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Someone Online Asked “Americans, What Is A Good Thing About Your Country?” And 30 Folks Delivered
Despite all their political shenanigans and problematic tendencies, every country has something beautiful to offer, be it cuisine, stunning architecture, nature, inspiring historical personalities, film and music industries, tech innovations, diners, or timeless novels like good old Harry Potter.
Now, it’s not a big secret that America is among those places that are often criticized both by its citizens and outsiders. The country is a victim of many sometimes cruel, sometimes not-so-cruel stereotypes, and its great quality of life and cultural characteristics are frequently disregarded, which is why, today, we’ll be focusing on great things and great things only.
“Americans (USA), what is a good thing about your country?” – this netizen turned to one of Reddit’s most thought-provoking communities to ask its members to reflect on the good aspects of America. The post managed to garner over 16k upvotes as well as 13.2k comments and intriguing answers.
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I am a naturalized US citizen, have been living here for 12 years now and I am still in awe and disbelief on the how amazing public libraries are here
I volunteer at one once a week. Tiny little library, but I love it so
US has 63 national parks and thousands of state parks. They preserve some of America’s most beautiful places.
The endless diversity of delicious food brought by immigrants from around the world.
Where I live we have Mexican (few different varieties) Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Ethiopian, Indian (South Asian), Greek, few different varietiesof Middle Eastern... all of it
We are HUGE! You can go on pretty much any kind of a vacation you want without leaving the country: beach, mountains, desert, snow, high culture, big city, small rural town, sports, music. The only limit is your time and your budget!
it's nice to see here a post about positive things in the USA (criticism I saw a lot already). I'd still be afraid to visit, but so many national parks seems wonderful.
The Smithsonian Institution. It's 20+ museums (and a zoo), all for free, in Washington DC/NYC/VA, run by the government. I just think it's neat.
The Americans with disabilities act.
I didn't realize how much reserved parking spots by the door, wide sidewalks that must be clean, handicap bathrooms, and having ramps at the entrance were important until my brother became wheelchair bound.
You go to a restaurant, and they just give you a gigantic glass of ice water for free.
Considering the famously dirty ice machines, I'd politely decline the ice addition.
Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is like being on an entirely different planet at times, with a ridiculous amount of flora and fauna that either want to eat you or build a nest in your car- not to mention the eldritch geysers and springs.
It's absolutely essential viewing and God bless Teddy Roosevelt.
I went there for work years ago. It's massive. The drive from the southern entrance to the northern entrance is something like 15 hours.
For the most part, we are very friendly. You can have a friendly little chat or interaction with a stranger anywhere like you’re good friends. I just got back from a two week backpacking trip through the nordics and, no offense because I love and respect their culture, I felt completely invisible the entire time. No one is friendly there, partially because it’s considered weird to talk to strangers. But the coldness is palpable. Made me a little relieved to get back to the US where people actually smile or chat with you instead of just being as cold as possible.
Also we tend not to hate tourists because of where they’re from the way that some (definitely not most, but some) people immediately made assumptions about Americans and were actively mean because of it. Like yes, there are some dirtbag American tourists. Unfortunately I’ve met them. But the vast majority of us are not like that and shouldn’t be treated like that immediately. Americans don’t really see tourists when they come here and actively try to be mean because of what country the tourist is visiting from, the way (some, but not all) Europeans do when they see Americans
Thank you for this post. I also have noticed a lot of hatred for U.S. natives around the world. We get it that you hate Donald Trump. We get it that you hate the U.S. superiority complex. Just because we live here doesn’t mean we love and promote these things you hate.
The fact that I can p**s and moan about and criticize the government and/or president and not fear (official) retribution
The natural aspects of it are quite beautiful. & there are very diverse natural aspects.
In general, despite how the media might portray it or how much the US is criticized for racism, the US is by far the most culturally diverse country, most other countries dont have as big of an issue with racism because they are mostly homogenous and the outliers are typically well integrated.
If you see a black man, an asian, a caucasian and an indian all hanging out in america nobody will bat an eye. But if you have that same group in France or Germany? In France everyone there was staring at us like we were little green aliens having a picnic.
I’m the city I live in, which is rather small, I can go to 3 different ethnic grocery store all with in a 5 minute drive, plus 3 more if I want to travel a bit. Yes, we may let a bunch of horse turds in the spotlight way too often, and yes, past generations have left us with black eyes and baggage, but no matter how hard some fight it, the USA is going to stay a mixing pot for the foreseeable future.
According to my mom who grew up in China as the communist regime fell she thinks the freedom in America is pretty great (like you can pick your own job and the government doesn't pick it for you) and she kept reminding me of this growing up in America
We make some of the worlds best hot-smoked meats, namely central-Texas brisket, Carolinas smoked pork, and everything in between.
I’ve traveled around much of the world and eaten everywhere, our smoked brisket is in a league of its own.
I visited McAllen a couple of times and I never tried brisket. I guess it is now my new lifetime regret?
I can literally see every type of climate without leaving the country.
This is so true. Though, I don't recall North America having a rain forest. (Correct me if I'm wrong!) Edit: Thanks so much for all the replies! I totally forgot Hawaii was a part of America, oops.
Access to public education for children with special needs is a right guaranteed by law, and those protections are stronger and the educational service for special needs children are better than in most of the rest of the world.
The ADA is also pretty amazing, and the United States is a lot more accessible than most other countries. Some of that's because the buildings are newer, yes. But it's really nice to go on vacation and know that your hotel will be able to accommodate you, tour buses will be able to accommodate you, most tourist attractions will be able to accommodate you, etc.
I agree. My brother has Kabuki syndrome(you can look it up if you don't know what it is), and he was able to get lots of special accommodations in school and graduated with all A's, and I have lots of special privileges because of my severe ADHD. These have helped me and my brother both a ton, and it makes me feel lucky that I live where I do.
Our bureaucracies.
I know most people like to b***h about things like the DMV, and the IRS. But, the system of American bureaucracies are doing more to make the world a better place than they get credit for. The amount of money and manpower dedicated to data collection and deciphering is hard to fathom, and we’re the only ones doing it for the entire world.
Agencies like the DOT do massive amounts of testing on everything from train tracks to seat belts. Testing that goes far above and beyond what nearly any manufacturers do. The increase in road and travel safety in the past 100 years is unbelievable. And we share all of our data with every nation.
The NOAA collects weather data used by every news channel, every weather agency, every government and military force, etc. The data we collect, and the research we’ve done on meteorology have taken weather prediction times from 1 day to about 10 days in the past century. The impact on life saving, and crop saving, this has had has impacted billions of lives.
The DOE studies and regulates every nuclear facility on the planet. Our inspectors monitor every plant, every weapons cache, every warship worldwide. Either directly, or through NATO.
Military initiatives like DARPA have created things like GPS satellites. We made them. All of them. We maintain them. Everyone else just gets to use them. And, everyone does.
We aren’t perfect. Far from it. But, our intense efforts to collect and interpret data in every field; from food and drugs, to technology, to medicine and hospitals, building codes, chemical classification, the list goes on and on and on; have been an unparalleled contribution to our species.
I would add to this the bureaucrats who work for their salaries without expectation for bribery. Unlike many of the places I've lived, there is not the automatic expectation to hand over cash during every interaction with a civil servant. I might have to pay fees or fines, but I know that money is not going into the pocket of the person processing my forms. Of course there are exceptions, but bribery is not the rule.
Come and actually meet us. I hear the same s**t time and again from people, mostly Germans, "you were not what I expected." And we're not. We inundate the world with so much of our pop culture, that you might be forgiven for thinking that's what Americans are like. We're actually very baffling and weird. You have to come here to get us.
A lot of people say there is no "American culture" but there is it's just so spread and diverse that you don't notice it you can can get culture shock from going a state or 2 over
Space Program
free public restrooms
Considering that I already have to pay for supplies monthly for my *unwanted visitor* I am glad I don't have to pay for all my extra trips to check on said *visitor*.
Free refills on drinks at restaurants!
Honestly, there is a lot. I can go to my tap and have nice, fresh, clean drinking water (even people that don’t have running water due to poverty can go to any public place and get clean water from the tap). If I’m hot, I can walk to my thermostat and turn down the AC, same if I’m cold. Prices may be high, but food is readily available. I live in a really safe place and really don’t have to worry about someone coming into my home to harm me or my family, and if they do, I have plenty of weapons to hold them off. I have reliable power and internet as long as I pay my bills. I can drive 30 min south and enjoy the ocean, or 8 hours north and enjoy the mountains. I know there’s plenty of negative things about the USA, but there’s plenty of really good things too. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
if you have to have weapons "just in case, to fend someone off" then you clearly do worry deep down that you're going to be harmed. It's not a good thing if you feel the need to own weapons for this reason.
While this may not apply to any given American person or town, our culture is not rigid or uptight at all. There’s very little consequence in doing things drastically different from your neighbors, and there’s not much broad expectation to conform to “how things are done.” Someone might judge you but that’s just, like, their opinion, man. While I don’t think this is necessarily uniquely American, it’s definitely not universal.
Peanut butter.
We strive for improvement, each generation to the next. Some of us don't understand this, but it's a beautiful thing.
Soooo many breakfast cereals to choose from
Note: this post originally had 33 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I like Bored Panda a lot. But all the hate directed at the people who live in the US is less than fun.
As an American we are mainly taught we are the greatest and best, and many Americans refuse to acknowledge the times when we are not. While a balance of posts is needed, BP offsets a little the wealth of lies Americans tells other Americans about the USA.
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As a non US citizen it's nice, really nice, to have a positive post about the US for once.
America is made up of primarily immigrants. No one, save for indigenous people is really "from" here. That's why I get salty when some of my less desirable fellow Americans love telling people to "go back where they came from" My idiot cousin loves to do this, completely forgetting our grandparents are from Italy. We're very newly American!!!
I come from New York City. This country used to be proud to call itself a nation of immigrants. A melting pot, to produce something uniquely American.
Load More Replies... I like Bored Panda a lot. But all the hate directed at the people who live in the US is less than fun.
As an American we are mainly taught we are the greatest and best, and many Americans refuse to acknowledge the times when we are not. While a balance of posts is needed, BP offsets a little the wealth of lies Americans tells other Americans about the USA.
Load More Replies... As a non US citizen it's nice, really nice, to have a positive post about the US for once.
America is made up of primarily immigrants. No one, save for indigenous people is really "from" here. That's why I get salty when some of my less desirable fellow Americans love telling people to "go back where they came from" My idiot cousin loves to do this, completely forgetting our grandparents are from Italy. We're very newly American!!!
I come from New York City. This country used to be proud to call itself a nation of immigrants. A melting pot, to produce something uniquely American.
Load More Replies...