Comment by int_19h
21 days ago
The other weird thing in US discourse about other countries is that when it does enter the conversation, the "rest of the world", or at least other developed countries, are often treated as some kind of monolithic entity culturally and politically. For example, a lot of people on both left and right in US believe that the rest of the world is single payer, and generally that "single payer" is synonymous to "public healthcare". Similarly with gun control, there's no recognition of the fact that there are countries in Europe where you can own an AR-15 just fine, and countries (different ones!) where silencers are over the counter items not requiring any special registration.
Most Americans would be shocked to know that in Thailand there are signs at the airport advising you on the correct firearms procedures
https://www.airportthai.co.th/en/aot-reiterates-the-guidelin...
edit: But I will say it works both ways. Most countries do not know what it takes to keep hundreds of millions of people of various backgrounds together under a common way of life with a certain risk vs entitlement balance. Americans as a whole are more risk tolerant AND accepting of failure and reinventing yourself. In most cultures it's a great shame to quit your job with benefits, start a business and not succeed. In the states it's not shameful. You tried? Awesome.