1. Few People Are Impressed By Us
Unless you?re speaking with a real estate agent or a prostitute, chances are they?re not going to be excited that you?re American. It?s not some badge of honor we get to parade around. Yes, we had Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison, but unless you actually are Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison (which is unlikely) then most people around the world are simply not going to care. There are exceptions of course. And those exceptions are called English and Australian people. Whoopdie-fucking-doo.
As Americans, we?re brought up our entire lives being taught that we?re the best, we did everything first and that the rest of the world follows our lead. Not only is this not true, but people get irritated when you bring it to their country with you. So don?t.
Uh not really. I've grown up and seen some people act like we're the best but I could tell baseless exaggeration from reality. I have to say, I didn't even consider that someone might think someone would be excited to see an American. From my experience people tend to be a bit more reasonable than this stereotype.
2. Few People Hate Us
Despite the occasional eye-rolling, and complete inability to understand why anyone would vote for George W. Bush, people from other countries don?t hate us either. In fact ? and I know this is a really sobering realization for us ? most people in the world don?t really think about us or care about us. I know, that sounds absurd, especially with CNN and Fox News showing the same 20 angry Arab men on repeat for ten years straight. But unless we?re invading someone?s country or threatening to invade someone?s country (which is likely), then there?s a 99.99% chance they don?t care about us. Just like we rarely think about the people in Bolivia or Mongolia, most people don?t think about us much. They have jobs, kids, house payments ? you know, those things called lives ? to worry about. Kind of like us.
Americans tend to assume that the rest of the world either loves us or hates us (this is actually a good litmus test to tell if someone is conservative or liberal). The fact is, most people feel neither. Most people don?t think much about us.
Remember that immature girl in high school, who every little thing that happened to her meant that someone either hated her or was obsessed with her; who thought every teacher who ever gave her a bad grade was being totally unfair and everything good that happened to her was because of how amazing she was? Yeah, we?re that immature high school girl.
Sobering? Not really because I don't expect them to care anymore than I care about them. Unless we're directly affecting them they won't have much reason to care. But from what I've seen even if people don't hate us a fair few do hold is in contempt if we're brought up. I don't say they actively hate or despise us or hold us in contempt, but if you ask some people certainly do hold us in contempt. There's obvious examples on this forum -__-
3. We Know Nothing About The Rest Of The World
For all of our talk about being global leaders and how everyone follows us, we don?t seem to know much about our supposed ?followers.? Here were some brain-stumpers for me: the Vietnamese believe the Vietnam War was about China (not us), Hitler was primarily defeated by Russia (not us), Native Americans were wiped out by a plague (not us), and the American Revolution was ?won? because the British cared more about beating France (not us). Notice a running theme here?
(Hint: It?s not all about us.)
We did not invent democracy. We didn?t even invent modern democracy. There were parliamentary systems in England and other parts of Europe over a hundred years before we created government. In a recent survey of young Americans, 63% could not find Iraq on a map (despite being at war with them), and 54% did not know Sudan was a country in Africa. Yet, somehow we?re positive that everyone else looks up to us.
Okay so...? That fails to prove that we know nothing about the rest of the world. Okay the have different perspectives on certain events in history. That is supposed to prove ignorance? Yeah, not really.
And no duh we didn't invent democracy and so on. And no, I doubt we're positive everyone looks up to us. Stupid generalization is stupid -__-
4. We Are Poor At Expressing Gratitude And Affection
There?s a saying about English-speakers. We say ?Go fuck yourself,? when we really mean ?I like you,? and we say ?I like you,? when we really mean ?Go fuck yourself.?
Outside of getting shit-housed drunk and screaming ?I LOVE YOU, MAN!?, open displays of affection in American culture are tepid and rare. Latin and some European cultures describe us as ?cold? and ?passionless? and for good reason. In our social lives we don?t say what we mean and we don?t mean what we say.
In our culture, appreciation and affection are implied rather than spoken outright. Two guy friends call each other names to reinforce their friendship; men and women tease and make fun of each other to imply interest. Feelings are almost never shared openly and freely. Consumer culture has cheapened our language of gratitude. Something like, ?It?s so good to see you? is empty now because it?s expected and heard from everybody.
In dating, when I find a woman attractive, I almost always walk right up to her and tell her that a) I wanted to meet her, and b) she?s beautiful. In America, women usually get incredibly nervous and confused when I do this. They?ll make jokes to defuse the situation or sometimes ask me if I?m part of a TV show or something playing a prank. Even when they?re interested and go on dates with me, they get a bit disoriented when I?m so blunt with my interest. Whereas, in almost every other culture approaching women this way is met with a confident smile and a ?Thank you.?
Saying it outright is not magically better. Cultural differences in communication. They don't mean that one culture is worse at it. If someone calls me cold and passionless for not getting the cultural difference in communication I should call them stupid and unobservant for not noticing the cues.
And consumer culture is what is claimed to have done this? With no proof I'll chalk it up to the author merely throwing out a standard silly rant about how things are going downhill when they're not. It's merely being polite to give a nice greeting. Bluntness is hardly automatically better.
And why shouldn't they get nervous and confused when you(whoever the author is) act in a manner that is not seen the same culturally here as in other places? Just because they react differently in other cultures does not mean that Americans are deficient here, it means that there's a cultural difference that is not necessarily better or worse. If people are not appreciative of your bluntness maybe instead of expecting them to say thank you, you ought to be more polite and not make them feel uncomfortable? Why are they at fault instead of you for not communicating your feelings in a more culturally acceptable way? But apparently being considerate is one thing that the author has chosen to not pick up in his travels. Nope, they have to change to his preferences if he's interested in them.
5. The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great
If you?re extremely talented or intelligent, the US is probably the best place in the world to live. The system is stacked heavily to allow people of talent and advantage to rise to the top quickly.
The problem with the US is that everyone thinks they are of talent and advantage. As John Steinbeck famously said, the problem with poor Americans is that ?they don?t believe they?re poor, but rather temporarily embarrassed millionaires.? It?s this culture of self-delusion that allows America to continue to innovate and churn out new industry more than anyone else in the world. But this shared delusion also unfortunately keeps perpetuating large social inequalities and the quality of life for the average citizen lower than most other developed countries. It?s the price we pay to maintain our growth and economic dominance.
In my Guide to Wealth, I defined being wealthy as, ?Having the freedom to maximize one?s life experiences.? In those terms, despite the average American having more material wealth than citizens of most other countries (more cars, bigger houses, nicer televisions), their overall quality of life suffers in my opinion. American people on average work more hours with less vacation, spend more time commuting every day, and are saddled with over $10,000 of debt. That?s a lot of time spent working and buying crap and little time or disposable income for relationships, activities or new experiences.
Seems reasonable, at least in the first part. But saying the quality of life is lower without better analysis is laziness.
6. The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us
In 2010, I got into a taxi in Bangkok to take me to a new six-story cineplex. It was accessible by metro, but I chose a taxi instead. On the seat in front of me was a sign with a wifi password. Wait, what? I asked the driver if he had wifi in his taxi. He flashed a huge smile. The squat Thai man, with his pidgin English, explained that he had installed it himself. He then turned on his new sound system and disco lights. His taxi instantly became a cheesy nightclub on wheels? with free wifi.
If there?s one constant in my travels over the past three years, it has been that almost every place I?ve visited (especially in Asia and South America) is much nicer and safer than I expected it to be. Singapore is pristine. Hong Kong makes Manhattan look like a suburb. My neighborhood in Colombia is nicer than the one I lived in in Boston (and cheaper).
As Americans, we have this naïve assumption that people all over the world are struggling and way behind us. They?re not. Sweden and South Korea have more advanced high speed internet networks. Japan has the most advanced trains and transportation systems. Norwegians make more money. The biggest and most advanced plane in the world is flown out of Singapore. The tallest buildings in the world are now in Dubai and Shanghai. Meanwhile, the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
What?s so surprising about the world is how unsurprising most of it is. I spent a week with some local guys in Cambodia. You know what their biggest concerns were? Paying for school, getting to work on time, and what their friends were saying about them. In Brazil, people have debt problems, hate getting stuck in traffic and complain about their overbearing mothers. Every country thinks they have the worst drivers. Every country thinks their weather is unpredictable. The world becomes, err? predictable.
Except I have no such assumption. I know there are plenty of places that have great modern technology. But really, pointing out the US's incarceration rate without even bothering to try and compare the other negatives of other places? Oh let's not talk about Singapore and the death penalty while complaining about the US and how it deals with crime. Just for a fair perspective and all.
7. We?re Paranoid
Not only are we emotionally insecure as a culture, but I?ve come to realize how paranoid we are about our physical security. You don?t have to watch Fox News or CNN for more than 10 minutes to hear about how our drinking water is going to kill us, our neighbor is going to rape our children, some terrorist in Yemen is going to kill us because we didn?t torture him, Mexicans are going to kill us, or some virus from a bird is going to kill us. There?s a reason we have more guns than people.
In the US, security trumps everything, even liberty. We?re paranoid.
I?ve probably been to 10 countries now that friends and family back home told me explicitly not to go because someone was going to kill me, kidnap me, stab me, rob me, rape me, sell me into sex trade, give me HIV, or whatever else. None of that has happened. I?ve never been robbed and I?ve walked through some of the shittiest parts of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
In fact, the experience has been the opposite. In countries like Russia, Colombia or Guatemala, people were so friendly it actually scared me. Some stranger in a bar would invite me to his house for a bar-b-que with his family, a random person on the street would offer to show me around and give me directions to a store I was trying to find. My American instincts were always that, ?Wait, this guy is going to try to rob me or kill me,? but they never did. They were just insanely friendly.
Not particularly. Oooh the news is alarmist! Stop the presses! The author's friends and family sound alarmist. But hey that clearly means that the US in general is.
8. We?re Status-Obsessed And Seek Attention
I?ve noticed that the way we Americans communicate is usually designed to create a lot of attention and hype. Again, I think this is a product of our consumer culture: the belief that something isn?t worthwhile or important unless it?s perceived to be the best (BEST EVER!!!) or unless it gets a lot of attention (see: every reality-television show ever made).
Or that's just a silly claim.
This is why Americans have a peculiar habit of thinking everything is ?totally awesome,? and even the most mundane activities were ?the best thing ever!? It?s the unconscious drive we share for importance and significance, this unmentioned belief, socially beaten into us since birth that if we?re not the best at something, then we don?t matter.
And with your degree in psychology you determined our unconscious drives! Right.
We?re status-obsessed. Our culture is built around achievement, production and being exceptional. Therefore comparing ourselves and attempting to out-do one another has infiltrated our social relationships as well. Who can slam the most beers first? Who can get reservations at the best restaurant? Who knows the promoter to the club? Who dated a girl on the cheerleading squad? Socializing becomes objectified and turned into a competition. And if you?re not winning, the implication is that you are not important and no one will like you.
Yes, we do care about status. This does not make it an obsession, though for some people it clearly is. And acting as if it is Americans in general who do this based on... jack shit... is a poor argument.
9. We Are Very Unhealthy
Unless you have cancer or something equally dire, the health care system in the US sucks. The World Health Organization ranked the US 37th in the world for health care, despite the fact that we spend the most per capita by a large margin.
The hospitals are nicer in Asia (with European-educated doctors and nurses) and cost a tenth as much. Something as routine as a vaccination costs multiple hundreds of dollars in the US and less than $10 in Colombia. And before you make fun of Colombian hospitals, Colombia is 28th in the world on that WHO list, nine spots higher than us.
A routine STD test that can run you over $200 in the US is free in many countries to anyone, citizen or not. My health insurance the past year? $65 a month. Why? Because I live outside of the US. An American guy I met living in Buenos Aires got knee surgery on his ACL that would have cost $10,000 in the US? for free.
But this isn?t really getting into the real problems of our health. Our food is killing us. I?m not going to go crazy with the details, but we eat chemically-laced crap because it?s cheaper and tastes better (profit, profit). Our portion sizes are absurd (more profit). And we?re by far the most prescribed nation in the world AND our drugs cost five to ten times more than they do even in Canada (ohhhhhhh, profit, you sexy *****).
In terms of life expectancy, despite being the richest country in the world, we come in a paltry 38th. Right behind Cuba, Malta and the United Arab Emirates, and slightly ahead of Slovenia, Kuwait and Uruguay. Enjoy your Big Mac.
Oh look your American paranoia is coming out now. The chemicals out to get us?
But anyway, Americans know this problem with food.
10. We Mistake Comfort For Happiness
The United States is a country built on the exaltation of economic growth and personal ingenuity. Small businesses and constant growth are celebrated and supported above all else ? above affordable health care, above respectable education, above everything. Americans believe it?s your responsibility to take care of yourself and make something of yourself, not the state?s, not your community?s, not even your friend?s or family?s in some instances.
Comfort sells easier than happiness. Comfort is easy. It requires no effort and no work. Happiness takes effort. It requires being proactive, confronting fears, facing difficult situations, and having unpleasant conversations.
Treating them as separate is stupid, comfort aids in being happy. And no, happiness doesn't necessarily require those. Reality's not a story where the best things come only if you work for them, sometimes happiness is easier for some than others with much less work.
Comfort equals sales. We?ve been sold comfort for generations and for generations we bought: bigger houses, separated further and further out into the suburbs; bigger TV?s, more movies, and take-out. The American public is becoming docile and complacent. We?re obese and entitled. When we travel, we look for giant hotels that will insulate us and pamper us rather than for legitimate cultural experiences that may challenge our perspectives or help us grow as individuals.
So just silly complaining about moral or social decay or something. Usually just tripe and no support was given to make this seem any different.
And legitimate cultural experiences that may challenge our perspective or help us grow as individuals? Clearly people are in social decline if they do not desire the same things as the author! His preferences are best, no doubt. His
status is certainly above all the other lowly Americans, which is why he had to start out by distancing himself. It's not the best so he's got to avoid being associated with it ;D
Depression and anxiety disorders are soaring within the US. Our inability to confront anything unpleasant around us has not only created a national sense of entitlement, but it?s disconnected us from what actually drives happiness: relationships, unique experiences, feeling self-validated, achieving personal goals. It?s easier to watch a NASCAR race on television and tweet about it than to actually get out and try something new with a friend.
Mhm, and I'm sure the author is totally qualified to be diagnosing America's depressions like this -__-
Unfortunately, a by-product of our massive commercial success is that we?re able to avoid the necessary emotional struggles of life in lieu of easy superficial pleasures.
Necessary? Bah. Not necessarily.
Throughout history, every dominant civilization eventually collapsed because it became TOO successful.
...
That's an outright contradiction. They fell because they made mistakes etc. They didn't die out of success, if they were successful they wouldn't have collapsed.
What made it powerful and unique grows out of proportion and consumes its society. I think this is true for American society. We?re complacent, entitled and unhealthy. My generation is the first generation of Americans who will be worse off than their parents, economically, physically and emotionally. And this is not due to a lack of resources, to a lack of education or to a lack of ingenuity. It?s corruption and complacency. The corruption from the massive industries that control our government?s policies, and the fat complacency of the people to sit around and let it happen.
So standard blather about how things get ever worse.
There are things I love about my country. I don?t hate the US and I still return to it a few times a year. But I think the greatest flaw of American culture is our blind self-absorption. In the past it only hurt other countries. But now it?s starting to hurt ourselves.
Based on a definitely unbiased assessment... or not.
So this is my lecture to my alcoholic brother ? my own flavor of arrogance and self-absorption, even if slightly more informed ? in hopes he?ll give up his wayward ways. I imagine it?ll fall on deaf ears, but it?s the most I can do for now. Now if you?ll excuse me, I have some funny cat pictures to look at.
Stereotypes and generalizations are not particularly informed. The arrogance and self-absorption levels go through the roof though.
