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> It's as if there are two worlds in the US. The US is very far from a monoculture. Culture and personal values vary greatly from one family to the next, even

> It's as if there are two worlds in the US. The US is very far from a monoculture. Culture and personal values vary greatly from one family to the next, even within the same region. I worked for a company with a lot of non-US offices with a lot of younger people who always had a lot of questions about US culture. I think they got tired of me explaining that the US is extremely diverse when it comes to culture and values. They always wanted one, singular answer about how people in the US do things in their personal and family lives. When describing their own countries, they’d confidently say “Here, we all do it this way” as if their entire country followed a singular culture. It was interesting to see how this sense of monoculture (however unrealistic) varied from country to country, but rarely applied to discussions about the US. Of course, internet commenters love to generalize about US people, generally in a negative light. Even US citizens love to criticize the US. However, one of the things I love most about living here is the wide array of values and cultures and the freedom to do your own thing

EscapeFromNY 3y ago
I like to tell people that a US state is the size of a European country, and USA the country is as large as Europe the continent. "Oh, you're from Europe? What language do they speak in Europe?"
- jhonof 3y ago
  State to state the US is significantly more similar culturally than Europe is. The distance from my home town to the University I went to is equivalent to London to Jerusalem basically, but the differences between my hometown and the place I went to university are not very significant when compared to the differences between London and Jerusalem.
  - emodendroket 3y ago
    Yeah, I did not find moving from Massachusetts to California involved a radical reimagining of my behavior, the way I spoke, or in many cases even the places I shopped. The people here are all familiar with the same cultural touchstones, more or less. Distinctive regional accents are harder and harder to hear. US culture might have been more notably diverse in the pre-War period but now basically you're, to put it in vulgar terms, "cosmopolitan" or "hick" and that's about all the differentiation that matters.
    - quesera 3y ago
      FWIW, (Eastern) Massachusetts and (South-Central, Coastal) California are not very different. San Francisco and Boston share a special affinity. Many of the places in between are more varied.
      - emodendroket 3y ago
        They’re not but that’s kind of my point. It’s not really that varied, you can go “red” or “blue” and those alternate a lot as you travel around, but the idea of a patchwork of many little very distinctive cultures is on life support.
        civilitty 3y ago
        How much have you actually traveled through the US beyond superficially passing through a few cities? Is “Massachusetts to California” supposed to be satire? You obviously haven’t met any Cajuns, Appalachians, or any number of American subcultures that are very distinct from your generic metropolitan yuppy. Many of them have dialects and accents thick enough to be practically indecipherable to many Americans. You just won’t find them at your local Trader Joes because they live somewhere else
        emodendroket 3y ago
        Yes, I have, but I didn’t think I needed to write my whole life story to make a point. Regional accents (Massachusetts has a couple distinctive ones! While we’re being condescending, surely you are at least vaguely aware of that) are more likely to be used by people middle-aged or older. Regional media is dead. Regional cuisine is far less distinct than it used to be with many specialties gone. In 1900 it wouldn’t have been common sense that MA and CA are “supposed to be” similar so the fact you’re throwing that in my face is actually making my point.
        jhonof 3y ago
        I think this sort of proves the point that Europe is significantly more varied though. Even if you only travel to major cities in Europe you notice very significant cultural differences between them. Small pockets of distinct cultures are around the US but there are way fewer of them and they are sparsely distributed in a way that most people don't run into them at all. For example, in Canada the difference between the Haida people, Inuit people, English Canadians are very apparent and obvious, but the vast vast majority of the country (outside of Quebec and northern NB) is small towns where people speak English, play the same few sports, have the same like 8 chain restaurants, and live in broadly similar property styles. Sure culturally BC is different from Ontario slightly, but having traveled to and lived in both for many years, the differences are not very significant unless I were to seek out specific cultural enclaves, and that is a 4500 km difference.
- truculent 3y ago
  I would guess that most people from outside the states are familiar with the geographical size of the country, and that this frequently comes off as patronising. Besides, the fact of the matter is that English dominates as the main language in the US to a far greater degree than Europe. I’m not sure that your analogy really highlights anything except that Europe has many more culturally distinct zones than the US.
  - ElfinTrousers 3y ago
    > I would guess that most people from outside the states are familiar with the geographical size of the country If they do they don't act like it: my experience has been like the OP's, in that non-Americans tend to assume our society and culture is a lot more homogeneous than it is.
    - jhonof 3y ago
      Conversely, as an American, American's tend to assume their culture is a lot more heterogeneous than it really is. Tons of people don't travel outside the country because they think that the US has everything when it doesn't at all.
      - ElfinTrousers 3y ago
        To be fair, the US doesn't have everything, but it does have a lot, so I can see how you could get this idea if you weren't a particularly imaginative or curious person.
- throwbadubadu 3y ago
  Hmm, but almost everywhere american english is spoken in the US? Also rest assured, travelled quite a bit through the US, and at least the surface view from a tourist is: There are differences (as there are also huge differences as e.g. between Berlin and Bavaria) in culture.. but all the things foreigners find crazy about the US and what I would call "culture" are very similar. Sure, subcultures exist, but as in every immigrant country. (I would even say that integration works better there, like foreigners wanting to adapt more to the American culture as in other countries).

EscapeFromNY 3y ago

I like to tell people that a US state is the size of a European country, and USA the country is as large as Europe the continent. "Oh, you're from Europe? What language do they speak in Europe?"

jhonof 3y ago
State to state the US is significantly more similar culturally than Europe is. The distance from my home town to the University I went to is equivalent to London to Jerusalem basically, but the differences between my hometown and the place I went to university are not very significant when compared to the differences between London and Jerusalem.
- emodendroket 3y ago
  Yeah, I did not find moving from Massachusetts to California involved a radical reimagining of my behavior, the way I spoke, or in many cases even the places I shopped. The people here are all familiar with the same cultural touchstones, more or less. Distinctive regional accents are harder and harder to hear. US culture might have been more notably diverse in the pre-War period but now basically you're, to put it in vulgar terms, "cosmopolitan" or "hick" and that's about all the differentiation that matters.
  - quesera 3y ago
    FWIW, (Eastern) Massachusetts and (South-Central, Coastal) California are not very different. San Francisco and Boston share a special affinity. Many of the places in between are more varied.
    - emodendroket 3y ago
      They’re not but that’s kind of my point. It’s not really that varied, you can go “red” or “blue” and those alternate a lot as you travel around, but the idea of a patchwork of many little very distinctive cultures is on life support.
      - civilitty 3y ago
        How much have you actually traveled through the US beyond superficially passing through a few cities? Is “Massachusetts to California” supposed to be satire? You obviously haven’t met any Cajuns, Appalachians, or any number of American subcultures that are very distinct from your generic metropolitan yuppy. Many of them have dialects and accents thick enough to be practically indecipherable to many Americans. You just won’t find them at your local Trader Joes because they live somewhere else
        emodendroket 3y ago
        Yes, I have, but I didn’t think I needed to write my whole life story to make a point. Regional accents (Massachusetts has a couple distinctive ones! While we’re being condescending, surely you are at least vaguely aware of that) are more likely to be used by people middle-aged or older. Regional media is dead. Regional cuisine is far less distinct than it used to be with many specialties gone. In 1900 it wouldn’t have been common sense that MA and CA are “supposed to be” similar so the fact you’re throwing that in my face is actually making my point.
        jhonof 3y ago
        I think this sort of proves the point that Europe is significantly more varied though. Even if you only travel to major cities in Europe you notice very significant cultural differences between them. Small pockets of distinct cultures are around the US but there are way fewer of them and they are sparsely distributed in a way that most people don't run into them at all. For example, in Canada the difference between the Haida people, Inuit people, English Canadians are very apparent and obvious, but the vast vast majority of the country (outside of Quebec and northern NB) is small towns where people speak English, play the same few sports, have the same like 8 chain restaurants, and live in broadly similar property styles. Sure culturally BC is different from Ontario slightly, but having traveled to and lived in both for many years, the differences are not very significant unless I were to seek out specific cultural enclaves, and that is a 4500 km difference.
truculent 3y ago
I would guess that most people from outside the states are familiar with the geographical size of the country, and that this frequently comes off as patronising. Besides, the fact of the matter is that English dominates as the main language in the US to a far greater degree than Europe. I’m not sure that your analogy really highlights anything except that Europe has many more culturally distinct zones than the US.
- ElfinTrousers 3y ago
  > I would guess that most people from outside the states are familiar with the geographical size of the country If they do they don't act like it: my experience has been like the OP's, in that non-Americans tend to assume our society and culture is a lot more homogeneous than it is.
  - jhonof 3y ago
    Conversely, as an American, American's tend to assume their culture is a lot more heterogeneous than it really is. Tons of people don't travel outside the country because they think that the US has everything when it doesn't at all.
    - ElfinTrousers 3y ago
      To be fair, the US doesn't have everything, but it does have a lot, so I can see how you could get this idea if you weren't a particularly imaginative or curious person.
throwbadubadu 3y ago
Hmm, but almost everywhere american english is spoken in the US? Also rest assured, travelled quite a bit through the US, and at least the surface view from a tourist is: There are differences (as there are also huge differences as e.g. between Berlin and Bavaria) in culture.. but all the things foreigners find crazy about the US and what I would call "culture" are very similar. Sure, subcultures exist, but as in every immigrant country. (I would even say that integration works better there, like foreigners wanting to adapt more to the American culture as in other countries).