American Stereotypes

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Nice observation, Chandos. That comment has some merit.

 

Change Americans to Humans and remove "Fat"...

Basically Americans are just fat. Unfortunetly, we are very, very, very fat...although I'm not and this forces me to paw through the piles of clothing, diligently searching for just one...JUST ONE...medium sized shirt...sigh.

 

Yes - there is certainly plenty of junk food around.

 

I've always viewed the US as the policeman of the Earth. Someone has to do it and I'm happy it is them... who would you rather have? China?

In New Zealand we get the American tourists who are usually everything ejsmith listed. But like every country there is no 'set' persona that represents your country. There are many types of American: White, Black, Asian; North, South, East, West, Central; Rich, Middle Class, Poor; Republican, Democratic; Fat, Thin... list goes on.

Ironic that the Americans don't like it that Bush could be viewed as the stereotypical American so they label Bush as the stereotypical "Texan gunslinger" implying that everyone out of Texas is a 'shoot first - prove WMD later'.

 

Sorry Aldeth...that is very much the prevalent opinion of the average American in India as well.

Bush has been, as you might say, the final nail in the coffin? I'm not sure if that is correct in the context, but I am not able to describe what I mean here.

 

If you mean that Bush's actions have just confirmed people's pre-existing view of Americans, then yes, you're using it in the correct context.

 

Well, I guess distance is important.

It's easier to put a whole lot of people under the same adjectives when you don't know many of them.

The usual American I see is a tourist, now that is bad, very very bad... for tourists are the lowest lifeforms on this planet, and their nationality is of little incidence. Tourists annoy local people, they annoy other tourist, finally they annoy themselves after a while. They are loud, stupid, demanding, smell bad, wear silly clothes... the works!

Point is, if my knowledge of America comes from interacting with its tourists, well... nuke America, I say.

Now, the second way one might get to learn about Americans is through the culture they export. Then what do we see? Stupid late shows, fat people, reality TV, Jackass, fat people, cow-boys movies, stupidity, stupidity, stupidity...

Point is, if my knowledge of Americans comes from Friends and Jerry Springer, well... nuke America, I say.

Then we've got the internet. "Whoa" I say, now that's a way to really talk to Americans, almost face to face. Problem is, debate and discussion soon morph into flame war and trollfest on almost all sensitive subjects, which is the doing of a minority, yes, but a very loud minority.

Point is, if my knowledge of America comes from chats I had with the webmaster of ihatefrance.com, well... you know what I'm going to say.

Lastly, we get world news, bbc reports and Bush speechs... what do we get here? War, bullying, war, self-righteousness, war, calling names, war, zealotism...

Point is, well... you know the rest by now.


Now, we might argue that all of the above could, with only minor changes, be applied to the French. Hell, that's right. Thing is, I live next to France, know a crapload of French people and see how they are... phew, I was already considering nuking France.

Not only distance strenghten the stereotype, but the worldwide reach of American media culture makes people feel they know Americans when all they really know is the Simpsons.

(hmm, how did this post get so long and garbled???)

 

You know, I really like that. Well put.

 

I think many of these stereotypes of Americans are correct, especially the ignorant and arrogant ones. The American system of public education is an oxymoron because the average product of that system is anything but educated. The average American does not even know the history of his own country, let alone have an appreciation for the history or culture of other nations. During the 2000 campaign, Bush did not even pretend to really care that he knew little about foreign affairs, or was really concerned about his ignorance. That ignorance has been ruthlessly exploited by certain elements in the government that saw 9/11 as an excuse to pursue their own agenda. But that is OT.

A foreign language is not required to finish secondary education, and is only required by some universities for some fields of study. Consequently, most Americans have no appreciation of other cultures. In part this is understandable, though not forgivable. The US is a large country and our most significant neighbor, Canada, shares, basically, the same language and is close enough in culture that most Americans cannot see a difference. That kind of space can breed and forgive a certain amount of cultural blindness. Whereas in Europe, you have to understand other cultures and languages very well since you cannot throw a stone without requiring a visa. Although, in all fairness, cultural awareness has not stopped the Europeans from slaughtering each other in droves.

Furthermore, the arrogance of the average American is due, in no small part, to the fact that American has been the primary military and economic power in the world since WWII. For better or worse, America now has the position that the UK had during the 19th Century and, if I read my history correctly, the average British citizen in the 19th Century had pretty much the same arrogant attitude about the rest of the world that the average American citizen does today. When you are the big dog it can be hard to be humble. I am not agreeing with the attitude, simply recognizing it.

As you might notice, I am none too fond of my fellow Americans. However, I try to understand that there are some very good reasons they are the way they are, many of which are not even their fault

 

Here's a nice little story that a guy once told me. Let's call him Jim. He's from Toronto, the largest city in Canada.

Jim went on a trip to North Carolina. There he met some local folks and started a conversation:

- So Jim, where are you from?

- Toronto.

- Never heard of it. Where is that?

- Oh, it's just a bit north of Buffalo.

- Stop sh*tting me, everybody knows there's NOTHING north of Buffalo!

So, so sad...

 

Well Djieff, there are plenty of idiots everywhere. Heck a vast majority of the humans on this planet are barely able name their own capital. Ignorance is the world philosophy and it we in the western world do not have the excuse of povery and no education.

 

I heard you guys were looking for a stereotypical American?

 

Undoubtedly US stereotypes have existed for a long time. For examples read Henry James.

Most of my friends and family who have visited other countries have been if anything sycophantic towards the countries they have visited.

Everyone in my family, sadly, myself excepted, speak at the minimum two languages fluently. My father spoke sixteen. Everyone in my family has lived and studied abroad. Quite a few citizens of the US that I know actually do know world history and are very willing to learn about another country.

Most of my friends have traveled abroad, and most of them have attempted to have a least a phrase or two in the language of the country they are visiting.

In my personal experience, I find that as I attempt my poorly accented phrase, most people immediately respond in English and seem to enjoy the opportunity of practicing their English. Or my accent is so ear-splitting that they cannot tolerate it. Take your pick. Also English is the lingua franca of the moment.

Tourists the world over seem somewhat unattractive. I live in an area with beautiful fall foliage, and we hate the tourists, "the leaf peepers," as we call them. Mainly we hate them because we view them as a tiresome and annual inconvenience.

As to arrogance. Honestly, I don't know of a humble country. The French are stereotypically infamous for their arrogance, for example. I cannot think of a modest country although their are countries that are known for their modest social mores.

Any country's citizens may be open to satire and unflattering stereotypes.

Another comment, the US is a large and diverse country. I think it may be difficult for most countries to understand the size and diversity of the US.

Today's anti-Americanism is almost mild compared to the anti-American feeling at the time of Suez Canal crisis. The French and Brits were simply beside themselves at the US led interference.

My last comment is that I do believe that many countries do have state perpetuated anti-Americanism, or anti- <insert country here> for political reasons.

BTW, my friend just returned from France, and she is noticeably an American (she is not fat, however, if anything overly fit) and she had a lovely time and encountered no anti-Americanism from either the French or any other nationality she met.

 

I live in Texas and I have never even owned a gun, or a pickup truck for that matter. But there are many here who make up for it.

That's why you are one of my favorite Americans, HS. That you can maintain your poise through this dismal thread proves that there are good things to say about some Americans.

 

oh, another nail in the coffin is Jerry Springer... :disgust:

 

gotto love the onion:

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4032

 

American stereotypes depend on education here in Poland. For people with low education, the US are some kind of paradise lost. Also, there are still simpletons who believe in the American dream as people did decades ago.

People with more education exercise more cynicism. They appreciate some parts of the American legacy, but they hate what they refer to as "MacCulture". Those people typically regard Americans as people with great hearts but simple minds and poor ubringing. They tend to view American diplomas and degrees with a great level of scepticism unless it's Harvard or Yale. Especially in Poland the American education system has a reputation for teaching late in college what we teach in secondary school. On the other hand, Americans get away with any sort of bad behaviour or ignorance - "oh, he's American" and a wave of the hand puts an end to the matter in most cases. However, this only works so far as the person is not being arrogant and/or openly disrespectful. People speak more and more about "American arrogance" and the current administration's policies (esp. visas) don't help that.

What is liked in Americans in the attachment to freedom and being ready to fight for it. The memories of fighting on the same side in the Independence war are still alive in people's minds. WWII would also be there, but Yalta and Potschdam distort the nice picture.

 

The sad thing is that the stereotypes of Americans in other nations are too true for comfort. The educational system in the U.S. is very backward, speaking from personal experience. I am fortunate to live in a school district with a high average income. Theoretically, that means that I should have a good education. However, the system does not meet my individual needs. We "review" things every year it seems.

My school district has relatively high requirements compared to most others, yet we only require three years of classes in one foreign language. People like me, that take more than that are regarded as insane. "Oh, everyone just speaks English anyway," they say. When an immigrant or tourist enters the country and they do not speak English, they are disrespected too often. However, when an American tourist goes to another country, they frequently do not bother to try to speak that native language. I see people mock other languages more or less everyday.

The problem is that Americans simply do not need to use other languages that often. If one does, it's a manager telling his Hispanic laborer what to do in Spanish or a businessman outside of the country. One of the causes of this is the relative isolation America has, despite all of the immigration. Another is that, during the McCarthy era, people had to be fluent in American English without any foreign accent to be trusted. I know native German speakers who lived in the U.S. during that time and they were forced to give that up.

All of that said, Americans seem to me to live the lives that any other group of people would have done were they in the same situation.

 

I agree with everything Splunge said. (Mostly because he is an older, wiser Canadian )

But really, it is media that spreads the stereotypes. Anyone ever see "Talking to Americans"? Hilarious.