TikToker reveals 7 surprising ways America differs from most other countries: ‘People don’t even realize it’
A TikTok user is raising plenty of eyebrows after sharing seven things that set America apart from most other countries.
The viral video comes from a user named @america_is_the_bad.place. His account is a reference to the beloved NBC sitcom The Good Place, and it aims to show an outsider’s critique of the strange, hypocritical or downright worrisome facets of American culture.
It’s a subject matter with plenty of appeal on TikTok, where users have long shared the biggest culture shocks they’ve experienced when traveling to the U.S. Recently, a New Zealander shared the tax-related realization she had after a stint working in America. Before that, an English TikToker explained the key differences between ordering at American and British restaurants.
The creator behind @america_is_the_bad.place, who is originally from New Zealand himself, decided to round up the most frequent comments he’s gotten on his videos so far. The result was a series of seven surprising facts about America.
His first fact relates to paid time off, explaining that the U.S. offers shockingly minimal vacation time. As CNBC reported in 2018, the U.S. is the only advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee paid time off for its workers. The result? On average, workers in South Korea, the U.K. and several other countries often take over three times more vacation time than Americans.
Next up is parental leave. The TikToker explains how American law differs from most other developed countries in that there is no guaranteed maternity leave. By comparison, British citizens can receive 39 weeks of paid parental leave while Japanese workers get 52 weeks or more.
From there, @america_is_the_bad.place goes on to point out how America is one of it not the only modern nation with a pledge of allegiance, and one of the few Western nations that makes its citizens calculate their own taxes. He also cites America’s place in several global rankings, such as the Human Freedom Index, which represents how easy it is to get out of poverty in a given nation. The U.S. ranks 27th on that list.
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TikTokers from the U.S. and abroad responded to @america_is_the_bad.place’s video, writing that they believed that many Americans were unaware of these facts.
“The U.S. is LITERALLY the bad place and people DON’T even realize it,” one user wrote.
“Honestly if the US isn’t number one country on the freedom index can we sue for false advertising,” another joked.
“TikTok has enlightened me that we are basically gaslit from birth to believe we are the best nation in the world and that is just not the case anymore,” another user argued.
In a 2017 Pew Research survey, 85% of Americans either said America was “one of” the greatest countries in the world, or that it was in fact the greatest. However, that view has seemingly declined over the years, from 92% percent in 2011.
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