Sad but true. (TikTok screencap)
I'm a Russian, hold my beer.
this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2025
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Do people actually hold that against you? The worst I've had as an american was explaining that most Americans don't support Trump, Elon is a Nazi (they didn't get the memo in east asia), and then contextualizing whatever other weird impressions they have.
Not really. To be open, I don't live in Russia for over a decade. There were minor incidents even before the big war, like people abruptly stopping speaking to me upon hearing my nationality, or asking why I support (I don't) Putin or why I don't stop him. One guy explained to me very matter-of-factly that all Russians are intrinsically evil and deserve supervision because of it... Didn't know how to answer that one. Very rarely I was thrown insults in the streets. But other than a very few incidents, all people I know outside of Russia were always welcoming and supportive. Recently, I received more threats and hate speech from my pro-putin compatriots than I ever received anywhere else in the world.
I'm a) currently travelling in Europe, and b) not American. I have encountered plenty in the six weeks or so I've been here though. Right now I'm sitting on a riverboat that is about three quarters Americans.
I've found that some of the stereotypes are true. Mostly the Americans are loud. Some are loudly ignorant. Some make questionable choices - I've seen a few wearing the American flag on their clothes, or blatant bible references.
However, the vast majority of the Americans I've spent time talking to are embarrassed by the current political shenanigans. We've encountered a few in full throttle support, but it's rare.
I've found the Canadians interesting. Most we've spoken with are avoiding visiting America and plan to do so for a few years yet. More than one has said they're afraid an over zealous border guard would dent them entry, which would affect any travel plans for years into the future, so they're not taking the chance. Sounds fair to me.
Are Americans abroad garbage? No, not all. Some are. But they do stand out like dog's bollocks.
This is why most Americans say they are Canadian, when traveling.
They can try, but you can always hear an American tourist before you see them.
Most American tourists definitely don't do this.
obviously I can't say anything to actual statistics, but I can provide anecdotal evidence of this one time back in Europe when some very clearly American tourists were claiming to be Canadian, and the Canadians and Americans in our group were just kind of side eyeing them from a few tables over
Compelling as your anecdata is...
Most Americans who travel outside the US aren't travelling to Europe. They are going to Cancun, or similar destinations in Mexico, where they will be surrounded by other americans. Or they will be in Canada, where it would be silly to try to lie about being Canadian.
And beyond that, a large share of American international tourists are older people - people advanced enough in their careers to drop a couple grand eating fancy cheese for a few weeks. Of course, these are the people who give American tourists a bad rap. But also, these people aren't the sort to lie about being American.
And beyond even that - the biggest nail in the coffin for this idea is simply the fact that lying takes effort. Unless Americans consistently encountered outward hostility when introducing themselves as American (they don't), they aren't going to even think about lying, because why would they make their nice vacation super weird and awkward by trying to remember the names of Canadian national parks and taking about beavers to the people they meet?
definitely a hasty generalisation.
That's why I picked up a second language. We rarely speak English when traveling abroad now.
I am Canadian. People in Europe would always ask if I was American after hearing me speak, and their faces would always lighten up when I told them I was Canadian.
In Spain it was the worst. I would sometimes overhear service staff tell each other I was American and proceed to get awful service. It got to the point that I started going in to random stores to try to (unsuccessfully) find something with a Canadian flag on it.
I will try my best to be obviously Canadian next time.
I dunno, maybe it's just me, but anytime abroad I tell people I'm from Jersey. First and foremost I identify as. New Jerseyan. "American" and "Canadian" are so incredibly broad. Are you from Vancouver? Toronto? Are you a Newfie or from Edmonton? Shit, are you Quebecois? The same applies in the US, I don't for a second begin to think of any of the regions as being remotely similar. Northeast, Atlantic, Midwest, West Coast, all very different places with very different people. I didn't include the South because they're the worst.
So yeah, I've kinda always just led with that. Maybe us people from Jersey are just like that though, I dunno. I won't lie, sometimes it leads me to saying things like "I'm an hour outside of New York." I leave off "city" because New York State may as well not even exist, it's essentially a barren wasteland of former mining towns that are in a depressed death spiral of long, gray winters and trips to the finger lakes.
anytime abroad I tell people I’m from Jersey
You tell me you're from Jersey, I'll ask you about a tiny island in the english channel.
heh, my thought, exactly.
You understand differentiation for demographics in certain areas, but no one else does, it just confuses people abroad when you talk about what city you're from. Like if I started talking about Melbournites, vs sydnesiders you wouldn't be able to chime in on the conversation.
New York City generally gets folks understanding where I'm from, but I have the benefit of living an hour outside of arguably one of the most recognizable cities in the world.
I get what you're saying, and I kind of use it as a tool to continue conversation. Any time I meet folks from somewhere else, I tend to ask them about it. I've had some long conversations about places I never knew much about with Uber drivers or waiters, and I suppose I project that onto people too, that perhaps they're interested in the minutiae of life in northeast American suburbia. It definitely pales in comparison to people from war-torn African countries, but it is what it is.
I completely agree, it's entirely fascinating, if you have time to converse with someone about the culture of the specific areas of where you live, that would make for brilliant conversation. It's just that people won't know the culture, without that conversation, so they might know some of the names of the cities and states, but they wouldn't know what the people are, generally like, in those areas. If you're talking with someone who is more familiar, they would understand you're communicating your beliefs and culture, but anyone outside that lived knowledge, doesn't understand that, if you mention you're from a certain place, that means you align with certain beliefs. Although I can certainly understand still leading with that, and maybe more people will get a feel for it, the more you explain and get chances to have those conversations.
You sound like the type of people OC is being confused with.
You sound like a yank. The international bias is against all of us. You might be able to get a different bias if you assert that you're Californian, but a random Spaniard doesn't know what a Midwest or a new jersey is and is annoyed that Americans expect everyone to know.
It's like if a Mexican were to assure you that they're from Chiapas when you ask if they're Mexican. Firstly the average American doesn't know what Chiapas is, and will probably assume it's either a city or country, not a state, but even if they know it's a state in Mexico they don't know what the hell that means because most Americans don't know shit about Mexican internal politics and safety.
The fun part about when someone tells me they're from a place I've never heard of is that I get to ask them about that place now. I enjoy it. I don't expect everyone to know it, but maybe I do expect them to be interested in conversation.
You shouldn't. People are more likely to be interested in who you are as a person than your country's politics. You might get some negative bias, true. But you can work pass that.
I'm from the country of Orban, and I do feel shame sometimes saying that. But I have rarely experienced anything more than some cold looks.
The everyday folks who support a dictator tend no to travels abroad. People outside your country are not exposed to them :)
My wife openly says she left Hungary because of the dictatorship, nobody has ever reacted to her negatively for it.
The impression I get from most Hungarians I've met is that if you can speak another language then getting out is the smart move.
US ex pat living in Europe: 100% agree. I've actually not had a single person be mean or negative about where I'm from. Either jokes about how it's going or more likely, curiosity about how things actually are.
It's just like if you meet a Russian who left. I would hope you'd have the nuance to think "oh, they escaped, fantastic for them and I'm so sorry about their country" not "oh they must love Putin"
I met a Russian student studying abroad who was very intent on staying out of Russia as much as possible because he's aware of how messed up things are. Had very a good sense of humor. His jokes about Putin and the Russian government would be enough to get people there thrown in jail.
It's just like if you meet a Russian who left. I would hope you'd have the nuance to think "oh, they escaped, fantastic for them and I'm so sorry about their country" not "oh they must love Putin"
Unfortunately, as a Polish person, reality proved to me over and over and over again that in this particular scenario, the latter is just most often the case.
Russian people in general have special love for strong men in power. Make no mistake, they somehow even managed to turn Marxist ideas into authoritarianism and it made a massive damage to the international perception of the idea of communism. To this day general populace im my post-communist country, when you say socialism, they see Stalin.
it made a massive damage to the international perception of the idea of communism
I'd blame that on red-scared muricans, although russians didn't help either.
Depends?
I was born in mainland China, my parents are sort of sympathetic to PRC (but they are not communists), as in, they want to see Taiwan be reunified and opposed the Hongkong Protests. Simultaneously, they are also somewhat sympathetic to trump and their shitty policies, and they are anti-immigration despite us being immigrants, and they hate homeless people and neurodivergent people.
Meanwhile, I grew up in the US (arrive before I turned 10), I oppose the CCP, support Taiwan's democracy and Hongkong protests, oppose trump.
Eh, really depends. Some immigrants keep supporting right-wing and authoritarian leaders in their home countries, regardless of where they're from. There are many immigrant Russians who don't support Putin, but there are some who do. Just like there are MAGA Latinos. Same as many Balkan people who move to Austria, Germany, etc. who still support right-wing leaders whose economy- and people-ruinning policies forced them to move for work in the first place.
People are dumb, tribalistic animals.
The everyday folks who support a dictator tend no to travels abroad.
I remember seeing videos of mainland Chinese people going to western countries to counterprotest against the HongKong Protestors. As a Chinese American, I cringed at that so much.
People are more likely to be interested in who you are as a person than your country's politics.
The current political state of the US is just the icing on the shit cake. When I was a kid traveling abroad with my parents 30 years ago, Americans were considered fat, ignorant, and egotistical. That they expected the rest of the world to speak English, accept USD everywhere, and give them special treatment. That they were loud, obnoxious, ignorant, and rude.
That hasn't changed much.
Any local who can't separate you from the corrupt billionaires who run your country isn't worth your time no matter where you are. Anyone who would lie to another person about where they're from because they can't separate themselves from the corrupt billionaires who run their country isn't worth my time no matter where you're from.
Yeah. Also, like, I've never met locals who are like that. I'm American. I travel pretty frequently. It is obvious from my accent, and also from the fact that I tell people I'm American when they ask. And also due to the confused look in my eye when someone tells me the temperature. I've never run into anyone who openly hates Americans visiting their country.
Do you tell people you're from America, or from a random state or town and not even mention the country. I've had never, ever had someone from America tell me they're from America or USA when I've asked where they are from. And I've never, ever had anyone from any other country do the same. Which subconsciously reinforces biases, as much as I hate to admit it.
Same experience here, and when I traveled as an immigrant, everyone was always very cordial and welcoming to me (which is more than I can say for the immigrant experience in America). I was in Brazil during Bolsonaro and found many lefties who appreciated the acknowledgement that they were still there working hard despite their country's leadership (one of them got murdered by his father over politics). I was in Chile during the student riots under Pinera too and was welcomed by the leftists in the street throwing bottle bombs and the cops in riot gear with water cannons. The average person everywhere is involved in a continuous global struggle for human rights, education, economic equity, etc, and they recognize your empathy no matter what flavor of billionaire is currently running the country.
It really depends though. If you are an openminded american who respects the locals and doesn't have any issues talking a stand against the shitty politics and the mess the USA calls an economic situation, then you will likely not have an issue.
If you are an obnoxious asshole who thinks the USA is the greatest place ever and that any other place is beneath you, you might experience some substantial blowback.
Most people are clever enough to differentiate those two groups.
If the US starts a war against the country you travel to that might change though.
That's kinda my point. People aren't judging me based on my nationality, because they can just notice that I'm not a dick.
Yes. Being American gives you an unique way to be a dick, but you don't have to take it.
Brother, do you think any country is afforded that level of differentiation by the common people? People probably know that not literally every single american supports Trump, but they will still consider any american to be "from that place" first and foremost until proven otherwise.
I am german myself and most certainly not aligned with our current government, but you bet i have to justify myself to others anyway.
Sounds like an expectation of special treatment that many Americans don't even afford to people from other countries lol.
How I feel as a citizen of a first world country.
The international community has 0 responsibility in this.
Your fellow Americans did this to you by voting MAGA.
Bring your pain to them.
I don't bring it up but if people ask me I say I'm from San Francisco. I'm close enough, like 30 miles away. I feel like I avoid some judgement by doing so but idk.
Yeah, sad but true