this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 69 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I often find Americans abroad to be quite charming in how American they are. Certainly, there are some that are obnoxious (and even their friendliness can be obnoxiousness in a way), but it can be quite endearing; Americans (especially the ones you meet while travelling) are so outgoing, and they're so keen to make connections with people. Like, is it cringe when an American says "oh my great great grandfather was Scottish", as if makes any difference at all that they are 1/16 Scottish? Yeah, somewhat. But after a friend explained to me that she sees it as coming from a deep desire to connect with other people, I began to see it as quite sweet.

It's part of why I grieve for what's going on in America right now. "American-ness" is a messy, mixed concept, and it would be unreasonable to ignore how much of that concept is deeply problematic. However, I feel that there is goodness within that concept, and the people in power at the moment seem hell bent on destroying or undermining what goodness exists there.

[–] Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 24 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Plenty of us are just entitled psychopaths who ate too much lead paint as children, but I think you are correct that the rest of us are looking for connections. We come from a place where our traditions are shallow and our heritage is mostly just awful. We are not only looking to connect, but we are also essentially a bunch of orphans trying to desperately figure out who we are and where we belong.
I know most other people find it obnoxious, so I never really bring it up, but I do, it's also an invitation to tell me more about who you are and where you come from.

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

As an (expat) American I have always felt a desire to connect with my heritage and experience the old world, despite never having the chance to. It feels crazy to me that people are overseas living where so much history played out, walking old streets past ancient walls and buildings, and often within a short journey to Neolithic sites and old ruins. There are quiet men herding sheep in a windswept field with mossy rock formations just chilling over there beside their prized lamb, Ollie. Americans removed themselves from all of that and over a couple of centuries it became something mythical and out of reach. We are essentially cut off from our own heritage, and are strangers to our own people, but we've been brought up in a culture that makes us quite alien to them when we do make the pilgrimage.

It's kind of a sad thing, but I've been away from America long enough to understand why Europeans are so put off. Even the most left-leaning Americans need a lot of de-programming. I know I did. Now when my mother visits I am hyper-aware of how different we have become.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 99 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My wife and I were Honeymooning in Paris, purchasing subway passes from an automated kiosk, when a guy who was pretending to be really interested in his phone started getting uncomfortably close to her. She felt him touch her, so she elbowed him real hard, knocking the phone out of his hand, and yelling, "Oh no, are you OK, I'm so sorry, I broke your phone!" real loud (which was true, she cracked his screen). I don't think he was expecting a 5'2" woman to assault him, because he grabbed his broken phone and started booking it before I could react.

A very nice Parisian came over and told us we needed to be more careful and watch ouf for thieves. We thanked him, but my wife was laughing a few moments later because she just assumed he was a pervert. I thought maybe the phone screen had already been broken, and he was trying to run some sort of, "Hey, you broke my phone, give me money!" scam but chickened out when he saw how aggressively my wife reacted. We live in a major American city, so we've experienced crime before, but it never occurred to us that he was trying to pick her pocket. Felt almost quaint, like a Dickens novel.

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 16 points 6 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

I live in a tourist trap area of the US and got pick pocketed once shortly after moving here. So I am real cautious of strangers getting close. After doing the Pokemon go rounds one night some dude started following me, and the girl I was dating at the time, from the gas station. I come from a much more densely populated area of the US so I immediately recognized it as a threat, and told her to keep walking and I would catch up. I'll admit I was a little too aggressive given the situation, cause I saw a "come to jesus" moment in homie's eyes when he realized how big the dude he was stalking was(I'm easily two standard deviations to the right of bell curve in terms of largeness, but I'm also proportional so most don't realize it on sight).

I would say I felt bad, but after getting my walker taken and having to go through the bullshit involved, I wasn't about to take a chance. Funny thing is, the girl actually broke up with me cause of that incident and immediately got with a meth head who took her and her family for what they could.

This story, much like life, has no point other than keep your wallet in a very noticable area.

Edit: Walker=wallet, though i'm not far from a reliance on either.

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[–] booly@sh.itjust.works 23 points 5 days ago (1 children)

America used to have plenty of pickpocketing, but it's pretty much gone away for a few reasons:

  • Pickpocket apprenticeships have fallen by the wayside, and the actual skills to be able to pull this off are no longer taught to young people.
  • The rise of cashless payment norms reduce the reward for a successful pickpocket: canceled credit cards won't do anything for anyone.
  • America is a violent place, and it's easier to steal with violence or the threat of violence.
  • Other types of sneaky nonviolent theft have arisen, and things like identity theft or hacking or other fraud is an alternative outlet for those who might want to non-violently steal someone else's money.

All this will likely happen in Europe, as well. Just maybe a slower transition in the pockets where cash is still common (tourist destinations with international travelers).

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[–] Ougie@lemmy.world 26 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If anyone deserves a good beating it's pickpockets.

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[–] pasdechance@jlai.lu 27 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Not entirely positive that this happened. I mean the Americans beating pickpockets. I'm sure it could have happened, but I live in France and was here and never heard about this...

There is a Medium post (https://scribe.rip/the-bad-influence/americans-in-paris-ready-to-rumble-with-pick-pocketers-f62b169abccd) but there isn't a single French news source (that I can easily find) related to this ever happening.

[–] postman@literature.cafe 16 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I agree, this is posted as news when it's likely anecdotal or even fabricated. It plays on the American self-image as John Wayne types, when everyone in Europe knows they're usually not very streetwise and walk around with maps and cameras talking loudly.

The other comments here are quick to jump in with opinions about how Americans don't take any shit, implying European simps just roll over for these pesky pilferers.

It's a real Don't Mess with Texas vibe based on another dodgy blog article.

[–] booly@sh.itjust.works 12 points 5 days ago

Don't Mess with Texas

Not directly related to the content of your post, but I wanted to point out that "Don't Mess With Texas" originated as an pro-environment slogan encouraging Texans to pack out their own trash instead of littering in the wilderness and from their cars.

Somehow it got coopted into some kind of Texan tough guy mentality (probably George W. Bush's fault). But at the beginning it was an environmental protection slogan.

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[–] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 45 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

sidenote, the reading of a thread on twitter is hellish. Top to bottom be damned, it's like 3 different UIs in one.
Especially if there's a little addon from Tumblr at the end of something.
why isnt the reddit type formatting good enough?!

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[–] pleaaaaaze@lemmings.world 19 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Killing people over things do sound american lmao

[–] tankfox@midwest.social 20 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (12 children)

Yeah but we're not talking about things here, we're talking about people coming up and taking from you, which is an act of violence to which one should certainly expect a response. Don't like the response? Keep your hands to yourself, simple as that.

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[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 34 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I live in Canada, there's surprisingly little pickpocketing here too, and we don't have the same gun/weapon laws.

Like the Americans, we'll straight up beat you to a pulp if you try some shit, and we're very sorry about that.... You motherfucker.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago (9 children)

If you want to steal shit, at least be moral about it and go to a walmart or something. I'm sorry but I'm not even going to pretend to be sorry about a pickpocket targeting normal people getting his (or her) ass beaten.

Though, on that note, is it harder or riskier to shoplift in Europe? Maybe that's why we have fewer pickpockets because stores are much easier and safer targets. Unless you get a particularly enthusiastic mall cop after you, even if you get caught, it'll probably be a fairly polite interaction involving more disappointment than rage, all the way from capture to sentencing, at least in Canada.

Plus these days the odds of getting cash is low and the expensive device everyone carries has gps tracking built in, so the reward might be too low for the risk.

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[–] Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 27 points 6 days ago (18 children)

This is definitely a win for the Americans, beating the shit out of pickpockets is awesome.

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[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The pickpocket has already failed if the mark sees them, so not sure what was happening here. And people who are not used to pick pockets would not likely be looking out for them. Were they going around in groups wearing “Official Paris Olympics Pickpocket” hi-vis vests?

[–] PapaStevesy@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago (2 children)

On the contrary, I'm American and agree with the experience of never having things taken off me, however I'm still always thinking about it when I'm in a crowded area, even more so when I'm traveling. If I was in Europe where I know pickpocketing is actually more of a problem, I'd be doubly cautious. All this and I'm not racist or xenophobic like a lot of Americans.

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[–] Hikermick@lemmy.world 27 points 6 days ago (16 children)

There's no pickpocketing in the US because thieves will shoot you before taking your wallet. At that point it's murder with a motive

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[–] eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 6 days ago (33 children)

In São Paulo it was a little mini-assault.

You'd get shoved from behind, maybe bumped into from the side, while yet another guy is actually taking your shit. Extra credit if you're at a curb so you stumble.

Then everybody splits, your instinct is to turn around to see the guy who shoved you, by the time you've done that and realized what happened, your shit is goooone.

What are they doing in Paris that the mark has a chance to grab them? I guess if you're in a reasonably athletic pack of 4-5, but at that point surely there are easier targets?

I suppose people who don't watch American sports don't appreciate that there are many obese Americans who can still run 40 yards in six seconds and expertly smash you into the ground when they get there.

[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (12 children)

I was almost pickpocketed in Paris when I was out late at night and stupid drunk to the point I was seeing double. I had sat down on the curb because standing wasn't great. They came up behind me and crouched down without me noticing until they made their move. I instantly went into fight mode and almost stabbed them. Super dumb but I was very drunk and it was just like instinct that they were trying to steal my knife so the only option was stab them in the face with it before they could use it to stab me. As soon as I got the knife back I had the blade open and they jumped back looking terrified like I was a wild animal about to attack, which is kind of what I felt like. Super weird experience. I think they were really just grabbing what they could and happened to get my knife instead of my wallet but being a drunk American my first instinct was kill or be killed.

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[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

In my city in the UK, there have been a lot of thefts recently where someone will grab a phone out of someone's hand and then escape on a moped or bike. Sometimes they start out on foot and hop on a vehicle, but sometimes it's a "drive by" pickpocketing, so to speak (though calling it pickpocketing feels a tad erroneous if there are no pockets involved).

In big European cities, a more subtle version of what you describe can be quite common. Like if a suspicious person bumps into you (in a manner that's fairly common in a big city), people who suspect that they have been pickpocketed may pat the pocket that their phone or wallet is in to check that things are still there. This is then observed by someone working with that first person, and they watch and wait for an opportunity to surreptitiously swoop in. When it happens, even if you immediately feel that you have been pickpocketed, it can be difficult to discern who it was.

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[–] Ikarius@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

So in the U.S. people don't play pickpocketing, they just steal with guns in hand?

[–] BigPotato@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's like when your Pokemon forgets 'scratch' to learn 'armed robbery', still a normal type move with the same effect, just more powerful.

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[–] AlexLost@lemmy.world 22 points 6 days ago (5 children)

It is, your just not gonna find pickpockets in rural places and most people don't leave their county, let alone state so people are clueless how the world at large works. Go to any big city and you'll find pick pockets at work. Further to that, many of their tourist places are far apart and remote so less likely to find them in the same kind of places as Europe, which draws large volumes of people reliably to the sames places from all over the world.

For the record, American's don't like anything.

[–] Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.works 27 points 6 days ago

While you will find pickpockets in major tourist spots in the US, they are not nearly as common as elsewhere. Here we just prefer the good ol' stick-up.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (5 children)

I grew up in New York City and now live in Boston and I've never encountered a pickpocket. I've been mugged three times and had a mentally unbalanced homeless guy punch me in the face unprovoked, but I've never been pickpocketed.

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[–] shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 18 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It has little to do with Americans being violent. It comes down to population density. The US has a ton of places without the population density for pick pocketing to be effective.

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