I’ve noticed that here, too. One of the other things I’ve learned here that I had no idea about was how completely screwed US Americans are over healthcare. You can’t leave your job over healthcare insurance, you can’t leave a marriage over it, it costs an arm and a leg, and even if you have it, chances are good that you’ll still get screwed over if you get a serious illness. I can’t imagine living like that!
That too. I don’t know the religion of my politicians, my doctor, my co-workers, my neighbours, my friends, anyone. It’s just not discussed. Okay, well, I do know the religion of my city’s mayor, but that’s just because it was kind of a Big Deal that we have one of Canada’s first Muslim mayors.
What he said. How does any governing get done when all your politicians are ever doing is getting elected? Oh, wait…
It’s not so much the knowledge of the gun culture (this is pretty well known from other sources) but that I learned from the SMDB that you can have a houseful of guns without being a whacko “second amendment solution” type of person. My reaction is now “Oh, [person whose posts I enjoy reading] has a bunch of guns/carries a pistol regularly - eh, whatever.”
American here. Guns are really a non-issue socially. If a guy has a rifle in his basement, or a pistol in a drawer, it’s no big thing at all. It’s not shocking. Not having a gun is perfectly fine too. Here in Virginia, you will occasionally see someone casually wearing a pistol on a holster. It’s not there to gawk at.
Agreed, the Dope represents a lot of us in the States but certainly not every group; it’s comprised primarily of people who own a computer, have enough disposable income to have free time to spend on that computer and a level of schooling that allows them to participate in a written forum, almost exclusively in English. This is many but certainly not ALL of the people living in the US. Heck, that’s not even half the people in my own family.
Not to mention that just because something is a hot topic on the dope means it’s even on our radar anywhere else. Yeah, there’s a whole political circus going on. If it weren’t for the dope, I basically wouldn’t know about it. There are no political ads on Netflix.
Well, I live in the US and I have zero idea of any of the religious beliefs of my coworkers. Remember, the US is a big country, and as a few people on this thread have mentioned, the stereotypes do not apply to all parts of it.
I’m sure this exists in some places in America, but it is by no means universal. I have on occasion had discussions with individuals at work concerning religious practices, but in general it’s not a topic of discussion…and no way is there anything institutional about it. Perhaps its because I’m in California; it seems to me that sort of thing would be much more prevalent in the South (but that may just be my California bias showing right there).
See… I think that’s a bias introduced by reading the SDMB, where there are a lot of people willing to cry racism or identify racism when in all reality, there is none. or it’s a lot less than they think.
I’d almost say it’s just as bad as Europe; we may have some antiquated ideas in older folks here, but we don’t have anyone, or rarely have anyone treating people of different races as badly as most European countries treat the Gypsies/Roma.
We may be frustrated with Mexican illegal immigrants, but that’s not necessarily racist; if it were Canadians flooding over the northern border and doing the same thing, we’d be pissed about that as well.
Yes and no. When I was first moving to the US, many people’s reaction was “they have drive-by shootings there!” - but despite the reports of people going postal, and despite the many movies and TV shows where an “every(wo)man” character is shown to have a gun, people abroad often don’t realize that in the US, owning one or more guns is normal and “going to the range to practice” is a hobby unto itself.
That’s what I was talking about: in Spain, anybody other than a cop or soldier on duty displaying a gun is something to gawk at while deciding whether to back or run away.
As an American, it’s quite eye-opening how foreigners view us.
I probably know hundeds of people who don’t own a gun, and exactly one that does (not including cops). I can’t think of anyone that’s been close to me that’s even considered getting a gun.
The vast majority of the people I know that take religion seriously are those who immigrated here from other countries as adults. Religion is the last thing anyone born or raised here discusses, except perhaps to make fun of it.
Of the many countries I’ve been to, I’d say America is the least racist, with the exception of Canada.
ETA: I just remembered 2 other people I knew who owned guns when I lived in Houston. But this was out of dozens that didn’t.
ETAA: when i say “here”, I mean NY and Nj
But how long would they last if every party had to hold a leadership race before the general election? And does the campaigning really only happen once the election is called? The Conservative Party was running television ads in January of 2011.
I’m an American and I steadfastly refuse to pronounce it any other way.
It is by no means universal that atheists are persecuted and mistrusted here. Sure, there are some religious people here who go overboard with it - probably more so than in other countries - but there are many American Christians who are only nominally Christian and don’t take religion very seriously. My fiance has been openly atheist and hasn’t encountered any prejudice or hostility over it.
They stormed north from the Mexican border to sit in lawn chairs and pickup-truck boxes, just off the highways and next to U.S. customs buildings at border-crossing points, cradling their guns and rifles, ready to plug illegal-alien Canadians bent double as they sneaked through the tall prairie grasses and in the trunks of their Cadillacs to get to the U.S.
(kidding)