why do americans "dislike" europeans?

MrBirdy

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Sep 10, 2008
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TheRocketeer said:
I wasn't aware that we didn't like Europeans.

I mean, the French are unpopular, but I got the impression they were unpopular everywhere else, too.

Otherwise, I know most Americans are fond of the Dutch, the Italians, the British countries, and Northern Europeans.

Other than that, there isn't really a frame of reference for the Germans, Slavs, Russians, and Baltic nations aside from being the bad guys in various wars, so they have sort of a stigma to them.

I don't think there's any actual wide opinion on Spain or Portugal, other than ignorantly equating them with Mexico, and we hate Mexico.
You seem to know the dutch, but It's well known that about 80% of the american people do not know whom founded their most famous city: "New York" (New Amsterdam). That and as been said before, the American public schools have a way lower level then the european ones. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that americans detest anything socialist, because it is just a stepping stone to communism in their eyes and thus don't want to pay taxes for good education?

This post is not aimed towards you though my friend, I'm happy you at least know our little soon to be flooded mud pool ^^
 

Doc Incognito

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Nov 17, 2009
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I don't "dislike" Europeans in any way. In fact, you can remove those quotation marks. I dislike people based on their character: their country of origin has nothing to do with it. It is only ignorant Americans that flat-out dislike Europeans.

Wow, that was a lot of "dislike"s
 

Skratt

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Humanity just can't seem to shake using stereotypes. It's effortless, convenient and totally unfair, yet every time you think you've got it removed from your vernacular, the internet shows you somebody who has a new way to fit into an old stereotype (Thank you Google images!) so it never really dies.
 

orangeban

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kiwi_poo" post="18.190332.5927571 said:
I was wondering why Americans (not all of them) say Europeans are ugly and never wash.

I know about the stereotype of British having bad teeth comes from the fact the British don't mind slightly off-white/crooked teeth but Americans mind it more. The British actually have very good teeth.
 

BryceN

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I've met one European (from England) as a foreign exchange student who did nothing but tell everyone he met how inferior America and Americans were. I've also met many decent Europeans who were civil, witty, and a general pleasure to be around. So I don't "dislike Europeans" because I choose not to base my opinion of the people of an entire continent on one jerk. I would hope a person from another country wouldn't judge all of America based on the rotten apples they've met.
 

TurboPanda

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Apr 19, 2010
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everybody hates their next door neighbour

I live in Britain and the English and the Scottish don't like each other. However together the British don't like the French. However Europeans don't like the Americans. Although both America and Europe don't like the middle east.

Unfortunately the only time humanity will ever put aside its differences and unite is if we discover aliens.
 

Jewely2951

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As an American I can say I have never heard anyone say Europeans are ugly and don't wash. And no we are not Europeans! Europe an entirely different continent, but thanks for playing. Those of us with Europeans Ancestors are not European (We live in North America, also known as not Europe. :p) and many Americans do not have European Ancestors. And once again I?ve never heard any of us say that legal immigrants should go back to where they came from.
You opinion of Americans is uniformed or misinformed at best. At worst it's based on stereotypes, and 2nd hand bigotries. For someone slamming people in Americas for being racist your hypocrisy is laughable. (Oh yeah but of course not ALL of us, just enough for you to group us all in together with that tiny little classifier (not ALL) as your pathetic evidence you don't dislike Americans. Let me put it this way, if I said "Mexicans are lazy, well not ALL of them but you know." Wouldn't that comment still be offensive? Why? Because not ALL implies MOST.
 

Wildrow12

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About the Euro-Ameri stereotype: Speaking as an outsider to all this (being raised in Miami pretty much means you are raised as if your family never left Batista-era Cuba), I have to say....you all creep me out equally and intrigue me equally.

But that's okay. It's your culture. It's not what I was raised with. It's not something that I identify with. Heck, sometimes it's downright alien.

But is it bad? No. Just different.

I don't see any culture from the (myriad of cultures which make up those terms as presented)as being better or worse. Just different.

...I'm not sure if I answered the OP. My apologies if I did not make sense.
 

Cpt. Red

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Therumancer said:
kiwi_poo said:
I was wondering why Americans (not all of them) say Europeans are ugly and never wash.
Americans are actually Europeans anyway, right? so why do they insult Europeans?

And another thing: why do American racists say immigrants should go back to their country?
Wouldn't that mean that they should leave back to Europe and stop whining? Or are they all just massive hypocrites?
While many people will talk about the ignorance of the US (especially people in the US) I think a lot of the problems come from European ignorance and their accusations of the same thing from us. By and large Europe does not have a free press despite what the people living there might think, and their freedom of speech is far more controlled than most realize. Censorship, both politically and culturally is practiced in many parts of europe, this is what leads to a lot of the discussions about "National Firewalls", you have countries that are VERY concerned about their people having true, unfettered access to information.
About that... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index
Although it is hard to talk about censorship in Europe as large as there are many different countries with different laws.
 

Veleste

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Mar 27, 2010
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I've never found that. Whenever I go to America people are always like 'OH MY GOSH YOU'RE IRISH!' and fuss over my accent. I guess it depends on the reputation of your country in that country. When I was in Finland they ripped on Swedish people all the time and when I lived in France they were always ripping on the English and when I lived in England they ripped on everyone.

If anything, it's more of a stigma to be coloured or gay than European and even then only in very select parts of America. Chicago and Irvine were probably the two most open minded and fun places I've ever been. I've never really heard anything bad said about America when there isn't some negative press on TV like a really big murder story or coverage of the war. If anything Europeans seem to treat America like that crazy Aunt with lots of cats who you love but are just a little unsettled by.

I've worked for American's for about 3 years now and while individually they're very intelligent and quick witted people they seem to have a culture of dumbing things down that perplex all the Scandinavian's and Irish people in the office. They also seem to go into a panic whenever any of us injure ourselves in work for fear of getting sued which I find endlessly amusing. I'm not going to take you to court just cause a slipped and banged my arm. My own fault for having the grace of an albatross :p
 

DefunctTheory

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kiwi_poo said:
And another thing: why do American racists say immigrants should go back to their country?
Wouldn't that mean that they should leave back to Europe and stop whining? Or are they all just massive hypocrites?
TO be fair, not all of those people are racist. Some just believe that you should be loyal to the country you call home. And when you have Latin American's running around the streets with Mexican flags, chanting in Spanish and demanding American citizenship...

Well, you can see how things can get confusing.
 

OutcastBOS

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Sep 20, 2009
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The Undoer said:
OutcastBOS said:
Mainly because of the Revolution and the World Wars. we don't really hate them, but they mainly hate us. And I think European women are hot.
Do you think I'm hot :D? <- Guy btw.

The term is general ignorance, doesn't apply to all Americans though.

It's not our fault they don't realise we're better :D (JOKE. seriously, that's a joke, don't take me seriously.)
WOAH! I said women. notice the wo before the man in that word. sorry dude.
 

AndyFromMonday

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OutcastBOS said:
And I think European women are hot.
You have no fucking idea.

Dead Raen said:
With the exception of France, whom nobody likes.

OT: All the hate is because we don't have a common enemy. Get one and we'll all be best friends, just like back in WW2.
 

sparkyk24

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Jan 3, 2010
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Americans really love some European countries. Mostly, we tend to not like the French, and a lot of that stems from how we think that they look down on us. Well, really, our men even like French women, just not French men. We feel like the rest of the world hates us, because that's what our media tells us, so we sometimes react accordingly. However, taking a trip to Europe and even learning European languages (like English! [joking]) is appealing to many of us. We especially mingle well with the British and the Australians (yes, I know they aren't European), but we also have affection for various other countries. Even German and Japanese media have made their niches here, despite how obsessed we still are with WWII.

As far as saying that immigrants should get out of our country, people are generally talking about Hispanics. It isn't the fact that people of other races are here (most of the time), it's that people that aren't legal citizens are here, not paying taxes and not speaking our language but still working our jobs and getting many of our benefits. That isn't to say I think they should go back to where they came from, so to speak, but that's the reason. Some people feel like their culture and way of life is threatened.

To be fair, there does seem to be two opposing and equally absurd assumptions that I see coming from the less enlightened. Some people think that all politics and government outside of the U.S. is stupid, and that we're the only country with any grasp of freedom. On the opposing side, many practically fall to the ground in praise of any foreign policy and political system that isn't American. Americans love to hate and love America.
 

RooftopAssassin

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Sep 13, 2009
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Hating of Europeans, we do? When did this happen? Some of my favorite countries are in europe. You know Germany, Belgium, France and such.

As for illegal immigrants.... THEY TOOK MAH JERRRB!
 

DefunctTheory

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Mar 30, 2010
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<a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/relations-break-down-between-us-and-them,715/
">U.S vs. Them


For hilarity.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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Cpt. Red said:
Therumancer said:
kiwi_poo said:
I was wondering why Americans (not all of them) say Europeans are ugly and never wash.
Americans are actually Europeans anyway, right? so why do they insult Europeans?

And another thing: why do American racists say immigrants should go back to their country?
Wouldn't that mean that they should leave back to Europe and stop whining? Or are they all just massive hypocrites?
While many people will talk about the ignorance of the US (especially people in the US) I think a lot of the problems come from European ignorance and their accusations of the same thing from us. By and large Europe does not have a free press despite what the people living there might think, and their freedom of speech is far more controlled than most realize. Censorship, both politically and culturally is practiced in many parts of europe, this is what leads to a lot of the discussions about "National Firewalls", you have countries that are VERY concerned about their people having true, unfettered access to information.
About that... See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index
Although it is hard to talk about censorship in Europe as large as there are many different countries with different laws.
All I can say is to check out things like the "Oil For Food" scandal.

Also with no offense intended, that struck me as being one of Wikipedia's more politically oriented articles. Among other things it doesn't seem to even address the issues of Internet censorship, when you have Australia ranked higher than the US given recent events (and their development of a national firewall) I think there is a problem.

But then again it also says that the information is compiled by "Reporters Without Borders" which simply put is an organization with an axe to grind on a lot of levels, which is probably why the list looks the way it does. :)