Why do so many Americans judge other cultures/countries without actually living/visiting there?

Question

I just read the thread about Britain, and many wrote "I love the accents." Uh, have you heard the Brummie accent?

Don't get me wrong. I love the accents too, but only some of them. Americans seem to think there is only one accent in Britain, which is the posh Queen's English. And all Brits drink tea at 4 pm and wear suits of course...

This is why only a fraction of Americans actually have passports and are worldly...the rest's idea of a vacation is to Wal-mart.

(And before you guys insult me--bringing such hilarity--my mother is English and I have lived there. My fiance is also English.)

C'mon, you know you want to insult me....for telling the truth.

For those who keep insulting me for not visiting America, I AM AMERICAN!!!

I was born in AMERICA andI go to college in AMERICA! I still have sense enough to know that Americans are very unworldly in comparison to many other citizens of other nations.

Answer 1

Because Americans are arrogant know-it-alls, most of whom have, thankfully, never been outside their own country but they think they know what is best for the rest of the world... so long as the rest of the world thinks like Americans.

And then they wonder why the rest of the world hates them.!

For the record, I am an American who is forced to live in this lousy country because the Dollar isn't worth anything compared to the Euro. My saving grace is, I lived outside the US for 22 years and was completely de-programmed from the American lack of culture and I can now see it for what it is... arrogant, aggressive and know-it-all.

Answer 2

So you're generalizing about "us" generalizing?

I can tell a cockney from a brogue from a posh from a limey from a Yorkshire from a Cambridge from an Oxford from a Liverpool from a Waterloo from a Devonshire. Many a Brit can't do that.

No, you're wrong about us, we want to insult you for being a twit and a git and full of shite.

And many of us, after living through six years of King George the Bush, judge other cultures and countries without actually being there as being BETTER than what they probably in reality are, not worse. It's that human survival instinct that tells us to hold out hope that all is not stupid, ignorant, hypocritical, and hopeless elsewhere.

Thank you for dashing my hopes of that for whatever cobblestone row-house you now inhabit. So you've once lived in England. Where are you now, working at a Wal-Mart in Jersey City? Carson City? Mobile?

Answer 3

Okay, your mother is English & you've been to England. That makes sense. None of my relatives crossed the Atlantic after 1900. The only other country I had visted before I started my career was Canada. The US is a large and geographically diverse country. It's hard to get to Europe, you can drive to Florida.

I don't know if there is any other country in the world that has the geographic isolation and the internal diversity that you find in the USA. Perhaps China, but China has a long tradition of trading and large expatriate communities. (I've eaten at Chinese restaurants in US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia & Germany - and while you can certainly find a McDonalds in any of those countries, I, personally didn't seek them out.)

To sum up, I don't think your question is completely fair. If someone traveled the 1400 miles from NY to FL in Europe, they would probably pass through half a dozen countries. Why should Americans feel some compulsion to go overseas when it can take a lifetime to see everything here?

Answer 4

Why do so many people from other countries judge America without ever visiting or living here? I think it's wrong to judge an entire country based on its leader, yet I see derogatory comments about the US all the time.

I don't find Wal Mart much of a vacation spot. I prefer Target. Their patio furniture section has more comfortable chairs. I just wish they'd stop kicking me out. Maybe if I stopped building bon fires in the sporting goods department, this would help...

Answer 5

I think this is completely true of all people no matter the country they currently live in or how many places they visit throughout the world. We are born into certain cultures (every country has subs of the main) and the way we view the world depends on how we view the world.

The majority of the world's population doesn't hold a passport and is unable, maybe for financial reasons maybe for government reasons, to visit other places.

Most of my relatives live in the US and Canada and we understand that we are going to have cultural differences due to place differences. This is true not just between countries but to where we live in each country with accents and attitudes being different from Montana, Texas, North Dakota, California, Edmonton, and beyond.

I also think to understand how a people believe and act you have to understand their history. This explains Americans, Iraqis, and Brits.

Answer 6

I actually like your question. Dont like the attitude and stereotyping so much. I think that the media has a lot to do with some American's views towards other cultures. Also, I'm sure that other cultures judge American ways without ever being here. It's human nature to compete and judge and be cynical. Let it go unless you are willing to actually do something to change people's ways.

Answer 7

Everybody judges everybody else, no matter how hard a single person can try not to judge others. It comes with the territory of being a creature who is capable of adapting.

For instance, a snake bites you, so you generalize that any snake might bite you, and you avoid snakes at all costs. As you progress in learning, you realize, of course that not all snakes are aggressive. Granted, this is a very simplistic, almost absurd, example, but it's the same difference.

People generalize because that is how we learn. One can't immediately know everything about any given subject; and we have to start somewhere. Sometimes that "somewhere" is a gross, broad generalization that has the potentiality to be stereotypical or negative.

As we learn more about a subject, we learn that the sweeping generalizations that had gotten us to that better, higher place of learning were not substantially correct, if even at all.

What disturbs me about your question is that you seem to be making the same sweeping generalizations about all americans for that which you accuse them. Ah, yes, but you must be learning, no? At that very beginning stage about knowing anything at all about americans? Learn up, Bucko! We ain't all the same.

Answer 8

The same could be said of other people from other countries. You wouldn't believe the number of foreign students at my school that say," Wow, you guys are nothing like the people in American movies." I'm not saying all foreigners do this, but many form their opinions about Americans from movies since not all of them have the opportunity to travel to the US. They forget that movies are just entertainment and are not mean to accurately portray people in real life,

This is perhaps the reason why many Americans are ignorant of other cultures-- to really learn about a culture in great depth it helps to travel to that country, but a majority of Americans lack the time, money and resources to travel around the world. It's great if you have a job that allows you to travel, but many of us don't have that luxury. People have jobs, families, financial problems, and other committments that don't allow us to travel often.

You say your mother is English and you've lived in England? Then of course you'll be aware of specific accents. How could you not? I've lived in the US my whole life, so I don't know how many different kinds of accents are in Britain; all I know is that there are several.

Answer 9

All cultures are different. And even though I have traveled alot, too many people go to a different country and don't understand the others ideas and beliefs. So when someone comes to the USA and is either, strange, cocky, upety or whatever it causes some people to think all people from that country are that way. I think that is true anywhere

Answer 10

Why do all people do that? I am American and I did not vote for George Bush. It's not my fault the world hates us.You are absolutely right, compared to the UK only a fraction of Americans possess a passport. Part of that reason is, maybe because the UK would fit into Texas 3 times. By the way, say garage for me.