I’d be a bit uncomfortable in the Netherlands, fearing that I might be murdered in the street by religious extremists. I understand that the level of religious persecution and zealotry over there is truly frightening from the news I read.
Same thing with France. Man, I’d hate to be a jew over there.
How about this. Everyone from every country has their share of assholes, fat people, religious whacko’s, right/left/dictatorship government, racial problems, etc… Some countries just have more of it then others.
Someone mentioned that the U.S. is just the bratty brother of the Europeans. I’m comfortable with that. It sure beats the hell out of being the child molesting uncle of the family.
So fuck you all. 
I wanted to chime in to say that I agree. As a liberal American who despises George Bush and his war, I often find myself agreeing with European and Canadian points of view. However, every once in a while, something will happen that makes me shake my head in wonder and reminds me that I am an American. For instance, every time I am amazed to hear about European nations censoring Nazi propaganda, or denying a visa to…whatshisname, that nutty Holocaust denier guy. What about First Amendment rights!!!
I don’t want to get into an argument about censorship or anything, that was just an example.
It’s been a few years since I was in Europe (last time was in Italy in 1999). Never had any issues because of my nationality, I don’t think.
…nor do I!!!
The “the constitution is correct in all possible ways” attitude is something that is very American. As is the people writing that document were absolute perfection, and the only misunderstanding could be through not interpreting them correctly.
Why doea mainland Europe, that which experienced the Holocaust, have a stronger desire to control Nazi imagery than in America? I’d like to hope this answers itself.
As an American, I agree with most everything on this list except the Insanely preoccupied by race item. Actually, we probably are insanely preoccupied by race, but one of the most striking things about the time I spent working in Europe was the number of Europeans who cited this as a difference between American and Europeans. I am honestly confused by this, I feel like I observed A LOT of bizarre preoccupation with race on the part of my non-American colleagues in the three countries where I spent the most time (France, the UK, Italy – which I’m sure are as different from each other as they are from the US). I was told very sincerely that America has a shameful race problem (true), even as I heard white Europeans say things about Roma people with vitriol that I’ve never witnessed from a white American talking about Black people. I’m not saying anyone on any side deserves any medals in this area, only that we can all share the credit, as it were, for a good deal of racial anxiety on a societal level.
As far as individuals go, I had extremely good experiences with my colleagues and was never made to feel unwelcome or uncomfortable because I was from the US. Of course, that could also mean I was woefully clueless, but Americans are happy-go-lucky like that. Plus, we’re complacent when travelling because you keep feeding us that great European food.
America? Fuck that’s a big question.
The thing about America is that there are so many different aspects to the American experience. It’s like a little continent. Full of countries that while accepting federal leadership have their own history and cultures. They as a whole share core ideals and beliefs based heavily on the founders of the country’s writings. It’s very hard to talk about America without being so general your points become meaningless. So forgive if I’m general.
America is unique in the world. Built mainly by hunger and ambitious immigrants it has an amazing vibrancy about it. Some of the world’s greatest artists, thinkers, fighters and politicians have come from it’s 50 States.
It was concerning to me to see a very large section of the population of the most powerful and influential country in the world support the Iraq war so quickly. The apparent support of policies that dismissed other countries opinions including the UN and arrogantly pushed for war. The re-election of Bush while not surprising was further reason to feel separated from American culture and beliefs.
The apparent strength of right wing, very nationalistic/jingoistic and religious lobbies doesn’t fit well in my brain either.
That said it is still a country that can be held up as a shining light on the planet. Nowhere have so many people been as free to work for their dreams that in modern America even with all the faults in the systems. Every country in the world has faults and inequalities so America is no different in that regard. Humans will be humans after all.
*Yes I know I live in Ireland but I was asked about the US, not the little catholic, corrupt Island I live on
I fail to see what the provision that Extended to conflicts in which the State is not a participant the provision for a state of emergency to secure the public safety and preservation of the State in time of war or armed rebellion. in 1939 has to do with anything
Well, I don’t care about your First Amendment. Crazy furriner.
Are you reading the same thread as I am? Aside from the assertion that the War of 1812 was a war of American aggression, what I’m reading here seems spot on and spoken reasonably as well.
As an American I’d like to briefly say Thanks for your candid comments. I think it would do well for more Americans to read this input. I think many of us feel the same with regard to the Religious Right and it’s influence in US politics, the pre-occupation with racial matters and such. I, for one, never have had a “Well, we saved your ass back in…” type of attitude. I have always felt a warn and accepting feeling to our friends in Europe and Britian and would have hoped it was mutual. Again, thanks for the straight dope.
What in blue blazes is “American Hair”?
As for the rest, I appreciate the candid commentary, though I feel the need to mention that a goodly percentage of Americans were also against invading Iraq. It wasn’t like we could call up the President and tell him to stop.
I lived in Scandinavia for a while, and encountered some interesting ideas about Americans. I loved it there, but some of the assumptions were a little interesting.
–Americans are all extremely racist. (Often from people who treated Asians or Middle Easterners in very racist ways that absolutely stunned me.)
–Americans don’t cook, and eat at McDonalds all the time. (My mom is a health-food nut and excellent cook, and with 5 kids, going out to fast food was a bank-breaking proposition. I could never quite convince them of this.)
–Teenagers are all raised “packed in cotton,” that is, coddled and given no real-life experience. On average, a Scandinavian teen is 4 years more mature than an American of the same age. (Undoubtedly true in some cases. Entirely false in most. Does this mean they thought I was 12?)
Anyway, otherwise everything was pretty great, so I’m not complaining or anything.
I don’t quite understand this whole ‘culture of fear’ idea thing. I can’t say I’ve noticed people being very afraid. What is it exactly we’re supposed to be doing in our panic? On an everyday, individual level, I mean, not the whole ‘War on Terrorism’ thing?
I agree.
Come on, people. Every country has it’s:
*Originally posted by *owlstretchingtime
We have too much religion.
We have a naïve world view.
Didn’t I read somewhere that Europeans are getting fatter and fatter?.
Too commercial? The Europeans invented commercialism.
As for frankly mad…Reality TV was invented by Europeans…
Racism? Don’t make me open the European can of worms about that.
Rubbish food made the Europeans fat.
I’m not sure what you mean by American hair, but I recognize a Brit, Frenchman, German and a Dutch from far, far away.
SlyFrog, you reminded me again why I stopped following the news.
USA-culture IS sometimes strange to me. But then again, so is the culture from the Christian Party voting people living across the street from me. Perhaps they’re more alien to me then the average American would be. But I wouldn’t know, because I’ve never talked in-depth with my neighbours about our personal beliefs. And for a good reason, too. What if we find out we differ fundamentally? I could never go there again to borrow sugar or ask her to babysit my cat.
It is an uniquely (and, I feel, very positive) American trait to discuss your own weaknesses and strengths so openly. This thread is an example. It also makes it easier to doubt and criticize America more then we’d would China or the USSR; those countries don’t allow self-critism, not inside and not outside of their borders. Youngsters all over the world are just raised with anti-America rhetoric, copied from America’s own anti America rhetoric. European youngsters aren’t spoonfed anti-Europe rehetoric or anti Asia retoric, even when there would be just as much arguments for those. (Remember Europe created the whole Israel-hornets nest and dividided Africa and Irac along straight ruler-lines that had to give trouble sooner or later?).
As for me, I think English and American people are cool. You talk just like the cool people on the telly. (That’s true, actually.).
Actually that’s just the Dutch. You get murdered by religious loonies, you have an odd world view (too much skunk) You aren’t getting fatter but, by god, you’re getting taller. You invented Big Brother, your ghettoes are apalling, your food is the worst in Europe (worse than the Germans for God’s sake - tasteless cheese etc). And don’t get me started on your hair.
As someone who used to travel to America on business a lot and now refuses to, one thing that a lot of Brits have a problem with is that we don’t actually realise that America is a foriegn country and is in fact much more “foreign” than France.
This suprises us because we expect to encounter a noisy version of Essex, but in fact everything is very different. The food is dreadful, the beer unspeakable, the life is very odd - you’ve been taken over by the Bodysnatchers and you live this “stepford” version of life. Your education system produces morons (so does ours, but our private schools are good - your’s aint).
You have the best health care in the world - if you can afford it. Your cars are crap, your TV unwatchable (too many adverts) and for the most capitalist place on the globe your customer service skills make Vlad the Imapler look like salesman of the year. You fanny around about race, and actually do nothing about it. And there is something terribly wrong with your hair.
Having said all that I still rather like you. hugs
hahahahaha Too much skunk?
How can you not like our food? Have you ever tried such delicaties as mashed carrots, onions and potatoes, lovingly called ‘hutspot’? Or our raw herring?
I actually don’t notice Americans being any larger than other nationalities in general and find the average American hairdo to be quite satisfcatory–even stunning at times. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever been quite as devilshly handsome as during my 'American Night ', a coupe of months back (by Thor, I miss that mustache!).
My main bad feelings about America include:
The religios factor scares me; a country should not be run by the rules of God–hearing Bush going on about his holy war actually sent shivers down my spine.
I know the last elections were close, but they were clear: the majority of Americans wanted the man who had so obviously misled, misinformed and quite frankly lied to them–not to mention your financial perdicament and all those brave soldiers who died for a lie. The elections left me dumfounded, disappointed and scared; four more years… I refuse to believe that Americans don’t watch the news or that they have no idea what their administration is doing, so I can only assume they don’t care. Either way, this troubles me deeply. That being said, Bush isn’t nearly the devil many people paint him as, IMHO. He’s just a terrible man for his job (‘Bush’ meaning the whole Karl Rove puppetmaster conglomerate, of course).
The gun thing; there’s always the gun thing.
Executions. You’ve stopped executing minors–at least for the time being–but seriously, people: this is 2005 and you are supposed to be the good guys, remember? Add the fact that your country is openly run as a Christian one, and you have a fairly strange and, let’s face it, hypocritical situation. Which brings me to my next point.
If America were a disease, its symptom would by hypocrisy. To protect freedom, you must waive basic rights; violence on TV is A-OK, while nudity is bound to make your kids go crazy; no-one should have nuclear weapons, except for the USA and its friends; all humans have the same rights, unless there is the merest inkling of a suggestion of a shadow of a hint that they might be terrorists, in which case they have no rights at all. Just to take a few examples.
I am mostly amused by Americans’ sense of superiority (education, health and wellfare anyone?) so that really doesn’t bother me, but their apparent inability to get my jokes does. I absolutely love New Yorkers, mostly because they love my jokes (or, at least, are polite enough to laugh out loud) and are just friendly, sensible people. Someone mentioned that young people in the US are ‘younger’ than their European coutnerparts, which makes sense to me; everyone under 23 or so (from the US) looks like a teen IMHO and I’ve actually started to try and hide my real age from my American clients and customers, as they don’t seem to trust young people as well as… erm… older people (I’m 25 but I started the company at 21 so I feel that I can be trusted by now). In my country, a lot of kids start working at 13 or 14, so that may be a factor. Also, I’ve noticed that English youths look even younger–English youths I’ve seen look about the same at 22-23 as Icelandic youths look at 14-15 (the difference is especially noticable in the females) so maybe we just look old (but good, mind you).
Now… I really like Americans, despite all the abovementioned. I meet a lot of Americans in my line of work and I’ve never met one I didn’t like–which is quite a bit more than I can say for Italy (shudder), France or the immensely boring Germany, to take a few examples (it’s not a language thing; I’m omnilingual, you see). I have a sneaky suspicion that a portion of Americans either don’t know about the rest of the world or hate it too much to visit, though (the Bible Belt factor), so I wouldn’t know about local Americans but I absolutely, unconditionally love American tourists, especially New Yorkers. I can’t wait to visit New York but I’ll have to wait until I grow up, it seems; it’s not that it’s too dangerous for me but there’s just way too much hassle at the moment.
To be fair, the USA is largely to thank for my countrys staggering rise from being one of the worlds poorest countries around 1900, to being the 8th richest (per capita, of course) in the world today, so we’re probably a little more pro-America than most of Europe. Oh, and half of us live on the North American continent, so we’re geographically related, to top it off.
Sorry for any spelling mistakes; couldn’t be bothered to spell-check.
Here in the states we call it combed or groomed.
Marc
…well, you do know us nice New Yorkers live in a state with strict gun laws and haven’t executed anybody since 1976 (and the DP was just shut down again, with nobody getting it, even the guy whose 7-year-old neighbor was found buried in his basement)? Massachusetts hasn’t done it since 1948 (while Canada was still stringing 'em up 20 years later) and some states not since the 19th century.
