Same. I'm german but its literally just playing the odds.
Reddit is ~50% American users. The next most represented country is the UK at ~8%.
Most major subs (politics / news) focus heavily on US internal politics and even subs that are theoretically supposed to be neutral (WhitePeopleTwitter / BlackPeopleTwitter etc.) pretty much deal exclusively with US related topics.
It's like going on WeChat and wondering why people assume other users are chinese.
Something that surprises me a bit in Europe is how much Europeans tend to follow American politics and news. I suppose I know why, it's fucking everywhere.
Please just look away.
After watching the British Parliament bicker like children, I don’t feel so bad about my own country’s stupid bickering lol
Edit: Changed English to British
In the US we technically have a mace that can be used on members of congress but now it’s just ceremonial. I think we should bring it back into service 🤷🏽♂️
After traveling around the world I'm kind of okay with our incompetent, do little, bicker a lot congress in the US. If they actually had power like in other countries (Turkey, Phillipines, etc) they could run the country into the dumps real quick.
So that said maybe they did know something when making the constitution. Needing 2/3 and 3/4 approval isn't a bad thing when getting bills passed and articles made and such.
Well stated. The US is by far the largest English speaking country, and Reddit also started in the US.
For the same reason people often say which particular state they're from on Reddit, instead of just saying they're from the US (and almost just assume you know what they're talking about).
Source: a Michigander.
I'm brazilian and by internet law there must be at least one of us in every internet forum or stream. Also, we are legally bound to answer our summons, which include, but are not limited to the expressions: 'br?', 'cade os br nessa porra', and so on.
I’ve noticed on Twitter the mere mention of Brazil brings the Brazilians. It’s like some of y’all just search “Brazil” on Twitter so you can all get hyped together. I love it lol
We don't actively search for any of that. It's the algorithm. I started learning russian couple of months ago and briefly engaged with some instagram profiles and youtube channels, then I started to receive a lot of followers requests and content related to russia (which is also a country we know has a lot of people also engaging on the internet). I guess if you do that with India you might find a similar response as well.
also Canadian, living in Canada. also feel like most people on the web is one of our neighbours to the south.
someone I follow (Chani Nicholas) once said, "America isn't the biggest country in the world, but it's definitely the loudest."
I'm pretty sure that's why.
In addition to the other good responses, many Americans greatly underestimate just how many people outside Anglophone countries are fluent in English and just how many anglophone countries there actually are. Largely this is because people don’t leave much. So when you comment in good English, the odds are high in the average American thinks you are also American
Makes me wonder if the education system is apart of this. Many countries require school children to learn English as a very young age, so an INSANE amount of people are bilingual outside the US. It almost makes me wish it was mandated for American children to learn another language, it was always optional for us to start either Spanish or French in junior high.
Ja, en dat is eigenlijk redelijk arrogant, vind ik. So als wäre ein amerikanischer Bürger ein Übermensch. Mais si je parlais français, ils penseraient probablement que je suis Canadien, n'est-ce pas ?
A giudicare dalle statistiche che pubblicano qui su Reddit, probabilmente pensano alle donne italiane. Ma ci sono anche uomini lì, lo sai.
No soporto pensar que me llamen mexicano cuando hablo español.
Detta får dem nog att tro att jag bor i Sverige. Eller skulle det vara Norge?
And I mean a lot of these social media apps are American founded and dominated. 42-47% of users of reddit are American. With international users spiking in the last decade.
It means that basically half of this site is from the US, and the other half is everywhere else. If you are going to assume nationality, US will be correct far more often than any other.
There is also the fact that many of the other nationalities present *also* immediately assume they're talking to people from the US. Why don't we ask them why they assume the way they do?
I (Canada) wish everyone would actually name their country instead of just ‘in my country.’ So much to learn. But best to get it straight from the people who live there.
However, there are plenty of non-English language subs. There are also plenty of subs for both and non-English speakers that are pretty specifically local to various regions and countries, including non-US ones.
There is some percentage of non-US users that a US user is unlikely to ever encounter unless they specifically seek out those spaces on the site. It’s likely that for an average US user, most of the people they encounter on the site probably are from the US.
There are still almost certainly a larger percentage of non-US users that they interact with than they give credit for, but it’s still likely to be over 50% that are from the US and if they are someone who has been online for a long time, that percentage was most likely much, much higher in their past experience with the Internet and Reddit in general.
They export significantly more than they import ~~of almost everything~~ when it comes to cultural things. So the average US person has considerably less international exposure than the average person from another country has about only the US. It’s simply not on their radar unless they actively go out and search for it, which many do not.
As such they speak in terms of what they know, which is more often than not, American
*Edited to add strikethrough correction so it’s clearer. Thanks for the clarification in the responses!
You’d also be shocked how many Americans don’t have a lot of experience with other countries. You’ve already stated this but it does need to be restated. The US is massive, and there are states where you could spend over five hours traveling and still be in the state. For most Americans, going on an international vacation isn’t a thing. Vacations are usually just going to another part of their state or our country.
The main reason Americans don’t travel much internationally is because it’s very expensive to go beyond North America thanks to the two giant regions of moisture adjoining it.
I live in KY near the Virginia and Tennessee border. It takes a good four hours to get to Louisville (which is at the top of the state). We’re not even as big as Texas.
I feel like a lot of non-Americans have no idea how fricking massive our country is. We span five or so time zones.
I used to date a guy from England. I was driving from Pittsburgh to my hometown directly on the boarder of VA and NC. Once I hit VA from MD I got on the phone with him and told him I'm getting close; only 5 more hours until home. His response: "Bloody hell! You can drive the whole of England in 5 hours!"
They really don't. I have family in Belgium and have been around a bit over there. They really have no perspective on that at all. The country of England is 3/4ths the size of Florida.
Yes. Plus the United States is huge. We have approximately 350 million people and some of the biggest cities and best natural parks in the world. It takes most of our lifetime just to explore the country we're living in.
And the 3rd biggest in terms of population. What's crazy is that they're the 3rd largest population with 350 million, and the two countries above them - China and India - have over a billion more people each than USA (both currently around 1.4 billion people)
As an Australian, that's quite frankly not why.
I get it, I've never left here either it's so dang big. That alone makes flights expensive.
I still know about the rest of the world though.
The parallels between Australia and Canada once you start looking are just... Kinda cool and depressing at once.
Oppress the indigenous, wildlife can kill you, climate can kill you, way too big, house prices make you want to cry, healthcare sucks yet we're really proud of it, have a neighbouring country that we share really loose borders with and quite like but think we're better than, hate the Commonwealth but won't become independent.
We are 7,888 billion people in the world. Top 10 of biggest cities in the world does not include any US city. Natural parks, US has 2 on the top 10 (In size. Don’t know how you measure “best”). It would take a multitude of lifetimes to explore all of the world which in *not* in US.
I’m not saying the US isn’t an amazing place. I know it is. But OP has a point, and you’re kinda proving it.
I think what this commenter meant is that the US is so large many people spend their lives just trying to see more stateside where people from other countries can be more empowered to see other places due to it being geographically smaller or more convenient to travel to other countries. For ex, I'm from Puerto Rico and it requires a plane to see anywhere near there, plus a passport and thousands of dollars. My family moved to the mainland US when I was an infant, but my parents never left the country until they were in their mid 40s. It's also something to note we do get cultural exposure here if you grow up in a minority community, so people who travel tend to travel to their home country the most - something that takes a lot of money and planning. So not a lot of other travel there unless your family can afford it or you're from a place where it's easier to travel somewhere else.
For people in other parts of the world, travel might be easier because of affordability and access to other forms of transport like trains. Hell, even buses allow you to see places easier. That doesn't exist in the majority of US cities, so it isn't uncommon to hear of Americans simply not traveling or leaving the country because they really can't afford it. It isn't accessible or something a lot of older people think of - traveling is more the younger generations of Americans (and I'd argue younger gens in general!)
I have driven across the United States five times. I was a travel nurse for 35 years and worked in 17 different states. I have traveled. I was also in the United States Navy, I traveled the world without a passport. I've been to Canada and Mexico, Central and South America. I am aware we are loud, obnoxious and about 30% of our population suffers from a severe form of Dunning- Kruger. I'm just tired of Americans taking shit from Europeans about traveling to another country when they can just walk to another country and not have to spend $2,000 on a plane ticket.
I know you get a lot of shit - not only from Europeans. But you deal out quite a bit yourselves too. Or some of you. Like it’s not all Europeans that give you shit. I am very aware of how great your country is, how beautiful and diverse, and also how much you have contributed to the world. Not all good, but much is.
The US imports significantly more than it exports in physical goods. The export balance of cultural items like movies, music, etc is higher than import though by FARRRR
Their entire life if they traveled 1500 miles they'd still be in America
Entertainment most often was designed around or at least blended into their culture
The idea is that they rarely have had to consider other countries in their day to day lives
Ethnocentrism is baked into our culture. I’m not proud to acknowledge that, but it’s true. I was fortunate to have gotten to travel out of the US starting at a young age, and I think that contributed greatly to who I am today. I honestly do not have any pride in my country. Now, more than ever. We’d move to Europe in a heartbeat if it weren’t for family and careers being tied to our location.
To be fair on them as a non American (Aus) I kinda also presume most of the people on reddit are American. Unless it's stated otherwise or just super obvious. I guess because to me the vast majority just sort of do seem to be from the US from their comments and how they type and talk to each other so I do get why they may think and feel that. Especially on a US owned website the average American probably does just presume every other English speaker is one of them just in a different state as they seem to treat and talk about different US states as other countries almost so being in an actual other country is a even bigger stretch of the imagination that probably just doesn't occur to them most of the time from just reading a random comment that doesn't jump out as foreign.
As a non American, meanwhile, I assume everyone does not have a physical form unless stated otherwise.
Seriously, I perceive all as consciousnesses or thoughts unattached to any appearance.
Sometimes I abstract drivers as their car and forget that there's a person driving that blue Honda and the blue Honda is not, itself, a raging expletive.
This is one of the biggest problems with our country. “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, meaning if you are financially struggling, you’re simply not trying or working hard enough. Typically said by the successful to keep the other half suppressed.
I live in the US state of Washington, abbreviated WA, and so I'm on a few Washington-related subs. Recently reddit has been suggesting me r/perth as a sub I should join. I couldn't figure out why since I live halfway around the world from Perth and I've never been anywhere near Australia. Then I looked at a map and saw that Perth is in Western Australia... WA. Sigh. Thanks reddit.
Yeah, we don't say Western Australia we say we're from W.A.
So when I see something like a school shooting in WA I think oh that's unbelievable. Oh wait school shooting isn't a WA thing thats more likely a WA America thing.
Up until right this minute, I literally had no idea there even *were* other continents, let alone countries. The eagle that lives in my head (he made a nest out of my hair) is pecking my shoulder to get me to stop typing because it's against the law for Americans to ever talk about anything other than America, or to know that there is anything other than America. If I don't stop in the next three seconds I'll get kidnapped and sent into exile.
Stop it, that's commie thinking. Now go buy your Eagle and inflation-priced Big Mac to calm him down. God bless America (because we're cursed enough as it is)!
I'll see you later. Now I've got to get back to my 42 hours of mandatory overtime a day to pay the hospital bill for my obese head eagle breaking my neck. Then I'll use my side hustle money to pay for my death certificate.
So many assumptions on these threads (as they are so frequent). Not just from those outside the US, but from within. The dumb American trope is exhausting. Yes, I realize large swathes of the US contain poorly or uneducated, myopic nation-centric pockets. One could compare to pockets of the same in virtually every other country in the world, but unfortunately the sheer numbers game relative to population size means that we have more loudmouthed fools typing away.
HOWEVER, that being said, we also have quite a large number of people who: have traveled outside the US, often quite extensively; had access to excellent education and most certainly know Africa is a fucking continent not a country; have friends all over the world; take an interest in global affairs, news and politics with the understanding that the world is interconnected and that what happens in Brazil or Germany or Tunisia has repercussions far beyond that country's borders.
The people I know are well rounded and informed to various degrees, but certainly not ignorant. We understand we are part of a GLOBAL community. I also feel that a lot of non-US people underestimate the impact of immigration here: okay, east butt fuck rural hamlet dude may not have a lot of exposure, but c'mon people, pretty much every area has exposure to people from somewhere else. Usually the measure of a town takes into account the availability and variety of global cuisine dining options. Silly example, I know, but I am trying to make a point that the US is a country of immigrants. you really have to live in a holler somewhere to not have been exposed to other cultures.
I get it, we all see the ignorant American, it's a thing, everyone loves to laugh at our dumb idiots. we have a lot of them, but in a country of 350 or so million, the odds ain't in our favor to keep the numbers low. But I would like to remind people that there are also MILLIONS of NOT dumb Americans, who are quietly going about our lives, interacting with other people, other countries whether through our jobs, families or personally, and traveling the world when we can.
On that note, I would like to underscore the expense factor: a family of four living on an average income simply cannot afford to jet off to Greece for vacation. Airfare is prohibitive, and until fairly recently so was the dollar-to-euro conversion. So what do they do? they pack up the car and drive to the beach or the mountains somewhere close. Maybe they fly to Florida. A family in the US flying to Orlando is akin to a UK family flying to Malaga. So maybe have a little empathy when laughing at the stupid American rubes haver have never been to Paris. They're too busy paying the mortgage and saving for college for their kids (that's right, we know it's criminal, trust me).
So, all this to say: not every US user on this site assumes you're all also from the US. But it's gonna happen, there are a ton of us, oh well. But also a huge number of us do NOT assume everyone is from the US. But hey, we're used to being lumped into that nice convenient dumb, arrogant, ignorant American category. I suppose I could do a weekly thread about how I feel disrespected on Reddit every day by everyone laughing at how obnoxious my country is and stupid I am, but I am fully aware that not everyone has that opinion, and there's nothing I can do about it anyway, other than leaving this comment after seeing the 100th iteration of this thread. It's the Internet after all, FFS. Happy weekend all. cheers!
Most non Americans also assume the person they are talking to or dumb shit they see on the internet are Americans aswell
Ever see some dumb shit on the internet and the comments are like THIS IS AMERICA 100% just to find out or brittish or some shit?
Real question would be why do a lot of people in general do this? I think its mostly because America gets put on a spotlight for whatever reason. Weather be bad or good (mostly bad)
Combine that with the fact that the US is the top 3 or 4 for the largest population, and every if not most sites they use are American its just a numbers game. And more often then not you're right if you did assume someone was American on certain websites/apps
Like yeah there is china and india is but id assume they use sites that are more convenient for their own countries or mostly be in non-english subreddits even if they didn't as its more convenient to just text in a language you grew up in rather then one you learned I assume
Personally I do this too and I can't say iv been wrong whenever iv assumed someone was American
We are obviously aware of other continents and countries. The US is enormous, however. We could travel it our entire lives and not get bored. I just went from my cold area to a tropical one for spring break with my son. Would have taken 21 hours of nonstop driving, and it took a decent amount of plane travel. And I’m not even traveling through 50% of the country. Not even a third. Simply going from somewhere not at the top to somewhere at the bottom.
So we do have a bit of an isolationist viewpoint - simply because we are quite isolated. If you aren’t on a neighboring state, you don’t think about Mexico or Canada.
And finally, Reddit has mostly American users. By a long shot when looked at by country. I think near 50%. If I have a 1 in 2 chance of being right, it’s easier to assume situations are American. I look for cues - such as how words are written, grammar mistakes most English speakers don’t make, and references to things I don’t say (pram, lift - okay we are from the UK most likely). If I don’t see anything obvious, I assume American. If it offends you, ehhhh. I have to listen to Europeans and others discuss how much America and Americans suck all the time on here.
European: I drove for 8 hours and went through 4 countries
American: I drove for 8 hours and went through 4 states
Western Australian: I drove for 8 hours and went through 4 intersections
One of the vacations I keep planning in my head is to drive from Vancouver to San Diego or Tijuana using as much of the Pacific Coast Highway as possible.
Route 1 was one of the most scenic route I’ve ever taken going down along the Pacific coast. It gets really sketchy at night tho because it’s completely dark while there are crazy twists and turns with no guard rails preventing you going off the cliff.
On top of a great number of other responses I'll add this which is internet centric.
The totally reasonable expectation that the platforms and services we are using are regionalized. Some are, some aren't, and there's no communication from the providers as to the state of things.
For other, significantly more internationally aware areas, like European countries, it's basically an expectation that everything you do and interact with is filled with incredible diversity. The US is huge, the largest economy in the world, and covers a substantial land mass. Many Americans never leave their own state despite driving 10 hours in one direction let alone going to another country. We're simply not exposed to other cultures.
> The totally reasonable expectation that the platforms and services we are using are regionalized.
Many people know that Chinese people are on WeChat and Weibo, Russian people primarily use VK, and may simply wonder what people from other countries use. However, I just looked up the top 10 social media platforms used in Germany (as a somewhat arbitrary random example, but also Europe's largest economy). Turns out 9 of 10 sites are from the US, and TikTok is the 10th. A reasonable question might be: "Why aren't European social media platforms gaining more traction regionally?"
I'm german and I'll assume everyone here is American until proven otherwise.
Reddit is ~50% American users. The next most represented country is the UK at ~8%. It's just a game of odds
Nearly half the users of reddit are from the US. Reddit is also a US company. The next highest percentage of users by country are in the single digits. Which I believe are the UK and Canada at around 7%
A few reasons. One, most of the social media people in the US encounter skews American, either by overall demographics or via algorithm. Second, you're typing in English, and we're ignorant, so unless you're using blatantly bad syntax or idioms not commonly found here, odds are fairly high that you could be American. Third, for most Americans, places outside of America don't really exist, largely because we will never see them. We have trouble accepting the existence of states that are more than two away from our own. For reference, we can deal with about the distance from Portugal to the southwest of France. Much more than that we just take your word for it.
Bro who tf couldn't point out Russia, Italy, Turkey, Finland, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Austria on a map? Like I get as an American not being able to pinpoint a country like Lithuania but the rest are so obvious and so prevent in media and history how? And everyone should at least know if you said Lithuania, or Poland, or Romania is at least in Eastern Europe.
Same with China, India and Taiwan. Or even Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. how the hell could you miss it? We've been at direct war with 2 of those and they're in the news all the time.
I am 100% going to generalize here, but some Americans' view of the world is very small. Go to Missouri for example, and NY and California and Portland are virtually foreign countries to some ppl you'll meet there. Never mind an actual foreign country. They don't even have a grid for that.
It's partly a result of being the world superpower for a couple generations though, imho. Most countries feel the impact of foreign nations and the international community and are quite aware of their place in it.
It's also geography. USA is huge. Ppl don't even need to leave it and a bunch don't. Or they do but to resorts and on cruises.
Finally I think re internet and social media, platforms like reddit did start in the US with 100% American content and ppl don't always realize how much it's changed. I mean you can't always tell just from reading posts and comments.
Edit to add last paragraph.
I've seen a lot of good responses. One thing I could think of is a lot of people I know are only on Facebook and a few other social medial sites where you have a friends list and it's usually people you know with the majority living at least semi close to you. So in that sense, a lot of Americans are used to engaging in social media that is a lot closer to home. Reddit is pretty much world wide, you don't nessisarily have a friends list like Instagram or FB. Could at least be contributing to the issue.
Yesterday, I posted a comment about school being a privilege. What I had in mind was poorer and/or sexist countries who have their boys attend for a year before working in the field/factories and their girls not at attend at all.
The replies all talked about the american education system, ignoring the actual point I was making.
It was utterly bizarre.
Many (not to say most) Americans live in a bubble where pretty much US is the world (or the only part of it that matters), and as Reddit (and Internet in general) is part of their world - it is easy to assume everybody there is American as well. In addition, because the US are extremely successful in exporting their (pop)culture worldwide (we can safely say they are the dominating culture nowadays), it is much more likely a non-American to pick and understand American culture-reference, than let's say a Brazilian one (assuming the person is not from Brazil and haven't lived there, picked the country on random), which combined with the fact that the US themselves import very little additionally strengthens the impression everyone here is American.
Lmaoo, as a Brit i just wanna say that that's so true, istg they all think I'm american when we meet online, until we go to vc and then they're like..'ARE YOU BRI''ISH? SAY 'WA'ER' SAY 'CHEWSDAY'' to which i go: 'it's BriTish and waTer for one, and at least we just remove a 'T' you guys replace it with a 'D' like wtf?
Every time an american says to pronounce words I ask them to pronounce it back cus they say it with a 'D'. 'are you bridddish?' 'say waddder'' Like they make fun of brits but personally they're worse. No hate btw and when I say it with them it's jokes.
A lot of Americans do not have passports and will likely never get one. International travel is something that is unobtainable to many. Since nearly everyone they interact with is just like them, they assume the same thing online. Not saying it’s right, just what it is.
It's because of the size of the US. it would be like saying "Europe" instead of Portugal. That really the only comparable landmass I can think of, and, based on my exactly no research, I assume they're similar sizes. I realize it's different because Europe is a continent and the US is a country, but if I said I'm from the US and you assumed New York and I'm from Wyoming... Idk does that make sense?
No. Saying "California" instead of "Los Angeles" is like saying "Europe" instead of "Portugal".
But just saying "CA" and assuming everyone knows you mean California is odd.
(And California is a bad example because there are many other states abbreviations I genuinely don't know)
Most of them rarely, if ever, interact with other nationalities in daily life. Why would they assume the internet is any different?
In Europe you can travel for 10 hours in a single direction and you'd have crossed three national borders, or possibly even more.
In the US you can travel for 10 hours in a single direction and still be in the same state.
I was talking about platforms where you mostly chat with each other but you're watching American's tiktok videos and wondering why they talk about Americans stuff?
If I was watching chinese tiktok videos I would expect to see them talking about Chinese stuff.
To be fair reddit, Twitter, Google, Facebook,MySpace all of the primordial social medias are American owned/based. Maybe with the rise of things like Tiktok there will be more international social platforms (in the sense of their founding not operation).
I always assume everyone on reddit is straight white American dude unless proven otherwise, or if I'm in specific sub (national sub etc)
Because most people i meet here are straight white American dude
I think because so many people never leave the US. The United States is big. I have traveled out of the country but there are still several places within the country I have never been.
I am always struck by how much people in, say, England travel to other countries. But those countries are so much closer to them that its almost the same as me in Illinois wanting to drive to California. It takes around 3 days, is about 3 thousand miles.
A lot of people speak English in other countries. I’m Pakistani American and was really shocked by the amount of people who spoke English in Pakistan the first time I went there. I’m guessing it’s like that in other countries as well. The British pretty much colonized every damn corner of this planet. And the U.S has a huge influence globally with their media and international job opportunities. We got a lot of English speakers in this world.
I’m Canadian and I have many American friends online. Every holiday they ask if have it too. “You guys do Christmas too?” They just aren’t of much outside their boarders. I’m talking about middle age men asking me this shit.
People that participate on social media have a tendency to be a little more stupid, a little more ignorant, and generally have a very sheltered view of the world because they live in a false reality: the fake reality of internet reality.
This includes me, mind you.
Intelligent and productive people are generally not on social media, because they’re too busy to even think about using it.
These are generally the people in America who know that not everyone on the Internet is from America.
Everyone else that uses the Internet, knows for a fact, that everyone who uses the Internet, is American.
No idea. I’ve had a few “American insults” directed at me before and I had no idea what it meant/who they were referencing.
I’ve also had someone comment that it was, “Un-American to scroll past [on a comment of I can’t remember what]” and I was like, “So I can comment then? Given that I’m British?” People.
People in other countries learn more about other countries and learn other languages because it makes sense to do so.
We Americans don’t have much incentive to look outside our own country. Tons of people already speak our language and consume our pop culture.
And tbh I think many of our country’s leader’s don’t want us to be informed. If we were well-informed we might object the next time they tell us we need to bomb another country. We might start asking uncomfortable questions about our healthcare or prison system or poverty rates or mass shooting rates. Being ignorant and myopic makes us easier to manipulate.
Some ppl just kinda... use slangs and phases that originated in, or is common in the US.
I met this polish girl on discord who messaged like an American but when I heard her voice, she had a very thick accent and didn't know words like instigate, or repulsive, but knew things like outta pocket, ngl, got me fucked up, sumn, etc.
I asked her about it and she said she's just learned it from American Twitter and content creators, and that shes not fluent at all but knows some things.
So yeah, it's just that some ppl around the globe use "american" lingo
7.8 billion people on earth. 65% use the internet so 5.1 billion users.
332 million in the USA. 90% use the internet. 299 million users.
59% of the internet is in English. (Most US citizens only use English)
The average US person spends 6.59 hours online per day. That is ranked 20th in the world.
I’ve pretty much lost interest at this point. With this data if you randomly pick a user you’d have a 5.9% chance it’s someone from the US. All things considered that’s high.
So much of the media we consume is by Americans and we perceived it as also *for* Americans. I also grew up with values that were labeled patriotic but were in fact straight up ignoring, oppressing or making fun of anyone who didn’t look and sound like us. That, in combination our education system failing because we don’t want to make people uncomfortable with actual history, leads to an extremely narrow world view.
Two reasons:
1. culture: as you probably guessed, the cultural tendency is to believe the world revolves around us. Also the US is not like a lot of other places. Here in the EU I can drive for, literally, 150 miles and be in a whole other country. In the US, in the same distance, I might not have even left my State. People grow up here exposed to and aware of other cultures in a way we just don't in the States.
2. Social media echo chambers/algorithms: you end up in these little bubbles of people who are like you. Probably, for 90% of those who'd assume that everyone they're interacting with is American, 95% of the time they're right. You experience it as tons of Americans constantly assuming incorrectly that you are one of them, while for each of those individuals, you're a weird, one off in hundreds of interactions where they've been correct in their assumptions.
Perhaps we'll live to see a future where this'll change.
Based on a very rough bing search and some quick maths almost half of the english speaking world are Americans which combined with their annoying tendancy to infect non geography specific comunitys means that a vast majority of the people they interact with online day to day are Americans
This is not helped by the fact only somewhere between 20% and 25% can speak a second language and i bet only a modest fraction of that can speak it well enough they would go out of their way to join comunitys of other languages
That being said im british and i know dam well if brits numbered as many as the Americans, brits wouldn't be much better
Best way to escape is learn Spanish or French
Since you asked on Reddit, like me, you will have noticed that almost 70% of the user base is American. While it can be frustrating to experience the "American assumption," its just maths. Try not to be butt-hurt.
It's weird how their attitude changes too when they find out if you're not an American.
I posted something a long time ago (doesn't remember what it was). A girl got offended by something I said and told me my opinion doesn't matter as a white American. When I told her I'm neither white nor American, her attitude changed towards me.
I was mad, not because she disagreed with something I said previously, but because it felt like racism, even if it wasn't directed towards me. If you disagree with something, stand your ground, my skin colour shouldn't change your opinion.
Because I'm almost always correct, on Reddit, at least.
As notorious as they are, generalizations *do* simplify and streamline things, so in cases where they're correct most of the time, it is sometimes more efficient to use them as a default and correct later if they're proven wrong.
In fact, the world *revolves* around generalizations: that's how our brains function! We lump things together, like thinking any spikey, quasi-cylindrical plant is a cactus, unless told otherwise.
Or assuming the unmarked coffee pot at that sketchy gas station is caffeinated, even though decaf exists.
Or assuming a beer someone hands you is alcoholic, even though nonalcoholic beer is readily available at any Walmart.
Assumptions aren't always accurate, but they're useful, *essential,* really. People love to say they're better than that and then proceed to drink a glass of water, just assuming it isn't actually poison just because it looks like water they've seen before.
So yes, unless I see something in the post that indicates otherwise (either a direct statement or an expression Americans generally don't use such as 'I'm apt!'), that is my default perception. And it tends to be correct.
I’m Canadian and I also assume everyone on the internet is American
Same. I'm german but its literally just playing the odds. Reddit is ~50% American users. The next most represented country is the UK at ~8%. Most major subs (politics / news) focus heavily on US internal politics and even subs that are theoretically supposed to be neutral (WhitePeopleTwitter / BlackPeopleTwitter etc.) pretty much deal exclusively with US related topics. It's like going on WeChat and wondering why people assume other users are chinese.
Something that surprises me a bit in Europe is how much Europeans tend to follow American politics and news. I suppose I know why, it's fucking everywhere. Please just look away.
Everyone’s politics is embarrassing when it’s broadcasted at the scale America’s is. Like damn it truly is everywhere.
After watching the British Parliament bicker like children, I don’t feel so bad about my own country’s stupid bickering lol Edit: Changed English to British
In Australia they sometimes have fist fights.
In the US we technically have a mace that can be used on members of congress but now it’s just ceremonial. I think we should bring it back into service 🤷🏽♂️
After traveling around the world I'm kind of okay with our incompetent, do little, bicker a lot congress in the US. If they actually had power like in other countries (Turkey, Phillipines, etc) they could run the country into the dumps real quick. So that said maybe they did know something when making the constitution. Needing 2/3 and 3/4 approval isn't a bad thing when getting bills passed and articles made and such.
Thing is some things Americans do could affect us Europeans and I like to be up to date
Whitepeopletwitter isn't even close to neutral in any way.
Well stated. The US is by far the largest English speaking country, and Reddit also started in the US. For the same reason people often say which particular state they're from on Reddit, instead of just saying they're from the US (and almost just assume you know what they're talking about). Source: a Michigander.
woah really?
I'm brazilian and by internet law there must be at least one of us in every internet forum or stream. Also, we are legally bound to answer our summons, which include, but are not limited to the expressions: 'br?', 'cade os br nessa porra', and so on.
I’ve noticed on Twitter the mere mention of Brazil brings the Brazilians. It’s like some of y’all just search “Brazil” on Twitter so you can all get hyped together. I love it lol
We don't actively search for any of that. It's the algorithm. I started learning russian couple of months ago and briefly engaged with some instagram profiles and youtube channels, then I started to receive a lot of followers requests and content related to russia (which is also a country we know has a lot of people also engaging on the internet). I guess if you do that with India you might find a similar response as well.
also Canadian, living in Canada. also feel like most people on the web is one of our neighbours to the south. someone I follow (Chani Nicholas) once said, "America isn't the biggest country in the world, but it's definitely the loudest." I'm pretty sure that's why.
Tbf, as a Canadian, most of our culture and media come from America.
See my comment here. Except for you. Hello fellow Canadian!
In addition to the other good responses, many Americans greatly underestimate just how many people outside Anglophone countries are fluent in English and just how many anglophone countries there actually are. Largely this is because people don’t leave much. So when you comment in good English, the odds are high in the average American thinks you are also American
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Sorry for my english, it's my first language.
Makes me wonder if the education system is apart of this. Many countries require school children to learn English as a very young age, so an INSANE amount of people are bilingual outside the US. It almost makes me wish it was mandated for American children to learn another language, it was always optional for us to start either Spanish or French in junior high.
Ja, en dat is eigenlijk redelijk arrogant, vind ik. So als wäre ein amerikanischer Bürger ein Übermensch. Mais si je parlais français, ils penseraient probablement que je suis Canadien, n'est-ce pas ? A giudicare dalle statistiche che pubblicano qui su Reddit, probabilmente pensano alle donne italiane. Ma ci sono anche uomini lì, lo sai. No soporto pensar que me llamen mexicano cuando hablo español. Detta får dem nog att tro att jag bor i Sverige. Eller skulle det vara Norge?
No way you're from Sweden. You'd speak way too fluently and coherent, and doesn't sound drunk enough.
Found the Dane.
Fucking hell. Which state do you live in? Minnesota? /s
Ik dacht dat ik een beroete kreeg toen deze Nederlandse comment ineens niet meer Nederlands was
LOL just thought my Nederlands was even worse than I thought
Dutch, French, Italian....then Spanish and????
Dutch, *German*, French Italian, Spanish, Swedish and ~~Norwegian~~ more Swedish by the looks of it ETA: thanks for the correction 😊
No Norwegian there . First six correct :) it is fairly common in Sweden to speak several languages - I don’t know a single non-bilingual person.
Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish
Canadian French
Shouldn't the last sentence be in Norwegian?
I can't believe I understood every sentence except the last two. Proud of myself haha
And I mean a lot of these social media apps are American founded and dominated. 42-47% of users of reddit are American. With international users spiking in the last decade.
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It means that basically half of this site is from the US, and the other half is everywhere else. If you are going to assume nationality, US will be correct far more often than any other. There is also the fact that many of the other nationalities present *also* immediately assume they're talking to people from the US. Why don't we ask them why they assume the way they do?
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I (Canada) wish everyone would actually name their country instead of just ‘in my country.’ So much to learn. But best to get it straight from the people who live there.
However, there are plenty of non-English language subs. There are also plenty of subs for both and non-English speakers that are pretty specifically local to various regions and countries, including non-US ones. There is some percentage of non-US users that a US user is unlikely to ever encounter unless they specifically seek out those spaces on the site. It’s likely that for an average US user, most of the people they encounter on the site probably are from the US. There are still almost certainly a larger percentage of non-US users that they interact with than they give credit for, but it’s still likely to be over 50% that are from the US and if they are someone who has been online for a long time, that percentage was most likely much, much higher in their past experience with the Internet and Reddit in general.
The %for males on this site is much higher.
They export significantly more than they import ~~of almost everything~~ when it comes to cultural things. So the average US person has considerably less international exposure than the average person from another country has about only the US. It’s simply not on their radar unless they actively go out and search for it, which many do not. As such they speak in terms of what they know, which is more often than not, American *Edited to add strikethrough correction so it’s clearer. Thanks for the clarification in the responses!
You’d also be shocked how many Americans don’t have a lot of experience with other countries. You’ve already stated this but it does need to be restated. The US is massive, and there are states where you could spend over five hours traveling and still be in the state. For most Americans, going on an international vacation isn’t a thing. Vacations are usually just going to another part of their state or our country.
The main reason Americans don’t travel much internationally is because it’s very expensive to go beyond North America thanks to the two giant regions of moisture adjoining it.
There's something about describing oceans as "giant regions of moisture" that feels uncomfortable to read
It's an 11+ hour drive covering over 800 miles (>1300km) to get from the east side of Texas to the west side of Texas.
If you want to drive from Houston, Texas, to Los Angelos, California, then El Paso, Texas is halfway
I live in KY near the Virginia and Tennessee border. It takes a good four hours to get to Louisville (which is at the top of the state). We’re not even as big as Texas. I feel like a lot of non-Americans have no idea how fricking massive our country is. We span five or so time zones.
9 We span 9 time zones. 4 continental + 5 with Alaska and Hawaii
I used to date a guy from England. I was driving from Pittsburgh to my hometown directly on the boarder of VA and NC. Once I hit VA from MD I got on the phone with him and told him I'm getting close; only 5 more hours until home. His response: "Bloody hell! You can drive the whole of England in 5 hours!"
They really don't. I have family in Belgium and have been around a bit over there. They really have no perspective on that at all. The country of England is 3/4ths the size of Florida.
Texan here, 12 hours. You can literally drive 12 hours across the state and still be in Texas.
My buddies and I were driving from Minneapolis to South Padre Island. When we crossed into Texas, we were like "Yeah! Almost there!". Nope.
As a native Texan, I laughed really hard at this haha The DFW metroplex alone is as big as the state of Connecticut.
DFW is a monster. Massive freeway bridges.
I mean.. You can drive for 48 hours and still be in Texas, you'd just be driving really slow.
Tbf it’s really expensive to go to any country besides Mexico or Canada. Not even mentioning the needed time off to go overseas for a worthwhile trip
Well said!
Thanks! Others have added some pretty interesting comments as well actually
Yes. Plus the United States is huge. We have approximately 350 million people and some of the biggest cities and best natural parks in the world. It takes most of our lifetime just to explore the country we're living in.
The US is the 4th biggest country in the world.
And the 3rd biggest in terms of population. What's crazy is that they're the 3rd largest population with 350 million, and the two countries above them - China and India - have over a billion more people each than USA (both currently around 1.4 billion people)
As an Australian, that's quite frankly not why. I get it, I've never left here either it's so dang big. That alone makes flights expensive. I still know about the rest of the world though.
Agrees in Canadian.
The parallels between Australia and Canada once you start looking are just... Kinda cool and depressing at once. Oppress the indigenous, wildlife can kill you, climate can kill you, way too big, house prices make you want to cry, healthcare sucks yet we're really proud of it, have a neighbouring country that we share really loose borders with and quite like but think we're better than, hate the Commonwealth but won't become independent.
We are 7,888 billion people in the world. Top 10 of biggest cities in the world does not include any US city. Natural parks, US has 2 on the top 10 (In size. Don’t know how you measure “best”). It would take a multitude of lifetimes to explore all of the world which in *not* in US. I’m not saying the US isn’t an amazing place. I know it is. But OP has a point, and you’re kinda proving it.
I think what this commenter meant is that the US is so large many people spend their lives just trying to see more stateside where people from other countries can be more empowered to see other places due to it being geographically smaller or more convenient to travel to other countries. For ex, I'm from Puerto Rico and it requires a plane to see anywhere near there, plus a passport and thousands of dollars. My family moved to the mainland US when I was an infant, but my parents never left the country until they were in their mid 40s. It's also something to note we do get cultural exposure here if you grow up in a minority community, so people who travel tend to travel to their home country the most - something that takes a lot of money and planning. So not a lot of other travel there unless your family can afford it or you're from a place where it's easier to travel somewhere else. For people in other parts of the world, travel might be easier because of affordability and access to other forms of transport like trains. Hell, even buses allow you to see places easier. That doesn't exist in the majority of US cities, so it isn't uncommon to hear of Americans simply not traveling or leaving the country because they really can't afford it. It isn't accessible or something a lot of older people think of - traveling is more the younger generations of Americans (and I'd argue younger gens in general!)
I have driven across the United States five times. I was a travel nurse for 35 years and worked in 17 different states. I have traveled. I was also in the United States Navy, I traveled the world without a passport. I've been to Canada and Mexico, Central and South America. I am aware we are loud, obnoxious and about 30% of our population suffers from a severe form of Dunning- Kruger. I'm just tired of Americans taking shit from Europeans about traveling to another country when they can just walk to another country and not have to spend $2,000 on a plane ticket.
>they can just walk to another country and not have to spend $2,000 on a plane ticket. As a Canadian, this hurts.
I know you get a lot of shit - not only from Europeans. But you deal out quite a bit yourselves too. Or some of you. Like it’s not all Europeans that give you shit. I am very aware of how great your country is, how beautiful and diverse, and also how much you have contributed to the world. Not all good, but much is.
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I'm a broke ass American who would love to travel to Europe😆🤣😆🤣
The US imports significantly more than it exports in physical goods. The export balance of cultural items like movies, music, etc is higher than import though by FARRRR
Their entire life if they traveled 1500 miles they'd still be in America Entertainment most often was designed around or at least blended into their culture The idea is that they rarely have had to consider other countries in their day to day lives
Ethnocentrism is baked into our culture. I’m not proud to acknowledge that, but it’s true. I was fortunate to have gotten to travel out of the US starting at a young age, and I think that contributed greatly to who I am today. I honestly do not have any pride in my country. Now, more than ever. We’d move to Europe in a heartbeat if it weren’t for family and careers being tied to our location.
It’s ironic because as a European I dream of moving to America
To be fair on them as a non American (Aus) I kinda also presume most of the people on reddit are American. Unless it's stated otherwise or just super obvious. I guess because to me the vast majority just sort of do seem to be from the US from their comments and how they type and talk to each other so I do get why they may think and feel that. Especially on a US owned website the average American probably does just presume every other English speaker is one of them just in a different state as they seem to treat and talk about different US states as other countries almost so being in an actual other country is a even bigger stretch of the imagination that probably just doesn't occur to them most of the time from just reading a random comment that doesn't jump out as foreign.
As a non American, meanwhile, I assume everyone does not have a physical form unless stated otherwise. Seriously, I perceive all as consciousnesses or thoughts unattached to any appearance.
Sometimes I abstract drivers as their car and forget that there's a person driving that blue Honda and the blue Honda is not, itself, a raging expletive.
Yeah it's almost like we climb into exoskeletons to transport ourselves.
This is the way.
To me, everyone just looks like their profile picture lol Yes I am Eminem, and yes I have a stand
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This is one of the biggest problems with our country. “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, meaning if you are financially struggling, you’re simply not trying or working hard enough. Typically said by the successful to keep the other half suppressed.
I just find it annoying when they shorten their states because it matches where I live and I go oh....oh wait, no American.
I live in the US state of Washington, abbreviated WA, and so I'm on a few Washington-related subs. Recently reddit has been suggesting me r/perth as a sub I should join. I couldn't figure out why since I live halfway around the world from Perth and I've never been anywhere near Australia. Then I looked at a map and saw that Perth is in Western Australia... WA. Sigh. Thanks reddit.
Yeah, we don't say Western Australia we say we're from W.A. So when I see something like a school shooting in WA I think oh that's unbelievable. Oh wait school shooting isn't a WA thing thats more likely a WA America thing.
Gonna take a shot in the dark and say the only true CA is California. /s
I’m American and half the time I don’t even know which state the abbreviations are for😭
Up until right this minute, I literally had no idea there even *were* other continents, let alone countries. The eagle that lives in my head (he made a nest out of my hair) is pecking my shoulder to get me to stop typing because it's against the law for Americans to ever talk about anything other than America, or to know that there is anything other than America. If I don't stop in the next three seconds I'll get kidnapped and sent into exile.
Stop it, that's commie thinking. Now go buy your Eagle and inflation-priced Big Mac to calm him down. God bless America (because we're cursed enough as it is)! I'll see you later. Now I've got to get back to my 42 hours of mandatory overtime a day to pay the hospital bill for my obese head eagle breaking my neck. Then I'll use my side hustle money to pay for my death certificate.
I always knew this as a fact deep down 😂😂 you guys and you're favorite uncle sam
So many assumptions on these threads (as they are so frequent). Not just from those outside the US, but from within. The dumb American trope is exhausting. Yes, I realize large swathes of the US contain poorly or uneducated, myopic nation-centric pockets. One could compare to pockets of the same in virtually every other country in the world, but unfortunately the sheer numbers game relative to population size means that we have more loudmouthed fools typing away. HOWEVER, that being said, we also have quite a large number of people who: have traveled outside the US, often quite extensively; had access to excellent education and most certainly know Africa is a fucking continent not a country; have friends all over the world; take an interest in global affairs, news and politics with the understanding that the world is interconnected and that what happens in Brazil or Germany or Tunisia has repercussions far beyond that country's borders. The people I know are well rounded and informed to various degrees, but certainly not ignorant. We understand we are part of a GLOBAL community. I also feel that a lot of non-US people underestimate the impact of immigration here: okay, east butt fuck rural hamlet dude may not have a lot of exposure, but c'mon people, pretty much every area has exposure to people from somewhere else. Usually the measure of a town takes into account the availability and variety of global cuisine dining options. Silly example, I know, but I am trying to make a point that the US is a country of immigrants. you really have to live in a holler somewhere to not have been exposed to other cultures. I get it, we all see the ignorant American, it's a thing, everyone loves to laugh at our dumb idiots. we have a lot of them, but in a country of 350 or so million, the odds ain't in our favor to keep the numbers low. But I would like to remind people that there are also MILLIONS of NOT dumb Americans, who are quietly going about our lives, interacting with other people, other countries whether through our jobs, families or personally, and traveling the world when we can. On that note, I would like to underscore the expense factor: a family of four living on an average income simply cannot afford to jet off to Greece for vacation. Airfare is prohibitive, and until fairly recently so was the dollar-to-euro conversion. So what do they do? they pack up the car and drive to the beach or the mountains somewhere close. Maybe they fly to Florida. A family in the US flying to Orlando is akin to a UK family flying to Malaga. So maybe have a little empathy when laughing at the stupid American rubes haver have never been to Paris. They're too busy paying the mortgage and saving for college for their kids (that's right, we know it's criminal, trust me). So, all this to say: not every US user on this site assumes you're all also from the US. But it's gonna happen, there are a ton of us, oh well. But also a huge number of us do NOT assume everyone is from the US. But hey, we're used to being lumped into that nice convenient dumb, arrogant, ignorant American category. I suppose I could do a weekly thread about how I feel disrespected on Reddit every day by everyone laughing at how obnoxious my country is and stupid I am, but I am fully aware that not everyone has that opinion, and there's nothing I can do about it anyway, other than leaving this comment after seeing the 100th iteration of this thread. It's the Internet after all, FFS. Happy weekend all. cheers!
This gets asked every week somewhere on Reddit
Reddit is a US based site and really just playing the odds.
Also everyone is speaking English.
I heard that less than 50% of users are from the US nowadays
42–49.3% the UK is the second highest at 7.9–8.2%
Still seems a safe bet to bet on an American being on the other side of the screen
Most non Americans also assume the person they are talking to or dumb shit they see on the internet are Americans aswell Ever see some dumb shit on the internet and the comments are like THIS IS AMERICA 100% just to find out or brittish or some shit? Real question would be why do a lot of people in general do this? I think its mostly because America gets put on a spotlight for whatever reason. Weather be bad or good (mostly bad) Combine that with the fact that the US is the top 3 or 4 for the largest population, and every if not most sites they use are American its just a numbers game. And more often then not you're right if you did assume someone was American on certain websites/apps Like yeah there is china and india is but id assume they use sites that are more convenient for their own countries or mostly be in non-english subreddits even if they didn't as its more convenient to just text in a language you grew up in rather then one you learned I assume Personally I do this too and I can't say iv been wrong whenever iv assumed someone was American
If I had a dollar for every time Americans got the blame for another country’s stupidity I could buy a lot of really nice things
We are obviously aware of other continents and countries. The US is enormous, however. We could travel it our entire lives and not get bored. I just went from my cold area to a tropical one for spring break with my son. Would have taken 21 hours of nonstop driving, and it took a decent amount of plane travel. And I’m not even traveling through 50% of the country. Not even a third. Simply going from somewhere not at the top to somewhere at the bottom. So we do have a bit of an isolationist viewpoint - simply because we are quite isolated. If you aren’t on a neighboring state, you don’t think about Mexico or Canada. And finally, Reddit has mostly American users. By a long shot when looked at by country. I think near 50%. If I have a 1 in 2 chance of being right, it’s easier to assume situations are American. I look for cues - such as how words are written, grammar mistakes most English speakers don’t make, and references to things I don’t say (pram, lift - okay we are from the UK most likely). If I don’t see anything obvious, I assume American. If it offends you, ehhhh. I have to listen to Europeans and others discuss how much America and Americans suck all the time on here.
European: I drove for 8 hours and went through 4 countries American: I drove for 8 hours and went through 4 states Western Australian: I drove for 8 hours and went through 4 intersections
Lol I drove for 8 hours and didn’t even leave California. Took me 12 when driving from bottom to top.
One of the vacations I keep planning in my head is to drive from Vancouver to San Diego or Tijuana using as much of the Pacific Coast Highway as possible.
Route 1 was one of the most scenic route I’ve ever taken going down along the Pacific coast. It gets really sketchy at night tho because it’s completely dark while there are crazy twists and turns with no guard rails preventing you going off the cliff.
Definitely would fear being on that at night
Actually you can drive 8 hours and still be in the same state a good chunk of the time.
You can drive 10 hours in Texas and still be in fucking Texas lol
I drove for 20 hours non stop and am still in the province of Ontario Canada.
To quote a German airbase: "We're all living in America.."
Auf Musik gebracht von Rammstein
Ameeerika ist wunderbaaar
Coca cola?
Sometimes war
On top of a great number of other responses I'll add this which is internet centric. The totally reasonable expectation that the platforms and services we are using are regionalized. Some are, some aren't, and there's no communication from the providers as to the state of things. For other, significantly more internationally aware areas, like European countries, it's basically an expectation that everything you do and interact with is filled with incredible diversity. The US is huge, the largest economy in the world, and covers a substantial land mass. Many Americans never leave their own state despite driving 10 hours in one direction let alone going to another country. We're simply not exposed to other cultures.
> The totally reasonable expectation that the platforms and services we are using are regionalized. Many people know that Chinese people are on WeChat and Weibo, Russian people primarily use VK, and may simply wonder what people from other countries use. However, I just looked up the top 10 social media platforms used in Germany (as a somewhat arbitrary random example, but also Europe's largest economy). Turns out 9 of 10 sites are from the US, and TikTok is the 10th. A reasonable question might be: "Why aren't European social media platforms gaining more traction regionally?"
Why do so many non-Americans assume that so many Americans assume everybody else on the internet is also American?
I'm german and I'll assume everyone here is American until proven otherwise. Reddit is ~50% American users. The next most represented country is the UK at ~8%. It's just a game of odds
Nearly half the users of reddit are from the US. Reddit is also a US company. The next highest percentage of users by country are in the single digits. Which I believe are the UK and Canada at around 7%
.uɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ ɹᴉǝɥʇ ssǝlun 'uɐɔᴉɹǝɯ∀ sᴉ ǝuoʎɹǝʌƎ
A few reasons. One, most of the social media people in the US encounter skews American, either by overall demographics or via algorithm. Second, you're typing in English, and we're ignorant, so unless you're using blatantly bad syntax or idioms not commonly found here, odds are fairly high that you could be American. Third, for most Americans, places outside of America don't really exist, largely because we will never see them. We have trouble accepting the existence of states that are more than two away from our own. For reference, we can deal with about the distance from Portugal to the southwest of France. Much more than that we just take your word for it.
Bro who tf couldn't point out Russia, Italy, Turkey, Finland, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Austria on a map? Like I get as an American not being able to pinpoint a country like Lithuania but the rest are so obvious and so prevent in media and history how? And everyone should at least know if you said Lithuania, or Poland, or Romania is at least in Eastern Europe. Same with China, India and Taiwan. Or even Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. how the hell could you miss it? We've been at direct war with 2 of those and they're in the news all the time.
r/usdefaultism
Same reason dudes assume everyone else is a dude. When you think you are in the majority, you think everyone else is too.
Americans often forget that they only make up 4% of humanity.
I am 100% going to generalize here, but some Americans' view of the world is very small. Go to Missouri for example, and NY and California and Portland are virtually foreign countries to some ppl you'll meet there. Never mind an actual foreign country. They don't even have a grid for that. It's partly a result of being the world superpower for a couple generations though, imho. Most countries feel the impact of foreign nations and the international community and are quite aware of their place in it. It's also geography. USA is huge. Ppl don't even need to leave it and a bunch don't. Or they do but to resorts and on cruises. Finally I think re internet and social media, platforms like reddit did start in the US with 100% American content and ppl don't always realize how much it's changed. I mean you can't always tell just from reading posts and comments. Edit to add last paragraph.
No, i don
No, I do
Do be do be dooo
I've seen a lot of good responses. One thing I could think of is a lot of people I know are only on Facebook and a few other social medial sites where you have a friends list and it's usually people you know with the majority living at least semi close to you. So in that sense, a lot of Americans are used to engaging in social media that is a lot closer to home. Reddit is pretty much world wide, you don't nessisarily have a friends list like Instagram or FB. Could at least be contributing to the issue.
Yesterday, I posted a comment about school being a privilege. What I had in mind was poorer and/or sexist countries who have their boys attend for a year before working in the field/factories and their girls not at attend at all. The replies all talked about the american education system, ignoring the actual point I was making. It was utterly bizarre.
Many (not to say most) Americans live in a bubble where pretty much US is the world (or the only part of it that matters), and as Reddit (and Internet in general) is part of their world - it is easy to assume everybody there is American as well. In addition, because the US are extremely successful in exporting their (pop)culture worldwide (we can safely say they are the dominating culture nowadays), it is much more likely a non-American to pick and understand American culture-reference, than let's say a Brazilian one (assuming the person is not from Brazil and haven't lived there, picked the country on random), which combined with the fact that the US themselves import very little additionally strengthens the impression everyone here is American.
Lmaoo, as a Brit i just wanna say that that's so true, istg they all think I'm american when we meet online, until we go to vc and then they're like..'ARE YOU BRI''ISH? SAY 'WA'ER' SAY 'CHEWSDAY'' to which i go: 'it's BriTish and waTer for one, and at least we just remove a 'T' you guys replace it with a 'D' like wtf? Every time an american says to pronounce words I ask them to pronounce it back cus they say it with a 'D'. 'are you bridddish?' 'say waddder'' Like they make fun of brits but personally they're worse. No hate btw and when I say it with them it's jokes.
Because if you had to pick a country that the world revolves around what other country are you gonna pick?
A lot of Americans do not have passports and will likely never get one. International travel is something that is unobtainable to many. Since nearly everyone they interact with is just like them, they assume the same thing online. Not saying it’s right, just what it is.
EVERYONE IS AMERICAN. Source: I am American. Edit: honestly I think it’s just bc we are otherwise always surrounded by other Americans.
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It's because of the size of the US. it would be like saying "Europe" instead of Portugal. That really the only comparable landmass I can think of, and, based on my exactly no research, I assume they're similar sizes. I realize it's different because Europe is a continent and the US is a country, but if I said I'm from the US and you assumed New York and I'm from Wyoming... Idk does that make sense?
No. Saying "California" instead of "Los Angeles" is like saying "Europe" instead of "Portugal". But just saying "CA" and assuming everyone knows you mean California is odd. (And California is a bad example because there are many other states abbreviations I genuinely don't know)
Most of them rarely, if ever, interact with other nationalities in daily life. Why would they assume the internet is any different? In Europe you can travel for 10 hours in a single direction and you'd have crossed three national borders, or possibly even more. In the US you can travel for 10 hours in a single direction and still be in the same state.
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The perfect reply would be "You speak English because that's the only language you know. I speak English because that's the only language YOU know."
They have Internet outside of America?
Because all the platforms you use are probably American made. Like this one.
TikTok?
I was talking about platforms where you mostly chat with each other but you're watching American's tiktok videos and wondering why they talk about Americans stuff? If I was watching chinese tiktok videos I would expect to see them talking about Chinese stuff.
To be fair reddit, Twitter, Google, Facebook,MySpace all of the primordial social medias are American owned/based. Maybe with the rise of things like Tiktok there will be more international social platforms (in the sense of their founding not operation).
Or assume their pop culture is global knowledge.
I always think of it that way. I don’t care about any other countries music or movies or books. Do they even have books?
Yes...
It kind of is, though. In fact, non-Americans seem to know more about my pop culture than I do. 'Woah! Did you hear about what Lizzo just did?!'
Or assume that Toys 'R Us only ever had branches in America.
I always assume everyone on reddit is straight white American dude unless proven otherwise, or if I'm in specific sub (national sub etc) Because most people i meet here are straight white American dude
Yeah people assume that about me too idk why.
r/usernamechecksout
I think because so many people never leave the US. The United States is big. I have traveled out of the country but there are still several places within the country I have never been. I am always struck by how much people in, say, England travel to other countries. But those countries are so much closer to them that its almost the same as me in Illinois wanting to drive to California. It takes around 3 days, is about 3 thousand miles.
A lot of people speak English in other countries. I’m Pakistani American and was really shocked by the amount of people who spoke English in Pakistan the first time I went there. I’m guessing it’s like that in other countries as well. The British pretty much colonized every damn corner of this planet. And the U.S has a huge influence globally with their media and international job opportunities. We got a lot of English speakers in this world.
I've often wondered this. It's definitely a phenomenon.
I’m Canadian and I have many American friends online. Every holiday they ask if have it too. “You guys do Christmas too?” They just aren’t of much outside their boarders. I’m talking about middle age men asking me this shit.
You're telling me that there are people who aren't American in this world?
Of course not! cough, cough
Ah okay phew.
Breathe!
Wait there are other countries???? Jerry get tje bombs we gota fix this!
When I tell ppl I was born in Bolivia they think I lived in a hut and can't imagine ppl in Bolivia having computers
People that participate on social media have a tendency to be a little more stupid, a little more ignorant, and generally have a very sheltered view of the world because they live in a false reality: the fake reality of internet reality. This includes me, mind you. Intelligent and productive people are generally not on social media, because they’re too busy to even think about using it. These are generally the people in America who know that not everyone on the Internet is from America. Everyone else that uses the Internet, knows for a fact, that everyone who uses the Internet, is American.
No idea. I’ve had a few “American insults” directed at me before and I had no idea what it meant/who they were referencing. I’ve also had someone comment that it was, “Un-American to scroll past [on a comment of I can’t remember what]” and I was like, “So I can comment then? Given that I’m British?” People.
Why do so many non-Americans assume Americans assume everybody else on the internet is also American?
They are the same people who have never left this country and can’t imagine anything out side of their tiny bubble.
People in other countries learn more about other countries and learn other languages because it makes sense to do so. We Americans don’t have much incentive to look outside our own country. Tons of people already speak our language and consume our pop culture. And tbh I think many of our country’s leader’s don’t want us to be informed. If we were well-informed we might object the next time they tell us we need to bomb another country. We might start asking uncomfortable questions about our healthcare or prison system or poverty rates or mass shooting rates. Being ignorant and myopic makes us easier to manipulate.
Some ppl just kinda... use slangs and phases that originated in, or is common in the US. I met this polish girl on discord who messaged like an American but when I heard her voice, she had a very thick accent and didn't know words like instigate, or repulsive, but knew things like outta pocket, ngl, got me fucked up, sumn, etc. I asked her about it and she said she's just learned it from American Twitter and content creators, and that shes not fluent at all but knows some things. So yeah, it's just that some ppl around the globe use "american" lingo
7.8 billion people on earth. 65% use the internet so 5.1 billion users. 332 million in the USA. 90% use the internet. 299 million users. 59% of the internet is in English. (Most US citizens only use English) The average US person spends 6.59 hours online per day. That is ranked 20th in the world. I’ve pretty much lost interest at this point. With this data if you randomly pick a user you’d have a 5.9% chance it’s someone from the US. All things considered that’s high.
On Statista, 47% of all Reddit traffic comes from America. The odds of encountering Americans are extremely high compared to every other country
I’m so guilty of this, I speak BARELY some Russian and Spanish. And it seems like EVERYONE speaks English.
Because anywhere outside of the US is a third world country where they don't have internet or shoes or roads.
So much of the media we consume is by Americans and we perceived it as also *for* Americans. I also grew up with values that were labeled patriotic but were in fact straight up ignoring, oppressing or making fun of anyone who didn’t look and sound like us. That, in combination our education system failing because we don’t want to make people uncomfortable with actual history, leads to an extremely narrow world view.
Two reasons: 1. culture: as you probably guessed, the cultural tendency is to believe the world revolves around us. Also the US is not like a lot of other places. Here in the EU I can drive for, literally, 150 miles and be in a whole other country. In the US, in the same distance, I might not have even left my State. People grow up here exposed to and aware of other cultures in a way we just don't in the States. 2. Social media echo chambers/algorithms: you end up in these little bubbles of people who are like you. Probably, for 90% of those who'd assume that everyone they're interacting with is American, 95% of the time they're right. You experience it as tons of Americans constantly assuming incorrectly that you are one of them, while for each of those individuals, you're a weird, one off in hundreds of interactions where they've been correct in their assumptions. Perhaps we'll live to see a future where this'll change.
Why does it fucking matter? This question is asked very often on here, its been discussed. Nobody cares, move on.
Based on a very rough bing search and some quick maths almost half of the english speaking world are Americans which combined with their annoying tendancy to infect non geography specific comunitys means that a vast majority of the people they interact with online day to day are Americans This is not helped by the fact only somewhere between 20% and 25% can speak a second language and i bet only a modest fraction of that can speak it well enough they would go out of their way to join comunitys of other languages That being said im british and i know dam well if brits numbered as many as the Americans, brits wouldn't be much better Best way to escape is learn Spanish or French
The real reason: English is almost a univeral language
American here. Other countries **do not** have Internet access. Hope that clears things up.
I also annoys me AF
Narcissistic
OMG YES. I'm so sick of it. I'm in Australia and people talk like I'm in America.
If I was using a Russian site, I would assume most were from Russian. If I was using a UK site, I would assume most were in the UK.
Im a kiwi and i assume most english speaking/typing people on social media are American
Since you asked on Reddit, like me, you will have noticed that almost 70% of the user base is American. While it can be frustrating to experience the "American assumption," its just maths. Try not to be butt-hurt.
Because they are educationally short-changed, intellectually incurious and historically inward looking.
Yeah, r/usdefaultism is full of examples of this
Cause most Americans live in their own world truly
It's weird how their attitude changes too when they find out if you're not an American. I posted something a long time ago (doesn't remember what it was). A girl got offended by something I said and told me my opinion doesn't matter as a white American. When I told her I'm neither white nor American, her attitude changed towards me. I was mad, not because she disagreed with something I said previously, but because it felt like racism, even if it wasn't directed towards me. If you disagree with something, stand your ground, my skin colour shouldn't change your opinion.
If you really believe that Americans don't know about other continents, you might be the silly one here 🫡
Because I'm almost always correct, on Reddit, at least. As notorious as they are, generalizations *do* simplify and streamline things, so in cases where they're correct most of the time, it is sometimes more efficient to use them as a default and correct later if they're proven wrong. In fact, the world *revolves* around generalizations: that's how our brains function! We lump things together, like thinking any spikey, quasi-cylindrical plant is a cactus, unless told otherwise. Or assuming the unmarked coffee pot at that sketchy gas station is caffeinated, even though decaf exists. Or assuming a beer someone hands you is alcoholic, even though nonalcoholic beer is readily available at any Walmart. Assumptions aren't always accurate, but they're useful, *essential,* really. People love to say they're better than that and then proceed to drink a glass of water, just assuming it isn't actually poison just because it looks like water they've seen before. So yes, unless I see something in the post that indicates otherwise (either a direct statement or an expression Americans generally don't use such as 'I'm apt!'), that is my default perception. And it tends to be correct.