Drop it Like it’s Not

Americans, spare Europe your hot takes about the heat wave.

It’s hot.

Legitimately hot, by the way (currently 40C – 100.4 Fahrenheit at 2 p.m. on a Sunday). The hottest June temperature that Berlin has seen in more than 100 years.

And I am tired.

Everytime I check the news or log on to social media, there’s another post from an obnoxious American tourist lamenting Europe’s “cultural aversion” to air conditioning.

Or, worse, people from historically warm states like Florida and Texas – places now rapidly being rendered uninhabitable thanks to climate change – offering ‘tips’ for the dim Old Worlders too stubborn or backward to just get the A/C.

Even posts like this one, from a Tiktoker I generally like, and who was obviously trying to be sympathetic, just come off as ignorant and condescending. ‘They don’t even have ceiling fans here, you guys!’

And she was in Scotland, which has been spared the highest temperatures (though they are still much higher than normal).

Talk to us about how it’s “not really that hot” when you’re in France or Germany or Poland and its a 104 Fahrenheit with no air conditioning.

Here’s the thing.