American culture can be pretty cringe. Even though I’m pro-America on some Europe vs. America issues (Stephen Sondheim over Andrew Lloyd Webber any day), I am not ignorant of my nation’s flaws. The Pledge of Allegiance is one of my favorite stupid things Americans force children to do. Not only did I have to recite it every day for 13 years, but I also had to recite The Texas Pledge. For those of you who don’t believe me, this is the Texas pledge:

Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

It’s a bit of a knock-off of the Pledge of Allegiance, but it gets the Texan propaganda job done. Unfortunately, that pledge did not work well because I have not been allegiant to Texas since I left high school. 

The Pledge of Allegiance isn’t the only cringe thing that comes out of American culture: far from it! Europeans took to Reddit to tell Americans things wrong with our country we aren’t ready to hear, and some of it is a little too real.