Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 26 replies, 27 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 3 months ago by
.
- Posts
I’ve had limited experience traveling abroad, but I did spend six months in Costa Rica as an exchange student during my undergrad years. All exchange students attended a Costa Rican-led orientation, which informed us that three stereotypes follow Americans: 1. You have lots of money; 2. You do lots of drugs; and 3. If you are an American woman, you are easy. That is what I was taught about stereotypes for Americans.
User Detail :
Name : Martin-S, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 25, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Grad. Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I wasn’t raised the ‘American way,’ so I think and act like a person who doesn’t come from here. Being completely neutral, I’ll tell you the truth about the stereotypes: Most of the people I know are absolutely ignorant about everything outside a circle of about 10 miles/16 km from their house (yes, THAT ignorant). Some people can’t spell or read the simplest words. They get absolutely confused with the metric system and things like that. A false stereotype is that everyone from here is a fat slob who only eats and sits down to watch TV. It really makes me very sad that most of the stereotypes are true most of the time. It makes me ashamed sometimes.
User Detail :
Name : Deka, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Agnostic, Age : 14, City : Atlanta, State : GA, Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma,I agree with most of what you have said. As an American who spent quite a lot of time working in Belfast during the mid-90s, your statement ‘When I visited America, I was surprised by how much my freedom was compromised compared to Britain. ‘ would not hold true with many of your fellow country men in that part of the kingdom. I got out, explored, loved the people yet felt constrained and always under watch.
User Detail :
Name : John F., Gender : M, Age : 41, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,Are we talking about Chicano lawyers in East Los Angeles, West Indian motorcycle technicians in Brooklyn, cattle ranchers in Wyoming, Seminole alligator wrestlers in Florida, Japanese-American chemistry professors, Buddhist monks in Texas, immigrant photographers from Ukraine living in Chicago, or perhaps the Catholic liquor store owner from Iran who listens to the Blues Hour on Monday evenings? We ARE the ‘wretched refuse’ that got kicked out of all the decent countries, and as long as millions of people from all over the globe continue to willingly suffer untold sacrifice to come to our shores and participate in our great experiment, we must be doing something right. Bear in mind that the vast majority of Americans don’t get the opportunity to travel abroad and influence what the rest of the world thinks of us, which is probably a good thing, not that we care all that much anyway, but we’ll be there to save Europe’s ass AGAIN the next time some dictator gets out of line and tries to conquer the world. And if you don’t like our television, movies, music, and culture then STOP BUYING IT and we’ll stop exporting it. As for myself, my motorcyle is German, my helmet is Japanese, my leathers are from Argentinian cattle and manufactured in Mexico, my tires (tyres) are Canadian, my intercom system is from the UK, my boots are from Korea and my wristwatch is from Finland. This whole ‘diversity’ thing sucks, in my opinion. We’d all be better off concentrating on the things we have in common instead of the things that separate us. Comments?
User Detail :
Name : Herbert-Milcott21499, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 45, City : Austin, State : TX, Country : Texas, Occupation : Computer geek, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The news media here in the U.S. barely touches on anything in the rest of the world unless it puts the U.S. in a good light or adds to the credibility of the medium itself. National political news is a bit better, as I see people freely criticising our leaders. However, it seems people either have no interest at all or simply feign interest, smiling and nodding while they think of what they’re going to say next. I get the strong impression this exists merely to satisfy an intellectual void. I can’t help but compare the ‘reality’ of life inside the U.S. to the virtual reality portrayed in the film ‘The Matrix.’ Everything seems engineered simply to keep us satisfied. The conglomerate is aware that we would not accept a perfect world, so we’re given a carefully-blended batch of filtered truths. We cannot be forced, so instead we are programmed. They want us to continue to work, pay taxes, buy things, and thus perpetuate the circle. Without us, they are nothing. Now we’re not all brainwashed, ignorant, and self-serving. But most of us feel that attempting to affect any kind of change in the system is a futile effort. In a nation so diverse and geographically large, it’s extremely difficult to get the majority to agree on most things. But one thing I feel they do agree on is that sense of futility. This is demonstrated during the election of a President. They look at the two candidates with the best chances and vote for the one they dislike less. The adjectives that come to mind when I consider my fellow citizens include ignorant, self-gratifying, indifferent, spiteful, back-stabbing, careless, insensitive, stubborn, self-righteous, and naive. But I can’t think of one positive attribute the typical American possesses that people I’ve encountered from other nations didn’t. And what of the great things that America has accomplished? The type of people responsible for them are highly uncommon. They don’t fit into the standard American profile and they are typically never completely accepted socially. I could be right, or I could be wrong about all of this. These are merely my perceptions at the moment. If I am wrong about this, can you at least understand why? If I wasn’t currently part of the poorest 5% of the population, I would leave. I think the land is wonderful, the lifestyle is fun, and there are plenty of opportunities for a good time. But there is more bad than good and I’m burned out. Also, check this out: http://www.vexen.co.uk/hateamerica.html
User Detail :
Name : Michael20718, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : Columbus, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : Computer Programmer, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class,The stereotypical American here is someone hard working,creative and responsable but self centered,not very cultured and usually arrogant. I know people who love America and people who hate it.My mother is one of the people who love it so I’ve been there twice.It was almost scary how nice people were to me.The ones I knew here were usually nice too so I don’t believe in this stereotype. But most of the people still do.
User Detail :
Name : Carol, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 22, City : São Paulo, State : NA, Country : Brazil, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I was born & raised in the U.S., & find myself increasingly disgusted with American culture. I think the U.S. could learn a lot from Canada & European countries- they have more concern for the environment, socialized medicine, respect for women, better gay rights, better public transportation. There is less drug abuse & lower crime, & you don’t have the death penalty. I would be willing to pay higher taxes to get some of those kinds of benefits. (I do consider myself patriotic though! I just don’t think patriotism requires agreeing w/ the stupid president.
User Detail :
Name : Tanith, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Disability : Autistic, Race : Irish-American, Religion : Pagan, Age : 20, City : Minneapolis, State : MN, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,I am an American and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. People hate America but yet they flock here every year. Most of the schools are full of students from other countries. Why? Aren’t your schools good enough? I thought everything is better where you live. Guess not. As far as not knowing what is going on in and around the world. That depends on who you are talking to. Most of us are keenly aware of what is going on in the rest of the world because it is our sons, husbands, fathers and brothers who are risking their lives to ‘help’ other countries. ( I know that help is not always the way it is seen, I am not naive about american politics, in fact i am more informed than the average person). Despite some of its actions, Americans do speak and act out against injustices in the world. Of course there are selfish reasons, but what country does not put their own interests first? So maybe the question should be how can all the other countries and there people just stand by in their ‘little bubbles’ and ignore what is happening in the rest of the world? And as far as fashion is concerned, don’t make comments about the things we wear, in five years you’ll be wearing the same thing.
User Detail :
Name : Andrea31621, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 27, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Legal Consultant, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,Most of us here see Americans as tourists and consider them not a pretty sight,compared to ourselves.We think they are all very fat and dont know how to dress.We also think they dont know how to eat properly and dont know what good food is.We also see them as being culturaly backward.On the plus side we tend to see them as spending a good amount of money on our economy as tourists and being oddly funny when engaged in conversation.
User Detail :
Name : robert29553, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 24, City : leon, State : NA, Country : France, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I’m looking for a Saana Esk I met in India 6 years ago if you are they email me bhagsu@hotmail.com
User Detail :
Name : david, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 32, City : melbourne, State : NA, Country : Australia,Speaking as an Australian and with a brother in the Air Force I can tell you that the general attitude toward Americans at the moment is resentment. We don’t consider you as a people to be bad. Individually we are sure you could be quite nice, but all we are seeing at the moment is examples of some really bad bureaucacy, ie: the response to Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq. Particularly the war in Iraq. I think that most of the Australian public feels America didn’t need to commit wholesale war on Iraq, and then they especially didn’t need to drag the rest of the world into it. I would love to visit America, and I would even like to live there for a while, but I think that your political system is nuts, and I would hate to have to live there forever.
User Detail :
Name : Katie, Gender : F, Race : Australian, Age : 21, City : Adelaide, State : NA, Country : Australia, Occupation : Artist, Social class : Middle class,It makes me mad when europeans talk about the loud, obnoxiuos, american tourist and seem to say that all american tourists are like this. Howveer, they never think to notice that there are probably hundreds of quiet, polite american tourists they see a year, and only a small, albeit memorable, handful of loud, obnoxious ones.
User Detail :
Name : Britt28724, Gender : F, City : Washington DC, State : WA, Country : United States,
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.