# Perceptions about USA from non-Americans that Americans might be surprised to learn **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2015, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918 "2015-05-13T06:28:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/301 "2015-05-17T22:01:37Z")
> [@aesop](#): > > Americans who drive standard transmission automobiles tend to think they are better, more sophisticated drivers who are more attuned to their cars. In virtually 100% of the rest of the world, driving a standard is, well, standard. Driving a stick shift does not make you special. It makes you normal. Read your own comments and apply them to yourself. Driving a stick shift in the U.S. just means that you are either really poor and drive an old, very basic car or you are an auto enthusiast that likes more things to mess with. I can drive a stick shift just fine and did it for years but it is mostly an obsolete skill now except for some niche vehicles. Most cars sold for the American market don’t even have a manual transmission as an option anymore because there is no need for it. Computer controlled automatic transmissions can beat almost any human driver in any measure with none of the hassles. The gap has swung in favor of automatics even for many sports cars these days. Show me your exotic prized Porsche or Lamborghini with a manual transmission and a professional driver. I will show you a mass market American car (Corvette Z06 with an automatic transmission) that can beat it on almost any measure for less than $80,000. This pissing match has gone on way too long. The automatics won. The question becomes, why doesn’t the rest of the world realize that yet? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/302 "2015-05-17T22:27:42Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Computer controlled automatic transmissions can beat almost any human driver in any measure with none of the hassles. The gap has swung in favor of automatics even for many sports cars these days. Show me your exotic prized Porsche or Lamborghini with a manual transmission and a professional driver. I will show you a mass market American car (Corvette Z06 with an automatic transmission) that can beat it on almost any measure for less than $80,000. > > This pissing match has gone on way too long. The automatics won. The question becomes, why doesn’t the rest of the world realize that yet? Those are quite expensive. And, sticks are fun to drive. I mean- why even buy a Porsche or Lamborghini if not for the fun in driving it. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/303 "2015-05-17T23:12:54Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > There may be something to this, in addition to the Republican Party successfully convincing its constituents to vote against its better interest to maintain a system that is ridiculously expensive for the consumer and just as ridiculously lucrative for the medical insurance industry. I think foreigners are amazed at how American Democrats use simple OPs as a platform to piss about Republicans, irrespective of what the thread is about. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/304 "2015-05-17T23:21:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Those are quite expensive. There’s no reason for an automatic transmission to be “quite expensive” these days. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/305 "2015-05-18T02:59:32Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No. And the US could do much better, but there are far more racist modern societies than ours. Japan, for one. One thing that REALLY confounds and confuses the issue of racism in the US is the fact that with few exceptions, the minority groups are almost always impoverished relative to the white majority. The black community accounts for roughly the same amount of welfare recipients as the white community, despite only being 15% of the population, and something like 27% of the black community is below the Federal poverty line, which is something like an income of $23k for a family of four. [Here’s a link showing the income disparity between whites and blacks.](http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/21/news/economy/black-white-inequality/) Anyway, what I’m getting at is that a lot of what black people identify and decry as racist is really classist, and is not necessarily white people having a bone to pick with black people, but rather with poor people and their behaviors, which are often considered trashy. White America says pretty much the same hateful and condescending things about poor whites as poor blacks, except that curiously enough, the poor black person is given more of a pass on it, due to historical circumstance, while the poor whites are regarded as wretched good for nothing losers who should be ashamed. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/306 "2015-05-18T03:51:09Z")
Yeah, but when you discover that part of the reason for the income disparity stems from blacks and whites with the same income getting different financial treatment… things go back to the “it’s racist” square. Sometimes it is difficult to get the right word, though. I know many people who say “racist” when they mean “xenophobic”, but damnit, “xenophobic” is one dang complicated word, and sometimes yes, the problem is actually income. ---
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/307 "2015-05-18T06:54:38Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Read your own comments and apply them to yourself. Driving a stick shift in the U.S. just means that you are either really poor and drive an old, very basic car or you are an auto enthusiast that likes more things to mess with. I can drive a stick shift just fine and did it for years but it is mostly an obsolete skill now except for some niche vehicles. Most cars sold for the American market don’t even have a manual transmission as an option anymore because there is no need for it. > > Computer controlled automatic transmissions can beat almost any human driver in any measure with none of the hassles. The gap has swung in favor of automatics even for many sports cars these days. Show me your exotic prized Porsche or Lamborghini with a manual transmission and a professional driver. I will show you a mass market American car (Corvette Z06 with an automatic transmission) that can beat it on almost any measure for less than $80,000. > > This pissing match has gone on way too long. The automatics won. The question becomes, why doesn’t the rest of the world realize that yet? It’s not about which type of transmission is superior, it’s that Americans who drive sticks think they are somehow exceptional. If the sample size is one country, the US, then they are. But as the thread asks for non-US perspectives and we broaden the sample size to include the whole world, we see that people who drive stick shifts are the norm not the exception. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/308 "2015-05-18T13:29:05Z")
[quote=“Nava, post:306, topic:719918”] Yeah, but when you discover that part of the reason for the income disparity stems from blacks and whites with the same income getting different financial treatment… things go back to the “it’s racist” square. That’s not quite what I was saying. My point was that in normal social interactions and commentary by most white Americans, the things that are afforded the most opprobrium are behaviors and beliefs that are lower-class (i.e. “trashy”), and that since a large percentage of black americans are poor, there’s a lot of assumption on their part that when white people decry these things, that they’re being racist, when in fact, they’re being classist. Doesn’t really have to do with differing financial treatment at all. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/309 "2015-05-18T14:11:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Show me your exotic prized Porsche or Lamborghini with a manual transmission and a professional driver. I will show you a mass market American car (Corvette Z06 with an automatic transmission) that can beat it on almost any measure for less than $80,000. You know the Z06 is pretty much unique in being faster as an automatic, right? Well, presumably you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/310 "2015-05-18T16:09:44Z")
> [@bump](#): > > One thing that REALLY confounds and confuses the issue of racism in the US is the fact that with few exceptions, the minority groups are almost always impoverished relative to the white majority. The black community accounts for roughly the same amount of welfare recipients as the white community, despite only being 15% of the population, and something like 27% of the black community is below the Federal poverty line, which is something like an income of $23k for a family of four… There also seems to be a cultural difference. I’ve known a few white people who have received welfare. It’s _embarrassing_ to be white and paying with food stamps, checking in to subsidized project housing, etc. They wanted to get off of it as soon as they could. Many black people, however, seem fairly comfortable with the “welfare queen” lifestyle and only appear vaguely motivated to change. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/311 "2015-05-18T16:22:39Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > There also seems to be a cultural difference. I’ve known a few white people who have received welfare. It’s _embarrassing_ to be white and paying with food stamps, checking in to subsidized project housing, etc. They wanted to get off of it as soon as they could. Many black people, however, seem fairly comfortable with the “welfare queen” lifestyle and only appear vaguely motivated to change. I suspect that’s because the the white people on welfare that \*you \*know don’t exactly constitute a cross-section of all white people on welfare. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/312 "2015-05-18T18:29:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There’s no reason for an automatic transmission to be “quite expensive” these days. The Computer controlled automatic transmissions, like on high end cars are quite expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/313 "2015-05-18T18:34:28Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > “Haha, you’re American! Are you a cowboy? Do you have a six-gun?”. Yes, no, yes. That wasn’t hard. So, did you all get really drunk one time and decide to build an absurdly long fence? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/314 "2015-05-18T18:41:06Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Many black people, however, seem fairly comfortable with the “welfare queen” lifestyle and only appear vaguely motivated to change. Nice. Are there any other stereotypes you’d like to trot out for us? Maybe you could tell us about drunken Irishmen. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/315 "2015-05-18T19:49:40Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Many black people, however, seem fairly comfortable with the “welfare queen” lifestyle and only appear vaguely motivated to change. The “welfare queen” lifestyle hasnt existed since 1996. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/316 "2015-05-18T20:19:29Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The “welfare queen” lifestyle hasnt existed since 1996. :rolleyes: What happened in 1996? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/317 "2015-05-18T20:25:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > What happened in 1996? wiki:\* In 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act changed the structure of Welfare payments and added new criteria to states that received Welfare funding. After reforms, which President Clinton said would “end Welfare as we know it”\* ---
**Author:** ![Coyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Coyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coyi)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/318 "2015-05-18T21:05:55Z")
In America you can be a club and be world champions at a sport. The rest of the world however think you have to be a country to earn that right. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/319 "2015-05-18T21:16:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > What happened in 1996? _And you’re from Clinton’s home state._ Tell me, do other countries have this problem where politicians and voters keep fighting against laws they’ve already repealed? ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/320 "2015-05-18T21:18:45Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > I was surprised by that too. I thought we’d practically invented 24/7 shopping. > > I was surprised, for example, when I went to a “24 hour” Tesco to find it closed quite early, at around 5:00 PM. I wondered if perhaps 24 hours meant something else, like it was calculated on a _weekly_ basis, but eventually I found the opening hours and it was only open 24/6, with limited hours on Sunday. (I’ve since learned that the UK, or at least England (I think Sunday shopping was one of the points in favor of Scottish superiority in one of the recent marathon threads), Sunday shopping is restricted.) Reminds me of one of Steven Wright’s jokes: “I went down to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, 'Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours. He said, ‘Not in a row.’” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918.md?page=17)