Comment by nathanasmith | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nathanasmith | Hacker News Reader

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>it could only happen in America is an extremely well-known and common comment to make.

Why not? Everybody else is making it. Besides, it gives the commenter that oh so delicious smug sense of unearned superiority. Besides, everybody else is doing it. Except..

>It's like when you see people buying a rifle in Walmart - Only in America.

People buy rifles in all kinds of stores all over the world so why would Walmart be any kind of exception?

>Or when they're getting a one-gallon cup of Coke from McDonalds,

This literally does not exist.

>or drive away from a fuel bowser with the hose still plugged in

People do this anywhere they are allowed to pump their own gas. FWIW in my 40 years, I've seen the aftermath of this exactly once.

To respond to your other comment:

>I disagree - I don't watch any [mass media]. This honestly seems like exactly the sort of corruption I'd expect to hear about in the US...

Except according to the corruption perception index, the US is less corrupt than most European countries[0] including the likes of France, Portugal and Ireland, and far less corrupt than the vast majority of countries in the world. You claim to not be watching the media but you're getting your false information from somewhere so maybe turn that off too.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index

Try to avoid getting so offended over the comment - to anyone living outside the US, the phrase "only in America" is extremely commonplace.

>It means something is so ridiculous, it could only happen in America.

An exaggeration in itself but then you go on to support it with claims that are either entirely false or orthogonal to the point. So I corrected you. Yet somehow I'm supposed to be "offended". Since you are so good at internet psychiatry, here's another word for you. Projection.

You do come across as offended / upset

You must be offended since you took the time to butt into somebody else's conversation without adding a single thing to it but a pseudo-insult.

You're just confirming what they already said.

It was the quick succession of more than a few rapid edits over the course of several minutes that made me feel that you're over-reacting to the comment.

- Its weird everywhere else in the world to sell firearms in the same store as kids toys, milk and cheese. Weird.

- Gallon cups have indeed existed in promotions at various fast food outlets in the US, maybe not McDonalds I suppose.

- It's extremely rare to have people pull away from a bowser without checking the hose has been put away when you aren't pre-paying for fuel (i.e. many places around the world). However almost every image and video of it posted to car forums etc are from the United States.

- The US government is perceived as corrupt to many people in many nations, and the current office is making that perception greater. That is why people can accept that this level of corruption in Baltimore has happened.

But these were just lighthearted examples, and I digress.

>It was the quick succession of more than a few rapid edits over the course of several minutes that made me feel that you're over-reacting to the comment.

That's a bizarre conclusion but whatever.

>- Its weird everywhere else in the world to sell firearms in the same store as kids toys, milk and cheese. Weird.

It's a giant department store. They sell everything. By saying it is weird, you are projecting your own biases.

>- Gallon cups have indeed existed in promotions at various fast food outlets in the US, maybe not McDonalds I suppose.

Yeah. Not McDonald's. It's almost like I said that. I also have never seen any fast food restaurant with any promotional cup size approaching anything near a gallon.

>- It's extremely rare to have people pull away from a bowser without checking the hose has been put away when you aren't pre-paying for fuel (i.e. many places around the world). However almost every image and video of it posted to car forums etc are from the United States.

Oh you saw it in some pictures in a car forum? Well I guess that settles it then.

>- The US government is perceived as corrupt to many people in many nations, and the current office is making that perception greater. That is why people can accept that this level of corruption in Baltimore has happened.

Yet the link I posted shows the US, like I said, to be perceived as less corrupt than, e.g., France. And Spain. And Japan. And Portugal. And on and on.

>But these were just lighthearted examples, and I digress.

You aren't being "lighthearted" any more than the people you are parroting who originally made these comments were. You are spreading lies and being hateful. You think you are better than "those people" in America so you spew your hatred on the internet. Except most of what you say is false or based on some other crap you, wait for it, read on the internet.

To the downvoters: I'm just devastated you took some of my internet points away. But thanks for reminding me I'm on r/hackernews. Nice "rebuttal"

Nitpicking the size of sodas at fast food restaurants when you know they're stupidly big >

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