Why are Americans so disliked worldwide?

Great Debates
241

Grendel69 said:
“I think its funny amid all this mud slinging that no one has mentioned that much of this sentiment could be created/antagonized by the foreign press.”

I happened to find a perfect example of this today, in The Mail on Sunday (a popular newspaper), which devoted the majority of two prime sports pages to American bashing. Here’s the opening paragraph of one article:

“As one of the finest track meetings in history moved to its rousing conclusion, the ugly Americans cast a shadow across the Friendly Games. Moments after becoming the fastest men on earth, the American sprint relay quartet offended their Sydney hosts and embarrassed members of their own team with a display of loutish arrogance in the Olympic Stadium.”

(For those who don’t know, these four athletes held up the medal ceremony by prancing around and showing off, making funny faces etc.)

One American, athlete Nanceen Perry, was quoted saying, “How do you expect people to respect our flag when we behave like this? It was disgraceful. Foreigners already think we’re the rudest nation on earth. This kind of thing just confirms the image the world has of us.”

Okay, granted, these athletes behaved childishly and were acting like high school class clowns. But did it really deserve a full-page spread, and comments like “ugly Americans”? I don’t think so. From what I’ve observed in my time spent living here, the media gleefully jump on any example of American ignorance, stupidity, and bad behaviour, and blow it out of proportion with lots of sweeping generalisations and stereotypes.

Although I’m an American living abroad and have read this thread from start to finish, I’ve kept my mouth shut until now. But reading this article has got me a bit worked up. (Although, I should add that I disagree with much of the Daily Mail’s politics in general.) I’m a quiet, modest, and introverted American who has been living in the UK for over two years now. I’m not at all like the loud-mouthed tourist stereotype. And yet I still get “teased” by acquaintances, lecturers, and in-laws with casual anti-American comments tossed my way. Why? I don’t think I deserve it. I certainly haven’t done anything offensive to them, except apparently being born where I was. After two years of shrugging off the anti-American sentiment, the comments are getting old and starting to upset me. They are piling up. I once forlornly expressed my feelings to my (British) husband, who tried to assure me that everybody is only teasing me and tossing these comments my way because they “like me.” If they didn’t “like me,” they wouldn’t feel comfortable teasing me. Okay, whatever. But for two years?! My husband and I are trying to decide which country to live in when I graduate. Should I factor into the decision that I might have to put up with these irritating and undeserved comments for the rest of my life? I dread to think of the abuse I might suffer if/when I start working here. At least as a student I’m pretty much anonymous except with the few people I come into direct contact with. My husband is treated like gold in the States. Wherever he goes people want to talk to him and tell him how much they love Scotland and hope to go there one day. My family and friends would never dream of making insulting British remarks to him – if they even know any (which I doubt). With me, once some people know I’m American, they seem to hold their breath, waiting for me to do something to provide them with the opportunity of slagging off Americans.

Is the US really “the rudest nation on earth”? I wonder.

(Btw, apart from some British people who make these comments some of the time, I love living here. I think it’s a great country and my husband is more eager to move to the States than I am.)

242

Jim Carrey isn’t American. As to being dumb in groups, I submit as Exhibit A: Europeans. When in groups, Europeans:

  • Have soccer riots
  • Start world wars
  • Are the most irritating people on earth

Walk into a fast food joint anywhere in Europe and look for the family that ISN’T fighting another family for a table, and those will be the Americans (or Canadians.)

243

Nimue, I really wouldn’t worry so much about it. Taking the piss out of foreigners is a British (and Irish) national pasttime. My German flatmate gets the same thing, as does a Canadian girl I know here - hell, they’ll even do it to people from other parts of their own country! It can get old, yes, but your husband’s right that most of the people who tease you are doing it in fun. Laugh it off or, even better, respond in kind - otherwise you’ll just come across as overly sensitive to something they intend as good-natured joking.

244

I truly find that much of the crap dished out to americans is aimed at tourists or athlete, two very non-representative groups of our country.

In Spain during the '96 Olympics the Spanish newspapers were just atrocious in the way they treated the american athletes. Every article was insinuating drug use or crass behavior.

Often this is deserved (e.g. the US hurdler (?) that was waving his competition on as he was about to cross the line in first.

But it really gets my blood boiling when the US boxers or baseball team are booed when they triumph in the face of great adversity.

As I said before, this stuff sells papers.

I think the trash mags and papers create a sentimate in many countries that is similar to how Americans view and talk about French. While many of our claims of French rudeness have a factual grounding, they are generally a little silly and often made in jest.

Of course this sentiment also has a more serious undercurrent in certain countries (certain parts of Spain and the Middle East come to mind).

245

ruadh, thanks, yes, I realise I am probably being a bit sensitive. Watching the Olympics has probably contributed to this, as for the first time I’m watching in a non-American context, and listening to the comentators’ views of Americans. An American in another thread suggested that the Olympics were getting a bit tired because the Americans didn’t have any particular rivals anymore that we had to make sure to beat (e.g. the Russians or Chinese), and I was thinking that watching the games from this perspective, it seems as though some of the other countries see the Americans as the rivals, simply because they’re American. I could be wrong. But whenever I watched an event in which an American was playing against someone from any other nationality (not GB, which would be fine), the comentators seemed to be rooting for the other side to win. Not a huge deal, I know, but a little annoying nonetheless, and it contributed to my overall impression of the Olympics and Americans from the British view.

Anyway, the anti-American comments I’ve had are not unrelenting, but over time they build up and as I said, it gets old and harder to shrug off. I’ve known exchange students from a variety of cultures at this university, and of all of them the only non-American who experienced these little remarks was Canadian – and that was because she was constantly mistaken to be an American (which really got on her nerves; she blew up in a tutorial one day)! [Btw, I realise that anyone who is mistaken for being of another nationality would be irritated, but I don’t think she would have been quite so angry if she had been mistaken for anything other than American.]

Also, it’s difficult for me to respond in kind as it’s not my nature (except on a particularly witty day), and the only rude thing I can think to say to the Scots is, IMHO, far too insulting (basically about submitting to the English where the Americans haven’t) and I’d never be forgiven!! :slight_smile:

My saving grace is that after having lived here a while, the prosodic features of my dialect have been slightly altered such that, in short exchanges, I’m mistaken for being Australian. When this happens, I’m treated very well!

Anyway, I do love living in this country and I shall miss it if we move to the States. I would just like the Brits to pick on someone else for a change. :slight_smile:

246

Actually that’s exactly how I usually get back to Scottish and Irish folks who tease me for being American. And I haven’t been punched out for it yet :slight_smile:

Besides how can you live in Aberdeen and not think of any jokes to make about the locals (a certain species of small woolly mammal comes to mind)

247

Oh, ruadh, you have more guts than I!! I don’t think I could ever be so bold as to suggest that the Scots bend over and take it from the English. (Even though it would make a funny comeback – funny to me anyway!) :slight_smile:

As for the local Aberdonians, I don’t actually know any personally – my husband comes from up North and most of the people at uni are from elsewhere in the UK or the world. I don’t think I could get to know one if I tried; Aberdonians are completely incomprehensible!

248

Having been to fast food joints in five major European countries, I can honestly say I have no idea what you’re talking about. But I will admit that the concept of “standing orderly in line” was one completely ignored in said restaurants in a few of those countries.

249

I’m an American and I lived in Strasbourg, France for a year. I met plenty of fellow foreigners there, and I have to say that the Americans and the Canadians are probably the biggest pains in the ass among tourists.

I recall an American tourist coming up to me and asking for directions once in plain English, making no attempt at French. I answered in English, of course, figuring my Midwestern accent must be plain enough to give away that I’m not French. But after I gave directions in careful, native, American English, the woman speaks to me loudly and slowly, “THANK… YOU… VERY… MUCH!” I almost told her that I was an American after that, but I somehow suspect she still wouldn’t have figured it out after that.

The real crown of horrible American tourists I met was an American in Prague. He was a student studying abroad in England and was on break, sweeping across Europe. He told me he hated France because while he was there, they wouldn’t speak English. “Wouldn’t speak English?” I asked him. “You were in France—why would they speak English?” “They should speak English because it’s the international language,” he told me, tearing into the “arrogance” of the French who somehow refuse to join the world as evidenced by their insistance on conducting their daily affairs in their own language. This guy spoke no other language and actually felt that he didn’t have to, no matter where he went, since everyone apparently has a duty to learn English, the lingua franca of the world. I was disgusted. Luckily, I wasn’t with any foreigners at the time, else I would have been thoroughly embarrassed. I’d run into this thickheaded argument before, but only in the States. This was my first experience with it while in Europe. Not my last there, but certainly the most profound.

Confrontationality varies from person to person. I met plenty of Canadians spoiling for a fight, eager to tell me that I know nothing about their country the minute I would admit that I’m American. Most Canadians, in my experience, are as ignorant of the world around them and their neighboring country as most Americans are ignorant about the world around them and their neighboring countries. Initially I enjoyed discovering that I knew more about Canada than many of these populists, but even that grew tiresome after a while and I just tried to avoid Canadians on general principle.

I encountered all kinds of arrogance from other types of tourists, as well. On the whole, the French were decent hosts to their tourists, I found, and if you stick to the places where lots of tourists come through, you can get by with English only, if you want. The French I meet outside of France are more often than not polite and unoffensive, and seldom expect all the comforts and customs of home while away from home. Dutch, Germans, Scandinavians and others I met in large numbers were also typically polite, and were prepared to accept that spending time in another country means you can’t have things like you get them at home, and that you might not be able to use your native language at all times, either. North Americans, perhaps because they’re surrounded by thousands of square miles of relatively homogenous culture, aren’t used to things being so very different, which is where so many misunderstandings and perceived rudenesses spring up. Dammit, if you’re a guest in someone else’s house, there’s a certain amount of deference that must be observed. The same applies to foreign countries—even invading armies often follow that rule. The least we tourists could do is to extend a little bit of the same.

250

Unfortunately, nothing constructive to add to the OP but….

I was once surprised to be told in a mid-west diner by a young waitress who had been hovering around for a while that “You speak very good English. WHAT…IS…YOUR…COUNTRY ?”. I believe it’s true that I can occasionally appear semi-detached but that observation troubled me.

And being a young, country boy back then, I couldn’t spot a ‘come on’ if it hit me between the eyes. If only I had my time again …I’d gladly scramble her eggs.

251

:eek: They wanted to import the stuff? [What were they smoking?] I’m sorry, but I would prefer the meat, etc. that Iceland has over the American imports they wanted.

“God” shouldn’t bless America. “God” shouldn’t bless any country. Let every country be equally unblessed by whatever higher power they believed ruled it.

Yes, some Americans are horrible and have disgusting manners. I know, I used to work in Kmart, and the rude people seem to gravitate towards there. I myself make every effort to try to be polite to people, and have never been told I was rude and coarse in the manner of the “typical American.” But, I have been told I was stupid because the educational system didn’t teach me to speak a foreign language well yet. [This was when I was 12. Give me a break, I can’t control the way I am being taught.]

252

A thought after watching the Olympics: the posturing of the mens’ 4x100m winning team didn’t exactly help the rest of the world’s perception of the US as regards humility.

regards

pan

253

I’m loud. I can’t help it. People here in America tell me to shut up. But, I didn’t find much hostility in europe except in France. I did have a little bit of a problem because I kept tipping the waiters and apparently they didn’t appreciate that. I looked in the tourist guides and couldn’t find any info on tipping. (Message to Spiny Norman and the rest of you non-americans, and for the surprising number of amaericans who don’t know how to tip: In America, you should tip at least 15% for service unless it is exceptionally bad. 18-20% for decent service. More for excellent service. — While I’m at it, the only other thing I can think of that europeans do that bothers me is infrequent bathing.)

I’m going to start a new thread asking about tipping customs around the world.

254

But most of my fellow costaricans don’t. Actually that is a commonly shared perception throughout Central America and possibly the rest of Latin America.

Why? Maybe because:

Nobody roots for the one on top.

Envy, although no one actually admits it.

They think that the US tries to control everything.

They believe Americans are stock up. Example: the fact that you call yourselves Americans bothers people here, since America encompasses the whole continent and not just the States.

Of course they are wrong!

I have been to the States several times and you guys are really nice people. Yours is a beautiful country and the fact that your products and culture are so widespread worldwide only means that people unconsciously identify themselves with you, whether they like to admit it or not. Otherwise they wouldn’t be wearing Nikes and tuning in to major league baseball and the NBA–they don’t like the NFL here, preferring soccer instead. Am I the only sane person here? The NFL rocks.

I always tell people that you calling yourselves Americans is not an explicit intent to diminish the rest of this continent’s inhabitants. It is just a result of culturally being exposed to such a term since early childhood. Besides, the same people that formulate that critique upon your character refer to you as Americans. Go figure…

Also, people say that you are such an important piece of the world’s dynamics because of your vast territory. Well, size does matter–am I right, Roland Emmerich? But more important is the fact that it took the US a little more than a century to make the transition from British colony to a global power, and a little more to finalize its metamorphosis into the leading nation of the world.

Territory and a sizeable population can not do that by itself. Sweat, effort, motivation and intelligence are required. Just look at Africa for an easy rebuttal of their argument. Unfortunately people don’t seem to be ideologically willing to accept well-structured arguments, they always come up with lame excuses to justify their envy-driven perceptions.

Boy, am I sucking up to American dopers or what? :smiley:

Anyhow, the Costaricans who have actually met Americans or gone to your country feel more along the lines that I do. They show respect and admiration, which only goes to prove my initial supposition: envy, discomfort and overall lack of knowledge are the grounds for disliking Americans in this latitudes and probably everywhere else where does feelings are shared. Of course, they are wrong in their assessments and, once objectivity sets in, their erroneous perceptions tend to vanish.

Closing statements–yesterday’s debate syndrome kicking in.

Well, if you haven’t figured it out so far, let me tell you, I’m an American at heart. I consider myself to be geographically-challenged, you know, having being born in the wrong coordinates, outside of US territory…

Hey, don’t you guys want to annex Costa Rica and make it the 51st state. :smiley:
We have beautiful beaches here, great ecological diversity, political stability and, of course, good-looking women, as many Americans tourists could attest.

255

where THOSE feelings are shared.