Why do some Europeans seem to be so shocked when they travel to major cities in the US and find them to be in really poor condition?

Hi all! American here. <br><br>I’ve been reading a lot of posts on this website, especially ones about Europeans traveling to the US for the first time and being shocked by the conditions of some of our major cities (like New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles). I’ve seen a lot of posts of Europeans being shocked by the state of the homeless, the crumbling infrastructure, public transportation, how busy and somewhat dirty these cities are. I’ve heard it from some of the Europeans I’ve met too. <br><br>Why do you think they are so shocked by these things when they come here? Do they really not expect to find this kind of thing in the US? Shouldn’t they know that the US has always been a capitalistic country, meaning that we as a society tend to favor individualism over collectivism? We don’t really value things like free healthcare and college education like other countries do. Also, the US is a very large and diverse country, with so many different kinds of people living here and the wealthy tend to have a lot of power. So, I wouldn’t expect things like public transportation to be excellent in the US (in fact, cars have been the preferred method of transportation since post ww2). Why do you think Europeans are so shocked that these kinds of things exist here? <br><br>I think there is a disconnect between what Europeans think of Americans (perhaps Europeans think we’re all very privileged and wealthy?) and what the reality is for most of us. Most Americans are not wealthy, we work hard to get by, and we are all expected to figure things out ourselves and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. I think the way things are portrayed in the media might also be part of it? I know when I was little, I didn’t realize that not everyone lived the way my family did, with a mom and dad and a couple of siblings and a dog and two cars. I was very privileged. The internet and social media also probably make it seem like many Americans are richer than we actually are. <br><br><br>So, fellow Americans, have you experienced this as well? And have any of my European friends here ever experienced this and felt like your whole view of Americans was just shattered?