No country is perfect, but the United States often gets bad press. From gun control to healthcare and political division that seriously hampers positive change, there are a lot of issues the land of the brave is currently facing. But there are plenty of victories it can celebrate as well.
So let's take a look at a recent Reddit post by user KyleB2131 that asked people: "What does America do better than most other countries?" More specifically, its 11,800 comments, where folks have been listing all the things they believe the US should be proud of.
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I love the Interstate Rest Areas on road trips. I'm a Canadian from the west coast, and was always VERY impressed with the 24/7 rest areas. Clean washrooms, nice grassy areas for dogs, picnic tables, and a lot of times people selling crafts, or offering free coffee!
I've only driven through the western states, (WA,OR,CA,NV,UT,AZ) but yeah, those rest areas were always reliable. Always well marked signs when the next one was coming up. Just made everything about travelling easier! Thanks neighbours!
The Pacific Northwest loves our Canadian neighbors! We missed you during Covid lockdowns!
Chatting, I’m from an Asian country where most people will avoid talking to stranger. But you can literally talk to anyone you met in the street in the US and most of them are willing to talk
Turning corn into things that are not corn.
So, here's the truth. America is, and does, a *lot* of things.
We have the world's greatest athletes and most obese population. We have the best healthcare in the world, and 90% of our population can't afford it. We're leaders in creating new wealth and dead end service jobs. We were founded on a revolutionary promise of liberty and justice, by men who owned slaves.
If you really want my top four wins, though, here they are:
**The national parks system and Bureau of Land Management.**
We have hundreds of thousands of square miles of wilderness that is preserved, leased for commercial purposes, available for recreation, or simply held in trust for the people of the United States. And if you haven't seen for yourself, I assure you, [it's f*****g gorgeous](https://www.ourescapeclause.com/best-national-parks-in-usa/). We have wild ancient forests, coral reefs, stunning mountains, tundra, grasslands, deserts, and some of the most impressive and beautiful natural features on this planet. Huge portions are preserved and maintained where literally everyone can enjoy them.
**NASA**
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration put a man on the moon, led the world in space exploration, and spurned developed literally [hundreds of incredible technologies we use every day](https://spinoff.nasa.gov/): Aside from the obvious aerospace advances, we have them to thank for GPS, memory foam mattresses, improved HVAC and insulation, LCD screens, LEDs, microcomputing, food preservation, water purification, solar panels, high capacity batteries, and dozens of different materials and processes. In addition, they've been the leading source of new information about our planet, climate change, and the universe.
**The Smithsonian Institution**
There are people who mistakenly think the Smithsonian is a museum. The Smithsonian is in fact a collection of over 20 museums, galleries, and zoo across three states, plus dozens of research and education centers, collections, affiliates around the globe. It is the single largest organization for science, culture, and history in the world, and it's contributions to preserving history and to literally every scientific discipline are beyond measure. And to me, the greatest part is the heart of the organization in Washington DC: *THIS* is what we've chosen to surround the National Mall, the platonic ideal of our commons and center of our democracy- Dozens of living monuments to art, science, history, and culture. I've personally made at least 3 or 4 visits totaling more than two full weeks, and I've only made it halfway through.
**Music**
The United States is the birthplace of Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Country-Western, Rap, and a half a dozen different forms of regional folk music. Nearly every culture in the world imitates our musical forms.
Holidays. My favorite time to be an American is October, I love how hype we get about Halloween here.
We need to do away with Valentine's Day and have a second Halloween!
Wilderness/land conservation. Hands down. It still isn’t enough and it’s largely a product of the fact that this continent was industrialized/colonized so late in the game + its sheer vastness, but we have some of the best land conservation schemes on the planet. It might be the only thing where I prefer the US over much of Europe, and it’s a huge thing.
Serious answer? Logistics. We're quite a large country and we've gotten very good at moving things around.
Handicap/wheelchair accessibility. Even in smaller towns, our family member in a wheelchair got in and out of restaurants and stores easily.
Honestly? Being friendly and welcoming to strangers. Saying this as a Canadian.
Air conditioner everywhere and free public restrooms. You have to pay to use the restrooms in Europe.
Friendliness.
I’m from London and have lived in the US for 15 years. People here overall are very open to talking to strangers
Geodiversity. We have nearly every biome on Earth available in the lower 48 alone. Adding Alaska and Hawaii just completes the set.
Question: Is there any biome that doesn't exist in The US?
Buffets. No buffet I’ve had can beat the one’s I had in the states.
Just wash your damned hands before and after restroom before going to the buffet??? PLEASE!
The ability of the American farmer to produce food. It is really staggering the amount of food that is grown here.
But... Isn't that just about the area that is used? I'm sure European farmers get the most out of the area they have, as well, and there are lots of innovative methods being developed for growing things inside, with as little water as possible. Especially with the growing water crisis, this seems like applauding the student with the most pokemon cards over the one who wins a tournament, right?
Good ethnically diverse food.
There’s a lot that Europe does better about food (for instance, care about quality of ingredients and preparation even at “everyday” priced restaurants).
But in most of the non-US world, you can get very good food of the place you are in, and maybe some mediocre Asian food. (England and Indian food being an exception.) If you are in Rome, for instance, the Italian food will be excellent, but you won’t find a great Spanish tapas bar, Mexican taqueria, or some great pho.
The fact that in most major US cities you can get excellent food that represents a dozen or more different food cultures is unique and awesome.
Women's sports are really wells supported here - so are female athletes.
Despite many memes americans might say about it - if you go to other countries female athletics is really almost non-existent.
While we have a LONG way to go, the USA is comparatively better than a lot of places regarding supporting people with disabilities.
Convenience. In other countries I’ve lived in, many shops and businesses close relatively early and you can’t easily get food or groceries delivered to your door.
Cultural diversity. We have a place for everyone, despite what some people say
Except bigots. We don't have a place for bigots. They can get right out of here.
Entertainment
Just because we have the largest entertainment industry, doesn't mean we have the best.
Sewage treatment. A lot of countries you'd consider modern and Western are only just now installing treatment plants so they aren't just dumping their sewage directly into the ocean.
I wasn't aware of that... at least in Germany we have sewage treatment installed for a fairly long time.
I would risk and say it out loud: on all friggin Europe we have that for decades
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Hmm, in Slovakia we do not have ocean 🤷🏼♂️😀 So i think, we just throw the savage into rivers? 😀🤦♂️ WTF is this list? 😀
I was just about to comment this. In Slovakia we've got these since ages. The people who compiled this list probably never left USA
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That's not quite right. Around 71,000 municipal sewage treatment plants are currently in operation in the 28 countries of the European Union as well as in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. In the USA there are 14,748 centralized treatment plants (Publicly Owned Treatment Works/POTW) (source: Google). Nevertheless, every sewage treatment plant counts!
I thought the Dutch were one of the best in the world regarding sewage treatment and watermanagement in general. Y'know, since half the country lies below sea level and all that.
Yeah, not just keeping the water out but also sewage treatment and providing excellent drinking water, that’s 1000 times cheaper than bottled water (no exaggeration btw) and more strictly controlled. We’re even making tap water from the river Meuse (Maas).
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Quite inaccurate. Most of Europe, Australia, South Korea and even Chile are in the lead when it comes to wastewater treatment.
Only the loud ones. The educated are pretty aware of the world.
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It may occur in other countries, too, but in the US, we're fed propaganda from kindergarten up that the US is the best and only truly free country in the world. The only thing I ever learned about other countries was where other countries were "bad guys" and the US intervened to "help." I graduated in 1976, but talking to young people, I think the biggest thing that's changed is that many young people are now exposed to how people live in other countries through the internet. Those who care to know are much more aware of the shortcomings in the US government and treatment of it's citizens than I ever was. But the propaganda has gotten worse with the coming of the orange man. If he gets into office again, you can kiss anything good about the US goodbye. It's becoming a terrifying place to live. I worry greatly for my grandkids but I would never be so arrogant as to expect them to forgive me for what my generation has allowed this country to become.
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Israel has by far the best and most efficient sewage treatment systems in the world. More than 92% of its sewage is recycled into drinkable water.
Yeah fair enough, we only got rid of our trains that literally dropped the toilet flush on the tracks 2 years ago. "Do Not Flush in Station".
Pretty sure the US still has some of those. Or at least we did about 5 years ago. might have changed since then.
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There's about 1800 water treatment plants in Scotland so that's nothing special, although it is good that they do it because I have seen a few cases where countries have just dumped are sewage into rivers and even public beaches whilst they're being used.
Convinced all of these are posted by people that have no idea what it is like outside the US
Uhm, which countries are you talking about? Have you heard of Flint, Michigan?
There’s been sewage treatment plants in UK for decades - I know this post is likely aimed at us for some reason. We’re not that stupid. But we’re also a tiny island with towns (and sewers) older than US, they can’t cope with the growing population and are near impossible to improve.
In most of the rust belt cities, the sewage system is 100 years old and connected to the rain water handling system. During heavy rains in my city, the sewage system becomes overwhelmed and dumps raw sewage directly into Lake Erie. Some of our sewage system is still wooden pipes.
Politics is killing our infrastructure, we have everything to do better, but greed and corruption is leading USA into a sunken place
US sewage treatment could still be improved by implementing tertiary treatment in more if not all locations
I worked in the water treatment industry and I'm calling b******t on this one too. Some third world countries struggle because they are poor. It's not a choice for them. And I would point your attention to the southern states where public sanitation in poor disadvantage neighborhoods is horrendous, open swers and all. Just take a look at Jackson MS where water has been on a boil notice more often than not. I could give you a thousand locations in the states where it's shitty to live, pun intended.
Countries with the Most Sophisticated Waste Management : Europe leads the way in waste management solutions. So it is no surprise that Germany, Austria and Belgium are three of the top performers in recycling.https://greentumble.com/countries-with-the-most-sophisticated-waste-management/
They are doing fine, altho they are far from the best according what i've seen.
We used to have good sewage treatment in the UK (my long dead Grandad worked at a plant way back) but the government sold our water board off to private multinationals that don't give a fudge and are all about squeezing profit out of literal shite. Now we have untreated sewage overflows" into the rivers and seas being green lighted by government as long as it makes cash.
Not true at all. Compared to Germany and the Netherlands, for example, the US is actually way behind.
The annoying thing is, the UK has sewage treatment plants, there was one not too far (about 15-20 miles) from where I grew up... yet.. well, you've seen the news. Our government are awful. e_e
It's a mixed issue. The public can do more as well. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sewage-in-water-a-growing-public-health-problem
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We lived in Costa Rica for 6 years and discovered they still do not have a municipal sewer treatment plant in the entire country. Poo gets dumped into the oceans and rivers..... So much for their "green" lie.
This honestly wouldn't be a big problem if we weren't dumping chemicals. Humans have been using rivers and oceans for sewage disposal for a very long time. In fact, there's a part of a river (I believe it's The Congo) where locals dump their sewage, bathe, drink and swim in the SAME part of the river. The river is actually CLEANER than most in other parts of the world; because bacteria clean the river naturally.
If it's after treatment, it may be as clean or cleaner than what it's being dumped in. At least what we release is. It's been tested and it's cleaner than the river that it's put into...which is the same river we process drinking water from.
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In which continent? In Europe there is not many if any countries with sewage treatment.
@Disco Hippie: please go and troll somewhere else. This would be highly appreciated!
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Putting people on the moon & putting cheese like substances in spray cans. Nobody else comes close.
Many of our restaurants offer free bread, or chips and salsa at the Hispanic restaurants. Very few places I’ve been in the world offer a free food item to snack on while waiting for your food to arrive.
General aviation. There are few countries in the world where you can hop into a light airplane and just go. No flight plan required, no extra taxes and fees, just freedom. There are over 5000 public use airports in the US and more than 10000 private use. I'm not talking about millionaires and billionaires flying their gulfstreams around, but the middle class American putzing around in a Cessna on a weekend. Yes, it is an expensive hobby but can be much more attainable than a lot of people think.
Not sure about the extra freedom and def have to have a flight plan in the US, but will agreed getting a private pilots license is more attainable in the US
Interstate highway system that stays relatively consistent across the entire country, national park system (well-maintained, affordable, open to anyone). If you’re in a major city you have access to almost any cuisine in the world. If you want to be an entrepreneur it’s encouraged (tax incentives support this and there isn’t a lot of red tape). Finally, freedom of speech (this is very much subject to debate), but compared to much of the rest of the world and how citizens in other countries feel about openly stating their opinion, Americans are much less concerned about legal/government ramifications.
Yes because of course no other countries have freedom of speech /s
Diversity. We are not one race or culture and for the most part respect each other with some notable exceptions. This is the driving force that helped develop so many industries.
I'm sure some people will disagree with me on this, but I would say accepting/intermingling with people of other races/religions/lifestyles.... I mean this entire country was built from the ground up like that. (hence the "great melting pot" moniker)
I know it's no where near perfect of course, but given how other countries in the world that have homogeneous populations or are ruled by outdated religious beliefs are dealing with the world becoming more intermingled/progressive in general. I feel like the US is way ahead of a lot of the world.
"Built from the ground up" on diversity? A couple of hundreds of years' worth of slaves might dispute that.
National Parks, Entertainment in general...the US is where you can find the best entertainment in the world probably, including movies.
We have the greatest lakes here
Export cultural things, move things globally (specifically military things) and being [charitable](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-charitable-countries)
Military.
As an European, thank you for repeatedly taking care of what we should have done.
Also technology. You played huge part in making life as easy as it is now
Gonna go out in a limb here and say this was not written by anyone from a European country......
Capitalism with all it‘s perks and problems.
What perks? I mean, what perks exist in your form of capitalism that doesn't exist in other capitalistic countries?
Self defense. Most other country have very pitiful self defense rules.
When I lived in Chile I had a neighbor who was being attacked in his own home. The invader attacked him with a knife. He took the knife and killed the invader with it. He had to serve the maximum sentence in jail time because of it. Apparently they could prove that he killed the attacker, but he couldn’t prove he was being attacked or something like that.
If he couldn't prove he was being attacked then self-defence wouldn't work as an excuse anywhere.
The U.S is nicer to its minorities than alot of other countries.
I might get flack for this but Racial tollerance. America is a true melting pot and I belive that it has one of the most tollerant populations on the planet. Virtually all of the 300 million + of the population gets along with each other and many many of us are not the same.
Yes there is small pockets of people who are racists, but it has grown much smaller since say the 1960's.
Just look at the problems many White European countries have with non-white immigrants to see what I am talking about.
I would have to respectfully disagree. The U.S. has the highest prison population in the world , comprising mostly black, brown and Indigenous peoples. Also, the terrible treatment immigrants of color face. All this not to mention our abysmal record of police brutality against people of color (mostly black people)
A few things come to mind:
We develop around half of all New Medical Entities which includes new medicines, treatments, and quipment
We have a very high median income, beat out by only a few very small countries compared to us
We have the most noncommercial cultural exports on the planet, people call us uncultured but our art, movies, music, and books almost always make more money internationally than they do domestically
Our speech protections are much more powerful than other countries, you can't be convicted of anything for criticising the government or making controversial comments that are offensive to the public like you can in a lot of other countries
When we see racism here we generally dislike it and consider it wrong unlike a lot of other countries in Europe that pretend like it isn't an issue there
Your pharmaceutical companies price medicines out of reach of the people who need them. You have barely any employment rights, your median income stats are based on an 80 hour week. Every other advert I see is from the states. No, you might not be convicted of criticism of the state, they'll just shoot you instead. Racism. See my previous comment. Where I live, in Wales, we're a City of Sanctuary and proud to be. We're doing it better
Business. Hands down. It’s their biggest advantage in my opinion. Deals with Americans just get done easier. Compared to other countries American businesses are more open minded to new things, don’t try to f**k you over, want a win for both sides, want simpler agreements, negotiate fairly, hold up their end of the bargain, etc.
If you have even done business internationally you really see what a strong advantage it is. Other countries everyone is f*****g everyone over, or are close minded, slow as snails, and obsessed with bureaucracy. Commerce just flows better there.
I've never heard "obsessed with bureaucracy" as synonym for "considering labour laws and environmental concerns". Elon, is that you?
In some ways I feel like we are accepting of immigrants and immigration more than other countries. It might not be that way everywhere in the country, but I still feel comforted.
We don't have walls. Or even the threat of them in fact, people risk their lives to get here ,🏴
Our food safety evaluation process. Rates of foodborne illness and intoxication is far lower here than even in other first world countries. The U.S. is still one of the only countries that doesn't have washing produce bought at a market as a common practice in households.
This post was meant to be encouraging the US, but somehow it ended up again as bashing the US 🤷🏼♂️😀
Every time BP makes a US-centric post like this, no matter the title, it's arranged in a way to wind up as many people as possible, and to set people against each other. Even the title - "Things US does best" - is absolutely designed to get people arguing.
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Wow, some of these people really don’t know how positivity works. The whole point of this article is to appreciate the things the US does well and instead 90% of the comments are just complaining about things we don’t do well. There’s a time and a place for that, and it’s not here. Some of us are trying to be optimistic about the future.
Saying anything remotely positive about the US on this site is a good way to whip people into a frenzy.
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It’s good to see an article that’s positive rather than bragging about what your nation is great at. We all have things to be proud of, some of my nation’s positives align with those of the U.S., and we should be able to say ‘look at who we are, look beyond the media negativity and look what’s awesome here’. I’ve been lucky to have travelled a bit around the world and my time in the U.S. was only filled with beautiful scenery, great experiences and a respect for the people I crossed paths with, a truly positive time! Yes, there’s less than great stuff, anywhere that has humans is saddled with that but we need to celebrate our wins and enjoy the differences that make this a fascinating and enjoyable planet to live on. PS Jazz and blues ❤️❤️😀
As an American, I would like to say thank you. I whole heartedly agree we should celebrate our differences. I wish SO much to travel more abroad. I was in the UK. Lovely people, great history, and just an overall life-changing experience. Some of the list is not totally accurate, and I think some people are thinking this list means this is what the US does, and we are so much better than y’all. NO one is better than the next person. We all have different things we see as important based on culture, and socialization. Every country has good, and bad. People can be good or bad. Regardless of nationality. The media does not give a full picture. Hollywood depicts a lot of New York City and California. These areas are NOTHING like where I live. I live in Kentucky, and the show Justified, although pretty good, absolutely does NOT show how I live or who I am as a person. Sorry long response, my soapbox.
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The same way a lot of butthurt Americans flock to the comments when there is criticism, a lot of people in the comments here are like "we have that too" or "that's not better". Will y'all learn to relax and try to be more appreciative. As a European with an American partner, there are two things they do REALLY well: national parks and being genuinely friendly.
Americans are definitely friendly and we inject so much energy/enthusiasm into anything we do. But, somehow that just gets lost when it comes to civic duty, togetherness, and learning about the world outside (not from a doco). For many of us that left the US the biggest mind blow was realising how much misinformation we were fed about the outside world and how obsessed US culture is about being seen as ‘the best’ without genuinely earning it. I find myself being a commenter on many of these posts, it’s not because I hate my homeland but it’s out disappointment. I am an optimist though and I feel the US is entering into a new phase. As we would have all experienced, growth and change arise from discomfort and epiphanies.
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See, that's what sucks about BP. They know that this is a highly controversial topic in this community, but they think it's Ok to publish it without fixing their stupid auto mod system first (based on downvoting/suspending accounts), yeah thanks for that! I mean it's obvious that this topic will cause fights and downvotes but not everyone voicing an unpopular opion deserves to be banned from the site.
Born and raised in the US. Have been on exchange to France and Germany for a month each time. There are very few things that can be applied equally to the entire US. We are more like the EU than we are a unified country. Cultures vary from region to region, as do habits, accents, laws, mannerisms, values, beliefs, political stances, etc.
I feel like many of the commenters might benefit from watching any constructively critical media and discover some not so great aspects of the "great" parts of the US. Like, watch John Oliver and see if the racism is really gone. Or how the farmers are being f*d over so as to produce as much as possible. Or how the capitalist treatment hurts a great many people for the few it catapults to the top. These posts just seem sooo one-sided to me.
Uh, you base your beliefs of 333million people based on John Oliver? He just won an Emmy not a Peabody.
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I feel like some of this list was made by people who have never travelled or even learned about any country outside of the US.. though some entries of course make sense. Every country has its thing that its proud of, but some of this just.. wasn't really all that true.
Pro-US thread: huge amount of pettiness and off-topic bashing. Pro-Europe thread: US citizen, "yes, it's a lovely place and really appreciate that about your continent!" Ironic that even posts about Americans being nice people gets hated on.
To be fair when other countries, say Britain, get a turn you do get a lot of 'we do that too in *particular state in the US* - seems to be something people can't stop themselves doing. Honestly, I've seen it a lot on here.
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The article wasn’t about what makes the US unique nor was it about that they do it the absolute best. The title is what the US does BETTER than MOST countries and everyone here seems to be like me me me. My country is the best (doubtful)! I hate the US, but generally don’t know what I’m talking about! I’m sure many of you that bash Americans for not having visited Europe have never visited the US either. Clearly the people being nice is a truth. Some of y’all need to find something better to do with your time. Like, maybe bashing the problems in your own country. Because yours has them. I promise you.
You’re absolutely right. I feel that this viewpoint comes from a deep and profound ignorance, which is increased by consuming the sort of garbage this website produces. It’s quite weird that a Lithuanian website cares so much about spreading US-related misinformation. The US obviously has big problems, but pretending that Europe is some form of utopia is equally if not more incorrect.
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Ok can we acknowledge Asian countries? The world is bigger that america and Europe. And 2nd of all, it says things that us does better than the world. Not that the world doesn’t have it. And for every good thing you don’t have to shoot it down. Just accept it, america has goods and bads.
Considering BP, are you sure you want this? lol I def agree though. It would be nice if BP moved away from the lifted AITA , "This Is What These People Said Was The Worst Part About Their Vacation To..." , and Disney Princess stuff and moved out into just showing us how others live, work, etc without any of the descriptive BETTER titles. I see many similarities between various cultures and wouldn't it be nice to see those things instead of a picture of a can of cheese most Americans don't use being listed as a cultural accomplishment (probably in a joking matter on the original post)
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some things reaaally Sound sarcastic but also.. americans thinking that stuff that is common in other countries is "unique" in the US is such an american view on things, i feel.
But they aren't aren't claiming to be 'unique', they are claiming to be 'better'. While I agree not all the posts are valid, some thing like national parks, are much better in the USA than in many other countries.
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Thanks for throwing the US and America a bone, BP, after all the complaints I read and saw yesterday ( and the years I've been here) from fed up Americans about the the constant antagonism and negative hateful "Articles" bashing them. Keep it up!
I'm not a Pollyanna about the U.S. but I promised myself to quit reading Pandas anti American hate stirring. I thought this might be different so I started reading it. Wrong! It should be titled " more chances to bash America. "
50 years ago, the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam war movement made it look like the US was not only rich, but rich enough to afford morality. We elected Mr. Nice Guy Jimmy Carter. But then the economy deteriorated and the Iranians demonstrated how hated we were, and the mood shifted to “why bother?” There’s nothing exceptionally American about that: Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Italy, the Philippines, etc. have all allowed assholes rise to the top political offices. But America had a clearer choice to a better path but veered into militarism and provincialism.
I think the title of this post was unfair. The US - like every other country has fantastic things to be proud of and celebrate. However, the title saying 'better than most other countries...' riles people. This should have been a nice article for US folks for a change. I'm British but love many things about the states and people being super friendly tops the list!
This article did not disappoint with the amount of anti-US comments, as usual. Why even generate these threads? How about what does (insert European/Asian/African/etc country here) do better? These threads just always devolve into American-bashing.
Should have been restricted to comments from people from countries other than the USA. Too many "we" and "here". Doesn't anyone from another country, other than Canada, have anything nice to say about the USA?
The number 1 thing America/USA is the absolute best at, is capitalism and upholding patriarchy. Well done. 👍🏼
I can't believe the absolute best is not mentioned! PORN!
This list is, I don’t know, sad? It’s like the writers are only vaguely aware of some European countries and totally forgot about countries like Australia, New Zealand…
Oh yesss, fellow aussie.... I generally avoid these type of articles cause basically I don't really care about the whole US vs Europe t?hing..... More interested in what we have in common rather than what sets us apart.... Just wish there was more southern hemisphere/ east asian stuff on here! ( and there's more to Australia than bloody dangerous animals!)
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A list showing how some people are completely ignorant of the rest of the world. Sad.
Lol! On every post the top comment was a “yeah but, we do that too, or better in x country.”
I don't know who wrote this post but i have a very strong suspicion that he/she is not traveling much outside USA.
American here: a lot of these things made me realize that the US isn’t so bad after all.
Yall this is a general 'what does the US do better than most countries' not a 'what does the US do better than the UK'or 'what does the US do better than Japan'. If there are 5 countries that have the same thing the US does. That still leaves 190 countries that don't
Also, it's 'what does the US do better' not 'what is exclusively a US thing'
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Y'know, there's this really odd perception that the US doesn't admit its mistakes. As with any nation, the US has its rah-rah-we're-best types. We also have many who protest against the problems here in the US ---- protests against police violence, against white supremacy, against misogyny shaped as anti-abortion legislation, etc. You don't hear it that often, b/c "If it bleeds, it leads". That's why Americans have a skewed view of other nations ---- "France is always on strike, that's all they do" is one example that comes to mind. So, please, if you think the US is arrogant, just remember your own nation's history very carefully, okay? And if you think the US is "weird", think of what it is to people from other nations to hear you can get a sheep's head as fast food. Your normal will always b e weird to someone else. Can we try to get along now? Thank you.
So, for example, we see "Protest against police violence" but you'll read "Police kill blacks!" in your country. We don't hear about why there are strikes gong on in France, only the bad parts of the strike.
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From a Lithuanian website? No. BP is notorious for US-bashing, even when those bashing the US are from nations with their own share of evils and oddities (to outsiders).
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Are we not going to talk about American candy? Why don't other countries have grape flavour candy? It's the best!
Wow… some of these comments were incredibly rude. All people were trying to do were point out things the US does that’s positive and likable or that not many other countries do. And for some reason people still had to be negative and talk about things that the US does poorly…which is entirely not the point
"Does better then others" - it's all in the eye of the beholder. Do we find certain things as important as other people? No - it is different for many of us. I'd say one thing the US does better then other countries: Influence the world. The US has a huge impact on things. Now I don't like that influence, and often I feel it's not a good thing, but the US sure is better at it.
Without America, there would be no blues, jazz or gospel music, which all led the way to everything popular today (except electronica). Thanks America. But don't forget that those three genres were directly influenced by slavery and Jim Crow.
You know on a lot of those bored panda posts about why Europe is better than the US, I see comments that are like “why all the America-bashing?”. Now they finally have a post about why the US is good, and all the comments seem bent on bashing the US and contradicting the post. Boredpanda is going to do what the people want, and rn the people seem to want to hate on the US.
They don't have any idea what people want. They put any old c**p on here and all that counts is if people look at it. Which we just have. And there are plenty of snarky people on both sides.
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They all missed the most obvious and overlooked thing we do better here in the U.S. . Crazy.... Turn on the news, pick up a newspaper or just walk out your front door. I guarantee that no matter where you are from, no one does crazy better then Americans. Every single day I'm surprised by another random act of public stupidity that shakes my faith in humanity as a whole and makes me wonder "WTF was that guy thinking?!?" And I love it
I would say patriotism, never seen people so proud about their country, and for me is a good thing.
Everyone stand up for a heart tugging rendition of "America the Beautiful!!!! There's a tear in my beer!!
How about "ego"? Most things on this list aren't exclusive to the U.S. Some are even done better in other countries.
Never said exclusive. Simply what they do better than most countries.
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Movies. Music. Diversity in ppl, food, culture, types of land and its features ( Everglades, intertidal, swamps, deserts, year round sun/snow.... ski, surf, quad rides in the desert or horse rides on the beach, forests, woodlands, sheer number beaches and coastal land, farms, tropical, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes ). Friendliness of the average citizen. National, state and local parks and museums. Space exploration. International policeman, sometimes to our detriment. Amusement parks. Entertainment in general. Islands. Territories ( Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Marshall Island etc ). Food production. Aeronautics. Military weapons. Freedoms, of speech, assembly, religion, gender equality, orientation. sexual
The US would be more convincing as international policeman if it signed up to the International Criminal Court instead of, as Bill Bailey said, bombing everyone who didn't send you a Christmas card. Although admittedly, mindless violence is pretty close to domestic American policing methods.
Load More Replies... This showed how all the cliches are true about the US. Also how the US is a culture of consumption. By the way: the US is first at producing waste.
....yes, america is better than the rest of the world for somethings. And it's the same the other way around. The other countries can be better than America too, with different stuff. But i's clear that some of them never left America. I mean, for exemple, they are not the only one with free toilets or parking lot with places for disabled people.
Jesus Christ the post isn't about what's unique, it's about what's better? Sure, those can be up for debate, but don't miss the point of the post.
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That's certainly the best thing if you love America's enormous murder rate - five times higher per capita than any EU nation (and the UK).
Load More Replies... This post was meant to be encouraging the US, but somehow it ended up again as bashing the US 🤷🏼♂️😀
Every time BP makes a US-centric post like this, no matter the title, it's arranged in a way to wind up as many people as possible, and to set people against each other. Even the title - "Things US does best" - is absolutely designed to get people arguing.
Load More Replies... Wow, some of these people really don’t know how positivity works. The whole point of this article is to appreciate the things the US does well and instead 90% of the comments are just complaining about things we don’t do well. There’s a time and a place for that, and it’s not here. Some of us are trying to be optimistic about the future.
Saying anything remotely positive about the US on this site is a good way to whip people into a frenzy.
Load More Replies... It’s good to see an article that’s positive rather than bragging about what your nation is great at. We all have things to be proud of, some of my nation’s positives align with those of the U.S., and we should be able to say ‘look at who we are, look beyond the media negativity and look what’s awesome here’. I’ve been lucky to have travelled a bit around the world and my time in the U.S. was only filled with beautiful scenery, great experiences and a respect for the people I crossed paths with, a truly positive time! Yes, there’s less than great stuff, anywhere that has humans is saddled with that but we need to celebrate our wins and enjoy the differences that make this a fascinating and enjoyable planet to live on. PS Jazz and blues ❤️❤️😀
As an American, I would like to say thank you. I whole heartedly agree we should celebrate our differences. I wish SO much to travel more abroad. I was in the UK. Lovely people, great history, and just an overall life-changing experience. Some of the list is not totally accurate, and I think some people are thinking this list means this is what the US does, and we are so much better than y’all. NO one is better than the next person. We all have different things we see as important based on culture, and socialization. Every country has good, and bad. People can be good or bad. Regardless of nationality. The media does not give a full picture. Hollywood depicts a lot of New York City and California. These areas are NOTHING like where I live. I live in Kentucky, and the show Justified, although pretty good, absolutely does NOT show how I live or who I am as a person. Sorry long response, my soapbox.
Load More Replies... The same way a lot of butthurt Americans flock to the comments when there is criticism, a lot of people in the comments here are like "we have that too" or "that's not better". Will y'all learn to relax and try to be more appreciative. As a European with an American partner, there are two things they do REALLY well: national parks and being genuinely friendly.
Americans are definitely friendly and we inject so much energy/enthusiasm into anything we do. But, somehow that just gets lost when it comes to civic duty, togetherness, and learning about the world outside (not from a doco). For many of us that left the US the biggest mind blow was realising how much misinformation we were fed about the outside world and how obsessed US culture is about being seen as ‘the best’ without genuinely earning it. I find myself being a commenter on many of these posts, it’s not because I hate my homeland but it’s out disappointment. I am an optimist though and I feel the US is entering into a new phase. As we would have all experienced, growth and change arise from discomfort and epiphanies.
Load More Replies... See, that's what sucks about BP. They know that this is a highly controversial topic in this community, but they think it's Ok to publish it without fixing their stupid auto mod system first (based on downvoting/suspending accounts), yeah thanks for that! I mean it's obvious that this topic will cause fights and downvotes but not everyone voicing an unpopular opion deserves to be banned from the site.
Born and raised in the US. Have been on exchange to France and Germany for a month each time. There are very few things that can be applied equally to the entire US. We are more like the EU than we are a unified country. Cultures vary from region to region, as do habits, accents, laws, mannerisms, values, beliefs, political stances, etc.
I feel like many of the commenters might benefit from watching any constructively critical media and discover some not so great aspects of the "great" parts of the US. Like, watch John Oliver and see if the racism is really gone. Or how the farmers are being f*d over so as to produce as much as possible. Or how the capitalist treatment hurts a great many people for the few it catapults to the top. These posts just seem sooo one-sided to me.
Uh, you base your beliefs of 333million people based on John Oliver? He just won an Emmy not a Peabody.
Load More Replies... I feel like some of this list was made by people who have never travelled or even learned about any country outside of the US.. though some entries of course make sense. Every country has its thing that its proud of, but some of this just.. wasn't really all that true.
Pro-US thread: huge amount of pettiness and off-topic bashing. Pro-Europe thread: US citizen, "yes, it's a lovely place and really appreciate that about your continent!" Ironic that even posts about Americans being nice people gets hated on.
To be fair when other countries, say Britain, get a turn you do get a lot of 'we do that too in *particular state in the US* - seems to be something people can't stop themselves doing. Honestly, I've seen it a lot on here.
Load More Replies... The article wasn’t about what makes the US unique nor was it about that they do it the absolute best. The title is what the US does BETTER than MOST countries and everyone here seems to be like me me me. My country is the best (doubtful)! I hate the US, but generally don’t know what I’m talking about! I’m sure many of you that bash Americans for not having visited Europe have never visited the US either. Clearly the people being nice is a truth. Some of y’all need to find something better to do with your time. Like, maybe bashing the problems in your own country. Because yours has them. I promise you.
You’re absolutely right. I feel that this viewpoint comes from a deep and profound ignorance, which is increased by consuming the sort of garbage this website produces. It’s quite weird that a Lithuanian website cares so much about spreading US-related misinformation. The US obviously has big problems, but pretending that Europe is some form of utopia is equally if not more incorrect.
Load More Replies... Ok can we acknowledge Asian countries? The world is bigger that america and Europe. And 2nd of all, it says things that us does better than the world. Not that the world doesn’t have it. And for every good thing you don’t have to shoot it down. Just accept it, america has goods and bads.
Considering BP, are you sure you want this? lol I def agree though. It would be nice if BP moved away from the lifted AITA , "This Is What These People Said Was The Worst Part About Their Vacation To..." , and Disney Princess stuff and moved out into just showing us how others live, work, etc without any of the descriptive BETTER titles. I see many similarities between various cultures and wouldn't it be nice to see those things instead of a picture of a can of cheese most Americans don't use being listed as a cultural accomplishment (probably in a joking matter on the original post)
Load More Replies... some things reaaally Sound sarcastic but also.. americans thinking that stuff that is common in other countries is "unique" in the US is such an american view on things, i feel.
But they aren't aren't claiming to be 'unique', they are claiming to be 'better'. While I agree not all the posts are valid, some thing like national parks, are much better in the USA than in many other countries.
Load More Replies... Thanks for throwing the US and America a bone, BP, after all the complaints I read and saw yesterday ( and the years I've been here) from fed up Americans about the the constant antagonism and negative hateful "Articles" bashing them. Keep it up!
I'm not a Pollyanna about the U.S. but I promised myself to quit reading Pandas anti American hate stirring. I thought this might be different so I started reading it. Wrong! It should be titled " more chances to bash America. "
50 years ago, the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam war movement made it look like the US was not only rich, but rich enough to afford morality. We elected Mr. Nice Guy Jimmy Carter. But then the economy deteriorated and the Iranians demonstrated how hated we were, and the mood shifted to “why bother?” There’s nothing exceptionally American about that: Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Italy, the Philippines, etc. have all allowed assholes rise to the top political offices. But America had a clearer choice to a better path but veered into militarism and provincialism.
I think the title of this post was unfair. The US - like every other country has fantastic things to be proud of and celebrate. However, the title saying 'better than most other countries...' riles people. This should have been a nice article for US folks for a change. I'm British but love many things about the states and people being super friendly tops the list!
This article did not disappoint with the amount of anti-US comments, as usual. Why even generate these threads? How about what does (insert European/Asian/African/etc country here) do better? These threads just always devolve into American-bashing.
Should have been restricted to comments from people from countries other than the USA. Too many "we" and "here". Doesn't anyone from another country, other than Canada, have anything nice to say about the USA?
The number 1 thing America/USA is the absolute best at, is capitalism and upholding patriarchy. Well done. 👍🏼
I can't believe the absolute best is not mentioned! PORN!
This list is, I don’t know, sad? It’s like the writers are only vaguely aware of some European countries and totally forgot about countries like Australia, New Zealand…
Oh yesss, fellow aussie.... I generally avoid these type of articles cause basically I don't really care about the whole US vs Europe t?hing..... More interested in what we have in common rather than what sets us apart.... Just wish there was more southern hemisphere/ east asian stuff on here! ( and there's more to Australia than bloody dangerous animals!)
Load More Replies... A list showing how some people are completely ignorant of the rest of the world. Sad.
Lol! On every post the top comment was a “yeah but, we do that too, or better in x country.”
I don't know who wrote this post but i have a very strong suspicion that he/she is not traveling much outside USA.
American here: a lot of these things made me realize that the US isn’t so bad after all.
Yall this is a general 'what does the US do better than most countries' not a 'what does the US do better than the UK'or 'what does the US do better than Japan'. If there are 5 countries that have the same thing the US does. That still leaves 190 countries that don't
Also, it's 'what does the US do better' not 'what is exclusively a US thing'
Load More Replies... Y'know, there's this really odd perception that the US doesn't admit its mistakes. As with any nation, the US has its rah-rah-we're-best types. We also have many who protest against the problems here in the US ---- protests against police violence, against white supremacy, against misogyny shaped as anti-abortion legislation, etc. You don't hear it that often, b/c "If it bleeds, it leads". That's why Americans have a skewed view of other nations ---- "France is always on strike, that's all they do" is one example that comes to mind. So, please, if you think the US is arrogant, just remember your own nation's history very carefully, okay? And if you think the US is "weird", think of what it is to people from other nations to hear you can get a sheep's head as fast food. Your normal will always b e weird to someone else. Can we try to get along now? Thank you.
So, for example, we see "Protest against police violence" but you'll read "Police kill blacks!" in your country. We don't hear about why there are strikes gong on in France, only the bad parts of the strike.
Load More Replies... From a Lithuanian website? No. BP is notorious for US-bashing, even when those bashing the US are from nations with their own share of evils and oddities (to outsiders).
Load More Replies... Are we not going to talk about American candy? Why don't other countries have grape flavour candy? It's the best!
Wow… some of these comments were incredibly rude. All people were trying to do were point out things the US does that’s positive and likable or that not many other countries do. And for some reason people still had to be negative and talk about things that the US does poorly…which is entirely not the point
"Does better then others" - it's all in the eye of the beholder. Do we find certain things as important as other people? No - it is different for many of us. I'd say one thing the US does better then other countries: Influence the world. The US has a huge impact on things. Now I don't like that influence, and often I feel it's not a good thing, but the US sure is better at it.
Without America, there would be no blues, jazz or gospel music, which all led the way to everything popular today (except electronica). Thanks America. But don't forget that those three genres were directly influenced by slavery and Jim Crow.
You know on a lot of those bored panda posts about why Europe is better than the US, I see comments that are like “why all the America-bashing?”. Now they finally have a post about why the US is good, and all the comments seem bent on bashing the US and contradicting the post. Boredpanda is going to do what the people want, and rn the people seem to want to hate on the US.
They don't have any idea what people want. They put any old c**p on here and all that counts is if people look at it. Which we just have. And there are plenty of snarky people on both sides.
Load More Replies... They all missed the most obvious and overlooked thing we do better here in the U.S. . Crazy.... Turn on the news, pick up a newspaper or just walk out your front door. I guarantee that no matter where you are from, no one does crazy better then Americans. Every single day I'm surprised by another random act of public stupidity that shakes my faith in humanity as a whole and makes me wonder "WTF was that guy thinking?!?" And I love it
I would say patriotism, never seen people so proud about their country, and for me is a good thing.
Everyone stand up for a heart tugging rendition of "America the Beautiful!!!! There's a tear in my beer!!
How about "ego"? Most things on this list aren't exclusive to the U.S. Some are even done better in other countries.
Never said exclusive. Simply what they do better than most countries.
Load More Replies... Movies. Music. Diversity in ppl, food, culture, types of land and its features ( Everglades, intertidal, swamps, deserts, year round sun/snow.... ski, surf, quad rides in the desert or horse rides on the beach, forests, woodlands, sheer number beaches and coastal land, farms, tropical, tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes ). Friendliness of the average citizen. National, state and local parks and museums. Space exploration. International policeman, sometimes to our detriment. Amusement parks. Entertainment in general. Islands. Territories ( Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Marshall Island etc ). Food production. Aeronautics. Military weapons. Freedoms, of speech, assembly, religion, gender equality, orientation. sexual
The US would be more convincing as international policeman if it signed up to the International Criminal Court instead of, as Bill Bailey said, bombing everyone who didn't send you a Christmas card. Although admittedly, mindless violence is pretty close to domestic American policing methods.
Load More Replies... This showed how all the cliches are true about the US. Also how the US is a culture of consumption. By the way: the US is first at producing waste.
....yes, america is better than the rest of the world for somethings. And it's the same the other way around. The other countries can be better than America too, with different stuff. But i's clear that some of them never left America. I mean, for exemple, they are not the only one with free toilets or parking lot with places for disabled people.
Jesus Christ the post isn't about what's unique, it's about what's better? Sure, those can be up for debate, but don't miss the point of the post.
Load More Replies... That's certainly the best thing if you love America's enormous murder rate - five times higher per capita than any EU nation (and the UK).
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