‘Cause they are morons!’ Russians say why Americans always smile.



by one_and_equal

26 comments

  1. 1. Because they are actually happy, a sentiment you know very little of.
    2. Because they are polite, and want others to feel at their ease. Another sentiment you know very little of.

  2. Probably because we live in a country built on freedom and instant gratification instead of fear and deprivation.

    We value the pursuit of happiness.

    Russians value not being singled out for death through prison or conscription.

    We are not the same.

  3. There’s nothing to smile about in a dictatorial country run by a megalomaniac who spends billions on the war machine instead of his own people.

  4. This is a very Russian thing, if you are smiling in public they think you’re insane. A friend of mine on the Moscow metro had an old lady hit with her umbrella as he was just walking along with a smile on his face and she took exception to that.

  5. Meanwhile, Russia, the asscrack of the world circles the drain. Russian culture is merely ego driven desperation. Russia offers nothing of substance and values to the world.

  8. Most of us have indoor plumbing and working toilets and that just makes us happy!

  9. Notice when they get done calling people who smile morons…that they smile?

    I mean… pick a lane buddy!

  10. Morons? This is coming from the people throwing themselves at the frontline by the thousands on a daily for Putin’s legacy. They are truly and throughly brainwashed.

  11. Its because Stalin used to arrest rusky citizens for smiling. In fact I think he executed quite a few, who were living in his special luxury hotel.

  12. That’s rich coming from people whose national pastime is sadness.

  13. This sentiment is not a uniquely Russian one. I’d say most Europeans don’t understand the North American custom of smiling at strangers. They find it very weird.

    Even the Europeans most culturally similar to Americans – the Brits and the Irish – don’t often do this.

    Though if you ask, people in Europe would just say they find it strange and fake. They wouldn’t call you morons like Russians do.

  14. The Russians had a saying for it, something like “only a fool smiles at nothing”.

    Imagine having nothing in your life daily to smile about 🥲

  15. I am not american but I can’t help but notice that ‘morons’ beat them at the cold war, are behind most technological progress after ww1 and have nearly 10 times the gdp per capita.

    It says a lot about a nation that considers being nice to others is tantamount to being stupid.

  16. I’m certainly not going to dispute the message of the video. Plenty of us *are* pretty stupid. We’re just a more friendly and open country than the average, I would guess. Russia is not the only one…I’ve been to parts of Europe where no-one smiles or engages with strangers very often.

    It’s not a requirement, btw. You don’t have to smile and say “hi” to strangers if you don’t want to. Plenty of people don’t.

  19. Germans, Poles, and Ukrainians don’t smile very much at strangers too. I think the point of this video is not about USA or smiling, but to show that russians will hate even a smile when it’s on an American face. That is how strong the propaganda of hatred towards the “external enemy” is. Now I wonder what European citizens would answer to the same question. doubt «because they are morons»

  21. no one talks about Latin American, asia, Africa, almost everywhere else except some European countries like to smile. we are happy or trying to be. who cares about russia, they are a joke.

  22. I almost got into a fender bender in a grocery store parking lot and the guy in the other car looked really mad. I put on shit-eating grin and shrugged and his face lit up and he smiled. We both drive away lighter for it. I don’t want to live in a society where smiling is considered bad or stupid. Everything would feel grey.

  23. Gonna be honest…. Ruskies might be on to something with this one.

  24. Americans always smile? As a Canadian with American and Ukrainian relatives, I find this ridiculous. I’ve done lots of traveling in my life, and Americans are not even close to the happiest people. My money would be on Thailand or the Philippines. Lots of poverty and laughter everywhere. America just gets poverty. My uncles town in Kentucky is the most depressing place on earth.

  25. If you’re too cynical to keep a demagogue like Putin in power then you probably forgot how to smile

  26. If they didn’t believe it were because Americans are dumb, they’d have to admit it’s because they’re happy. And that begs the question why they aren’t.

Leave a Reply