The battle between the Old World and the New routinely plays out on social media. On TikTok, Americans have questioned why people in France and Italy don’t drink as much water as people in the United States. Others wonder who would win a fight — 100 Brits or 100 Americans. Many Europeans satirize what they assume life in the United States is like. (“I wake up at 8 a.m. and immediately start shopping on Amazon.”)
Recently, TikTok users on both sides of the pond have started to debate the American dream, and where the concept of it stands in 2025. Here’s what to know.
OK, give me some background.
There’s a long tradition on TikTok, and on roughly every other medium, of Europeans and Americans sharing insights and criticisms of each other’s cultures, and often playfully teasing each other.
A tourist from the United States might post a video about his impressions of Parisian hospitality (or lack thereof), while a Spanish exchange student in the United States might share what surprised her about American high schools. The videos provide a glimpse into how different cultures perceive each other, stereotypes and all, and demonstrate how the reality of lived experience is often different than what’s portrayed in pop culture or in the news.
How did the American dream enter this debate?
The litigation of the American dream ramped up last week as a result of a TikTok video posted by Janis Groß, a German content creator. His video, in which he lampooned the concept of the American dream, took off on Reddit. In the video, Mr. Groß described the reality of the American dream as “working 60 hour weeks so your boss can buy a yacht, being more afraid of a medical bill than climate change, fast food on every corner and fresh food behind a paywall, and half the country fighting over who’s dumber: Trump or the people who worship him.”
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