Views on American Culture Outside North America

[ConfusedDolphin]

In think i would definitely rather live in the states than Canada, probably in a big city like Chicago or somewhere in the south with lots of open land.

 

There are tonnes of problems with both Canada and the US but the US just seems more appealing to me. 

[Almercenary]

Weird facts I didn't know: you lived off Britain and the french for your founding years, actually quite a long time after your "independence". And also many of you, like Aussies, were convicts. Latstly, the French was basically the only reason you won independence and I find it amazing that Spain didn't discover or take over where America is now. Just some history there.

Personally I think your wayy to patriotic for your roots, and some laws are...outdated maybe. But I've never been to USA so yeah.

[Osmium]

Weird facts I didn't know: you lived off Britain and the french for your founding years, actually quite a long time after your "independence". And also many of you, like Aussies, were convicts. Latstly, the French was basically the only reason you won independence and I find it amazing that Spain didn't discover or take over where America is now. Just some history there.

Personally I think your wayy to patriotic for your roots, and some laws are...outdated maybe. But I've never been to USA so yeah.

 

It annoys me when americans completely disregard the french's contribution to the Revolutionary war(is that what you guys call it too?). The way I was taught the war was that we ourselves drove the british to sea at yorktown where they were met with the french armada. When in reality the french basicly carried us the whole way. 

[Misanthrope]

Weird facts I didn't know: you lived off Britain and the french for your founding years, actually quite a long time after your "independence". And also many of you, like Aussies, were convicts. Latstly, the French was basically the only reason you won independence and I find it amazing that Spain didn't discover or take over where America is now. Just some history there.

Personally I think your wayy to patriotic for your roots, and some laws are...outdated maybe. But I've never been to USA so yeah.

 

Like hell Spain didn't: Close to half of the US belonged to New Spain, a.k.a. Mexico all the way up until the 19th century.

 

[Thecrazyswede]

The constitution said it was legal to own slaves, to take people land, women have no rights. 

 

Do please point out what amendment that say this.

[Almercenary]

Like hell Spain didn't: Close to half of the US belonged to New Spain, a.k.a. Mexico all the way up until the 19th century.

Wow, I knew they had a bit of USA during that time, but not that much. Guess I need to do some history work (:

[Mentalguy]

Weird facts I didn't know: you lived off Britain and the french for your founding years, actually quite a long time after your "independence".

Not really, once the US was able to get it's agriculture industry up and running, we were pretty self sufficient. After the war, there was trading between the two nations. however, we were at war with each other again after that. France on the other hand had their own revolution and ties were weakened. If the US were to stop all relations, we would have been fine for awhile.

 

Latstly, the French was basically the only reason you won independence

While France had a large part in the war effort, to say they are the only reason for the war being won is idiotic. It's like saying the US is the only reason the Nazi's didnt win WW2.

Dont think France did it out of charity either, they had their own agenda for going to war with England.

[Almercenary]

Not really, once the US was able to get it's agriculture industry up and running, we were pretty self sufficient. After the war, there was trading between the two nations. however, we were at war with each other again after that. France on the other hand had their own revolution and ties were weakened. If the US were to stop all relations, we would have been fine for awhile.

While France had a large part in the war effort, to say they are the only reason for the war being won is idiotic. It's like saying the US is the only reason the Nazi's didnt win WW2.

Dont think France did it out of charity either, they had their own agenda for going to war with England.

They couldn't produce some pretty important stuff like paper, bullets and some building materials, food wise they seemed fine.

Secondly the French's main motivation was a dislike for England. The British pushed the USA back a long long way before the French came in and started helping. At that point, in my understanding, it turned from a fierce rebellion into a civil war. The French basically supplied the with guns, soldiers and ships. In the end they went into debt and had a revolution themselves, but, they still gave USA a powerful amount of power and help. Like the Germans gave the British a lot of help then in that same civil war. In my understanding, USA would still be a bunch of colonies today without French aid.

[Biggerisbetter]

Do please point out what amendment that say this.

Sorry I didn't explain myself better. You stated: "the constitution is what built america and its perfectly able to be translated to the present age". The constitution can't be translated to the present age. Because it was flawed due to slavery, land ownership, and women's rights. People as a whole deemed those things not to be constitutional.

[Biggerisbetter]

I'm so sick of people blaming everything on greed.  Your living standard in the US is greedy compared to a lot of the worlds population.  All you can think about is people above you being greedy.

 

The only difference between the rich and the poor is jealousy.  They're both just as greedy.

So when has greed become an admirable trait. I have nothing against people that are well off or poor. Education should not be about money, but about the kids. Because these kids will either be killers, bankers, or scientist etc.

[EchoRomeoCharlie]

So when has greed become an admirable trait. I have nothing against people that are well off or poor. Education should not be about money, but about the kids. Because these kids will either be killers, bankers, or scientist etc.

 

Education isn't about money.  You can educate yourself pretty much for free in this country.  All it takes is determination.

 

Some of the smartest and wealthiest people I know personally never stepped foot in a college classroom.  The fact is, the masses need information fed to them on a spoon in a very structured environment.  Well, if there's a demand for it, then someone is going to fill that void and provide that service.  The better you are at providing a service the more people are willing to pay for that service.

 

If you're talking about k-12, I'm not sure how you can say that because you can attend those classes for free in this country.  Again, your determination to learn is the only thing holding one back from learning.  It has nothing to do with greed.

[James_AJ]

As an asian, American culture is fine.. it's just the other stuff that makes everyone flip on their head (*cough government *cough)

 

EDIT: oh shoot, by culture I thought you meant media and stuff. Okay some of the things I don't like about American culture: too Capitalism-focused, too big of a gap, not giving a sh1t about the poor and the disadvantaged, racism that is still prominent to a some level, people practicing religion and forcing their beliefs into others, trigger happy people, people who really can't even listen to other people's opinions, and last but not least: teen American culture. Absolutely atrocious.

[Lachrymal]

As an asian, American culture is fine.. it's just the other stuff that makes everyone flip on their head (*cough government *cough)

 

EDIT: oh shoot, by culture I thought you meant media and stuff. Okay some of the things I don't like about American culture: too Capitalism-focused, too big of a gap, not giving a sh1t about the poor and the disadvantaged, racism that is still prominent to a some level, people practicing religion and forcing their beliefs into others, trigger happy people, people who really can't even listen to other people's opinions, and last but not least: teen American culture. Absolutely atrocious.

 

The racism is absolutely ridiculous! I mean, after all these years we can't let this stuff go?? Do any Americans realize our nation was founded on near genocide of the native people and even Mexicans have been around for ages! They were the first cowboys! Along with the blacks!

 

On top of that, our holidays are greatly misunderstood. I'm not sure how the people in other parts of the world are aware of their own culture and how much they understand. But I am embarrassed for us and our ignorance of our own history. Most of us don't even know our National Anthem! I am only own of them...

[Imaginaerum]

Sorry I didn't explain myself better. You stated: "the constitution is what built america and its perfectly able to be translated to the present age". The constitution can't be translated to the present age. Because it was flawed due to slavery, land ownership, and women's rights. People as a whole deemed those things not to be constitutional.

That's what amendments are for... To change with the times, and (rarely) change some of the most basic rights of humanity, which was the driving force behind writing it.

[Yoinkerman]

The buying guns and constitution bit are absolutely correct! I've seen both in action numerous times when visiting America and talking to people from america. People act like the constitution was handed down by god and there's no need for re-examining any part of it ever for any reason. These people exist.

Though it was really amusing to see how many people were genuinely surprised at how awesome it is in north America.

[James_AJ]

The racism is absolutely ridiculous! I mean, after all these years we can't let this stuff go?? Do any Americans realize our nation was founded on near genocide of the native people and even Mexicans have been around for ages! They were the first cowboys! Along with the blacks!

 

On top of that, our holidays are greatly misunderstood. I'm not sure how the people in other parts of the world are aware of their own culture and how much they understand. But I am embarrassed for us and our ignorance of our own history. Most of us don't even know our National Anthem! I am only own of them...

so that makes a person on the street that I have never met saying derogatory shit just because I'm an asian okay? I totally see your logic, man. It's the year 2014. Even if it's the intrinsic part of human nature to pride some group of people better than others, I think it's about damn time people kinda suppress that especially on public, don't you think? White-eccentric way of thinking can be found everywhere and it's quite disturbing when that kind of thing is just so predominant everywhere, especially the news (*cough CNN Fox)

[NInety]

Well, just turn on BBC, it feeds the Brits what they want to hear, it tells them that they're better than Americans...

And the same thing with CNN and FOX telling Americans stuff about other countries...

[MountainDrew]

Well the main stereotype I can personally say is true is our education system is an utter failure. But still I wan't to know what else people think.

I can agree with this.  I hate our education system to its core.

 

Mostly due to it being the same process over and over again (memorize and regurgitate).

[CCap]

I'm going to be honest with you guys. I'm not usually the guy to post memes all over the forum but this one... it just... fits so well. 

 

 

Now to keep this on topic, I wish people would understand how messed up our education system truly is. People think that they can come to America for a better education, and in most cases they are right, but it is very far from the best. We take standardized tests on what the government feels like we need to know. Are you going to tell my friend that is one of the smartest people when it comes to computers is stupid just because he doesn't bother learning about science?

 

I have a quote that really fits in well with this topic from my buddy Albert Einstein and it reads "If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

 

That speaks to me.

[Giddyguy]

The main issue with the article like this is that all these foreign people who have come to the US have only visited a small portion of it. I live in the Bay Area(Silicon Valley) of California and here the culture is very liberal, diverse, and accepting. Religion has a very very small influence and very very few people own guns. In my city, the schools are very good (top in the state/country) and people are generally well informed on current events and world history. Now in the South and some of the Mid-West, the culture is radically different. There are some very racially insensitive people who are strong believers in creationism and like to drive big truck and have big guns (the typical American as thought of by many foreigners).

 

As for the constitution:

Sorry I didn't explain myself better. You stated: "the constitution is what built america and its perfectly able to be translated to the present age". The constitution can't be translated to the present age. Because it was flawed due to slavery, land ownership, and women's rights. People as a whole deemed those things not to be constitutional.

You are gravely misinformed. The Constitution was created to form America's second government after the declaration of independence, the first being the Articles of Confederation(AoC). The AoC formed a government that focused on a weak centralized government to allow the individual States to govern themselves freely. However that form was not very successful and so the constitutional congress got together to create a new one. The original Constitution, like the Declaration of Independence, avoids using the term Slaver because it was highly controversial at the time. Taking a stance on the subject could have impacted whether or not it would be passed and so it was omitted. They had agreed to reintroduce the debate on slavery after a few years later so that the new Government had time to stabilize. Contrary to your statement, slavery was not approved throughout, which is why the civil war was fought (in addition to other reasons). Rights for women and slaves were never explicitly denied in the Constitution and were only included in the amendments to grant the two groups their respective rights. I am not quite sure what you mean about the land ownership however...

 

The Constitution is a very solid document which has allowed the country to flourish for this long. Of course there are things such as Amendment 2 (which I don't support) that are out-dated and need to be Amended, however the document presents many checks and balances to ensure basic rights are not violated.

 

Education however-public atleast- is crap.

[toms94z71]

I was going to go on a long rant about what is wrong with the United States, I could easily write a book on it. I will just say two things, Corporations have way to much power, and the huge military budget is a tick the size of a elephant on the back of a mouse crushing this country with massive debt. 

[T.Vengeance]

From what I've heard, Science and Math are not really valued. 

 

(Please don't start a flame war from the next comment)

 

Especially when Creationism is still an argued topic. (in a sense that it should be taught in science classes)

[Hidden Orange]

If only I could find a warm-ish place to live in Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, or Canada... Paranoia speaking here: if there's ever a war, I'd like to live in neutral areas and not places like France, England, Korea, Germany, Russia, Japan, China, etc.

 

Anyway, as a person from the states, I kind of don't like how "American" means people from the US when "American" can refer to any of the American countries including the US. Also, I'm guessing people don't like being lumped together even if they're all human, but that's another story for later. Eh, it might be because United Statesians or whatever doesn't roll off the tongue right. If we were called the "Staters", we could use that to our advantage when we spew out BS. "Ugh, typical Stater giving out his misinformed opinions and treating as facts".

 

One thing I don't really get is when other English-speaking countries like the UK and Australia say the US bastardized English. Apparently, English is a fusion or rather, a messed-up soup, of Latin, early German, other European languages, and other native languages used in the ancient UK. Well, if we are supposed to speak proper English, then we'd all be using Old English akin to Shakespeare's long-winded crap - he's a great playwright, but I just absolutely hate his work despite its technical, historical, rhetoric, and moral merits. Well, Old English didn't last and ended up "evolving" or "devolving" throughout the centuries. Also, the early colonists in the US, Canada, and Australia weren't exactly well-bred people as far as I know. Basically, they were the "scouts" or "cannon fodder" to see if the new lands were worth the trouble and since they were already there, well, I guess they multiplied and we have our bastard English. To quickly sum this up: languages evolve to adapt to different situations, environments, and other languages. Old French, old German, hell, maybe even old Latin were not the same compared to current versions of the languages. Also, bear in mind that there's a gap between nations and with the internet still being a child, stuff like "aluminum" and "aluminium" didn't work out correctly. The US did fumble around with "aluminum" and "aluminium" until at one point picked "aluminum" when the standard quickly became "aluminium".

 

With Canadians being near the US, it probably made sense why herb was pronounced "erb" instead of the "proper" "herb". Jaguar in the states is either "jag-wahr" or "jag-wire" which is closer to the Portuguese pronunciation of the Tupi language of "jawára" while elsewhere it's "jag-u-r". Stuff like "color" and "colour" don't make sense to me - maybe they became lazy and dropped the "u's" in certain words. And neither does "grey" and "gray". Apparently, "gray" is the North American version and I don't know why. I use "grey" instead out of some strange habit I picked up - Digimon maybe?

 

Still, this isn't a state's only thing, Canadians are ripped on for their "uneducated" Canadian French by the French who speak European French - don't know about Louisianan French - and I'm willing to bet Central and South Americans are ripped on for their poor "mockeries" of Spanish and Portuguese. Ugh, I don't know if this is some weird superiority thing people have to use to justify who they are or what, but it's kind of getting old. Let's pick on them instead of getting to know them. Yeah, that'll lead to stable and friendly relations between each other.

 

Anyway, one solution I kind of have, but it's mostly towards the US, but can be used elsewhere, is with foreign exchange student programs. Pretty much every time I think of foreign exchange students, I always remember almost all of them being put into families typical of the US. I don't think I any of them have been put into Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, European, South American, African, etc. families. I mean, the US like some places, Turkey, perhaps; Australia, and Canada are "melting pots", but for whatever stupid reason, we only let foreign exchange students live with "American" families - white, usually blond, sometimes brunette, usually religious (Christianity), and potentially rich. Yeah, let's only show one side of the US. No wonder there's so many stereotypes geared towards one group of people from the states. Only one foreign exchange student, er I guess you can call him that, it was like letting your kid study and get a degree outside of your home, was a Thai student living with a Vietnamese family when he studied in the US. That's my only exception I can think of and I think it was only because his father was friends with the hosting family's father. Y'know, I'm starting to think other families are lazy... Come people, we need to improve our image here, not that I care since I'd like to move as far as possible from here just in case.

 

As much as the states has a bad reputation or view for other nations, I think pretty much every nation has a bad reputation to other nations. It's just more or less inflated, I guess.

[Yoinkerman]

Everyone loves Canada I don't know what yoor talking aboot.

[AlwaysFSX]

From what I've heard, Science and Math are not really valued. 

 

(Please don't start a flame war from the next comment)

 

Especially when Creationism is still an argued topic. (in a sense that it should be taught in science classes)

They're valued but a lot of the teachers we have a jokes and children aren't raised to appreciate the knowledge.

 

Side note, I find it so hilarious how so many foreigners are so surprised by our trucks. I'm going to have a fun time driving my F-150 over in Germany and the surrounding countries.