If we only did not have Florida or Texas most of those stories would not take place in America. 
What is curious to me is that locally Americans also feed those stereotypes, but do so by concentrating on specific regions, one notorious example comes from the site FARK where Florida has even its own image tag to deal with so many crazy histories coming from there.
There’s a significant difference. Greed used to be a sin. As such, yeah, human nature would occasionally burst out in a spree of theft, just the same as when you declare sex a sin, people don’t stop having sex, they just have unprotected sex, see prostitutes more often, and otherwise end up going about the more negative variants of sex.
Once it’s okay to be greedy, you aren’t just responding to pent up urges in an bizarre and illogical way. You have the freedom to think, “Well what can I do that no one else can or will? If I do that, people will have to shower me with goodies.” Presto, instead of having theft, you have everyone performing services for everyone else, with the long-term goal of getting rich off everyone else.
From an outsider’s perspective:
One thing which, rightly or wrongly-but-apparent-to-us-from-the-news seems generally true is that you guys have more than your share of religious whackaloons.
Now, most every country on Earth has to deal with its share of religious extremists, but A) we don’t seem to elect them to positions of political power as often as you do and B) your whackaloons seems more out there than ours still. The European god squad tends to be mostly pro-life, clinging to traditions, maybe a bit of antisemitic/antiislamic hatred here and there, and of course an anti-gay, anti-sex agenda is par for the course.
Your lot speak in tongues, believe in actual miracles, Satan is real and evolution isn’t, Good and Evil are actual real life concepts, going to the doctor is a sin, every single word of the Bible is the direct true word of God and/or God speaks to them directly & personally. And of course many of them can’t stop proselytizing all the time.
This tends to weird us out a little.
Thank you, I understand the point. The power to impose the death penalty resides with the legislature of each state and the Federal govt cannot unilaterally take that away. Hmm…must make for some interesting conflict of laws cases between state and federal.
Personally, I have only heard this “America Sucks!” routine from two sources: Fanatical terrorist groups and Americans.
Normal foreigners? I suppose they could feel this way, but I’ve never met any who do.
You haven’t traveled much then is all I can say. There is a lot of ‘America Sucks!’ mentality out there in the wide world, and a lot of folks who think that way. Mostly I hear something along the lines of ‘America sucks, but I like some Americans. I even have this American friend who is ok…’.
The broad anti-American protests don’t happen as much in Europe or places like South Korea as much today as they did in the past, but there is still a broad based dislike of the US out there. The other side of the coin is that there are more folks who like America and (some) Americans out there as well, so it balances out. When I travel it’s pretty rare that I’ll encounter someone (even in a country who might not be all that friendly, at the official or supposed population level) who automatically dislikes me simply because I’m an American (as opposed to disliking me because, well, I’m not very likable)…while I have encountered plenty of folks who seem friendly simply because I’m an American.
-XT
Well just to clear up some misconceptions about us crazy Americans, only a very tiny percentage of Christians do or believe in the bolded items.
Sadly, the other items are a fair cop.
As if those sorts of things don’t happen in enlightened Europe. 
Rural Europeans aren’t all that different than rural Americans when it comes to this sort of superstitious nonsense. America doesn’t have a monopoly on anti-Evolution thinking or fervent religious fundamentalism.
-XT
Sure we do… but historically, where’d they come from? We were one of the first religiously tolerant (more or less) places in the world, so religious whackaloons came here to live. Combine that with the usual mutation and yeast like budding of religious loon groups, and that would explain it.
Plus, we’re a big country- 300 some odd million people, and we’re diverse. More diverse probably than most other countries. This makes for a lot of weirdness and disunity when seen by more monolithic countries like say… Italy, where probably 95% of people are ethnic Italians(of some kind).
We’re also a young country- I can completely see how things we do might seem weird if you have 1000+ years of tradition and history behind you. We have 500 at most, and half of the country has about 160-180.
While they do happen, they happen to a greater extent, I believe, in the US.
Some eastern European countries, such as Latvia and Bulgaria, have similar results as the US, although not so bad. Turkey was worse off in the Wiki graphic, so there’s that.
I’m always wary of those kinds of polls. And by the same token, I’m unsure about how well polled rural Europeans are. I can say that, based on some of the polls I’ve seen about Europeans believing some of the truther type non-sense about 9/11, that I wouldn’t be surprised if a higher percentage than is generally accepted (on this board anyway) believe all manner of odd stuff. A lot of folks seem to think that Europeans are some sort of secular intellectuals, without realizing that ‘Europe’ is actually a very large and diverse place, and that there are rural regions in just about every country that has the same levels of ignorance and superstition that any rural community, regardless of country has. My belief is that US ignorance is spotlighted because, well, we are America…we are constantly under a microscope and spotlight. So, when we have polls showing dippy stuff it’s more sensational than, say, a poll about folks in Bavaria who believe superstitious non-sense.
From what I’ve seen, ignorance is pretty universal, and you will most assuredly find it in every nation on earth. Nations with larger rural populations are going to have more ingrained ignorance and old fashioned notions concerning science and religion…and the US still has a fairly large rural population. If you really asked people in rural Europe, however, you would get similar answers. Just like if you asked folks in Rural Japan, or rural Canada, or rural South Korea. And you don’t even want to know what sorts of things you’d get from the huge rural Chinese population…
-XT
I’m an atheist and I think good and evil are real life concepts. What’s whackadoodle about that?
Do you know of any reason I should be wary of these particular numbers? Can you provide evidence that rural Europeans were left out, and really are more likely than Americans to disbelieve evolution? Here’s the article Wiki used for a cite.
Oh, yes. Europeans are prey to superstition, same as everyone. But nowhere in Europe, that I know of, anyway, is teaching Creationism in public schools even an issue, let alone done.
What sort of folks? Americans who are ignorant of the rest of the world? Because that’s a common stereotype, too. Or is it the Europeans who think that? “We Latvians believe we are secular intellectuals who are exactly the same as Swedes.”
I think American ignorance, especially on the subject of evolution, gets too much of a pass sometimes. That aside, people like Richard Dawkins will go after the ignorant from time to time, and not just pick on the poor Yanks. He can find superstition just fine in Europe. But, as I pointed out earlier, nowhere in Europe do governments occasionally approve teaching complete horseshit in public schools to appease religious dumbfucks.
Seems like you’re setting the bar a little low here: “our peasants are no more ignorant than the peasants in other countries, especially if you look at the really backward ones.”
IMO, yes, American ignorance does get highlighted sometimes, often by American media. The interviews Jay Leno used to do, for instance, where he’d go out and find some unworldly, culturally illiterate people such as recent college grads, and ask them basic science questions, which they would tank. Or that show COPS, which frequently shows the most ignorant people you’d ever want to meet. But these things resonate because they seem strange. Why is it that the country with the coolest space program has bozo politicians like Sarah Palin? Why does the country that got all the good Nazi scientists produce TV shows like Medium and Ghost Whisperer? Why does one of the biggest, richest, countries in the world inflict Generation Rescue upon the world? It’s stupid, and I wish it would stop.
Americans are far from “exceptional” in their “exceptionalism”. An anecdote which may or may not be relevant: Every time a miner was rescued during that whole thing in Chile a few months back, what did the crowd (of other miners, and others) shout? “Hooray?” No, they invariably chanted “Chi – Chi – Chi – le – le --le”! I couldnt believe my ears. What in the world did the nation-state whose borders happened to encircle the mine have to do with ANYTHING?
I chalked it up to these particular folks seeing an opportunity to celebrate their COUNTRY (they could have focused on any of a list of things) while the world’s media was briefly tuned to them (as it is so rarely in that, and many other, parts of the world.)
In other words, Americans seem (to some) to toot their horns more than others, but that’s partly because, as the source of much of the world’s media and as the biggest power these days in some ways, they simply have more opportunities to do so. In fact, by REFRAINING to do so (IMHO) more often than they COULD, they actually wind up subtley emphasizing the point – they don’t NEED to toot their horn, because it’s so obvious that they’re the best, etc. etc.
Anyway, others have pointed out they factual ways in which the US happens to be an outlier, or at least on a short list of outliers, for many variables, good or bad, at this point in history (but probably not for much longer!).
I’d like to mention two things:
A bigger question, to me, is why people everywhere, not just in the US, like to emphasize the “sovereign state” (i.e., “country”) as the geographic scale to which they show the most allegiance and to which they ascribe the most distinctive characteristics (I understand, pretty much, historically how this came to be, but I guess I just lament its overpowering presence), and
Related to #1: Whenever we talk about anyone claiming “exceptionalism”, it’s important to try to distinguish if they mean in the spirit of:
– “statistical facts, and (when those facts happen to be in favor of the place I live), how lucky I am to happen to have been born here (or found my way here) - something that shouldn’t be a matter of personal pride” – OR is it
– “God-given virtues to my country which I personally exemplify, and which I heartily deserve.”
Errm, no.
[/QUOTE]
Errm, yes. Well, at least in the case of some friends who moved to the US from South Africa. When asked the biggest difference between life in the two countries, he responded words to the effect of “in the US you do not have to live much of your life behind security gates and walls”.
People talk about Americans being flag-wavers, but in all my travels I never saw so many flags as when I was in Switzerland. There’s a Swiss flag from practically every window in that country.
Right. Because your friends’ experience is representative of life in all of South Africa.
:rolleyes:
Nowhere did I say it was all - quite the contrary. However, it was the norm (for white folk) where he lived (Durban). I know that Capetown is generally much safer, but have heard bad things about Johannesburg from other fleeing ex-residents and people who have visited.
Then why are you disagreeing with someone (MrDibble)–and I quote:
[QUOTE=amarone]
Errm, yes.
[/QUOTE]
–who is taking pains to point out that not all living areas of South Africa are riddled with crime?
elmwood stated unequivocally that in South Africa, one has to be “always on guard”.
MrDibble rightfully called bullshit on that.
You then disagreed with MrDibble (“Errm, yes”).
Now you’re saying that you were actually agreeing (“quite the contrary”) with MrDibble?
How does THAT work? 
MrDribble who is, by the way, a South African citizen.