What do people in other countries think of the U.S.?

[jelgate]

or how many people assume that any American who owns at least one gun as some sort of either a closet psycho or as some irresponsible idiot that doesn't know how to use it properly?

I own two. Better book a stay at a mental hospital.

[Morbo]

to be fair, on the whole, americans are pretty stupid. they take what people on news channels say for granted and for fact - even though these people aren't experts in anything except being loudmouths. people are so consumed with their right to be political, that it takes over their lives so completely and they can't see past their own party to the big picture.
we're fat
we're lazy
we've set up systems of government and corporate control that can be described in a single word: retarded.
we've basically become pros and shooting ourselves in the foot.

if i lived in another country, i'd probably be pointing and laughing.

thats not to say i don't appreciate living here, obviously, as i know conditions are far worse in plenty of other countries around the world. but, looking at how america is supposed to be...yeah, it's a sad sad story.

[Goose]

I don't for one second believe that American's are any more stupid than any other country. I just think that the people who are less intelligent, shall we say, are the ones that tend to end up in the public spotlight, be they on television or in other types of media. The sort of mass-media culture that America tends to export doesn't exactly portray a very accurate view of the general intelligence of the American public...

[Morbo]

I don't for one second believe that American's are any more stupid than any other country. I just think that the people who are less intelligent, shall we say, are the ones that tend to end up in the public spotlight, be they on television or in other types of media. The sort of mass-media culture that America tends to export doesn't exactly portray a very accurate view of the general intelligence of the American public...

no..no....i think it really does.
the fact that shows like the kardashians, and jersey shore are so popular, and continue to keep going, is pretty hard evidence.
but i'll also throw out that a good chunk of americans are stuck in their bubble of ignorance. they can't see past their own 60" HDTV.

[Goose]

Ignorance isn't the same thing as stupidity.

[Womble]

no..no....i think it really does.
the fact that shows like the kardashians, and jersey shore are so popular, and continue to keep going, is pretty hard evidence.

And the fact that these formats are being copied all over the world and are popular proves what?

[FromOutside]

I notice there has been some thread necromancy going on Whatever, I'll give you some new material to rip to pieces

The first thing that comes to mind is the 'strange' view of freedom many people have in US. I realize it depends (about state, urban-rural etc.), but in US many seem to think freedom is strongly based on low taxes and government that does little for US citizens. It seems like a large chunk of freedom is seen to be right to earn a lot money and spend it all just like you want to spend it.

The part that is strange (for me) is that this is seen more important than equality actually going on. Yes, in theory anyone can become anything but in reality the system makes it extremely difficult to become something if one doesn't have sense to be born to a family that is wealthy enough. These days this is more true than for a while. I mean, it hasn't been that long when something like this



chanced the world. Now spinning may begin with wood chips that are pulped to special pulp suited for spinning process where chemicals are used to turn pulp to yearn. Good luck with inventing a better process, fine-tuning it to be economically better than existing process that is fine tuned by generations of engineers, and doing that without proper schooling!

How I see it, this kind of thinking has lead to a system where many people are not free to do many things we take for granted, for example pursue a career they wish, because they don't have the money. (I know about the stipend system.) Hence, strange view of freedom

(Much of the US brand of freedom is good, of course, this is not to diss that at all! Well, at least not the other parts of it. I realize there is a lot history that has affected thinking in US, as well as in here. In the end, it boils down to what people value most, so please notice I am not saying I am right and you are wrong)

Maybe it is the combination of both, the sense of freedom and how money actually is pretty dang important, that many US people seem to value very much monthly income and how it shows in the standard of living. For example, it isn't that rare to see an expat blog where the writer says she (it is usually she) is a bit ashamed to tell people where she lives because she feels the neighborhood isn't good enough. In here, I have never heard anyone being ashamed of the place. Unhappy and so on, of course, but never ashamed to tell where the where s/he lives. (I read mostly blogs that take place in because it in always interesting to see how other people see your country. So is shouldn't be about how different the 'good' and 'bad' neighborhoods are.)

[Morbo]

And the fact that these formats are being copied all over the world and are popular proves what?

as i've said previously: the future of humanity is doomed.

Ignorance isn't the same thing as stupidity.

i didn't say that it was...?

[lordofseas]

as i've said previously: the future of humanity is doomed.

But we'll have great tans!

[mad_gater]

I notice there has been some thread necromancy going on Whatever, I'll give you some new material to rip to pieces

The first thing that comes to mind is the 'strange' view of freedom many people have in US. I realize it depends (about state, urban-rural etc.), but in US many seem to think freedom is strongly based on low taxes and government that does little for US citizens. It seems like a large chunk of freedom is seen to be right to earn a lot money and spend it all just like you want to spend it.

The part that is strange (for me) is that this is seen more important than equality actually going on. Yes, in theory anyone can become anything but in reality the system makes it extremely difficult to become something if one doesn't have sense to be born to a family that is wealthy enough. These days this is more true than for a while. I mean, it hasn't been that long when something like this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ning_jenny.jpg

chanced the world. Now spinning may begin with wood chips that are pulped to special pulp suited for spinning process where chemicals are used to turn pulp to yearn. Good luck with inventing a better process, fine-tuning it to be economically better than existing process that is fine tuned by generations of engineers, and doing that without proper schooling!

How I see it, this kind of thinking has lead to a system where many people are not free to do many things we take for granted, for example pursue a career they wish, because they don't have the money. (I know about the stipend system.) Hence, strange view of freedom

(Much of the US brand of freedom is good, of course, this is not to diss that at all! Well, at least not the other parts of it. I realize there is a lot history that has affected thinking in US, as well as in here. In the end, it boils down to what people value most, so please notice I am not saying I am right and you are wrong)

Maybe it is the combination of both, the sense of freedom and how money actually is pretty dang important, that many US people seem to value very much monthly income and how it shows in the standard of living. For example, it isn't that rare to see an expat blog where the writer says she (it is usually she) is a bit ashamed to tell people where she lives because she feels the neighborhood isn't good enough. In here, I have never heard anyone being ashamed of the place. Unhappy and so on, of course, but never ashamed to tell where the where s/he lives. (I read mostly blogs that take place in because it in always interesting to see how other people see your country. So is shouldn't be about how different the 'good' and 'bad' neighborhoods are.)

We actually care about both....about how the government spends the money they take from us AND about civil liberties

might seem strange because our founding fathers envisioned a ruggedly individualistic society wherein we'd onlyneed government for things like producing the infrastructure necessary and providing for public safety and defense but otherwise We the People are meant to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.....so many of us conservatives aren't completely against the concept of government welfare...we're just against it being a medium by which we give people a taxpayer-funded livelihood from cradle to grave....one glaring example of this is how I see welfare mommas all the time who use food stamps and NYS-level medicaid assistance for health care yet can somehow afford things like iPhones and cell phones and Escalades

I was at Wegmans recently and saw a couple on food stamps use them to buy a cake from the bakery? WTF? now to be fair it was probably for a special occasion as they were buying a card to go with it.....probably a birthday...but still....instead of enabling them in their laziness and letting them buy the pre-made cake from the store's bakery section they should make them use it to buy the ingredients and make their own cake.

heck...right here is a very simple recipe they can use and I bet food stamps would cover most, if not all, the ingredients it requires

[spratty]

One thing that always amazes me as an outsider looking in how any incentive that is even lightly associated with being remotely socialist in nature (like affordable healthcare, welfare for unemployed people and so on) is treated with such fear and hostility and people will assume it will degrade to this http://alldesignblog.com/wp-content/...tive-2d374.jpg

but yet when AIIG and the like stupidly let themselves go bust and got a government bail out the same people who preach free market conveniently went silent.

yes I realise this is the American right I am referring too but it amazes me how strongly people are on each side of the spectrum in america.

[Jedi_Master_Bra'tac]

One thing that always amazes me as an outsider looking in how any incentive that is even lightly associated with being remotely socialist in nature (like affordable healthcare, welfare for unemployed people and so on) is treated with such fear and hostility and people will assume it will degrade to this http://alldesignblog.com/wp-content/...tive-2d374.jpg

I agree. I suspect it has to do with the cold war. Anything that can be considered remotely communist is considered un-American by many people. I think the Right uses this fear as a weapon against leftist policies. The Obamacare debate springs to mind...

[The Urban Spaceman]

I believe it’s funny how other countries stereotype America as fat, but we just won the Olympics.

And many of the African countries are known for their devastating poverty and famine, yet I didn't see any emaciated coloured people from the African continent a the olympics. In fact, everybody looked pretty healthy. Mostly because they're top athletes. They're outliers. They are not accurate representations of a country's majority.

I am from America and I have to say that, there is only a handful of obese people from where I’m from. 35.7% of Americans are obese. That is less than half.

Less than half, but more than a quarter. It's nothing to be proud of. Personally, I think obesity is a strange thing. I have a friend who, according to his BMI, is classed as obese, but he's almost solid muscle, very little fat on him at all. I think you have to be careful with such labels, which is why I think it's a shame that the term "fat" has been replaced by more politically correct and less harsh statements such as "overweight" and "obese". It is possible to be overweight and have very little sub-cutaneous or visceral fat. If we're talking about fat, let's talk about fat.

(No offence intended if you're overweight/obese.)

Not all Americans are raised the way you see them. I will have to confess that some may be arrogant, but not all are. It’s horrible to have such a low perspective on something you have no idea about. The United States translate as a well put-together country, full of hardworking people. We have rights, freedom, and a say in what we want. America itself is a proud community, and it’s devastating for other nations to think less of what we are. We work for everything we have, and have barely anything handed to us. (with the exception of food)

I think this is part of the problem. "We have a great nation, work hard, have freedom of speech, equal rights for all, now please acknowledge how good we are at these things" is, actually, quite arrogant. There are countries who do these things much better than the US, but their inhabitants don't usually like to go around asking others to please have a good opinion of them. It's called humility.

For example, here is a recent indication that it's great to be in Finland right now: http://www.fundforpeace.org/global/?q=fsi-grid2012

According to that index, the Fenno-Scandinavian countries, along with Australia and Canada, are doing better than the US. And from my 15+ years of hanging around on this old interweb thing, what I see a lot of is American citizens looking for praise and confirmation that they're doing well, like they have something to prove.

America, you don't have anything to prove. Just get on with making things better for your own citizens, and the rest will follow.

[FromOutside]

I think this is part of the problem. "We have a great nation, work hard, have freedom of speech, equal rights for all, now please acknowledge how good we are at these things" is, actually, quite arrogant. There are countries who do these things much better than the US, but their inhabitants don't usually like to go around asking others to please have a good opinion of them. It's called humility.

To be fair, US gets quite a lot critique and dirt thrown on it. Pretty much everyone has something to criticize in US, even if the 'everyone' lives on another continent... I mean, US has power, so its politics are breaking news. It is easy to disagree with something you know of. At the same time sheer size of the country makes it difficult to form simple clichés about people or nature. Personally I think this kind of things form the discussion we usually have about US, and they form it towards critique (when the people discussing are behaving) and dirt (when they are not).

It is easy to act humble when the discussions are at level 'oh, I have heard you have clean nature/high BKT/good schooling system/whatever nice', but when they are not, it isn't surprising that people begin to advocate the country they hold dear.

[The Urban Spaceman]

It is easy to act humble when the discussions are at level 'oh, I have heard you have clean nature/high BKT/good schooling system/whatever nice', but when they are not, it isn't surprising that people begin to advocate the country they hold dear.

But the problem is, a lot of Americans take it very personally.

For example, there's lots of piss-taking that goes on in Europe (or mick-taking, in case the forum doesn't like the p-word). The English make fun of the Welsh for having a fondness for sheep, and the Irish and the Scots for being terrible drunkards. The Irish and the Scots make fun of the English, for being a bunch of ponces. Everybody in the UK makes fun of France -- mocking France and how bad they are at war is actually a national pastime. Likewise, we all know that the Dutch are a bunch of pot-heads. The Norwegians and the Swedish make fun of the Danes for talking like they have potatoes in their mouth. Finns mock the Swedes. And even further afield, everybody knows that Australians are all exactly like Steve Irwin or Crocodile Dundee, wrestling up salties, drinking tinnies, put another shrimp on the barbie mate. Everybody in Saudi Arabia trades their wives for camels. Hell, I hear Americans mocking Canadians all the time -- what aboot that, eh?

Yes, there are Americans who have a good sense of humour and can take both a joke and criticism. I have friends in America, and I'm glad to be able to call them my friends. But at the same time, it seems a lot of Americans are immediately on the defensive. So when the rest of the world points out that the lauded American healthcare system isn't actually that brilliant because it doesn't help those who can't afford to pay for treatment, or that America is one of the chubbiest nations around, it's all "HOW DARE YOU MOCK MY WONDERFUL COUNTRY YOU COMMUNIST PIG-DOG, USA IS BIGGEST, BESTEST COUNTRY EVER, WE HAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND CAN HAVE GUNS AND WE SAVED YOUR ASSES IN WW2, IF IT WEREN'T FOR US YOU'D ALL BE SPEAKING GERMAN RIGHT NOW."

I wish I could say that's exaggeration, but I've actually had Americans say that to me (online). I don't think it's entirely the fault of the citizens. The media is very biased towards American affairs, and I'm told that the school system can be in places, too. And what started out as national pride has turned into a sort of rabid sickness. Yeah it's great to have pride in where you're from, but like I said, pride without humility is just arrogance. Many Americans tell me that they have the biggest and best armed forces in the entire world. I have to remind them that at one point, so did the Roman Empire. At one point, so did the British Empire. The former fell to corruption, and the latter spread itself too thin. And as good as it is to have a superior army, navy and air-force, if you use said forces to impose your own will and ethics onto other nations, it won't earn you any friends. So of course the American government is criticsed for what it does and what it says about other countries which is then wikileaked for the world to read. It's called taking responsibility for your own actions.