# What culture is the most blunt/rude/selfish? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054 "2013-08-12T17:43:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/41 "2013-08-13T05:26:45Z")
I’m wonderin’? How is this not in the pit? How does this thread exist at all? This could be misunderestamated as some serious racist shit! Also, the question was answered upthread already. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/42 "2013-08-13T05:59:53Z")
There’s also the white pride culture, but I’m basing that solely on [Stormfront.org](http://Stormfront.org) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/43 "2013-08-13T06:43:24Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Ever had a sales lady in a dept store say to your face just before turning round: “I’m busy!” Yeah. In Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/44 "2013-08-13T08:30:08Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I don’t know about selfish but Israelis are well-known for being blunt and/or rude. > > [Getting behind Israeli 'frankness' - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22089936) That’s not wrong. In our defense, we find that bluntness is \*conductive \*to cooperation and selflessness. Ignoring niceties, speaking your mind, not deferring to people and occasionally shouting is how you get shit done. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/45 "2013-08-13T08:37:21Z")
^ Which reminds me, military culture is what’s being described in the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/46 "2013-08-13T10:13:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > In our defense, we find that bluntness is \*conductive \*to cooperation and selflessness. Ignoring niceties, speaking your mind, not deferring to people and occasionally shouting is how you get shit done. Yep. As much as a loathe constant appeals to cultural relativism, it does seem relevant here. Here in China many things that people say and do seem rude to me as a Westerner. But in many cases, that’s not how the locals seem to see it, and people don’t feel slighted by these things. So there is no intent of causing offense or annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/47 "2013-08-13T11:57:24Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > All of them were English groups BTW and on each occasion it involved the act of pushing in, en-masse (large groups each time) into well established queues and kicking up an enormous, nay, cataclysmic fuss when they were called out on it. Once in Salzburg, once in London and once in Paris. There seemed to be a degree of entitlement at work on each occasion that I found particularly annoying. > > So, by that anecdotal evidence I’d have to say “english” but a specific subset and a specific behaviour of that specific subset. You don’t know much about English people if you think bad queuing is at all representative. I know you said subsets, but still… > [@WhyNot](#): > > I have the most trouble with Chinese immigrants to America. (Sorry, I know China’s a huge place and probably has many cultures, but that’s as much as I can narrow it down.) > > “Why you so fat?” > “You have husband? You too old not have husband. No one like marry old ladies.” > “Why you not have more kids?” > “That shirt ugly. Can I have it?” Anyone else reading this in the voices of Leo and Inez Wong? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/48 "2013-08-13T12:04:29Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > You don’t know much about English people if you think bad queuing is at all representative. Heck, the English are the world champions of queuing. Author George Mikes remarked that “an Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/49 "2013-08-13T12:08:49Z")
Southern Culture On The Skids. Kinda by definition. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/50 "2013-08-13T12:32:24Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Separate out rude cultures from those that speak a second language rudely. That’s without getting into asking questions that are normal in say China but considered rude in the US (“why aren’t you married yet?”) > [@Bozuit](#): > > Anyone else reading this in the voices of Leo and Inez Wong? I had a lot of trouble deciding whether to post it that way or not. It looks so horribly racist, and yet at the same time it’s an actual transcript of a “conversation” I had with a woman while I was trying to be her mom’s nurse. I do think that part of my difficulty with that sort of situation is the broken English - it makes already blunt statements feel even blunter to do away with verbs and articles. And so that’s why I decided to leave it in “racist speak” - because that’s part of why it feels “the most blunt/rude/selfish”. I totally grok that what she said and how she said it is acceptable in their culture, and that if I was meeting them in their social setting, I would be rude because I’d appear uninterested in them and their lives, or something. She _wasn’t_ being rude by their cultural norms; she’s certainly not the only one of her countrywomen to speak to me in such a way. That’s exactly why their \*culture \*feels rude to me, not just that particular lady. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/51 "2013-08-13T12:45:03Z")
She was rude to you, I think, because her society is largely deferential to elders - which means that people feel they can get away with saying anything to their juniors. In a way, just as an armed society is supposedly a polite society, a rude society can also be a polite society, if the rudeness is egalitarian enough. Where I come from, people mostly know not to talk that way to those younger than them, because the kids will give as good as they get. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/52 "2013-08-13T13:25:39Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Egyptians (or at least, that subset of Cairenes who ride the metro) seemed to me to have absolutely no concept of forming a line. Their concept of “No, you first” is as developed as the average four-year-old’s is. Getting a ticket to ride the metro involves putting your money in one hand, shoving that hand into a mass of people, gradually moving closer to the hole in the window where the person behind the glass is trading money for tickets, and waiting until your hand is the one he takes money out of, then hoping he puts the right number of tickets back in your hand. Indians can be like that, too. And it’s worse if you’re a woman. Expect to get groped a little while you are in that line. There’s a reason my cousins never let me do the buying if it was crowded. But far worse are the grannies, who will step on your foot and elbow you and act all frail when you look at them, and then shove past you and grab the last mango. I’ve had some problems with Chinese immigrants too. My SO is of Chinese ancestry. His parents and family are very modern, but some of their extended friends are really rude and blunt. **Alessan** actually makes a good point about the age thing; that happens in Indian culture too. You can tell anyone younger than you that they are so fat but not your elders. (But it’s perfectly acceptable to shove Grandpa in a corner with a bowl of rice gruel.) Southerners in the States - they are just the nicest, nicest people, when you are just visiting. I mean, sweet as pie! Then you move in, and you realize…well. I don’t want to start _that_ kerfluffle! ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/53 "2013-08-13T13:27:17Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I don’t know why; they may be self-effacing in general, but if you’re in the least bit overweight they’ll repeatedly point it out. That sounds like my white-bread parents. 😃 > [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Just as “Bless your soul” is code for “Go to hell,” excess politeness can also be a tool to express anger or displeasure without the overt appearance of such. Sounds a bit like [Minnesota nice.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_nice) > [@](#): > > Japanese society itself is a study in factions and rival groups. Governments, corporations, small companies, social groups and schools are filled with rival groups and constant power struggles. > > On a basic human level, humans are creatures of both conflict and friendship. A paradox of good and bad. While it shows and extreme, watch the baptism scene from Godfather, and edit it into two entirely different movies. > > I’m not comparing Japanese society as a whole to the mafia, but rather look pointing out that a simplistic view does not stand up to careful scrutiny. Stereotypes are of course an extreme simplification at best. But they aren’t always wrong. To take one example, the stereotype of cooperation and community-mindedness is supported by the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami, in which large amounts of cash (the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars) were found by individuals and turned over to the authorities in an attempt to get it back to its rightful owners. Contrast this with incidents in the US in which armored trucks have accidentally spewed cash all over the road, with only a tiny fraction being returned - despite the obvious identity of the rightful owner. Suppose a similar disaster befell some other nation/culture, with vast quantities of personal wealth strewn about the landscape. How would local civilians respond? Would we expect to see a major effort to return such wealth, or would “finders, keepers” be the rule of the day? ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/54 "2013-08-13T13:51:04Z")
Honestly, though, with a lot of Chinese/Korean people, it’s not just that they’re used to asking questions that Westerners would consider rude - it’s that they are aware that Westerners think it’s rude and ask them anyway, because honey badger don’t care. I have to say, though, that customer service on KAL and Asiana airplanes is far nicer than any Western airline I’ve been on. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/55 "2013-08-13T13:57:50Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Expect to get groped a little while you are in that line. Oh, a dude on the metro tried to cop a feel of my then-wife once. She’d memorized some Arabic phrase that’s supposed to shut those guys down, and when I made her aware of what was about to happen\*, she whipped around and spat it at him like a curse. He slithered away like he’d been caught farting in the mosque. \*It was actually quite comical how his little ass-grabbing claw sloooooooooowly crept toward her bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/56 "2013-08-13T14:45:59Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > A bit too late for another edit to my previous post: Basically, if you visit Scandinavia and people seem cold and aloof, they are actually just trying to be nice to you, by leaving you alone. Hey I’m Scandinavian! Who knew! Ok, mongrel of miscellaneaous Euro descent for several centuries, but what I’m hearing here makes the place sound heavenly…or Valhallaly I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![aesop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aesop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aesop)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/57 "2013-08-13T19:39:19Z")
> [@SirGalahad](#): > > Everyone, I think, except maybe the Gypsies; they tended to be kind of rude. I have seen many Roma people in Hungary and Romania. By default they are loud, aggressive and indifferent to those who disapprove. Are they rude? Relative to the locals, absolutely. Relative to themselves - probably not. That’s just their norm. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/58 "2013-08-13T19:41:14Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > You don’t know much about English people if you think bad queuing is at all representative. I know you said subsets, but still… Hang on, I may not have been clear in my original post but I _am_ English, which may well explain my astonishment at these (other english) group’s behaviour and my own dislike of queue etiquette-infringement. The logic of my argument took me to a strange place which I choose to believe is specific to this little cultural offshoot of (probably) Hassidic Jews. **Green Bean** would that behaviour be a specific cultural trait for them or have I just been very unlucky? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/59 "2013-08-13T20:31:40Z")
Yep, some common themes are emerging. I’ll agree that Chinese and Koreans are the most blunt. As for rudeness, I have to go with Israelis. I used to work in a youth hostel that had guests from all over the world, and the Israelis stood out, unfortunately. I’ll give an honorary mention for rudeness to Canadians. They’re not _the_ rudest, but they have the starkest gap between stereotype/self-perception and reality in this regard. A Canadian will spit in your face then tell you how polite he is. And to inject some positivity into this thread, New Zealanders are the nicest. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054/60 "2013-08-13T20:54:16Z")
> [@aesop](#): > > I have seen many Roma people in Hungary and Romania. By default they are loud, aggressive and indifferent to those who disapprove. Are they rude? Relative to the locals, absolutely. Relative to themselves - probably not. That’s just their norm. This is interesting … why relate cultural quirks to the very same quirky culture? There have been landmark violent cultures, but what use is it to say “the Spartans or the Huns seem violent, but within their violent culture, it’s the norm”? Duh, they’re violent, or rude or arrogant (the French). Who cares if “that’s just their culture”? And when they are tourists, if they are rude, or in the case of the Huns, rape and pillage during holiday, is that just their “norm”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-culture-is-the-most-blunt-rude-selfish/666054.md?page=4)