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True, but sometimes people do need a reality check, like some of the people who go on American Idol and can't sing, but have been told they can by others. You think it would have been better to find out earlier than in front of millions...
Say something is on your face one day, you are talking to someone close and they say nothing and you walk to the bathroom and think why couldn't they say anything, there are many examples of times when you can be straightforward to get to the point without hurting feelings.
Well, Kathryn responded well to this, but I'll reiterate. No one asked this guy for his opinion. Many think he actually wrote this blog to draw readers to his site, but hey! He wouldn't be that crass, would he?
I'm simply not buying the whole "in Europe nobody judges you based on what you have" argument. I guarantee you that people will have different perspectives on you over there based on how you dress just like they do over here. And also, considering the staunch class systems many European countries had for years, I'm not too quick to hop on the bandwagon for Europe on this particular issue.
And before people say I'm just being a sensitive, American apologist, I'll have you know that I criticize aspects of the U.S. as well. It just irritates me when people self-righteously shove Europe down other people's throat as being the perfect utopia of tolerance and magnanimity. Please. They're human beings like the rest of us and they have their own biases and idiosyncrasies.
Well, Kathryn responded well to this, but I'll reiterate. No one asked this guy for his opinion. Many think he actually wrote this blog to draw readers to his site, but hey! He wouldn't be that crass, would he?
He has a travel blog and writes his opinion. He also didn't make anyone listen to him. Writing a blog post complaining and complaining while traveling to the locals's face are two different things.
I've read other travel writings were the authors engage in some criticisms of the country's they visit, I don't mind reading them.
He has a travel blog and writes his opinion. He also didn't make anyone listen to him. Writing a blog post complaining and complaining while traveling to the locals's face are two different things.
I've read other travel writings were the authors engage in some criticisms of the country's they visit, I don't mind reading them.
I've read a lot of travel articles, and I've never read anything quite like this. A travel writer might complain about bad service somewhere; this guy complained about good service. And so on. The shtick about not being able to find a restaurant after an hour's walk in Chicago is total BS; I think even you agreed with that. There was just a "je ne sais quois" about this article; it went way beyond a travel review. It was a general diatribe about American culture.
I've read a lot of travel articles, and I've never read anything quite like this. A travel writer might complain about bad service somewhere; this guy complained about good service. And so on. The shtick about not being able to find a restaurant after an hour's walk in Chicago is total BS; I think even you agreed with that. There was just a "je ne sais quois" about this article; it went way beyond a travel review. It was a general diatribe about American culture.
Yes, but you're overlooking something. We should just get over it, and be grateful, because...HE'LL BE BACK!
That is 17 reasons I am glad they wont be coming, we have enough people here as it is and plenty spilling over into our country we dont have room for to begin with!
I've read a lot of travel articles, and I've never read anything quite like this. A travel writer might complain about bad service somewhere; this guy complained about good service. And so on. The shtick about not being able to find a restaurant after an hour's walk in Chicago is total BS; I think even you agreed with that. There was just a "je ne sais quois" about this article; it went way beyond a travel review. It was a general diatribe about American culture.
Heck, pick just about any suburb out here in the western half of the country and it'd be a real challenge not to be able to find a real sit down restaurant within an hour's walk. I could just pick a direction at random and just start walking and be guaranteed to run into at least on restaurant within a half hour's walk. Restaurant, not fast food. The only way I could manage not finding anything in my fairly sleep corner of a suburb is if I walked in circles for an hour. I mean, I know city folk often have no sense of direction to speak of -- which is, in my opinion, one of the reasons they insist on having grids with numbered streets in one direction and lettered in the other to prevent their getting lost -- but are they really that bad? I mean, I now they can't tell the difference between a two snout houses even if they're different colors but c'mon.
Heck, pick just about any suburb out here in the western half of the country and it'd be a real challenge not to be able to find a real sit down restaurant within an hour's walk. I could just pick a direction at random and just start walking and be guaranteed to run into at least on restaurant within a half hour's walk. Restaurant, not fast food. The only way I could manage not finding anything in my fairly sleep corner of a suburb is if I walked in circles for an hour.
The place I grew up in has a few restaurants within 40 minutes (it was worse than most but my parents purposefully selected their house for isolation), but you'd have to know which direction to go in. An out of towners wouldn't know. But, I like to have a map available with me when traveling — or these days, a smart phone is a big help traveling, it came in very handy when I spent time traveling in the Western US.
Back when I was a teenager, I enjoyed biking around the area without a map, and seeing how well I got around. Got lost and then unlost.
Quote:
I mean, I know city folk often have no sense of direction to speak of -- which is, in my opinion, one of the reasons they insist on having grids with numbered streets in one direction and lettered in the other to prevent their getting lost -- but are they really that bad? I mean, I now they can't tell the difference between a two snout houses even if they're different colors but c'mon.
The author of the piece comes from a place without grids or numbered street.
1. Overly sensitive- judging by his later reasons, I'd say this guy is too sensitive. And PC isn't a huge deal if you aren't in media or anything. In a casual conversation, no one really cares.
2. Awesome- words change meanings. If you wouldn't want to live somewhere because of a word, you won't be happy anywhere.
3. Simles- it's called friendliness. Not really a bad thing.
4. Tipping- this one is understandable, but you get used to it. In other countries where tipping is not the custom, you're just paying for it in your regular bill anyway.
5. False prices- kind of trivial. Everyone knows everything costs slightly more than what it says on the tag.
6. Marketing- I agree the advertising sucks, but I tend to just ignore it.
7. Consumerism- welcome to the western world. The Apple example isn't really that true, either. Most people do not buy every new edition.
8. Stereotypes- give me a break. Every country has stereotypes. This is far from unique to America. And he's flat out lying when he says people think they don't have airports or that they are all potato farmers. At this point it's easy to tell he's a jag off, if it wasn't already.
9. Heritage-We're a nation of immigrants. Obviously you're more Irish than them, but who cares. They're just trying to talk to you.
10. Drinking- Look at the statistics. Drunk driving deaths have plummeted since it was raised to 21. And showing an ID isn't that big of a deal, really.
11. Religion- Again, he's making stuff up here. I'm an atheist myself, but I really don't feel the vast majority of people are in your face. To say you can't have a conversation without talking about Jesus is straight up BS. And schools teach science (think evolution), not creation and other religion, so he's wrong again.
12. Corporations- first good point he's had.
13. Car culture- another good point, though many people actually like it how it is.
14. Fast paced- life is business-oriented here. There are goods and bads to it. It certainly isn't for everyone.
15. Greed- Basically the same as above. Most people strike a balance between slacker and work-obsessive.
16. Portions- It's true, but I'd rather have too much than too little. If you have self control, you'll be fine. If other people don't, it doesn't affect you.
17. Nationalism- This is pretty overplayed as well. And he's a flat out liar if he says he's more afraid in DOWNTOWN Chicago or San Francisco than one of the most dangerous cities in South America.
In my opinion he should have kept the list at 10. Many of these are dumb reasons. There are some legitimate complains though.
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