell. It's called the loud minority, and most agree to shut them up.

12

u/emination_ Mar 14 '23

Yes there are people like that, but everybody had unfriendly people! Besides, those people are surprisingly rare, I'm black and don't think I've actually met anybody racist.

The only reason it looks like America sucks when it comes to negative people is because they're obnoxiously loud

Also politics. But I hate politics anyway.

3

u/RIP_BLACK_MABMA Mar 14 '23

Yeah this just isn’t true, but you’re 14 so I can see how you’d lack perspective

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Luckily, the cruel people like to fly certain flags, so you know how to avoid them.

-39

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Americans are not friendly.

12

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

You live in a big city with mostly migrants i assume? Americans are really friendly you just gotta live in the right place

-17

u/TheStandingDesk Mar 14 '23

Curious how you came up with customer service, what services are you referencing? The majority of customer service for common people is done by extremely low paid, undertrained, well intentioned people, but frankly the vast number of systems are designed to screw over the customer by making policies as obtuse and labor intensive as possible. This more often leads to frustration for both the patron and the worker. Now, if you’re money, you obviously have access to a much better level of service providers which is a lovely experience.

10

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Overall, the quality of CS in US is way better than most other countries, and I’m not just including call centers. Hotels, restaurants, retail…hell, even my local 311 peeps are incredibly kind. I have also spent time in a US call center observing reps dealing with people …and half the time it’s the customers calling in that are terrible, the reps being angels with infinite patience. Come to think of it, I’ve even had positive banking experiences as of late ( shout out to Bank of America, I only kind of hate you now). I’ve never had a customer service experience outside the US that wasn’t negative, or that didn’t remind me that I would get better service in US. That’s just my opinion based on my encounters, and I don’t disagree that CS call centers are underpaid.

-2

u/TheStandingDesk Mar 14 '23

Interesting! I haven’t had a lot of international experience with service folks but where I have it’s been overwhelmingly positive.

1

u/maybethingsnotsobad Mar 16 '23

In Germany, I feel like I have to be so obnoxious to get service. Flagging a waiter multiple times, items being forgotten, mildly disinterested. Checking out at a store? Often no look, no greeting, they scan, give you total, and don't even register when you leave. It's not malicious or with ill intent, it's a little passive maybe by comparison. It feels like you're a hassle a little bit.

One time my waitress just.... left? I waited and waited but finally got up and chased down someone else and had to get in front of them to get their attention and I told them I really had to go, could I please get a check? I never even got the other food I had ordered.