Someone Asked What America Does Better Than Other Countries, And 40 People Answered
InterviewEvery country has something they’re best at. For the French, some say, it’s the wines. Japan, according to some, produces the best cars. When it comes to the U.S., people abroad are most impressed by its technological achievements and entertainment. At least, that’s what official research claims.
But what about the people on the Internet? What do they think about The United States of America? Recently, one person asked other netizens: “What is something The United States of America does better than any other country?“, and nationals, expats, and guests didn’t hesitate to share their takes. “I live in America, say it loud, it’ll make you proud,” James Brown sang. And these people, it seems, really took that to heart.
Bored Panda reached out to the Redditor who asked others what makes America so great, and they kindly agreed to have a short chat with us. Read our conversation with u/RedskinPotatoes26 below!
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I was born in Europe and moved to the USA as a young teen. The U.S. gets assimilation really well. Like- you become part of some group fairly quickly and there are many to pick from. In Europe we had two boys in school, one from the US and one from India. Those kids got picked on for years and years. They never ever were going to be considered to be one of us. And never will.
The U.S. has this thing where if you play a sport and win as a team, or get through something difficult together like a math competition or a science lab, or play in a band that sounded good- suddenly you are one of everyone else. I had never experienced that before. It felt… good.
We have those things in Europe as well. Europe is not just one country.
The person was posting on their own experiences being born and living there until their young teens. You don't have to agree with it, but it was their own experience, so for them, it is true.
Load More Replies...I have doubts that this was actually written by someone from Europe. He talks about Europe as if it were a single country. Even if he didn't want to reveal which country he was from, he would have written "In my country we had two boys in school...". "In Europe we had two boys in school..." is nonsense.
In Germany it is like the Borg from Star Trek. If you do not completely assimilate (we call it integrating) you will never belong. Even if you are or become a Christian and completely deny your religion and culture, speak a dialect, do not know your parents' native language and were born here in the third generation with a German passport: If your grandparents come from Turkey, you will forever be the "Kümmeltürke" in Germany.
I think many people will never understand the impact of folks like Jackie Robinson or Jesse Owens or Bill Russell in helping "them" become "us." That was before my day; in my time, there was no "them." Rickey Henderson wasn't something other because he was black; he was simply the most entertaining baseball player that ever lived. (And yes, I'll die on that hill! Not saying the greatest, just the most entertaining.) And when Michael Jackson teamed up with Eddie Van Halen was when the 1980s were born.
So what OP is saying is there is no bullying in American schools only in European schools?
No I think what they are saying is because the US is a giant melting-pot, it's so much easier to fit into the culture because it is so diverse.
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Cultural assimilation.
Pretty much any thing you can think of from anywhere in the world, we've got it here, somewhere.
Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Nigerian, Korean, French, etc.
If you like the food, music, literature, religion, whatever ... you can find it here.
And this is a good thing, do not start calling it appropriation. It is appreciating another culture to let it influence your own.
Not sure why you're getting down voted - are people not familiar with Project 2025 over there?
Load More Replies...Technically almost every country we have now has imported culture. The US is a young country...so we still remember the wrongs that happened here. We have lost much culture all over the world through conquering natives.
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Space exploration. Voyager is the first interstellar space probe in history, launched 47 years ago and still sending back data. Nobody builds em like NASA.
We did the first rendezvous in orbit, the first human missions to the moon, the first reusable space shuttle, the only planets in this solar system we weren't the first to visit are Earth and Venus, we currently have a helicopter and two nuclear powered rovers on Mars, and as we speak we're building the core segments to the first lunar orbiting space station and a nuclear powered helicopter thats going to Titan.
There are two agencies in America who's reputation around the world is unimpeachable: the National Parks Service, and NASA.
And I think many of the scienstist and engineers there are from all over the world.
Load More Replies...To be fair though, the beginning was based on german rocket science and engineering and the Artemis moon mission is a joint venture between NASA and the ESA (The service modules for the crew pods are build in Bremen).
First satelite, first man in space, first vehicle on moon, first EV activity in space, first woman in space ? - so what🤷♂️ Russians were good too
You do that know NASA collaborated with (and continues to work with) agencies all over the world to achieve everything stated here? The National Parks are pretty sweet though.
The Redditor u/RedskinPotatoes26 is an American and a proud one, at that! "For as long as I have been alive, America has been on this pedestal as one of the greatest countries in the world, [and] I wanted to explore that theory," they told us in a message.
When asked what they think are the areas the U.S. excels at, they claim it's technology. "I believe America is the most innovative country in the world. Almost everything you use today was invented in America. The automobile, planes, [the] cell phone, Amazon, Netflix, and Twitter were all invented here in America," the Redditor says.
The US is unmatched by anyone in the world in two things:
1 - Landing people on the moon and returning them safely to the Earth.
2 - Putting cheese like products in spray cans.
Well, you better get a wiggle on, because China is breathing down your necks.
Don't worry, the Chinese really don't do cheese very well.
Load More Replies...I think the US is also the one with the most deaths regarding spacecraft. Not hard if you are nearly the only one who even does spacecraft
As a European, my answer to this is stand up comedy, Male, Female, White ,Black, whatever you mention America has just the most incredible people in the world of standup.
I feel it genuinely is America's true art form, its the best part of U.s culture for me.
I think one of the greatest things about our comedy is how diverse we are. We can mock everyone because we are a great melting-pot of everyone.
eh, I find British stand up far superior... heck, for the most part British comedy in general is better. But then, I'm basing this on shows like "friends" or "breaking bad" which was just painfully unfunny, when the UK has classics like Father Ted, Fawlty Towers, etc. Plus it depends on your sense of humor, too.
Comedy shows, aka sitcoms and stand up comedians are two entirely different things. The OP is referring to stand up comedy. Not television shows.
Load More Replies...God no! A friend and I doing the Edinburgh Fringe one year eventually came to the conclusion that American comedy: lame. Australian comedy: funny.
That's right ... some of the best comedians in the U.S. come from Canada
I find Josh Johnson a very smart and funny comedian. Not a fan of the loud-offensive(on purpose) comedians, but those are the ones who get most talked about so I hear about them most. Eh. Not my type of humor. (and that goes for every country and every language.
No, Lack of sarcasm and subtlety defines US comedy. Guess you need to really speak English to get UK comedy. Oh and Irony... You guys in the US have no idea how to use English properly.
That's not the boast you Brits seem to think it is. People with the freedom and desire to speak openly don't develop a sense of irony.
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I'm an American living in Canada.
I can tell you with no uncertainty that Americans are just better at hamburgers.
I hate the stereotype, but it's true. Even the places here that are allowed to cook their meat to temperature (Canada has strict rules about meat handling, so most places just cook them all 'well done') don't really understand all of the other stuff that's supposed to go on a good burger. Whole wheat bun with kale is just f*****g gross and I've seen it more than a few times. America just has the right mixture of ignorance of consequences, indulgence, culture, and availability of ingredients that hamburgers are just... better.
In North Korea, the population is made to believe that Kim Jong-il invented the hamburger...
He was inspired to make it after flattening four U.S. divisions single handedly in his tank during the Korean War.
Load More Replies...nope. I finished reading what you said here "Americans are just better at hamburgers." American beef is low quality, and in some cases ungraded beef. you clearly have not explored Canada enough to make this type of assumption.
I have worked and eaten burger in the USA many many many times. Currently the best burger I have eaten is in a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere Spain... Just the best burger ever.
Best burger I ever had was in southern Chile! (yes, I am American as well)
Load More Replies...Unless you're grinding your own meat, and lets be honest most people aren't, the safe temp for a burger is 160F/71c. A package of ground beef can come from 100 different animals originating from different locations making it impossible to track origin points for disease and issue recalls. Grinding your own, using meat from trustworthy producers removes those risk factors, and safety guidelines are different in those instances.
It's not that simple. Cooking a burger to that temperature will indeed kill pathogens instantly, but you can hold it at a lower temperature for a longer time and still kill pathogens, just not instantly. And you get the added benefit of a burger that is less dried-out and flavorless. On a tangentially-related note, see https://www.seriouseats.com/case-for-raw-rare-pink-pork-food-safety (Kenji knows his stuff) Three is more at cooksillustrated.com, but paywall.
Load More Replies...It is my duty as an Australian to point out that the best burgers include sliced beetroot. And (speaking for myself now), I also prefer to add a slice of pineapple, a fried egg, pickles and caramelised onion...🤤🤤🤤
I haven't done it yet, but I need to try a hamburger in Hamburg someday. (ofc, the inventor of the hamburger patty, but it's the americans that made the burger what it is today, but I see pictures of "american burgers" with oozing bright yellow cheese sometimes and it makes me nauseous.. i prefer a thin patty with just a small amount of cheese, if any at all.)
And the Redditor isn't far off. The United States was actually one of the five most innovative global economies in 2023. In fact, America was just behind Switzerland and Sweden, according to the WIPO's Global Innovation Index.
Many Americans also think that the U.S. is one of the greatest countries in the world. People from other nations hold the U.S. in high regard in several different fields.
A Pew survey found that 75% of people from 23 other countries think the USA has the best military. They also rated American entertainment, technological achievements, and universities the highest.
Hollywood movies. American blockbuster movies are popular all around the world. No other countries produces movies of the same degree of spectacle and quality.
That used to be true, but american movies suck more often than not now, Remakes, reboots or sequels that absolutely do not need to happen are being churned out with increased frequency, and everything else is either spectacle over characters and story, or some preachy, heavy handed woke nonsense that's main concern is checking boxes and pandering to a certain demographic over everything else. British films and series tend to be much better
Don't forget the Canadian series! Currently on a tour of the Canadian series I have not seen. Very good (in addition to the British series).
Load More Replies...British drama films are better. Better acting. Better plots and dialogue. American films are mostly over the top CGI boring and endless action junk.
I wouldn't say this is totally true anymore, but I would love to bring it back!
I don't think anyone else *can* make "Hollywood" movies, since it's in California.
Most "Hollywood" movies are actually shot in Toronto now anyway.
Load More Replies...Yeah, once I discovered world movies as a kid on Austar (cable tv in Australia in 90s) Hollywood was dead to me mostly 😂 the way other countries do plots and storyline’s are amazing compared to generic Hollywood
What about Aussie movies? Have you seen Bad Eggs? Or Crackerjack?
Load More Replies...I have to disagree. You make some good movies but mostly it's just all the same with new and more expensive special effects. I prefer good stories and good acting.
That's Nollywood and their production values are laughably bad. Very much for locals only, again.
Load More Replies...Briskets...America does briskets better then anyone.
Many countries do brisket. But how many make a tasty Pastrami? (I have had Armenian basturma, not quite as good)
This isn't about what american can cook better. Burgers smothered in fat, meat that is smoked and burnt... like as if america invented any of these things. and to think you make it better than anyone displays your ignorance, and shows you haven't spent anytime outside of your home town.
Brisket is made worldwide, with it being particularly popular in Pakistan, South Korea, Italy, the UK, hell it's even a thing here in Romania....but it's popularity rose among the Ashkenazi Jews in the early 1700s. Different countries call it different things, and everyone makes it differently, but the U.S, and specifically Texas makes it best. That you don't know, or care doesn't mean everyone else feels the same.
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Disability protections and accommodations. The ADA is the worlds golden standard and it's not even remotely close.
There are a LOT of websites that rate disability protections & accommodations by Country. I looked at 10 of them & none rated the US at #1. Some supporting documentation is needed for more than one post in this article
Yes, but that means absolutely nothing. The first one I checked out rated them based on "Constitutional" protections. The U.S. protections are statutory, so for that one reason alone, it rated like a 3rd-world country. Europe is full of completely non-accessible places that would be illegal in the U.S.
Load More Replies...This one is a complete lie. U.S. healthcare doesn't give a s**t about you
REALLY? even americans know this is b******t. just look at your veterans. this whole thread seems more like "delusions of americans"
That is so untrue. EVERY bus has a lift for wheel chairs. Even in my small, podunk city.
Load More Replies...Tourists love America, too. The World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) ranked America the #1 destination in 2024. Tim Leffel, author of the book and online resource The World's Cheapest Destinations, explained to the BBC that it's probably about how many different things the U.S. can offer.
"The USA is blessed with more variety of landscapes and interesting cities than any country on the planet, from mountains, desert, tropics, swamp. New Orleans, New York City, Santa Fe, Alaska, and Florida are more different than most countries are," he claimed.
Junk food. Endless varieties of potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, corn chips, highly manufactured near-food things like like Pringles, Cheetos, Funions, and Bugles, everything dusted with a flavor-mimicking complex mix of synthetic flavor and color powders.
All this obtained with additives that are banned in Europe for health reasons.
Precisely zero of the ingredients in Pringles, Funions, Bugles, etc., are banned in Europe. Cheetos are a whole other matter. The big difference in food regulation is mostly in colors, where in Europe even when a food dye is legal, it may be shunned. This is no small deal, but it largely doesn't apply to the OP's list.
Load More Replies...Related to another thing the USA does best: obesity levels. Although some countries in Europe are catching up fast, unfortunately.
Obesity in the US is another product of big-government idiots. The government launched a huge campaign demonizing fats and salt, so everyone switched to sugar for flavor. Sugar is what causes the obesity.
Load More Replies...Food manufacturers have scientific experts who create food for it addictive qualities specifically to promote sales and profits. Their food has nothing to do with nutrition and supporting health.
Which is why 75% of the country is overweight, 44% are obese and 21% are morbidly so with half the country either having already given themselves type 2 diabetes, or are working towards it. To say nothing of all the ingredients banned for causing cancer or other diseases. There's not really a shortage of junk food in the EU, it's just more expensive, with better ingredients and in many cases, a wider variety of flavors.
I suggest you go and look at the crisps&snacks aisle in a UK supermarket...
OMG!!!! British snacks are utterly terrible! Every ... last ... damned ... UK ... snack tastes like c**p!
Load More Replies...there's a reason for this - a lot of the ingredients are quite literally banned in the rest of the world. :I
Advertising. No... I hate this, but seriously. We advertise like no where else. And the level of detail because of lax consumer protection laws is insane.
China's probably giving you some stiff competition, there. In Guangzhou, there are literally ads everywhere you look. Animations appear on buildings at night and I recently went into an elevator where the doors closed and activated a tv screen that played ads. I wonder if you have that in the US?
A commercial about erectile dysfunction medication, during dinnertime, is no laughing matter.
Ah, yes, times square (which isn't even square) a place where you go to see advertising.
Can't believe no one has said CONSUMING. Food art clothes cars jewelry. We live in extreme excess. Buy it. Don't like it? Throw it out. Buy something else. We waste food, gas, energy, medical services, water to the extreme.
No, but we still do it better than anyone else. 😐
Load More Replies...This is supposed to be "What America Does Better" Your answer is just being a jerk.
Second chances. A lot of our most successful people bounced back from failure. In east Asia, business failures typically don't get second chances, so you can't really learn from failure. You either have to start off with all the wisdom that others learn from having tried and failed, or you have to be really lucky.
This sort of culture around business makes entrepreneurs risk averse compared to the US, so the US is also better for risk taking in new business concepts and models in a way that many other cultures are not.
I would agree with this one. We love people who dream big, even if they failed already.
so in other words their stupid. give a lot of money 1 time, failed. give a lot of money the 2nd time... failed again. so lets give even more the 3rd time, this has to be it...
The United States takes in the most immigrants from foreign countries.
The US is also the most generous country in the world and donates the most money to various medical and nonprofit organizations compared to anywhere else globally.
Why is this downvoted? Yes, we have a lot of people who don't like immigration...but the majority of us love our immigrants. The whitest white Americans we have are usually not more than 4th or 5th generation since immigration. The haters do not represent all of us...they are just hateful.
If we are not the most generous nation when it comes to immigrants, then we need to become so. We can absolutely do this and it will be to our benefit.
Load More Replies...Donating money to get rid of excessive dollars in order to avoid hyperinflation... Only if all requirements are met...And waiting patiently for valuably retribution... Yeah, how generous
Why? You can't just acknowledge the the US is a massively generous country? You're so insecure that you have to find a flaw somewhere? And hell, nothing the the US is rich doesn't make the generosity bad, in any case.
Load More Replies...As far as I know, the U.S. was ranked #1 in oil production.
Yes, by squeezing the soil like an old sponge and causing major damage to the environment above and below the surface. I worked with drill rigs, nobody can guarantee where the drilling fluid will end up, despite thorough research. Poisoning drinking water supplies to gain oil is notca good idea.
Startups. It is so difficult to build a startup style company is many other countries. In the US it is surprisingly easy to start a company. First off the way the US government supports startups is so much better than other countries. There are various federal and state programs offering grants, loans, and tax incentives specifically designed for small businesses and startups. But really it is that the regulatory environment is so much more flexible and less bureaucratic, which makes it easier to start and scale a business.
Due to our culture and government we also have a ton of venture capital, with places like Silicon Valley being major hubs for investors looking to fund new ideas. There's also a huge pool of skilled workers, especially in tech and business, thanks to top universities and research institutions.
Something else that is undervalued is the culture here strongly emphasizes entrepreneurship and innovation. Taking risks is encouraged, and failure is often seen as just a step on the way to success. That is not something you’ll see in most other countries.
On top of all this, the US is a massive and wealthy market, giving startups a big customer base right from the start. There are also tons of accelerators, incubators, and mentorship programs available to help startups grow. Advanced tech and physical infrastructure make it easier for startups to operate and scale quickly.
The US just f***s when it comes to startups.
This is mostly true. On the other hand, don't forget that the regulations in Europe exist in order to protect consumers and the workforce from the kind of excesses that exist in the USA.
And in Europe they do want to the environment to be healthy much longer than in America. American businesses do not think past the quarter profits.
Load More Replies...But Israel has more startups per person than anywhere else in the world.
So true. As a UK many startup entrepreneur I tell you now the UK and Europe are a******s when it comes to innovation and technology. Utter all about me it's my money twats.
Help me out here. I assume the censored word in the last sentence is f***s. I've never heard anyone say "____ just f***s when it comes to _____". It's that a phrase? And it means "really good at" the thing? (Keeping in context with the rest of OP's post) Because if I heard it, I'd assume the opposite. Probably akin to "sux". Or like "You f****d that up", "it's so f****d", or simply "Fuuuuuck!!" (= s**t is bad!) What am I missing here?
It should be "the s**t" which is Aussie slang meaning really good.
Load More Replies...He never did a start up. He used Daddy's money. And he bankrupted himself at least twice. He's no better at business than at...well, anything apart from being a massive arsetear.
Load More Replies...Lawyer advertising for every problem imaginable. When can I sue lawyers because I wasn‘t entitled to compensation?
This just seems desperate (for the lawyers) and petty (for the clients)
Cybersecurity. I just recently learned that the United States of America is the top gold standard in all things cybersecurity. I was actually a little surprised.
Entertainment.
Americans love to be entertained. We spend more money on entertainment than anybody anywhere. That's all kinds of entertainment from movies, music concerts, amusement parks and even smaller forms of entertainment like movie theaters, bars and night clubs, bowling alleys, laser tag, and even food videos.
Really? Is america the *only* country in the world with "movies, music concerts, amusement parks... movie theaters, bars and night clubs, bowling alleys, laser tag..."? And what the hell is a food video??
Load More Replies...Just not quality entertainment. We all spend an hour sampling shows and films on Netflix until we find one that does not put us to sleep in ten minutes.
It always surprises me to read that people know that this or that is the top of cyber security. Cyber security has a 'public' part, but it also has a far more covert part to it, of which most people know nothing, so how can they judge it?
cause they are measured by compliance rate to standards.
Load More Replies...Americans perhaps have more disposable income to be able to spend on entertainment. I'm sure people in the shanty towns of Asia and Africa would love to be going to laser tag rather than walking 5 miles to get water or scrabbling for food.
Haha. Yes, coming just a week after the Crowdstrike failure this one is really funny.
the impact of the failure is because it was used by so many institutions.
Load More Replies...Soft power. No country does it as well as the US. Despite its many shortcomings, people are drawn to the US. Films, TV, music, food, it’s got such a magnetic pull.
Morbid curiosity, like "What the hell is going on over there?"
Load More Replies...I have met many Europeans who hate the USA for various reasons, but love some of the culture, such that it is.
Spreading its idea of culture / propaganda. I think pretty much every country in the world knows what and where the US is. Some countries have never even been heard of depending on where you are, but everyone know what 'Murica is and what it stands for. Television series, food chains, movies, aspirations, food, products, cars, land of the free, their cultural identity is widely known.
That it is known does not mean it is appreciated and seen as good. The US waltz their culture into other countries, with low respect for the locally existing culture.
I'm a Yank living in Thailand. KFC is very popular here. So are the local fried and grilled chicken places. KFC is a choice. No one is forced to buy it.
Load More Replies...And most of the world know America is know for its military influence and leverage. And most Americans are unaware that much of that leverage and power is not used in a good way. There are at least 17 countries in which the United States has engaged in armed conflict through ground forces, proxy forces, or air strikes in the last few years. (From Responsible Statecraft)
Wow! A whole 17 out of nearly 200?! And you're including "proxy forces"? C'mon.
Load More Replies...You're naming continents, not countries. Europe is made up of 44 countries, Africa 54, and Asia 48, South America has 12, and while north america has 23, The united states is the one that everyone on the planet knows, and knows details of.
Load More Replies...No they don't. Nobody out of the USA buys your c**p cars. Fast food is considered only for the poor, certainly not the land of the free with 20% of the world's prison population (only .038% of the worlds population just wow. No you are a police state) BUT you do some great stuff and make the world a safer place so hey, checks and balances.
Having drive-through EVERYTHING.
to double down with the Sophias, no, having the drive thrus doesn't make life better. But the fact is that America has more drive thrus than anyone else so that makes us the world experts at building them, so we're 'better' at providing that service
Discouraging cigarette smoking.
Sweden is about to become the first non smoking nation in the world, ever.
In the UK cigarettes are about £20 a pack and public smoking was made illegal in 2007.
And will be illegal for anyone born from 2009.
Load More Replies...The Netherlands is working on it, but I don't feel strict enough yet. Cigarettes Now they cost around 10 euros (about 8-9 dollars?) but I think it could be much more expensive. However, you are not allowed to smoke in public places, not even on terraces, cafes and restaurants
In Australia I thing packs are up to $50! We also ban smoking in most public places and the government is trying to bring in a ban on cigarettes for people born after a certain date.
Load More Replies...No... the US discourages nicotine use. It *USED* to be about smoking, and then when something significantly safer was developed (vaping), states like California, who depend on the Master Settlement Agreement for income (a kickback for every pack of cigarettes sold), realized that smoking was decreasing FASTER than they had projected, and started an anti VAPING campaign to scare people into still smoking. Look on Youtube, a video called "The truth about vaping: why they hate us" for the REAL truth about California and other states that are vocal about vaping restrictions.
Germany should take notes. We still even advertise those damn coffin nails. You can smoke almost everywhere when it's outside. A third of the population smokes, it's disgusting
Police the worlds oceans so global trade can occur, benefitting every country that wishes to participate.
The US never signed the Law of the Sea treaty/convention. This is despite multiple Presidents and congress-people advocating for it, no matter their party affiliation. You can see the timeline in this link that follows. https://www.state.gov/law-of-the-sea-convention/
when you say worlds you mean pacific and atlantic, and the ones close enough to the coast of the US.
I think about '80s Music: American '80s music is often considered iconic and influential. From pop hits to rock anthems, the US definitely nailed the '80s music scene.
Queen, Duran Duran, The Police, Genesis, Frankie goes to Hollywood, The Human League, Spandau Ballet, The Clash, Eurythmics, UB40, U2, Culture Club, Def Leopard. To name a few of what I was listening to in the 80's.
And: Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Wham, The Cure, Tears for Fears, The Smiths, Eurythmics, Genesis, Culture Club, Phil Collins, blah, blah, blah, But Pernille would have you believe US americans mostly listened to US music.
Load More Replies...I love '80s music. John Philip Sousa marches, barbershop quartettes, sentimental love songs, The Tales Of Hoffman (1880), A Night On Bald Mountain (1881), Voices of Spring (1882), The Carnival of the Animals (1886). I love any 1880s music.
The whole dance music scene (that the US calls EDM) seemed to pass mainstream US by completely. Which is especially odd as its origins were in the US - Detroit and Chicago for techno and house respectively.
The US has nailed the music scene in every decade since the beginning of the 20th century.
No, you're not having the 1960s. Britain was definitely the top then (hence the "British invasion" - Beatles, Stones, Dave Dee (etc)). After that - glam rock, punk, disco led by the Bee Gees, modern romantics, synth pop, Dire Straits, Take That, Spice Girls...we still produced a lot of decent music on this side of the pond.
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Most music I listen to is American.
Most of the music I listen to is European. Nobody does metal better than Europeans. Especially the Germans, Finnish and Scandinavians
This is just a personal statement, not that Americans do it better. European music was obviously top of the list until WW1, then again in the 1960s, but American stuff was top between the wars and 1950s.
Detroit did invent dance music, you did invent blues... However the UK did rock, much better club music and Rhianna.. (Ugh)
Rihanna is from Barbados, which is independent, though was at one point a british colony... though these days she's very much just "'murican" also, rock music may have been done extremely well in the UK, but America is also responsible for the genre.
Load More Replies...They have the best musicians in the world, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy etc, but much of what you think is American isn't.
Armed Forces.
This sounds like a brag, but seriously, the entirety of the United States military is an exercise in F**k Around and Find out.
When in doubt research the Ohio Class Nuclear Submarine and realize there are more than 10 of those out there where nobody knows.
I like it that the USA protects its citizens in other countries if they get involuntarily mixed up in violence or are kidnapped. Having said that, I find it very disappointing that they tend to help US citizens leave a country in which they have committed a possible crime. Anne Sacoolas still hasn't be held accountable for killing Harry Dunn. Her apologies from 'the other end of the pond' of course mean next to nothing.
She had diplomatic immunity because of her husbands job. A regular US citizen would not be able to get away with that.
Load More Replies...Err.. Every war games you play with the UK you lose (badly) to the point it's brought up in congress. Ye Ha doesn't make a good soldier.
Look up the Vulcans that played war games with the US. They managed to ‘bomb’ the US with nuclear weapons, including Washington and New York!
Load More Replies...Except for that one time they had their asses really quickly and embarrassingly kicked by the British Army during a battle simulation... the US marines were forced to surrender and ask for a reset and it was hilarious.
Except for that other time in Vietnam. 1954-75. The French just got their asses kicked over there, so USA decides to give it a try, unsuccessfully.
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Produce scalable software that whole world uses.
Right... rubbish software the whole world uses due to agressive marketing strategies and monopolisation.
I assume you wrote that comment on Linux? Remind me again what software is so much better but people refused to use due to marketing.
Load More Replies...Turning our flag into articles of clothing.
I'm not sure that is allowed where I live, seeing that a flag is a national symbol which you don't want to make underwear out of: that would be disrespectful.
Which brings me to "freedom of speech". Americans can burn the flag if they want, wipe their a*s with it...
Load More Replies...Actual US flag rules prohibit making clothing out of actual flags. Most of what appears to be flags is actually made of stars and stripes printed fabric; not flags.
plenty of countries do this. Especially in the UK, union jack boxers and suits are widely a thing. And of course, the England flag itself is on everything as soon as it's the world cup or euros.
The trouble is that whenever someone wears something made out of the stars and stripes it looks trashy. The union jack, on the other hand...
Makes you look like Tommy Robinson-lite (full fat would be St George’s cross). “There ain’t no black in the Union Jack” and all that
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The 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
Great when you want to retire only to realize you still have ten more years of excessively high mortgage payments to make to own your house. And you realize you paid a total of a billion dollars for that $500K house.
Omg! Every post someone is like " we have that here, too!".. the thread is not titled "things the U.S. had that nobody else has " its "better" in the US in these people's opinions..jeez yall tire me out
Load More Replies...We can choose how many years we wsnt to have it fixed. 30 years is an often chosen option. During these 30 years one can change the rates for free a couple of times. The value of your house increases? Your bank will lower the rate. The rates get lower in general? Change it online free of costs. Cheers from the Netherlands. 10 years ago I had a rate of 4,5%, now it is 1,2%.
Superb product, wish the UK did this else it's like balancing plates, you never know what the hell is going to happen next.
You can buy 30-year (and longer) mortgages in the UK.
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We have the most Olympic medals.
So, Olympicing.
Per capita, San Marino, Bermuda, Grenada, the Bahamas, and New Zealand won the Tokyo Olympics. Perhaps that's not our best metric. When we use binomial probability to re-weight the most successful countries by probability of achieving that result, the actual ranking is Australia, the UK, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Hungary, and the US in sixth place.
Load More Replies...The USA seems to be obsessed by sport in a way I haven't experienced in other countries. The concept of getting a scholarship to university because you are good at sports simply does not compute for me. Getting a scholarship because you are exceptionally good at the subject you are going to study, yes, can fully grasp this. But having your fees paid because you are good at sport sounds like a joke.
Lol, THIS. Even as a Canadian this blows my mind. It's just part of the culture though.
Load More Replies...But this is only because the country is so big you have a bigger pool of people to pick from. This is why they changed the Ryder cup from America Vs United Kingdom to America Vs Europe to give us a fighting chance.
Well to be fair, the UK used to be a lot bigger. But you kind of buggered that up, and now almost every nation celebrates an independence from Britain day....
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Sporting events.
You ever been to an NFL game on Veterans Day? I went last November… maybe it was the beer, or the F18s, or both, but I sure felt like hollering an “America!” at the end of the anthem… the game hadn’t even kicked off and I was fired up.
What a great time that was.
EDIT: To clarify, I am not American.
Have you seen the videos of the Dutch fans during their soccer matches and their march towards the stadium during the European Soccer Championships this year?
Are you here just to be disagreeable about every one of these?
Load More Replies...Americans do have an exaggerated interest in sports. But we rarely see the riotous violence that European soccer fans have.
Should have said "College Sporting events." We don't hold a candle to ya'll's football matches, but we are crazy about our college sports.
Collegiate American football in particular is a massive undertaking. Look up Michigan Stadium. This place has been packed with in excess of 100,000 people during some games.
I gotta admit that the Americans turn their sports events into true spectacles!
ok but have you ever seen the songs that British football fans make up? im not a football fan but some of them are hilarious
I'm not a sports fan in general. And I extra dontgivashitabout the NFL. They are tiny-brained wipers of other peoples' bottoms.
Just remember US Football was founded from rugby. It changed when the milfs who's kids at Harvard and Yale thought it was too dangerous and introduced armor (which is crazy as with it you hit harder and it completely changes the game) the first forward pass was an army-navy game (I think 1939) and the forward pass didn't happen till the second half. Now its a game only brutes play and is possible the longest most boring game with a ball on the planet (golf is a close second)
The United States excels in innovation and technology leading the world in creating cutting edge advancements and fostering an entrepreneurial spirit that drives global progress.
I think that requires actual data before becomming a solid statement, there are a lot of countries in Europa and East Asia that can keep up or excel over the US like in terms of fusion-, computer- or biotechnology.
Where are you seeing the words "artificial" or "intelligence"?
Load More Replies...OP has no idea how technologically far behind america was during WW2.
Entreprenurial spirit is what leads to Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos. Are you sure this is a good thing?
Suburban luxury. If you’ve got a nice income, you’ll basically live like a king in some gaudy house with gaudy cars in a manicured suburban city. There’s homelessness in the inner cities, but the ‘burbs in the nicer metro regions are luxurious as hell. I don’t think there’s anyplace on the planet with as vast as the luxury suburbs spread in the U.S.
That's because most European countries just don't have the space for that kind of houses.
Not at all true. Even the UK; most of it is empty (pop density < 100/sq km). There are six departments in all of France with a combined area of about 1,000 km where there is a population density of over 1,000/sq km and 13 with a population over 300/sq km. Those six departments make up about 0.2% of France's land area.
Load More Replies...And one storm later your copy/paste cheap houses are gone, while our masonry and concrete house might loose some roof tiles at the max.
Where I live, in a part of the world where earthquakes are common masonry and concrete houses are dangerous.
Load More Replies...US suburbs are a ponzi scheme; the amount it costs for all of the supporting infrastructure is more than the property taxes, so they're a drain on the cities they surround. Plus they make everything only accessible by car. They're a plague.
Agree, cooler houses, better standard of living if you are middle class. Well done.
It's really not; American houses can be made cool, but it takes a ton of energy because they're poorly designed and built, and square footage doesn't equal better standard of living. For most people better standard of living means things to do, and not having to spend thousands of dollars for a car just to be able to buy groceries.
Load More Replies...Where I used to live, rich people are buying up small, perfectly good houses in the suburbs, demolishing them, and building McMansions with only four feet of land around the house.
That‘s not a good thing though. It fosters inequality and poor living conditions in poorer parts. On the other hand, if everybody (richer snd poorer) live together, then everybody profits from good living conditions and less crime.
Religious freedom. You can worship whatever you want, church, mosque, synagogue? Temple? You name it, you can build it. Halal meat? Kosher meat? You got it.
So, no different to Australia then - & probably no different to a lot of other developed Countries
Same in NZ (although our current leader seems to embrace a rather unpleasant version of Christianity. The sort where you are a multi-millionaire but want to remove government support for the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable).
Load More Replies...Your joking right.. It's a tax scam. Religious freedom and a fair economy would mean they pay the same taxes as everyone else. They do not. Literally the biggest scam in the tax free USA world.
My god this is a huge problem. Even the property taxes alone on some of these giant places would go very far in like, you know, feeding the hungry and housing the homeless. Alot of that money goes into sending the younger adults out to push their s**t on other cultures.
Load More Replies...Yet every President is not only Christian, but has to be seen to be Christian.
We have religious freedom too. And not only can you practice whatever religion you want, you can be an atheist and no one insults you for it or says you are "worse" or even "evil". That's also religious freedom.
Religion is destroying this country. 1,000 years from now, if there are still humans then, when they teach about the Fall of the American Empire, religion will be one of the two main causes, along with greed.
I think this is the first time I agree with you
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Logistics.
Holy f*****g s**t, do we do logistics well. Name your item, your point A and point B somewhere on Earth, and the United States could get it done in a day if it was so inclined.
When it comes to logistics, the US military alone is the single greatest organization that has ever existed in human history.
Our civilian world isn't far behind. Our freight rail is as good as our passenger rail is bad. Use the last of the coffee this morning? Amazon will have a fresh batch at your doorstep before you get back from work.
And the inefficiency of the military means transporting something will cost ten times more than if the private sector does it. Primarily because the corporations making all the money from the military budget discourage any efforts to rein in wasteful spending.
Creating wealth. America’s economy is the greatest wealth-creation engine in history. It’s not always well distributed but it’s there.
Even from my Canadian perspective - the USA feels like a land of abundance whenever I go there.
it's also great at creating poverty, because those who are hoarding the created wealth exploit the rest.
It's not well distributed? So what you are saying that they don't create wealth, they create discrepancy. You cannot 'create wealth'. Because your definition is 'wealth = having more' but you miss the part 'having more than someone else'. And you were so close to getting it by saying we don't distribute it well. But equally distributed you would not have created anything...
Ah, yes, war profiteering. (I'm not just being cynical, look at WW1&2, Vietnam, etc.)
Attracting talent and wealth.
America is very willing to incentivize the most talented people from around the world to come to the US. Companies are very willing to pay top dollar for top talent in innovative industries. The government and university system attracts the best students through high quality research, free expression, and ample post doc and networking opportunities. The US brain drains the intellectual elite of smaller countries, and absorbs them with huge salaries and green cards. The capital investment market is huge for startups, and everyone wants to get a slice of the rich consumer market. Singers and actors can easily live and work in the US.
The financial and banking sectors are healthy, large and stable. Even Chinese tech companies IPO on the NYSE. US corruption is low, and will not suddenly confiscate assets. The US dollar is the global reserve currency, and US cash and bonds are asset classes that retain their value long term. International millionaires can get visas through investment programs of 10 created jobs and approx $1.8 million. Billionaires are attracted to the stable and large market, the strong anti-socialist culture, and abundance of luxury goods and services.
Americans are willing to pay for the best talent, which helps them maintain their leading edge. They accepted Nazi rocket scientists with Operation Paperclip, and took in Soviet engineers after the fall of the Soviet Union. The US attracts software developers from everywhere: China, Europe, Russia...
The US is so attractive that it unintentionally leads to undesirable immigration. That would include the southern border crisis: where migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, and Africa all try to sneak into the US via the Darien Gap jungles and Mexico.
Believe me; having a fair amount of experience working with people that outsource talent in software development, construction management and insurance services, they will tell you they prefer American talent 10x over. It’s not that programmers from Bangladesh are so amazing; it’s that they’re much less expensive.
Load More Replies...Can we talk about the University Systems? As far as I know those "TOP" Universities or Ivy Leauges are only reachable for the rich people and very few of real talents from lower classes get in. OR they need to get a big amount of student loan to finish it. In the EU it does not matter where you came from mostly free education is available. I do not have much insight how they actually teach but according what my American friends told me, for me it seems like it is more easier to do a BA there, than in the EU. And this is not means that that is the better.... But this is just my subjective opinion, as the writers is on this topic.
While rich kids and children of alumni do get into ivy league schools, so do people who achieve academically. And getting student loans isn't always required. If they have achieved enough academically to get into a top school then they are undoubtedly eligible for scholarships. Meanwhile, the difficulty of getting a degree depends on what you choose to study. Sure, you can get a BA in psychology or something that isn't academically rigorous, but we produce some of the greatest minds in the world. Just look up countries with the most Nobel prize winners and you will see that it is the US and no one else is remotely close.
Load More Replies...An Australian baseball player was 'bought' by some american baseball team for something like 3 million $usd,
Free speech. Especially speech that’s unpopular.
The US created the cancellation culture whereby people are judged for things said years ago. This is freedom of speech in all its glory.
Freedom of speech is protection from the government—not protection from other citizens who think you're an a*****e.
Load More Replies...Theoretically. In practice when universities are erecting "free speech zones" unpopular opinions are being termed as hate speech, and the U.S is nipping at canada's heels in enacting legislation to COMPEL speech less someone be offended by not having their sense of self validated. Add to that the ever growing trend of losers digging through the annals of history so as to find something that's objectionable by the standards of today in order to exert control over people in the present, and the constant onslaught in attempting to revise history without considering the context of the time at all. Far too many people are not only ok, but excited at the prospect of eroding free speech in the pursuit of protecting feelings, ignorant to the fact that its a threat to, not only the free exchange of ideas, but the ability to think and find solutions.
You can carry on believing that if you like; it does seem to be a firmly-entrenched idea. Sure, there are some places like Russia which are demonstrably not free to speak out against the state, but in real terms most of Europe has much more freedom, of the press for example, than the US.
Should point out, every western country has free speech as long as it doesn't insult people, that's considered hate speech and you can be arrested for it.
Load More Replies...Not sure about every country, but the US has done a pretty good job with racial justice. Hear me out, I know we still have a lot of systemic issues and racism seems to be trendy these days but I am not aware of any other country that has had as much reckoning with racism as the US with things like the Civil Rights Movement and the Civil War over slavery. I am an immigrant and in my previous country, colorism and racism are very commonplace and to my understanding, this is the case all around the world. Many countries are just open about their overt discrimination and the people usually don't care. Here in the US we have some degree of shaming if someone says something horrendously racist and this normally doesn't slide in polite society. We still have a long way to go, but overall, we have done a pretty good job with addressing historic racism and making pluralistic and open society for people of all races.
But the US NEEDED a civil war to end slavery. Imagine being so entrenched in racism that you send hundreds of thousands of your sons to die to protect it.
Yet another war where a small group of very wealthy men convinced poor people to fight and die to protect the wealth of the rich.
Load More Replies...As a black American woman, I understand and very very very slightly can see where this person is coming from. Only because they distinguished that they're comparing America to other countries in today's world. I also must say I appreciate the acknowledgement they have on Amerikkka's history on racism, racial justice and our still ongoing systemic issues. Now it may be due to social media or the new generations but I've never seen an example of racial or discriminationatory justice of any sort reported from any country besides the US. Females are still being castrated in Africa. Racism is still very alive and often swept under the rug over in Europe. Colorism is only a issue in the black and brown communities. Homosexuals or any one in the alphabet community are still harassed, mutilated, lynched and decapitated for their sexual preferences. But we're the only ones I see bringing light to all of these problems to the forefront one story, case, status, video, march and protest at a time.
George floyd did not derserve to die. He was no hero. Held a gun on a pregnant woman. Not quire a saint.
Load More Replies...That must be the reason Americans are so very racially aware, I guess.
If you'd like, you can point out any country and we can judge it by the people who founded it.
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Discovering new medical treatments whether it's medicine, devices, and/or procedures.
Nope. Switzerland is the place for this, especially relative to its size. Several of the worlds largest medical science companies are Swiss (two out of the top 5, including the top spot, last time I looked) , and there are literally thousands of smaller companies working with them.
The other three are in the US, and out of the top ten, the US has SEVEN (with the last being in Denmark). Your "Nope"is strictly "relative to size" and who cares about that? The question is the discovery of new medical treatments, and the US is unquestionably the place where that happens.
Load More Replies...Maybe they have good medical treatment discoveries now, but compared to medical discoveries throughout all of history, I'd say they're average or just on par with other countries tbh. Switzerland is really the place for medical discovery, it'd seem.
Err.. Oxford did covid first, also malaria vaccine first and many others, yes they sell their patents to greedy US corps but get over yourselves on this one.
Bored Panda: The USA does some good things sometimes. Bored Pandas: No. We must bash America every chance we get.
I love that when the posts are "America is sh!t" everyone agrees and calls us lazy fat morons, but anything even mentioning that we have done anything good, the comments are still "stupid fuking egotistical Americans." I hate this planet.
Bored Panda, come on. Let's give is a rest with pitting the USA against the rest of the world.
Mass downvotes. Anti-American comments. The BP echo chamber is so predictable.
How about titling a segment “Things Many Cultures Do Well”? This would help eliminate the “we already do that here in….”, or the need for fact-checking, or the anger that seems to abound.
Can't believe they all missed the most dramatic example - GPS. Created by US military and available to everyone in the world.
They've been trying for quite a while. They just can't decide if it should be the US against the rest of the world, men against women, or one age group against another one.
Load More Replies...I find it pretty sad that on posts where BoredPanda mentions even anything good about the U.S. users on this site still treat the people like a monolith and call them idiotic, fat morons. I'm not even originally from the U.S., but it's so damn childish to view an entire country as a monolith. The U.S. is in a pretty dark place right now, but I understand that there are so many people fighting for change. Not everyone is some idiotic Maga loving, beer guzzling, evangelic Christian. I'm so tired of everyone in the comment section resorting to idiotic stereotypes.
I must say that there is a dismissive or rude comment for nearly every post. :(
Why do you insist on the constant rage bait? Every other day you go out and find a list of good things about the US so that your readers can shìt all over it. It's beyond boring.
I want to here more about countries that aren't america
Load More Replies...Bored Panda: The USA does some good things sometimes. Bored Pandas: No. We must bash America every chance we get.
I love that when the posts are "America is sh!t" everyone agrees and calls us lazy fat morons, but anything even mentioning that we have done anything good, the comments are still "stupid fuking egotistical Americans." I hate this planet.
Bored Panda, come on. Let's give is a rest with pitting the USA against the rest of the world.
Mass downvotes. Anti-American comments. The BP echo chamber is so predictable.
How about titling a segment “Things Many Cultures Do Well”? This would help eliminate the “we already do that here in….”, or the need for fact-checking, or the anger that seems to abound.
Can't believe they all missed the most dramatic example - GPS. Created by US military and available to everyone in the world.
They've been trying for quite a while. They just can't decide if it should be the US against the rest of the world, men against women, or one age group against another one.
Load More Replies...I find it pretty sad that on posts where BoredPanda mentions even anything good about the U.S. users on this site still treat the people like a monolith and call them idiotic, fat morons. I'm not even originally from the U.S., but it's so damn childish to view an entire country as a monolith. The U.S. is in a pretty dark place right now, but I understand that there are so many people fighting for change. Not everyone is some idiotic Maga loving, beer guzzling, evangelic Christian. I'm so tired of everyone in the comment section resorting to idiotic stereotypes.
I must say that there is a dismissive or rude comment for nearly every post. :(
Why do you insist on the constant rage bait? Every other day you go out and find a list of good things about the US so that your readers can shìt all over it. It's beyond boring.
I want to here more about countries that aren't america
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