Visiting+loving U.S.A.

[Valerie]

So funny.
These videos hardly seem real.

Are they?

They might be. i hope so. it’s nice to have a break.

i find them plausible.
after all, the messages are basically those U.S. citizens traveling abroad have learned over+over,
stereotypes are lacking, real people have more in commn than not, reject political divisions .. don’t take yourselves too seriously.

i hope the overall is a net gain for world harmony.

o.yeah.
and my one real life friend from Switzerland, who responded with similar giddinss about the U.S.
that was hard to believe, too. in my own living room!

They should be real, I watch a lot of “live” news & interviews, it’s been encouraging to hear foreigners so positive and realizing they believed lies at home, and enjoying what America is like. You get so tired of the bashing so these are refreshing.

[ohio jones]

I haven't watched them but judging a book by the cover, I would guess the reality has been "optimized" to entice you to view it.

i view in spite of those gross/grotesque covers. they’re so often detached from the content.

in the past, with tabloids, not so. i refused to view them. easy.
today, not so easy.

i hope the cover business improves.

If the cover often doesn't represent the content, and you've repeatedly observed that headlines don't, how does one discern what is worth watching?

[temporal1]

They should be real, I watch a lot of “live” news & interviews, it’s been encouraging to hear foreigners so positive and realizing they believed lies at home, and enjoying what America is like. You get so tired of the bashing so these are refreshing.

Even my family knows about the ranch dressing phenom.

“World Cup Tourist Falls Hard for Ranch Dressing as American Food Culture Wins a New Fan”
https://easyeverydayrecipes.com/world-c ... a-new-fan/

.. American Friendliness Becomes Part of the Flavor

Food was not the only thing that surprised Thora.
She also noticed how easily Americans speak to strangers. In many parts of the United States, quick greetings, small talk, compliments, directions, and casual conversations are woven into public life. For visitors from cultures where people are more reserved in public spaces, that openness can feel dramatic.

Thora described the friendliness as something she experienced in Indiana and San Francisco.
People saying hello on the street, starting conversations, or acting warmly toward strangers became part of the larger American impression. This matters because food rarely becomes memorable on its own. The setting gives it power.

A basket of fries tastes different when it arrives in a lively diner. A burger feels different when eaten during a road trip. Ranch becomes more than a ranch when it is connected to a country that feels loud, friendly, cinematic, and open.
That is why her reaction traveled so far online. ..

i don’t fear a bit of international lightheartedness will be a death trap.

[JohnH]

I haven't watched them but judging a book by the cover, I would guess the reality has been "optimized" to entice you to view it.

I will admit to having watched some that were certainly genuine from an enthusiastic football fan, although he seemed largely impressed by such things as going to diners like Waffle House in ways that would not impress me, attending gas stations with hundreds of fuel pumps, and flying on cramped, uncomfortable American airlines, or in the case of his trip to Canada, American Airlines.

Probably the same thing an American undergoes when going to Germany where they enjoy things like going to a grocery store there that regular Germans probably don't consider very exceptional.

[Szdfan]

There’s an old German joke:

What’s the difference between America and yogurt?

If you leave yogurt alone for 250 years, it develops a culture.

When I lived in Germany, one of the stereotypes about the US is that we don’t have culture. The irony is that many of my German friends were enthusiast consumers of American movies and music, but it didn’t count because they didn’t come from a 1000 year culture.

I had Germans tell me that we had no food culture because all we ate were hamburgers and hotdogs.

So I’ve also enjoyed these delightful videos of Europeans discovering American food — the absolute joy of someone eating BBQ for the first time. But the kinds of things that these tourists are discovering about America are exactly the same things that are stereotypical about America.

Life in America is more than just free drink refills, large portions and Buc-ee’s. Yet it’s these same consumerist, obesity epidemic stereotypes that are being reinforced. America is more than ranch dressing.

[JohnH]

FreddyLA7, which is the person these stories have been written about, just faced a cancel mob and took down his social media and said he won't be blogging about his trip anymore. (See https://www.newsweek.com/german-fan-fre ... p-12144506 )

Some people really didn't like him, and combed through his 22,000 tweets until they found one that is, apparently, offensive? Here it is - judge for yourself:



I guess he got an authentic American experience, where we have our own homegrown version of the Stasi. Personally, I can understand a foreigner who learns some word is very offensive in America and should never be said, comes as a tourist to America, attends a mainstream concert of a mainstream offensive, and then hears very offensive speech over and over. Perhaps the word was "infestation".

[Szdfan]

FreddyLA7, which is the person these stories have been written about, just faced a cancel mob and took down his social media and said he won't be blogging about his trip anymore. (See https://www.newsweek.com/german-fan-fre ... p-12144506 )

Some people really didn't like him, and combed through his 22,000 tweets until they found one that is, apparently, offensive? Here it is - judge for yourself:



I guess he got an authentic American experience, where we have our own homegrown version of the Stasi. Personally, I can understand a foreigner who learns some word is very offensive in America and should never be said, comes as a tourist to America, attends a mainstream concert of a mainstream offensive, and then hears very offensive speech over and over. Perhaps the word was "infestation".

Funny how the article you linked to didn’t actually mention the tweet you posted here and gave several other reasons why FreddyLA7 deactivated his X account.

[temporal1]

MENNOLIGHT

In addition to junk food and various excesses, i noticed consistent surprise at the welcoming and generous reception tourists are experiencing. Which i believe.

i’ve been encouraged by my own experiences traveling alone in the U.S., meeting and being helped by a kaleidoscope of peoples, languages.

Typically volunteered interaction and help - before i ever asked.

[JohnH]

FreddyLA7, which is the person these stories have been written about, just faced a cancel mob and took down his social media and said he won't be blogging about his trip anymore. (See https://www.newsweek.com/german-fan-fre ... p-12144506 )

Some people really didn't like him, and combed through his 22,000 tweets until they found one that is, apparently, offensive? Here it is - judge for yourself:



I guess he got an authentic American experience, where we have our own homegrown version of the Stasi. Personally, I can understand a foreigner who learns some word is very offensive in America and should never be said, comes as a tourist to America, attends a mainstream concert of a mainstream offensive, and then hears very offensive speech over and over. Perhaps the word was "infestation".

Funny how the article you linked to didn’t actually mention the tweet you posted here and gave several other reasons why FreddyLA7 deactivated his X account.

Okay, here’s an article that does explain it and directly links it to that tweet. It’s behind a paywall, just so you know, but if someone really wants it, I can provide a transcript from that site.

https://www.foiaball.com/p/freddyla7-ge ... er-account

I elected to use a more mainstream site that wasn’t going to require dealing with a paywall/subscription wall.

[temporal1]

Laundromats

Eddythecaptain / We Were SHOCKED! - British Guys Use an American Laundromat for the First Time. / 8+min

Learning about the United States of America and can’t wait to visit

Found in Comments:

@cvrbon6 WROTE:
I watch a lot of these types of videos, and I gotta say I think this is the first one I've seen on a laundromat

MENNOLIGHT