I continue to find it bizarre that some Americans are offended that Europeans do not want to be dragged into the American corporate surveillance, advertising, and consumption cult. Will nothing be sovereign until Europe is also littered with personal injury attorney billboards, broadcasting pharmaceutical ads, and other pox marks of a degraded culture? Why search for a better way when you can normalize awful (because it's more profitable).

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WarmWash 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Americans don't either, but the "free" (with ads*) model is so wildly popular with humans that it is unavoidable.

If anything it's more interesting that it has American origins. At it's core, the model provides flat rate access to anyone of any class at no upfront cost. High value users with high ad conversion rates subsiding the platforms for low income low consumer spending users. That's something that is particularly European, and not very American.

	▲	soopypoos 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		but the result is loud, crass and distasteful so...

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petcat 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> personal injury attorney

> ... a degraded culture

Do matters of personal injury liability not apply in Europe?

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stavros 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Suing for damages here isn't profitable enough for attorneys, because "damages" with free healthcare means "missed a week of work", instead of "got a $200k bill".

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petcat an hour ago | parent | next [-]

"damages" can be a lot more than just "missed a week of work" or "got medical bills". It can be lifetime debilitation.

	▲	stavros an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Obviously it can, but it usually isn't. If 90% of your target market isn't there, the economics are different.

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an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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pjc50 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It does happen, but it's way less lucrative. Tends to be limited to actual damages rather than punitive damages. There have been some scam-ish sub-industries (fake whiplash claims, suing councils for tripping over cracks in the pavement). It's very rare to see advertising for lawyers.

	▲	holowoodman 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It's also rare because advertising for lawyers (and doctors) is strictly regulated in some member states. A sign in front of the office saying "S. Goodman, attorney, specialized in drugs, organized crime and whiplash" is OK, billboards, TV spots, newspaper ads and any kind of claims beyond "I'm an attorney and this is my office and specialty" are verboten.

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inexcf 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Insurance and worker rights probably takes care of that here. What is it that personal injury lawyers usually do?

	▲	petcat an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Insurance and "worker rights" don't cover cases of lifetime pain or loss of energy due to negligence causing trauma. They'll cover your medical bills and your time off work.

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skrebbel 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

FWIW it took me multiple US television shows to figure out what "ambulance chasers" are and why they exist.

	▲	bavell 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Pretty sure this is illegal now across the board.

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em-bee 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

lawyers or law firms are very limited in how they are allowed to promote themselves.

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SpicyLemonZest 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Personal injury cases exist everywhere, but most countries impose very strict restrictions on legal advertising, which greatly reduce the phenomenon of the "personal injury guy" who plasters his face everywhere with text about how much money he'll get you. In the US, most such restrictions were prohibited by the Supreme Court in the 80s.

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dismalaf 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Most non-US countries only award money for actual damages, not punitive charges.

It's also assumed that people have at least a little common sense and that your average adult knows more than a toddler.

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kasperni 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

mostly handled by insurance. Payouts are also a lot less, and typically standardized.

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raverbashing 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

WAY less than in the US

But no you don't have ambulance chasers or personal injury lawyers trying to get millions out of someone who had a car crash and now their neck feels funny

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Ylpertnodi 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Not on dirty great billboards, no. Not yet.

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martin-t 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I once read that PayPal was not successful outside the US because people outside the US couldn't understand why not just do a normal bank transfer. PayPal realized this and tried lobbying governments outside the US to make bank transfers harder.

No idea if this claim is true. How do Americans transfer money? Don't your banking apps allow that?

	▲	mikkupikku 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I don't know if that Paypal story is true, but that definitely is the situation with Intuit/TurboTax in America. > How do Americans transfer money? Don't your banking apps allow that? If the exchange isn't online and is a fairly large amount of money, something like buying a car, checks (cheques) or even envelopes of cash are a lot more common than PayPal. Online, those aren't easy so that's where Paypal and their competitors shine. Americans also now use other apps for small money exchanges, like paying somebody for mowing your lawn, although refusing the app and offering/demanding cash is still relatively normal.
	▲	Bayart 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		As far as I can remember, Paypal was successful in Europe because of the tie-in with Ebay and because bank transfers at time were slow thanks to asynchronous settlement. SEPA fixed that, I don't know how much lobbying in the EU was involved but I'm certain payment processors eschewing banking regulation hastened it (the same way the push for WERO and the Digital Euro is coming from the problematic VISA/MasterCard duopoly).
	▲	nradov 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Most banking apps now allow that using Zelle but it came many years after PayPal.

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gherkinnn 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Better Call Saul was a docudrama.

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moogly 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Common claims from a subset of Americans:

"They hate our freedom!"

"They want to destroy our culture!"

Since every accusation is a confession with these people, I guess this is what they want to do to others.

	▲	9864247888754 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
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