Sunday, September 25, 2011
Stereotypes about Americans
What does it mean to be an "American"? From your experience, how are people from the USA different from people in other countries? What stereotypes do you know of about Americans, and how true are they, from your experience? Explain, giving details from your experience to support your response.
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For me, being American means being a contributing member to a society that is working to make the world a better place.
ReplyDeleteIt is in this definition however, that I find a puzzling paradox; in order to be the most tolerable, successful, well-run country in the world, we must be inherently capitalistic and intolerable. In my experience, yes, America is indeed full of ignorant, xenophobic, obese dimwits who pay no attention to other cultures. Conversely, America holds more opportunity than any country in the realms of personal and professional freedom.
America for me, sadly, has become a pushover. A far-too tolerant community of idealists who refuse to believe in practicality and human nature outside of a constitutional vacuum. A nation that is beginning to accept the demands of the minority at the sacrifice of the majority. This is perfectly evident in our transition from a "survival of the fittest" economy to an entitled, welfare state.
I believe to be American is to be stubborn; to not tolerate any creed or dogma that threatens democracy. As bad as it sounds to the international community, if America is to maintain it's stature as the best economy in the world, it must become Machiavellian. It must hit harder and faster than anyone else. Take Israel for example, long-reviled wild child of the world: Israeli's (the Mossad) kill plenty of Palestinians each year. Does this make them monsters? Even if they're being attacked? Israel is Machiavellian because it must be for it's own survival. I would prefer to not see America get to that point.
As much as I would like to sit here and say being American means being peaceful and coexistent, one simply cannot ignore human nature and tendencies to pursue riches, power, and status. The great thing about America and being American is not that it resists human nature, but that it embraces it.
To be American is to be rude, self-centered, overweight, power-obsessed, and unconcerned with our families and friends, or at least that’s how the stereotypes define it. When in fact, being American does not encompass any of those values.
ReplyDeleteSome Americans may seem rude because they are naive about another country’s traditions or values or because of the fast-pass lives all Americans seem to have. However, even though we find ourselves caught in a busy world of consumerism, many find time to stop and say hello or give a quick wave and a smile to someone passing by. This may seem rude that we don’t give our full attention to someone when giving a greeting or a good-bye, but by doing this, we acknowledge the other person and show that they are important to us. To me, it is considered rude when you know a person and don’t even make an effort to say hello.
America is also a very individualistic country that values moving out on your own and fending for yourself, more than living with your family until your thirty. Our families pushing us to do our best on our own doesn’t mean that we don’t have a connection with them or that other countries love their parents more, it is simply a different life-style. Our parents and friends push us to be independent so that we can survive in our own shoes. They try to get us ready for when we move on our own. By making us do things on our own, we are more ready for the world, and our parents getting us ready for the rest of our lives shows that they cherish our well being and love us beyond measure.
One of the biggest stereotypes of Americans is that we are overweight and lazy, and many people are; however, many people are also trying to fix their weight by eating healthy. And people tend to forget that there are plenty of people in America that are extremely fit or simply confident in how their body’s look and don’t need to be a size 6.
The last stereotype is that America is power-obsessed. I admit that we strive for excellence, but by far not everyone wants to rule the world. There are plenty of people that choose to stay home and watch their children instead of work, or help others for no profit instead of receiving a high-class job that makes them hundreds of dollars a day. By saying that Americans are power-obsessed, the stereotypes only look at a specific individual, not the country as a whole.
To me, to be an American is to be independent, comfortable in your own skin, striving for where you want to be in life, and loving in the best way that you can.
The characteristics of "American" are subjective depending on the culture of the individual. Through my perspective, American culture is a fairly good mix of individual goals as well as collectivist attitudes.I'm sure that citizens of other countries have a sense of national pride, but America seems to be one of the most prideful. Many attribute this to the creation of the country from nothing by many people from other cultures. The American culture became defined by the people living in it from scratch and has since changed based on the values and opinions of those living in the country.
ReplyDeleteIt is my belief that the people in the United States feel a sense of entitlement to their freedoms and privileged, many of which can be reasonably justified. Many citizens of the United States define themselves as 100 percent American and can list attributes that make them so ranging from having relatives who fought in the Civil War or growing up on a farm in the Midwest. Most of these people forget their ancestors that came from other countries. Those that feel a sense of American pride use the superior economy and advancement of technology to support their claim that America is the "best" nation.
By living in America, I have been lucky enough to experience many different culture and interact with people from different countries. This has given me an opportunity to hear their opinions and compare their beliefs to those commonly held by Americans.
Some typical negative stereotypes of Americans by other countries include rudeness, obesity, stinginess, narcissistic, and spoiled. Americans see these attributes of themselves in a completely different way due to their culture. Instead of being rude, they perceive their actions as giving a person individual space and staying out of the personal business of others, which is considered polite in the United States. Obesity is still considered a problem, but the indulgence in convenient food has become a necessity for many Americans to keep up with their busy lifestyle. Although it may appear that many Americans are narcissistic because they put individual goals above those of others, this is thought of as being career driven and determined in America. The spoiled and stingy attributes are thought of as rewarding oneself for hard work and accomplishments during their lifetime. These characteristics of Americans are not always for the best and often cause misconceptions by other cultures, but it is the way Americans define their actions and how they perceive they should live their lives.
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ReplyDeleteStereotypes are often true, yet they are simply interpreted differently among people from different countries. What one culture may believe is detrimental, another might believe it is a necessity for their lifestyle. I recently had a conversation with a young Saudi Arabian girl about our goals for our future. I told her I planned to graduate undergraduate school and go on to graduate school or law school. Then I explained how I wanted to begin my career before starting a family. She stared at me blankly and then simply said "So you are all the same here." I asked her what she meant by this and she told me that where she was from, most women were eager to start a family as soon as possible and they would never think to put their education above their children's. Although something in me told me to be somewhat offended by this, I could not because I completely understood what she meant. Just because we had different opinions on how a woman should live her life, I did not have the right to say that her opinion was wrong. She may have over generalized the situation, but comparatively, she was correct about many women in American society.
I believe stereotypes are often a way of comparison between two cultures, such as the Saudi Arabian's and mine. We should take them with a grain of salt but also reflect on how other cultures view Americans and what the stereotypes might mean to us. They often hold some truth, but can be left up for interpretation as well. We all need an outside perspective every once in a while, and stereotypes help provide this. If we do not like these labels, we always have the ability to change them or prove that it does not apply individually.
"Hi!" This is a short response, but we can interact in this short venue. In Japan, it's believed that people in America tend to be friendly to anybody.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, after I came to South Carolina, I noticed that many people say "hello!" or "hi!" to each other. I consider that when you visit Japan, you can't see the people who talk to someone they don't know. However, I think it's not because Japanese people are shy, but because American people are too active or talkative.
Let's consider this action. Do you think it's better to be friendly or not to be? Of course, American people will answer "Yes" more than Japanese people, for this question came from the conduct by American people.
Moreover, I also think the answer for this question is yes. Staying in my own country, I didn't feel anything about not talking to each other. Nevertheless, I knew how comfortable it is to greet to each other after I was done in America.
This is an amazing and unbelievable thing in Japan, but I want to do this activity after I go back to my hometown. This is kind of my stereotype about Americans; this is maybe a good thing for them. This custom will make visitors want to return this country again.
Hi, I am an EPI student. I am from Hong kong,China. I have been in USA for about two month. In Columbia, the people always friendly, but sometime they are not. Once we were on a street, and some American yell at us, I do not know why, but they make me angry. But most of the American are nice, they are helpful, funny. I think the city in USA are a lot different from Hong Kong, the cities in China always very big, but here, although Columbia is the capital city in SC, it still have a few people here and we need to drive a long way to buy stuff. Sometime I think American are rule, espeically toward Asian, even the people who work in government here.
ReplyDeleteHello, I'm an EPI student from Iraq. In the beginning, I had a bad attitude towards Americans. That is because of all what I had experienced about USA was through their army who was aggressive and brutal in his way of dealing with Iraqi people. It may be due to the stressful conditions they had in Iraq. They used to lose many soldiers every day.This conditions freaked them out . Many of my friends were killed at that time by the US snipers or machine guns. Anyhow, this attitude was changed only after few days from my arrival to the USA . At the day of my arrival at the JFK in the NY, I was confused and I knew that my friend was waiting for me,but I didnt have the phone to call. Suddenly a strange man came to me and asked me if I need help and he gave me his cell phone to call my friend for free. Furthermore, on the second day , I lost my way to the school and I didnt get a cell phone yet. I found a man and I asked him for help , he brought me a chair to sit and he called a taxi for me and he told him the accurate address. When I went to the library there is a girl near the main gate just to greet the students and wishing them to have a nice time , I asked myself why did they do this for me? with time I realized that the American people are so kind, cooperative and helpful. I think they are productive people, every day I see different people from a child to an old people going to their schools and works ; their life are organized. There is a time for work and a time for fun. After 2 months of being in US, my attitude is changed positively.
ReplyDeleteHello, I am an EPI student from China. Here is what I am thinking about.
ReplyDeleteIn China, most of Chinese students study English (should be defined in “American English”), and many kinds of American movie are widely played in Chinese movie theaters and family televisions; but in America, most of American students are not interested in Chinese language because they think it is very hard, and most of American people rarely watch the real Chinese movies. As the result that Chinese people know about America’s conditions more than Americans know about China; and sometimes, I found that some American people misunderstand the real Chinese situations.
One of the famous ancient Chinese military strategies said: “If you know yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss”. So, if more American students really study Chinese language, it will benefit American development in many fields. How to learn about China? I think that American students should begin from Chinese language because learning Chinese language can make you really understand its history of over 5000 years, cultures and social backgrounds etc., so you can really understand why Chinese people choose their ways to go.
In additional, Chinese language isn’t very hard comparing with English. Its grammar is very simple, we don’t have to conjugate verbs, and we don’t have to change nouns to reflect their differences in number (singular and plural); and English worlds are always created, but the amounts of Chinese characters are limited, and Chinese people can use the limited Chinese characters to express the endless rich meanings. Although some foreigners think that it is hard for them to figure out the tones, we know that the pronunciation of English words has many changes about syllable and stress too, and actually, the pronunciation of Chinese tones only have four ways, and it is not hard too.
Therefore, if you have a great ambition to promote the U.S. to become stronger, you should begin to learn Chinese Language.
Hallow, imp an EPI student, here I would to talk about my experiment here.
ReplyDeleteStudying abroad was a hug step for me, especially in America. On October 26, 2010, when I made that decision to come to America, that day I said “ I’ll go overseas to achieve my goals, no matter the difficulties would be “ to myself. Since I arrived to America, I noticed the gap between America and Saudi (my country). I was aware that these differences would have effects on my life. But the surprise is that I’ve been affected more than I expected.
Living alone and doing all things by myself was the biggest challenge to me. I used to have some to do things instead of me, for example my mother was cooking the food for me and for the rest of my family, there was some one woke me up for the school, there was a maid who was cleaning the house and washing the clothes. But here in America no one around me to help do any thing. The big issue here is how to be on time without any help. However step-by-step I’ve been changed. It becomes part of my life to be independent.
The other issue is living inn America, which has a different culture and religion and customs. Especially in America that consider one from the (cold culture), it require a lot of work, a lot of walk and a lot to do to be part from that society. I don’t have car here, so I have to walk along distance. I try hard to be on time as the people here. I try my best to use my free time for reading instead of watching or hanging out with my friend. They’re actually a lot of differences between Saudi Arabia (hot culture) and America (cold culture). However I think I’m on my way to change.
In fact, America’s culture isn’t match the Saudi’s culture at all, but I’ve noticed that t both side have the same kindness. I realized in that time is the most ideas we receive from the TV and websites was not the truth was not the whole picture about America “The word is a book and those who do not travel read only one page”
Hello, I’m an EPI student from Japonais. Today, I would like to introduce my view of the average American. Before I came to the U.S, I thought Americans are PARTY PEOPLE, because I saw many music videos from the U.S., and I could see they are always drinking, dancing and partying in those videos. Especially, I really loves musician LMFAO from L.A, and I think they sing songs just for fun. I dreamed that we could hang out with these kind of wasted people anywhere in the U.S. But in fact, these people are not in the South Carolina Club. I have never seen such a men in these drunker since I came here. In the South Carolina, people are just seating on the floor and enjoying drinking. At first time I saw this situation, I thought I came to the wrong club, and there might be another better one where people are mushing. But I could have not found these kinds of ones yet. I was shocked by this miserable truth. I could not believe that no PARTY ROCKER’s in the U.S. Was I cheated US entertainment economy? No way. Probably I could not find them just because of my poor English skill… There must be! I am still believing in that there might be ones in the N.Y, Miami, or L.A.
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