Ask Lemmy

Big differences.

Even regionally in the US. I’ve been in all 50 states, all the southern provinces in Canada and Nova Scotia, Mexico, all over the Caribbean (that’s not continental NA, but the islands are in the area), and Yucatán.

Canada is probably pretty close to how generically we view the US, things work similarly, however you can see facets of the social governance poking through in a lot of places you’d never see in the US. Housing, Union work rules, and I personally find the politeness a little on the rigid formal side compared to the US’s impersonal friendliness. Also, IMO Canadians have higher expectations and are a bit more rigid in public interaction and don’t mind telling you to GTFO of the way if you’re doing something like blocking a walkway. Not rudely at all, just move over please you’re blocking the path.

Mexico varies wildly IMO. Very much more regional. Some of the cities that have lots of manufacturing are pretty cool, lots of stuff to do and relatively inexpensive, modern. Go to some of the mountainous less traveled areas and you get a lot more poverty and run down areas. People are generally still super nice, but you definitely know they’re not too used to foreigners. Metro areas like Mexico City are wild. Big disparity on display, plenty of wealth, plenty of poverty. Every modern thing you could think of like any other city. One thing about being a white guy traveling is that I got heckled by sellers and panhandlers in touristy areas, and they can be straight up assholes.

Yucatán is much more dependent on tourist money. Plenty of nice people, plenty of people just want your $. More rural. I only visited the coast there. Too many all-inclusive resorts just there for getting people drunk and corralling them for $.

The Caribbean…a LOT of poverty. Especially places like Haiti/DR. I think American’s would be shocked at the poverty in their backyard if they actually thought about it. As always, people are people, and there are lots of good people, but I definitely experienced prejudice in the Caribbean. Not just “you’re a foreigner” different, but “we don’t like whitey” different. You get treated differently, you’re often just a mark for tourist $, and people can definitely let you know you don’t belong. Americans just treat the Caribbean like a giant Senior Frog’s, they just go to demand drinks, get drunk and lay around in the sun.

The US, funny enough, can be all of these things. We’ve got plenty of serious poverty, plenty of resorts, lots of touristy areas, etc. Any place that has lots of people coming and going is going to be pretty similar. Metro areas, burbs, and bedroom towns. Get out in the plains towns and more rural areas and you definitely stand out if you’re not local, and I’ve lost count on how many times I been asked a variant of “why are you here?” But it’s nicely worded like “what brings you to town?” West coast is more superficial, indifferent and generically friendly. South is very friendly and doesn’t understand why you don’t go to church or why you don’t live there. Heaven help you if you’re from a “yankee” state or someplace liberal. That might be met with only half-joking comments about your history.

Plains states…man, I felt hopeless in the rural areas. There’s a lot of almost toxic pride in being local, in farming, ranching, whatever. But that’s all there is for some people and it’s almost like Stockholm syndrome. They can’t leave, so there’s a resigned pride in their situation and you’d better agree with it. The ones that can get out, do. Get to the smaller towns in the north central part of the country (Montana and the like) and you might actually be met with some hostility depending what the situation is. They don’t want you moving there like the rich people that have taken over in places like Jackson Hole. All that said, most people are decent regardless of the situation.

PNW is pretty chill and indifferent. Big mix of deep rural and urban attitudes.

East coast? Know what you want, know where you’re going, or get the fuck out of the way. Not that people are necessarily rude, it’s just that they got shit to do and if you’re slowing them down they’ll let you know it. Never found anyone that wasn’t wouldn’t help out though if you needed directions or something. Unfortunately there can be a steep cultural divide between poverty and the rest of the financial classes and that comes out socially as well.

The more rural states reject the metro attitudes to the extreme (like Maine, NH, etc. or even rural NY) where they haven’t been overrun by metro weekenders or people trying to dodge higher taxes. Decent people, just kinda wary of you being a “Masshole” or something.

YMMV, kinda hard to sum up whole countries and regions in a Reddit post. Just my experiences.