Yea not sure what's up with the upper peninsula. I feel like it's someone who actually knows Michigan and just wants to irritate Michiganders
Could still be a real European perspective. I've found a lot of people who are only casually familiar with North America will be able to tell you the broad cultural strokes and then one or two bizarrely specific facts. Like, "Oh yeah, America is all New York, Texas, California, Florida, and who could forget the iconic Egyptian Theatre of Boise, Idaho."
It could be yes, but generally people forget the upper peninsula exists instead of mistake it with the lower peninsula
Those are UPers (Youpers) up there though.
Pasties and Caribou are all that exists past the Mackinaw Bridge.
European here, these are what different states or areas of the USA remind me of (like what's the first think I think of when I hear it's name):
- Southern states: right wing twats
- Alabama: incest
- Florida: gators and really, really weird news headlines
- Texas: stupidly large trucks, guns and cowboys
- Alaska: cold, that one goldrush
- California: expensive, liberal
- Ohio: those fucking memes
- Hawaii: warm, colonialism
- Mississippi: riverboats
- Washington: why the hell is the city of Washington not in Washington?
Washington: why the hell is the city of Washington not in Washington?
There's also Washington Island. It's nowhere near Washington state or DC. It's in Lake Michigan, and is part of Wisconsin, not Michigan.
Aside from the island, Wisconsin has 7 different towns named Washington, though most of them have a population in the hundreds.
Of course they have nothing on Indiana, which has 46 towns named Washington, or Iowa, which has 49.
And both University of Washington, in the state, and wash U, in St. Louis. Both are major medical centers.
On that last point, George Washington is still considered the most popular president of the USA. In his own time he would come to cities and people (all of them) would swarm the streets. When the Constitution was signed Washington was in retirement, but the writers of the Constitution assumed Washington would be the first President. There were roughly 8 candidates running for the position, Washington wasn't one of them, and when Washington announced he would come out of retirement the other candidates dropped out of the running. Washington won the first election unanimously.
A lot of Europeans don't realize this, but the Constitution wasn't the first government of the new USA. First there was the Articles of Confederation which went from 1777-1789 so Washington had been gone for quite some time and was still so popular.
It's not at all surprising that it's one of the most popular landmark names in the US (street and city names).
Some other popular names include Lafayette, MLK, Lincoln, and Jackson, Jefferson, and Madison.
Similar to the names Elizabeth and Victoria in the UK. The first being mostly named after Elizabeth I (daughter of Henry VIII) and the second being Queen Vic. Although we don't tend to name towns after people since most of our town names stretch back to Roman/Saxon/Celtic/Norman times. But train stations, schools, pubs, etc commonly incorporate these names.
The confederation of states is the American version of people in Russia who think the USSR still exists. They go around trying to act like the Articles of Confederation still exist.
I'm not sure how you got onto this point, but you're referring to Sovereign Citizens and they're mostly crazy ultra libertarians.
I wasn't trying to make the point you brought out, I was simply saying that 12 years had passed with Washington being in relative retirement and he was still the most popular man in the country. Many Europeans might think that the US Constitution was right after the Revolutionary War and thus Washington went straight from General to President.
Washington's name is everywhere because there was this guy named Washington and he did some cool things a couple hundred years ago.
Alaska: cold, that one goldrush
Hawaii: warm, colonialism
I think you know more about our history than we do
You're mostly on the nail with these but it's worth mentioning that political leanings are split a lot closer to "rural vs urban" differences than they are regional. For example, the city of Austin, Texas, is a lot closer politically to somewhere like Seattle, Washington, than it is to Odessa, Texas. Similarly, somewhere like Redding, California, is closer politically to Decatur, Alabama than it is to Los Angeles. This is a pretty recent development.
I grew up in Odessa. I left and I never want to go back. Ever. Last time I was there was to take the dog, my father's ashes, and any remaining belongings back to a saner part of the country. I have seen and heard it has only gotten worse since and nobody should live there. Ever. Just leave. Run away. Scorched earth. Fuck Texas. Fuck Wasps. Fuck all of the hateful, bigoted, racist, sexist pieces of shit that live there and anywhere else.
Sorry. I may have been a little triggered...I am going to smoke a bowl and chill out now.
California: That other goldrush
Hawaii: Funny you pick that state out of 50 for "colonialism."
Ohio: Home of the buckeye, a useless nut.
Washington: The federal capitol city, Washington D.C. is on a small bit of land along the Potomac river sandwiched between Virginia and Maryland. It was founded in the late 1700s early in the nation's history before we laid any claim to the West coast. The state of Washington--the top-left most of the lower 48--was one of the last settled and named. There were several plans drawn up to create several states in the region, and name them Washington, Jefferson, and possibly one or two other founding fathers. Washington was the only one that went through with it.
i went to hawaii in 2017 for my SiL's wedding and i found a few things that stood out. 1. all those abandoned cars 2. a lot of homeless. 3. a lot of japanese/koreans, not that, that's inherently wrong or strange it was more of an eye opener having been grown up with 80/90s propaganda. 4. there are no borders or boundaries between the bougie and the poor, its very guilded age RI mansion Vanderbilt type strange...like stepping back in time? so yes colonialism.
and i'm from florida, where we pour sugar waste water into our streams and Pikachu face about mass algae blooms, amongst other backward and sideways things, like carving 'trump' into a manatee's back.
Texas used to be a huge fudd state until very recently, at least I assume that things changed.
They required a permit for carrying hand guns but not long guns.
I love that the world's idea of Seattle could be mostly based on Frasier, a show not filmed in Seattle, starring no one from the state nor written or created by anyone from Seattle, with hardly any plot line that has anything to do with the area. Basically the only thing Seattle in that show is the Space Needle, and they way they show it isn't even possible in real life.
Possibly my favorite Lewis Black sketch is about drinking in Wisconsin.
"You are not alcoholics - you are professionals
And yet there's nothing else in the UP, besides cold, and you will note it is a dark blue.
Honestly seems too small to me. I've driven to every state in the US and I've met self-identified cowboys from western NY state to Montana and New Mexico to north Florida. Shit, Kid Rock called himself a cowboy while he was living in Detroit lol.
Conclusion: most American men identify as cowboys
The incest region needs to be way larger and be labeled incest/religious nutcases. Rest is pretty much spot on.
That's really only because the U.S. government is set up all stupid to give the religious nut jobs over-representation. The House is capped at 435. It should be way bigger so bigger states with bigger populations had significanrly more represtatives than the tiny ones.
Also abolish the Senate or remove them from legislative duties. They exist to preserve wealth and the current power structure.
Pretty bad comparison
- size is irrelevant
- american states are provinces, not countries. how many americans know the provinces of Germany?
- identifying states when most of them are just rectangles is damn annoying
Germany might be the worst European country for your example. I'm sure most Americans could name at least a few German provinces just from German prevalence in Western culture. France or Italy? No way.
US states also have considerably more autonomy than most of their European counterparts. It's not at all an exaggeration to say US states operate as their own nations while the federal government mostly just handles international matters.
identifying states when most of them are just rectangles is damn annoying
This is true. Even as an American I doubt I could properly name all the Midwest and New England states on my first try.
I'm not American but I do live in Europe and I only know Bavaria as a province of Germany.
Can't compare all the 50 states to full blown countries as most of them have low population. California though has like 60 million people, so everyone should know that one (and people do, it's movies)
Can't compare all the 50 states to full blown countries as most of them have low population.
Sure you can. The least populated US state(Wyoming) has about 50,000 more people than the least populated EU country(Malta). Every single state absolutely can be comparable to at the very least small countries. California alone has one of the highest GDPs in the world.
I feel like the majority of Americans could name at least Bavaria, Saxony, or Hamburg if asked.
24 US states have populations of over 5 million, ten of which being over 10 million. Like you said, states like California, Texas, Florida, and New York all have populations in the tens of millions. It isn't like they're all just hollow areas of land
From the US: I know those names, I didn't know they were provinces. I thought they were cities to be honest.
I think you're really overestimating how much most Americans think about Germany. The first result on Google says only 20% of Americans can name all 50 of our own states, and a shockingly large amount of Americans really don't know anything about the world outside of 100 miles of where they were born.
I'm betting we're gonna run into a selection bias issue here, but can you name any Chinese provinces? Or Argentinian ones? I'd guess most Americans think about China more than Germany these days, and couldn't name any Chinese provinces besides the major cities at most, and even then I wouldn't be surprised if they knew none of those. Germany really doesn't come up in conversation any more than Argentina, other than many a few more people coming back from vacation in Germany.
I'm admittedly terrible at European geography, but I'm not exactly ashamed of not being able to name all the countries in Europe, since it's generally not relevant information for me. I'm sure I'll learn more about it when I plan to travel there.
It's not at all an exaggeration to say US states operate as their own nations while the federal government mostly just handles international matters.
Part of the problem, yes.
•
It's a fairly reasonable comparison.
Just trying to throw away the concept of size is probably the most unfair thing here. You are trying to change the conversation so your argument appears valuable. Then you kind of piss that attempt at goal post moving by claiming that while size is irrelevant, somehow shape is. What a strange move.
You make a good point on the US state vs Country comparison, I think that certainly plays a much larger part than size or even population. But if you wanted to argue that point, rather than dismiss relevant concepts or inserting ridiculous ones - you could rebut with a question like "can you name the subjects of the Russian Federation?" Or, if you are in a fighting mood (which...clearly), you could just respond that American exceptionalism has them overvaluing the relevance of US States on the global scale.
The shape thing wasn't really meant to be taken seriously...
You're the one being defensive here, so I won't bother arguing with someone that starts out as hostile as that
•
Haha, hostile. I merely pointed out your failed points then suggested a better means of sharing your valid point - going as far as agreeing with you... that's hostile? Yeah, okay.
That's not the part that was hostile, but if you can't see that yourself, I won't be able to help you either
yeah, but for example: Luxembourg - the last grand duchy in the world, one of four institutional seats of the european union, capital city is an UNESCO world heritage site, has a 1000 years of history.
Idaho - potatoes. wait... maybe it's Iowa? or Ohio?
edit: really seems like people can't take a joke, lmao
Idaho - potatoes. wait... maybe it's Iowa? or Ohio?
Idaho and Iowa and Ohio all had rich histories going back tens of thousands of years before Europeans destroyed them lmao. You're just upset they don't have 1,000s of years of white history.
Also it's funny you mentioned Ohio in your comment because the Ohio Mounds became a UNESCO heritage site like a month ago
Oh, so you know all that history? And how much of that culture is still prevalent? And how much impact did it have on the rest of the world?
Those Mounds are barely 1000 years old. Ireland has similar structures and they are about 4000 years older.
But who cares anyway, in the end the history of America is bound to the history of Europe because the majority are descendants of Europeans while the natives were suppressed and eradicated.
I studied pre-Columbian America for five years in University so yes I absolutely know that history lol.
"All" that history? There's no such thing. But it doesn't help that the majority of it was burned down or killed by colonizers a few hundred years ago.
And how much of that culture is still prevalent? And how much impact did it have on the rest of the world?
You are literally proving my point about Europeans destroying American history
Tenochtitlan was the capital of an empire of 5 million people that only fell apart in 1521 because of disease brought by colonists. What are you going to do with the history of which Hapsburg married which cousin?
Jesus, shut the fuck up. We get it, you don't think any culture other than your white European culture is worth studying.
No one under a monarchy has actual pride in their people and country, why should we care that the city was founded from a royal whorehouse by people we're also descended from anyways?
Poland - borscht and poverty. wait... Maybe it's Ukraine? or Belarus?
Sweden - vikings? wait... Maybe it's Norway? or Denmark?
Germany - Fascists? wait... Maybe it's Italy? or Hungary?
France - bread? wait... Maybe it's Netherlands? or Germany?
Yes, it's easy to trivialize something you know nothing about. Now maybe it's not interesting to you, but to the horror of history YouTubers- everywhere has history, and the history of some random inbred monarchs isn't exactly relevant or interesting to everyone.
Poland - borscht and poverty. wait… Maybe it’s Ukraine? or Belarus?
I'd say pierogi is more synonymous with Poland. Also it's economy is one of the greatest successes of a post Warsaw nation. It out performs the former East Germany in several metrics.
Sweden - vikings? wait… Maybe it’s Norway? or Denmark?
All three produced Vikings. Though the ones that harassed England were mostly Danish Vikings with some arriving from Norway and Sweden later on.
Germany - Fascists? wait… Maybe it’s Italy? or Hungary?
Germany and Italy both had fascism. Italy invented it during WWI.
France - bread? wait… Maybe it’s Netherlands? or Germany?
And Baguettes and croissants and frig legs! Germany does have some...interesting bread varieties.
the history of some random inbred monarchs isn’t exactly relevant or interesting to everyone.
European history is a lot more than just some inbred monarchs. The language you speak, the political system you use all came from Europe. Your insults come across like a teenager ranting at his parents that he's smarter than them.
And Baguettes and croissants and frig legs! Germany does have some...interesting bread varieties.
Baguettes and croissants are also bread...
Your insults come across like a teenager ranting at his parents that he's smarter than them.
I think you don't understand what I said. I am not insulting Europe, I am European. I am criticizing your closeminded perspective on what you don't know about.
European history is a lot more than just some inbred monarchs.
Of course, and the history of every US state is a lot more than just potatoes.
European history is a lot more than just some inbred monarchs.
If you're talking about the US, a constitutional bicameral presidential republic, with three branches and a judiciary of your peers, was first done in the US. In fact most modern constitutions are inspired by the American constitution.
If you’re talking about the US, a constitutional bicameral presidential republic, with three branches and a judiciary of your peers, was first done in the US. In fact most modern constitutions are inspired by the American constitution.
- Republic - Greece and Rome.
- Democracy - Greece
- Judiciary & Jury - Saxon/England
- Common Law Legal System - Saxon/England
- Principles of the Enlightenment that inspired the Founding Fathers - Germany, France, Italy and England
More countries have used the Canadian constitution than the US as their framework.
Yes, amazingly, literally everything is inspired and influenced by things in the past, since the US founders were influenced largely by European cultures they were influenced by Europe. But of course, all those European cultures were even more significantly influenced by Levant cultures. Why learn European history that was just savages a few thousand years ago when you could learn Levant cultures?
As a European who doesn't know much about the states: This is pretty accurate. I would exchange gators for florida man and I don't know what the cars and crime one is but otherwise it's spot on.
Ah, I have heard of Detroit from probably some movie but I didn't know it was associated with cars or crime.
Detroit was the setting of RoboCop. Crime was pretty bad there in the 70s/80s. It's much better now and the city is turning around.
However, worth noting that Detroit is in the lower peninsula of Michigan, and the blue "cars & crime" part here is the upper peninsula, which is basically super rural and low crime. I suspect this was done intentionally, lol.
•
I think it went cars -> crime -> house techno (in that order). Am also not American but maybe know a bit more than most. I was expecting great lakes in that blue part.
cars -> crime -> house techno
House music has its origins in Chicago. Techno music has its origins in Detroit.
Though the words are unfortunately being used almost interchangeably by unknowing people today, the genres are historically very different in terms of both technology, culture and other regional circumstances.
Yes, they do indeed musically have some elements in common, but even to this day, after years of evolution and borrowing of ideas, the two movements are still very different to each other, attracting different crowds, and the sum of the general sound of techno+subgenres is much different to that of house+subgenres.
To some people, everything with a 4/4 kick is the same. To me, it's like not differentiating between e.g. reggae and funk, or rock and disco. However, I understand why so many get it wrong, because most people around them do the same. I just thought I'd let you (and other people) know.
•
Yeah I wasn't sure which one it was so I put both to keep it light hearted and accessible in my joke comment, but I'm actually a pretty big electro-head myself, having been a raver, hobbyist D&B DJ and producer (trip hop) for like, what, 20 years ;) Thankfully at much slower rhythms for a long time already though, that stuff will kill ya.
But it gets even more fun once you realize that we don't even really use the same definitions for things here in Europe as you guys do in the US. What I call techno probably isn't even made there. Like, I don't mean offence or anything but from my (limited) direct exposure but mostly all I see from online, videos, discussions etc it's just so different there and doesn't go nearly as deep/dark/hard as we do here, like everything has that sugar coating while we're out there in our black hoodies under a damp bridge tearing it up if you know what I mean.
Honestly I feel like what you were explaining there is way better known these days though, like yeah when I was a kid people would just say anything electronic was techno and I'm sure some still do but also feel like it's way more mainstream now so way more people understand a few different genres at least. I'm also not one to want to get uber-specific with my labels anyway, like I'm more a breakbeat guy myself so I slice it up a bit more there (jungle, jump up, neuro, liquid, technical, intelligent d&b, crossbreed and so on) but with 4 on the floor stuff I'll pretty much just be aware of like, trance (but not the Tiesto trash I mean the good psytrance shit), what is called "Tekno" in France, the Berlin type stuff like Drumcode label, hardstyle, French core, speedcore etc but like, mildly. Miles away from any of the house style stuff.
These days I've softened up a lot and mostly listen to downtempo stuff and just a lot of random different kinds of music, both electronic, acoustic and everything in between.
Yes, GM and Chrysler are still big employers in the city. Ford is still headquartered in nearby Dearborn.
Michigan has more automotive manufacturing facilities than any other state, nearly 1,000 if you count all the suppliers and distribution hubs. And despite Stellantis now being French-owned and abandoning their headquarters, Ford and GM are still present with many dozens of facilities as well as their respective HQs.
Next closest is Ohio with only 600.
Give about 3/4 of the New York section to Incest, and it's closer to reality. New York doesn't make it across the Appalachian mountains, but Incest extends north at least to the Ohio river.
I'm surprised anyone there knows that the UP of Michigan exists. It's a sparcely populated area with low crime. Hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and drinking.
Yeah they don't deserve this shade lol. Smoked fish, nature tourism, and yooper sensibility.
As a born Seattlite, all I can say is this town ain't big enough for the two of us pardner.
To be fair, the incest is probably a bit more widespread than that. Also, potentially more popular in Appalachia than around that area. I think eastern Kentucky/West Virginia has the highest rates of inbreeding than any other part of the country, at least that's what some other guy on the internet commented, so that's a fairly trustworthy source.
I'd change Florida to Disney World because that's the main reason anyone would get a passport to go to Florida.
I'd just like to point out that some European countries have higher rates of incest than the US.
Cousin marriage is also illegal in much of the US while it is legal in much of Europe.
In fact, if this is to be believed (not a clue how accurate this is), Spain, Portugal, and Italy (as well as Canada and Mexico) have higher rates of incest than any single state in the United States.
This is totally believable, but Europeans don't think that America is more incestuous than Europe. They think that that part of America is more incestuous than the rest of America.
Good question but I do know that there are a few towns in Vermont populated by solely one family making me quite surprised it's Alabama that is the incest state and not Vermont I'd gladly take the title of desolate maple state over I fucked my mom state
I always heard the "US has more laws against cousin marriage" as "we had to introduce full on laws because y'all wouldn't stop fucking your cousins!"
True, I do think it's weird they chose Louisiana for the incest part, but I guess that's just their geography skill
I mean, yeah, they boiled down all of the SE to Florida and incest lol. I don't think the map is supposed to be exactly accurate. And they're not THAT far from Alabama all considered.
I like this kind of statistics, but it is counting only investigated cases? In this cases is common that developed countries with more women's freedom would appear higher in statistics. If you see only official cases you will see that Sweden has a higher rape by inhabitant than India, Bangladesh, Yemen and Brazil. This is probably not true, and is possible to happen because women are more prone to report rape in Sweden than in these other countries.
Being Portuguese, I can assure you that we're not doing it with our sisters, though I can't really say how much marrying with cousins is going on (whilst I don't know a single person who has done it, I haven't exactly researched the matter).
It's mostly cousins and mostly in villages. It was somewhat common (as in, it wouldn't be seen as completely out of left field) to marry your cousin some decades ago. I know a few seniors who either married their cousin or know someone who did. However it's definitely an older generation thing, I've never heard of someone younger than 40 doing it, and I doubt it's that common these days.
I think this map was made by an American cos it's referencing cultural things that I don't know or care about.