I saw this article in the New York Times from Jan. 24. Sorry if you can’t read the link–I know some countries have to pay to get in. But what really piqued my interest was the headline:
“To Some in Europe, the Major Problem Is Bush the Cowboy”
It was a background article about how uneasy some Europeans are about Bush and the impending possible war, yada yada yada. Nothing unique about the article itself. But I have started to wonder: to the unAmerican mind, is ‘cowboy’ defined solely as ‘reckless maniac’? The article didn’t define what the Europeans meant by the term, so I’d like to see what the worldwide Dopers think. I don’t want y’all to do any research or anything, I’d just like first impressions. It seems to be one of the most prevailing images of Americans and Latin America around the world and yet I can’t figure out what you folks see when you think of one.
Fellow inhabitants of the American continent(s), those of us who have our own national images and myths of cowboys, gauchos, vaqueros, and whatever ‘cowboy’ is in French Canada (Altavista gave me ‘cowboy’, geez), please hold off with corrections so we don’t taint the answers. Thanks. If this thread takes off, maybe I’ll start another one: "The Truth About Cowboys!’
Apart from the usual stereotype and RL version of a cowboy, here in NZ a “cowboy” is usually an unqualified, slapdash, halfway incompetant tradesman. We speak of “cowboy painters”, for example, when the window sashes are stuck tight by an overused paint brush and the tradesman spending too much time thinking about other things.
On this side of the ditch the definition from Ice Wolf is valid though term is probably used more in a business sense i.e. corporate cowboys playing fast and loose with regulations and conventions. “We do what we want and consequences, what consequences?”
So reckless, yes. Maniac no, because it’s deliberate/calculated not deraigned.
Uk here YAY! We speek of Cowboy builders, ones that take your money and run type of thing or do a half arsed job. Reckless certainly, maniac is a bit strong, reckless eijit perhaps
Someone that actually rode horses and chased cows, we’d call a jackaroo, jillaroo, stockman, cow hand, drover, station hand, stock-driver or boundary rider.
In the context of the article I don’t believe George W Bush is being characterised as an unscrupulous workman. I think he’s being characterised as an ignorant person who takes a simplistic view of the world and whose first instinct is to use violent methods to solve problems without considering the long-term effects. It’s like this scenario:
You beat me at poker; I assume you must’ve cheated; I shoot you in the chest with my six-shooter; stunned silence decends on the saloon; maybe there’ll be a hangin’ pretty soon.
Having never met a cowboy myself, I assume that there’s an enormous margin between the reality of work on a cattle ranch in the west today and the stereotypes of a western movie. I also doubt that many Europeans imagine that stereotype to have any connection to real cowboys, but that’s the image people are associating with President Bush.
I think that in the UK “cowboy” is used of Bush because he seems to many of us to fit the deliberately unscrupulous meaning of the word, but also because he wears stetsons and jeans with big buckles, has a ranch, lives in texas etc. etc.
Here in the Czech Republic, cowboy culture has taken hold.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
Country & Western music, square dances (“Swing her once round the floor, Frantisek!”), cowboy hats, clothes, etc. There are 2 country music radio stations now in Prague. Most of the songs you recognize the tune, but the words are all their own. “On the road again” by Willie was turned into some tune about harvesting apples or something silly like that. It is just weird.
So a cowboy here is along the lines of the traditional cowpoke from Texas.
I’m from the U.S., but it might be instructive to consider the “cowboy” image prevalent in Hollywood movies.
Scene: Small frontier town. Situation is difficult, with corrupt sheriff, rich land speculators, ineffective regulation, and so on.
Enter Clint Eastwood. Quickly and without words, he sizes up the situation. The law says one thing, but the law is wrong, so Clint ignores it. He takes it upon himself to sweep aside any and all petty obstacles in order to Set Things Right according to his own opinion, and using his six-guns as his primary tool. Happily ever after.
Of course, in the real world, if Clint does this, he causes far more problems than he solves, because the world is not a movie. That’s probably where the “cowboy” label originates — somebody who simplifies the world and attempts to impose broad-stroke solutions, especially involving violence, without any regard for subtlety, complexity, or the risk of unintended consequences.
Hmmm. Can’t see as how that’s an inaccurate summation of the situation, either.
Your (cynical) vision of the Clint Eastwood cowboy is exactly what the OP did NOT want.
Having traveled to every continent except Antarctica I’m always curious as to everyone’s perceptions of Americans. The cowboy is a pervasive image, and I for one would like to hear more from the non-American Dopers.
This message board has its limitations, though. How about the foreign Dopers polling their coworkers? Play that psychological game of “I say one word, tell me the first word that pops into your mind” and use the word “cowboy”.
'cept that’s as close as I (and most people I know) have gotten to an American Cowboy (as opposed to the Aust equivalent). So it’s an appropriate example.
Silentgoldfish , as I understood the OP the responses Mehitabel wanted were from people outside the Americas.
Thus if YOU said “Clint Eastwood is who I see”, then that’s great.
But for someone from the States to say “Clint Eastwood does this, and this is why it’s wrong”, I think that taints the thread in the way that the OP wanted to avoid.
Nitpicking this may be, but having an Aussie say “Yeah! What the American said about the cowboy!” seems to defeat the purpose.
Jeez, I can’t believe I’m getting this detailed about a thread I didn’t even start! :rolleyes: