Are Americans really all oil-hungry murderers?

  • Thread starter eNtRopY
  • Start date
In summary, the rest of the world ignorantly perceives Americans as being overweight, driving huge cars, spending a lot of time on their appearance, eating fast food for breakfast, and not being fashionable. Other stereotypes include speaking with a Texas accent, being rude and obnoxious, having a lot of guns, being rich, and not caring about what the rest of the world thinks. However, many of these stereotypes are not true and may be a projection of the accusers' own insecurities. In reality, Americans are often generous and selfless, providing aid and assistance to other countries in times of need.
  • #36
Originally posted by Monique
Entropy, you being offended says more about you than me. Just where did I say that American people are bad? Is it a bad thing that they drive big cars, is it a bad thing that they spend time on appearance?

Yes because the implication is clear. You find all Americans to be wasteful and frivolous.


You said:
I will tell you this: America is the least prejudice society in the world. You are less likely to find classism or racism in America than any other country.

I will challenge you by asking you to which countries you have traveled. Well? Aren't you being a bit judgemental by saying that the States are the best in the world? *grin* lol

Is it wrong for me to applaud my fellow Americans for what we have achieved?

In addition to Germany, I visited Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Canada. From my experiences, I would say that the US is definitely the least predjudice. Have you ever seen the reaction of a German to black American? Do you think that the Turkish emmigrants are treated as well as native Germans in Germany? Have you ever noticed how much Dutch people despise Germans? Predjudice exists everywhere in the world. I'm only asserting that it goes against American ideology and is something that most Americans will not tolerate. In a related manner, I would also say that America has much less classism than any other country. Seriously in America, unlike many places in Europe, it is socially acceptable (and common) for the educated and working classes to mingle in a social atmosphere. There is far less social hierarchy in America than in other countries, and this point can be readily observed by comparing the typical work place of any country to that of America.

It IS American culture, are you saying that there is no culture in the States?

There are many cultures in America, but it is anti-American to start profiling these cultures with statistics. By your rationale, when we look at black American men we should think, "... hmm, there's a 30% chance that he has a criminal record..." rather than "... hmm, all people have potential for being an asset to society..."

Please be open-minded.. I would say that is a dutch trait.

Is Dutch tolerance anything more than just tolerance? Is this really a special thing? Should we all strive to more than just tolerant of others?

eNtRopY
 
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  • #37
Originally posted by J-Man
There's a humongous difference in the ideals that we strive for as a nation and how individuals actually behave.

Certainly, but go to other countries and you will see that narrow-minded thinking (racism, classism, etc) is not frowned on the same way it is in America (excluding the deep South of course).

eNtRopY
 
  • #38
All Americans want to kill people who practice the Islamic religion so that they can get rich off of oil.

I find this very offensive and i am disgusted with ALL of you Americans that want to kill the Islamic Religion, i am surprised that with a comment like that this thread wasnt locked, after all the thread "les french" was locked very quickly and nobody mentioned killing the french in that topic.
 
  • #39
The most disgusting one of them all...

All Americans are George W Bush.
 
  • #40
Originally posted by FZ+
The most disgusting one of them all...

All Americans are George W Bush.

Yeah, that's another thing I hate. So many foreigners keep blaming us Americans for George W. Bush. They like to act as if every American is a miniature George W. Bush. Has the whole fvcking world forgotten that it was just a few years ago that Bill Clinton was a nominee for the motherfvcking Nobel Peace Prize?

eNtRopY
 
  • #41
Positive stereotyps also exist: "All Americans are enterprising selfmademans", "All Americans are very free people" or "All Americans are smiling". I think that disillusionment from any positive stereotyp can be worse than any negative stereotyp. Negative stereotyps also exist, of course. Now is in Europe very strong idea, that all Americans are very religious and consequently irrational.
 

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