Do you hate Americans?

[Kizarvexius]

@newcrasher

Well one thing “Americans” are known for is a dangerous combination of ignorance about the world beyong their borders and arrogance.

Case in point:

Time Magazine had a cover story on immigration earlier this year with the title “Who gets to be an American?”. Even this seemingly benign question gets a roll of the eyes :rolleyes: from Central and South Americans. They all consider themselves “American” and wonder why citizens of the US (including editors of news magazines) think it refers exclusively to people of the US.

I’m with you on the ignorance and arrogance part, but the example strikes me as being just silly. As far as I understand it, we appropriated (for right or for wrong) the term “American” many years ago, and people in most parts of the world identifify the label as applying to the United States of America. When someone from El Salvador or Brazil is travelling abroad and is asked their nationality, do they say “American”? They can rolls their eyes all they want, but the way I see it, we stole the term and it’s ours.

If you want to see both American ignorance and arrogance in action, look no further than the tourist who, when caught in violation of some local ordinance in a foreign country, indignantly exclaims: “You can’t do this to me! I’m an American!”. I’ve heard the words with my own ears while travelling in Italy.

[DragonAsh]

1) A broad sense of entitlement and a proud lack of respect for authority.
I’ll give you this - although I would say that a ‘lack of respect for authority’ is a point in our favor - we naturally resent authority, and I think it helps keep the US on a more even keel, overall. Whenever the pendalum swings too far one way, this kind of acts like a check of sorts to move it back the other way.

2) Political apathy, and a complete lack of interest in what’s happening in the rest of the world.
More to do with our geographical situation - Europeans are - for obvious reasons - going to be much more concerned with what their neighbors are doing. Centuries of war in your back yard tends to make one a bit paranoid. The US has Canada and Mexico - not exactly major threats.

I would also point out that my Canadian friends have been pretty ignorant of the world at large, except for a strange fascination of how famous Canadians were faring in the US.

3) Nationalism/xenophobia.
After traveling extensively, including many years in Asia, I can tell you that the US can’t hold a candle to China when it comes to nationalism, and Japan when it comes to xenophobia.

**4) Lack of foresight. **
Agree, yet this holds for the majority of the countries in the world. Japan has known for decades that it is facing a declining birth rate and increasingly aging population. They could (for example) bring in nannies and nursing care providers from the Philippines and other Asian countries. But no - their preferred solution? Build robots.

5) Gullibility. I believe this stems from our educational system. Students are not encouraged to debate and question. They learn to swallow whatever data is handed to them and regurgitate it on demand, but never seriously examine the data itself.
Disagree with this. Americans are probably more likely to question things, especially authority (as you noted above). Particularly compared to the rote-memorization/data recall-centric focus of educations elsewhere (Korea, Japan), I think that our education system - while not without its problems - is one of our strong points. It’s why America generally leads the software industry. 20 years ago we were going to be ‘economically dominated by Japan’. We’re not, mainly thanks to our creativity and ingenuity, and I think that stems from our education system.

**6) Anti-intellectualism. **
I didn’t really understand what you were talking about here. Besides, using examples of TV shows isn’t really much of an example, is it? I mean, it’s a pretty narrow tunnel at best; there are lots of great TV shows out there; granted it’s easy to lose them in the trash that is the majority of TV, but guess what? It’s like that in Europe and Asia too. Lord knows I way prefer US TV to Japanese TV.

**7) Lack of ettiquette. We’re pushy, loud, obnoxious and what’s more, proud of it. Normal politness is seen by some to be “ass kissing” There’s a lot of people who have the “What-evah! I’ll do what I want!” attitude.
True. Customer service sucks - the one area I definitely prefer Japan to just about anywhere else in the world.

8) Religion. American culture has a heavy streak of religion that is extremely wearisome to me. It sometimes seems like a constant struggle to keep the zealots from taking over every aspect of our culture and insinuating themselves into the government.
Right, because those Middle Easterners are soooo anti-religious :rolleyes:

**9) Prudishness, influenced by #8. **
No argument here.

10) Our sense of humor. A look at the successful comedies reveals that Americans seem to like slapstick, laugh-at-his-embarassment, low-brow comedy. Some have said that Americans don’t get irony, but that’s not true. We get it, but we find groin injuries much funnier.
Hmm. Well, maybe. Thing is, the movie studios put out turds not because they hope to make money in the US, but because they know they’ll rake it in overseas - and slap-stick is a much easier sell overseas than ‘intellectual humor’. Check out this list of the top-selling movies of all time in the US. Shrek 2 is 3rd. Finding Nemo’s 13th, Cars is 60th and climbing. In the non-animation category, MIB is 36th, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is 42nd, and Mrs. Doubtfire is 51st - none of them could be considered ‘low-brow’ comedy. I left out Home Alone, Meet the Fockers, Bruce Almighty, and Beverly Hills Cop, even though I wouldn’t really call those ‘lowbrow’ humor either.

What do I dislike about America? Our obesity. Our fascination with guns. Our hypocritical schizophrenic attitude towards sexuality, especially compared to our attitude towards violence. Our wastefulness and gluttony, especially when it comes to food.

But after many years of life overseas, I have a much greater appreciation of our education system, our willingness to - pointed out in Fukuyama’s ‘The End of History’ - constantly question ourselves. Our freedom of speech. Our willingness to take on risk, to step up to a challenge, to find creative solutions.

One dark and dirty secret about all those people overseas that ‘hate Americans’? Most of them are just regurgitating the government’s rhetoric - more importantly, deep down inside they know they’re just going along with the government’s willingness to blame a country several thousand miles away for their problems at home.

[TheLoadedDog]

I think a lot of what you get from other countries (not including certain parts of the Middle East, etc) is not hatred. It’s not even jealousy so much, but it’s frustration and a feeling of helplessness at the American cultural steamroller. I am fairly well disposed towards America and Americans, but I do feel resentment when I hear Australian children speaking in Australian accents and then when they start playing any sort of role-playing game, they switch to American ones (without even knowing they’ve done so). Teenaged girls here sing in Californian accents, and even hold conversations in them: "Like, omigaaaahd."

Seeing every suburb and town with a main street dominated by huge American fast food signs tends to grate, especially when you remember what the places were like before.

The most annoying part is that we can’t blame America for it. It’s your success that drives it, and if we could do the same thing to you, we probably would.

[Lissa]

@DragonAsh

I’ll give you this - although I would say that a ‘lack of respect for authority’ is a point in our favor - we naturally resent authority, and I think it helps keep the US on a more even keel, overall. Whenever the pendalum swings too far one way, this kind of acts like a check of sorts to move it back the other way.

No, I don’t think that it is necessarily a good thing. “Respect” does not mean unquestioning obedience. It means courtesy and ackowledging the rules of society.

More to do with our geographical situation - Europeans are - for obvious reasons - going to be much more concerned with what their neighbors are doing. Centuries of war in your back yard tends to make one a bit paranoid. The US has Canada and Mexico - not exactly major threats.

The United States does not exist in a vaccum. Political unrest in far-off places can have economic impacts on US interests. When we are involved with these situations, it behooves us to remember it, because if the “solution” comes back to bite us in the ass, we should understand why.

I would also point out that my Canadian friends have been pretty ignorant of the world at large, except for a strange fascination of how famous Canadians were faring in the US.

That ignorance is common does not make it excusable, especially in the face of an abundance of information resources.

Disagree with this. Americans are probably more likely to question things, especially authority (as you noted above).

Defiance does not equal considered opposition. Defiance can just be for the sake of itself. “You can’t tell me what to do!” People will resist something that’s a good idea if they feel that they’re forced to do it.

It’s why America generally leads the software industry. 20 years ago we were going to be ‘economically dominated by Japan’. We’re not, mainly thanks to our creativity and ingenuity, and I think that stems from our education system.

I would argue that our proficiency in computer software does not stem from our educational system. The only “computer classes” offered in many schools are instructions in the basic operation of common programs.

Instead, computer proficiency is something that is being learned outside of school, either from a computer-savvy friend, or from exploring available reources on the internet. A proficiency in these things can lead a child to chosing computers as their path of study in college, but they won’t usually get much out of the public K-12 system.

I didn’t really understand what you were talking about here. Besides, using examples of TV shows isn’t really much of an example, is it? I mean, it’s a pretty narrow tunnel at best; there are lots of great TV shows out there; granted it’s easy to lose them in the trash that is the majority of TV, but guess what? It’s like that in Europe and Asia too. Lord knows I way prefer US TV to Japanese TV.

Anti-intellectualism allows a president to scoff at science and not only escape the scorn of the populace, but earn him applause from certain sectors.

It’s not only on the television-- we’ve all seen examples of it in our daily lives. I see examples of it in the newspapers and other media sources almost every day. It’s in the “Dumbing Down of America”, it’s in the willful blindness of the anti-evolution crowd, and in the declining expectations we have.

Right, because those Middle Easterners are soooo anti-religious :rolleyes:

Where did you see me state that this was a unique flaw?

Hmm. Well, maybe. Thing is, the movie studios put out turds not because they hope to make money in the US, but because they know they’ll rake it in overseas - and slap-stick is a much easier sell overseas than ‘intellectual humor’.

Well, that’s perfectly reasonable. Translating complex puns and references to obscure bits of US culture would be nigh on to impossible in some cases. A kick to the nuts needs no interpretation.

[Dunderman]

@Mangetout

I can’t help suspecting that the explanation of the offer might not have been entirely straightforward; that is to say that perhaps they were inspired by something other than altruism.

Do you mean they were going for sex, or am I missing something?

[Eve]

@js_africanus

My grandparents were in a world where people put trousers on their piano stools to maintain decency (search for trousers at the above link).

Again, an urban legend.

[js_africanus]

@Eve

Again, an urban legend.

Well, you know I respect you, if not your views on the imporance of personal appearance. It certainly makes ample sense that a professor of history at Texas Christian University would have ample reason to glibly undermine treasured national myths. And, of course, since Jaques Barzun is of French birth, need I say more? So, you must be right: there was no sexual repression in the Victorian age, and ours isn’t a hold over from the 19th century. It’s clearly a hold over from the first use of the term “puritan” in the 1560s. Of course, it came to a head just when the Scarlet Letter was set, which was a stroke of luck for a fiction author in the 1800s, and then, og only knows how, skipped over the fun-loving, openly-sexual Victorian age, to land in my dad’s genetic make up. Given this, I’m surprised his mom wasn’t more of whore, since she was a Victorian and all. Given her reaction to the necessity of a colonoscopy at an advanced age, you’d think she would be from a sexually repressed world. But no, she must have been open to being ass scoped, and the direct memories of me and my family are much more inaccurate than your memories of old movies. Thank’s for clearing that up.

[Beware_of_Doug]

As a rule, I do not hate Americans, being as I’ve considered myself one most of my life.

Then again, things have changed a lot here since…oh, I guess since some mouthy First Lady started making noise about how expensive health insurance was back in '93 or so and brought years of untold shit down on the heads of her President and her party. And a whole lot since some asswipes pancaked a couple of big buildings in NY and truth became a luxury free people could ill afford.

Then there were all these guys who started shaving their heads. And Ann Coulter.

Now, I still don’t necessarily hate Americans, but I’m kinda starting to wonder whether I still am one.