What Do Europeans Think About American Life? | NYT Opinion

[MUSIC PLAYING] "I love American optimism. " "They have a pretty nice flag. " "Are you joking?

" - [GASPS] "What? " "That is actually shocking. " "That's nothing you would ever see in Britain.

That would cause, you know, riots. " In the U. S.

, a large drink in McDonald's is 77% bigger than in Europe. That's disgusting. " "Wow.

" "Wah. [CHUCKLES] "It's diabetes to go. " "Many common U.

S. food ingredients are banned in the E. U.

Whoa. " "Adzo — what. " "Azodicarbon--" "Azodicar — — bonamide?

" "Banned in Europe because it may cause cancer. " "Mm, cancer brownies. " [MUSIC PLAYING] "It's so cute.

" "We have a baby. " "Yes. " "How long do you get for parental leave in your country?

" "The mother gets 410 days. " "The fathers as well. There's a paternal leave that is, I think, it's about nine weeks.

" "O. K. , the number of paid days of maternity leave guaranteed by law in the U.

S. Let's see. " [NEEDLE SCRATCH] "Wow.

" "It's nothing. " "Oh, my. " "Like, I was right.

It's literally like, you want to have a kid? Well, you're on your own now. " "Well, you de-incentivize people from having kids like that.

" "You de-incentivize poor people from having kids, because if you're rich, you can obviously — afford it. " "Yeah. " [MUSIC PLAYING] "You are graduated.

" "Oh, thank you. " "These are the annual fees at major U. S.

universities. " "Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M. I.

T. , $51,832. " "For a year?

" "A year? " "I mean, honestly, that is a bit disgusting from a first-world nation. " "I mean, I pay 18 euros per semester.

" "Yeah. " "In Denmark, it's free. " [CHUCKLES] [MUSIC PLAYING] [SIREN] "A woman's leg got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform.

She begged no one call an ambulance. It's $3,000, she wailed. I can't afford that.

" "Coming from the Bulgaria, which is the poorest E. U. member state, I've never heard about this.

" "In 2015, medical bills led to 1 million adults declaring bankruptcy. " - [SIGHS] "My dad is diabetic. And he gets really good care in Belgium.

And we don't pay a penny to it. It's completely free. " "But what surprises me is that people are not rioting on the streets, to be honest.

" "I know. " "Oh, my god. " "That conversation.

" "This is a toy AR-15. " "An AR-15-style rifle was used in the San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people. " "The Orlando nightclub shooting that killed 49 people.

" "In the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that killed 58 people. Hm. " "Mm.

" "Washington, D. C. , actually banned handguns.

But the ban was overturned in 2008 by the U. S. Supreme Court.

" "Whoa, overturned. So somebody had the —" "Somebody thought, yes —" " — common sense to ban this. And then they were like, do you know what?

No. " "No, we need guns. " [MUSIC PLAYING] "Americans are incredibly friendly and hospitable.

" "I wish we could be that sort of happy and optimistic about the future. " "And the influence has been huge, like, and still today. " "Whether it's food, or music, or fashion, or art, film.

" "The younger generation in America has definitely given me hope about —" "Yeah. " " — the future of America. " "And everyone secretly has an American dream.

So--" "Yeah. " "I mean, you know, we can still all resubscribe to that. " "In Germany, we don't wave flags.