[Mike20444]

I often hear people from other countries complain that when abroad, Americans refuse to learn the language, know little about the culture of the country they're visiting and expect all the things from home to be available in their host country. However, when some people from abroad choose to live in the United States and then don't learn the language or culture and expect a replica of their homeland here, Americans are accused of being racist and non-accommodating. Why is the desire to retain cultural identity by Americans in the United States considered racist, whereas others' desire to retain cultural identity in their own countries perfectly natural?

User Detail :  

Name : Mike20444, Gender : F, City : Boston, State : MA Country : United States, 

[Shawn Fayne]

America is the most diverse county is the world. In other countries, there is little diversity. Therefore, in other countries, all people know is their culture, lifestyle, etc... But when foreigners come to America, there is so many other cultures here. I can't really explain why or how, but you should see where I' m going

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Name : Shawn Fayne, Gender : M, Race : black/white, Age : 15, City : Laurel, State : MD Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Shanea]

People abroad consider Americans act of not recognizing their language ignorant. In other countries there is one principal language spoken by the bulk of the people. Most other countries aren't as diverse in ethnicity's as America. America is a melting pot of cultures. Anything as far as language goes is accomodated. Here we respect others for their differences and seek to understand them. Also, look at the age of America as an established country. It is relatively younger than most foreign countries. Older countries succumb to a rut of tradition.

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Name : Shanea, City : Chattanooga, State : TN Country : United States, 

[RJBuie]

From where I sstand, people seem to like pointing fingers, and America makes a convenient target. It's a general human deficiency.

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Name : RJBuie, Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Age : 22, City : Abilene, State : TX Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[tor24192]

I think you're mixing tourists and immigrants. The negative stereotype of an american TOURIST is that of the loud, obnoxious and merrily ignorant brute. (I've heard that prejudice about americans too, but don't share it. Similar prejudice exists about german tourists who visit my country a lot) On the other hand, the only stereotype of an american moving here is that of a person who has an interesting story to tell.. most american ex-pats here I've heard of have some interesting reason to be here. One fellow I worked for was an old hippie draft dodger. Many are highly educated scholars teaching at schools and colleges, but most are simply people who fell in love with a dane and moved here. I don't know what the stereotypical image of a forign TOURIST is in the US, but I'm pretty certain it's quite different from that of an IMMIGRANT. I hope this is of assistance

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Name : tor24192, Gender : M, City : næstved, State : NA Country : Denmark, 

[Eric26509]

When people are talking about Americans abroad in this context, they're talking about American TOURISTS who have the reputation of being pushy a rude in tourist settings, and _making life difficult_ for people in the host country, and getting angry when people can't speak English. (People only remember the jerks; all the nice American travellers don't get noticed). Other travellers wonder why these types of Americans bother to travel, if they only want things to be exactly like they are at home. The parallel situation would be a Japanese tourist walking into a McDonalds in Ohio, and then screaming at the cashiers and management because the couter staff can't speak Japanese and the restaurant doesn't serve miso soup. Travelling to a country and emigrating to a country are completely different situations, but the 'racism ' charge is more likely to get levelled if someone's complaining about a behaviour that _doesn't actually affect them_.

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Name : Eric26509, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian Universalist, Age : 32, City : Toronto, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Writer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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