Why are many Europeans condescending toward Americans?

Question

Not all Americans are hillbillies with southern drawals and ignorant about world news, geography, and culture. Not all Americans are like southerners or Californians and not all are religious zealots.

Most europeans should be so lucky that the laws require not working over 40 hours a week, a mandatory one month vacation, in some countries: siesta, and not getting taken advantage of (yet) by their governments and corporations.

haha, imran n, consider anger management, okay?

Answer 1

Scruffy 3850 says "they wanna be like us fools".

There's your answer, in a nutshell!

Sorry Scruffy, I'm being a smart-*** - but bad grammar will always be seized upon by us condescending Europeans!

As a condescending European myself, I do want to address your question though, and hopefully give you a proper answer.

Mainly, it is about power. The USA is the most powerful nation on earth (though China will soon surpass you). Whatever you think of the USA, this is a fact. Mainly because it is so big - it is not because of any innate superiority of the USA, it's just big, full of natural resources, and is still a new country.

BUT - too many Americans become very arrogant about this fact. Too often they will talk about how the USA can kick another country's butt. This is distasteful to us. It also displays a bullying ignorance. So, to counter this intimidating behaviour, we like to find fault.

So our attitude is: okay, so you're big and powerful with a huge military, and you think this entitles you to push people around. Well, maybe...but we are going to look at things we can ridicule about you. And so we do! We ridicule:

good old boys/foaming at the mouth republicans/geographically ignorant people/bible bashing christians waiting for the rapture/dimwitted presidents/celebrities/badly educated people/gun nuts/the saying "God Bless America" and people who believe that God does bless America/gas guzzling SUV drivers/people who believe Fox News/people who voted Bush in for the 2nd time/people who say "OMIGAWWD!!!"/Cletus the slack-jawed yokel types/people like Staple King who posts on this site/people who cannot spell/anti-abortionists/supporters of the death penalty/people who say the USA won the war for us when the UK was fighting Hitler for many years while the USA looked the other way/loudmouths/really obese people who drive around the supermarket in their little fat-mobiles/"Friends" and people who need happy endings/"You're either with us or against us"/the richest nation on the earth does not look after it's poorest communities/passivity in the face of the stripping of basic human rights in the land of the free.

There's probably a few more, but you get my drift. And I tell you something else - I know that most things on this list are the same things that Americans ridicule themselves!

But it is worse when we do it. Naturally!

We do consider ourselves very lucky with our employment laws, especially when compared to the USA.

My mother-in-law (I am married to an American) only gets 2 weeks paid vacation a year and works 42 hours a week. In my last job in the UK I only had to work 35 hours a week and got 5 weeks paid vacation a year, plus public holidays on top of that.

And yes, we are not taken advantage of by our employers. Also, we have very good state benefits, and although the health service isn't brilliant, at least it is free and we don't have to pay crippling medical fees.

I have heard SO MANY Americans tell me, quite casually in conversation, that such and such country didn't support America and so America should nuke it. When people come out with comments like that, you're damn right we want to ridicule them!

But millions of Europeans visit America for holiday, so obviously we don't hate it.

Answer 2

First off I am an American and proud of it but like all nations we have some serious flaws in our overall natures. It's not just Europeans who are condescending towards us but the world,including our own people. For some odd reason most people feel better when they have someone too look down upon or compare oneself too. I know most people who read this are going to disagree but tell me you don't either look at someone or watch some of those reality shows on tv and say,"My life could be worse, I could be him/her/them." It's sad but true, human beings in general are condescending creatures and I will be the first to admit it. I will also be the first to say that it is alright to feel that way, it's what you do that matters.


Big E....Visiting America for holidays is a sham for Europeans to get more material for their jokes. All those pictures that you take isn't to say you've been here but to say "Look what those hillbillies have concocted now." LOL (for those of you who don't realize it this last part was just a joke)

Answer 3

What you have to remember is that Europeans are exposed to all of Americans from US Military bases. And I can tell you from first hand observation that they aren't always our best representatives. God love them, but they aren't.

Also, the European media doesn't help. While going to college in Germany we watched a news report that showed German reporters interviewing farmers in Nebraska and testing their knowlege of Europe. After failing to answer correctly regarding the Zuider Zee, Porta Nigra, etc., the German reporters explained how stupid Americans are about Europe. Of course Nebraska is about 1/4 the size of Europe, but the point is that Europeans are arrogant and often we are just stupid enough in our actions to fuel their bias against us.

I used to work for the Swiss and had to listen to my Swiss boss tell me how great the Swiss postal system was even though the US Postal service delivers more mail in a day than the Swiss do in a year. Oh don't get me started...the Swiss have to be the most arrogant people in Europe.

Answer 4

Think about this...we elected a hillbilly religious zealot with southern drawl who is ignorant about world news, geography, and culture to be our President. He is the chief representative of our country to the world. Why wouldn't Europeans judge us by our elected leader?

Answer 5

My honest opinion is that Europeans know we pulled their bacon out of the fire twice, have rebuilt their economies and infrastructure and defended them for 60 years. All with their daggers in our backs.

We invented the telephone and the lightbulb, for God's sake, and they resent our success and power. Don't pay any attention to them, they're spoiled little children.

Answer 6

I couldn't have said it better myself Tiger! Way to go!

Answer 7

take a look at some of the answers here! there's your answer

Answer 8

i think its because europeans are retarted wunna bees they wuna be like us fools

Answer 9

They don't like us. But they need us.

Answer 10

repharase your st.upid question again, WHERE DID YOU complete education??? huh