I used to really dislike Europeans. The reason being that I thought they just automatically hated Americans/thought they were better than us by default. Before I got discord I didn't really have any way to talk with people outside of the country and the only times I saw what Europeans think was through posts online. Most posts regarding America were very negative and hateful. It gave me the impression that people of other countries, especially Europe, simply thought less of us, like we were all fat, dumb, and uneducated.

Now don't get me wrong there is plenty to make fun of, our education system is broken, healthcare is way too expensive, corporations practically run everything ECT.

But it felt like more than just pointing out American flaws. It was to such an extent that it felt like hatred. And thus I thought that if I tried to interact with Europeans (and to a lesser extent Australians) they wouldn't see me as an equal. Hell I've even seen this attitude in comment sections on this very subreddit

Even as my bias has died I still notice it, one of my best friends is British but even they feel the need to make as many snide comments as they can. I don't like having to tell them to stop but sometimes i had too. They don't do it anymore, perhaps it's just mutual respect we've built over the year

I don't think this way anymore but I think it's emblematic of a bigger problem, that people are having a lack of respect of where others come from, especially if it's far away. Now I don't see people from the US making fun of Canadians and according to my British friend Europeans don't make fun of each other in that way as much. So it leads me to believe that people just think you can throw disrespect towards another person when they're on the other side of an ocean, and honestly that's not really okay, I think we should a respect each other regardless of what ocean or borders separate us.

I'm sorry about this long rant but it's something I've needed to get off of my chest and I had no idea where to put these feelings. This subreddit seemed like a place where Americans and non Americans like to talk in a (usually) friendly manner. And perhaps there is someone else out there who felt the same way. I'm just happy I got this out there, I couldn't hold this in my heart any longer.