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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I'm sure any intelligent European will realise Americans are all individuals and not all are war-mongering, or think they're superior blah blah blah. The most common reasons I've heard for Europeans disliking America the nation is the wars they start, how they always want to be seen as the hero who rescues everybody, some jealousy/suspicion of their global dominance, resentment at the American media that's everywhere (despite the fact these same people lap it up), and the perception that Americans are ignorant, perhaps xenophobic/racist, uneducated, blindly religious and war-mongering.
The US has LOST Focus of its own country. It would have more respect and admiration from everyone else on the planet if they could just put their focus on their own citizens for a change, and let everyone else BE.
I worked with a guy from Poland who said an American in Poland would always be welcome. Have a flat tire & someone will stop & help or get you to the next town. He said Poles have never forgotten us helping defeat the Nazis.
I can't speak for European's in general, but in England at least I don't think many people hate America. Certainly no one I know hates America & a lot of my friends have visited there too & all only have good things to say about the country...
Now saying that there are certain things that bug people about American's. The stereotype of American tourists may be just that, but there ARE American tourists like that, loud & obnoxious, so they obviously give a bad impression & people may think that all American's are like that...
Also whenever I have been to the US, as lovely & friendly as most people have been, I have found most to be quite ignorant about the world outside of the US. Not one single person had ever heard of my hometown, Portsmouth, with everyone (once I had told them that I wasn't Australian!) asking if I was from London... Now I'm not expecting people to know of every single town/city in the UK, but the average Brit will at least of heard of most major towns/cities/states in the US & a fair few will probably even have a rough idea of where they are located, but every American I met had no idea about anywhere apart from London
Of course there are political reasons for some disliking America, but most people only reserve that dislike for the politicians, rather than the American people themselves...
There is one thing that does really bug me though & that is how American's have to re-make every single TV show, rather than just show the British version! Over here we show just about every American TV show, simply importing it & showing it. But America has an obsession with buying the rights of our TV shows, then completely re-making them! I find that concept rather arrogant & quite perplexing to be honest...
It is called: Snobbery, and there is no treatment for it available yet.
I can assure you that there are a LOT of talented people here in the US who can write original stories and so on, but unfortunately those are marginalized to where they work at Walgreens, and the same shows are "redone" with new actors.
Why the need for a new Dallas? why the need to make 10 different Spiderman movies? why remake all the shows that were successful in their times? it shows complete lack of creativity, and it is quite insulting to the local talent.
I ask why the Cable is filled with reality shows? and why every celebrity gets one? it is truly disgusting to pay $200 for cable and have NOTHING to watch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flamingGalah!
There is one thing that does really bug me though & that is how American's have to re-make every single TV show, rather than just show the British version! Over here we show just about every American TV show, simply importing it & showing it. But America has an obsession with buying the rights of our TV shows, then completely re-making them! I find that concept rather arrogant & quite perplexing to be honest...
Europeans don't hate America...... however some Europeans have an inferiority complex towards the US and try to compensate via harsh criticism towards the US and it's Politics.
Me? I love the US,always have ,always will.
Was in NYC in July and loved every second of it.What a great country you Americans have built yourselves,makes Europe look really old. I'll be back,I know that much.
IF you come here as a "tourist", then you have nothing to worry about, of course the US is cool to visit! Just about as much as China. It is the "day to day" life that is miserable here thanks to idiotic policies against the citizens.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Will21st
Was in NYC in July and loved every second of it.What a great country you Americans have built yourselves,makes Europe look really old. I'll be back,I know that much.
It's always been confusing to me. Why do they hate on us? Is it their media? Is it our media? Wherever I go, I see someone from Europe calling an American fat, stupid, or corrupted. It gets annoying sometimes.
It's not hatred, it's lack of proper information. What most people know about the US (or any country for that matter) is what they see in movies and documentaries, and any tourist they may have met.
But there are also lots of people who still believe you can make it big here, you can't imagine how many Europeans dream to move to the USA!
What a great country you Americans have built yourselves,makes Europe look really old. I'll be back,I know that much.
That's because Europe is really old, in an historical sense Some of the buildings, castles etc.. cannot be found elsewhere. Much of these building were lost of course during the two world wars, but I visited Prague a couple of years ago & was amazed at how much of the city still retained original buildings. Cities like London have a good mix of modern with old but most places in America don't have any really old buildings, that's why places like New York look the way they do...
...On one trip to SC I was in a restaurant when one of the waiting staff who was at a guess approx 17 or 18 asked me if we had telephones here in the UK ? no the girl wasn't stupid in fact she was rather inteligent so what on earth do they teach these youngsters in school?
As I say I have been to AMERICA many times what I have seen of it I like , but like any there are many ignorant people .
This is why I'm too embarrassed to write where I live, on this forum; I'm a transplant, and I don't want people to associate me with the bad reputation of the region.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flamingGalah!
..Also whenever I have been to the US, as lovely & friendly as most people have been, I have found most to be quite ignorant about the world outside of the US. Not one single person had ever heard of my hometown, Portsmouth, with everyone (once I had told them that I wasn't Australian!) asking if I was from London...every American I met had no idea about anywhere apart from London ...
I'm surprised! Millions of Americans have read the Harry Potter series, which mentioned other towns besides London; I would've thought that that exposed them to life in other countries.
I'm glad that some of my relatives were born in other countries, and, like my mother who was born in England, helped educate me a little about what life is like outside the U.S..
Now that I think about it, one of the public middle schools I went to in Colorado had Japanese foreign exchange students attend classes at our school and stay with host families for a few weeks; we were excited and welcomed them (likewise, they were happy and excited to be here and wrote our names in Japanese for us). I think if more American schools did this, then Americans would be more cognizant of other cultures around the world and wouldn't bully foreign transplants at school or be xenophobic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flamingGalah!
...There is one thing that does really bug me though & that is how American's have to re-make every single TV show, rather than just show the British version! Over here we show just about every American TV show, simply importing it & showing it. But America has an obsession with buying the rights of our TV shows, then completely re-making them! I find that concept rather arrogant & quite perplexing to be honest...
Oh, I don't like this, either! My theory is that the major American networks fear that they wouldn't have as big an audience who'd be interested in original foreign T.V. shows. So, in order to appeal to a mass, American audience, and therefore, increase a chance of success and wealth, they decide to Americanize it, casting American actors.
I wish foreign T.V. shows were shown on major network channels; I have to settle for borrowing some of them from the library. I loved Spooks. After watching it, I feel that American shows are too maudlin, hokey, and sappy- Person of Interest, for example, which, despite being set in NYC, doesn't really showcase multi-cultural ethnic groups. I'm glad that the U.K. did that with Spooks.
Last edited by s06; 11-14-2012 at 11:01 AM..
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Some of the buildings, castles etc.. cannot be found elsewhere. Much of these building were lost of course during the two world wars, but I visited Prague a couple of years ago & was amazed at how much of the city still retained original buildings. Cities like London have a good mix of modern with old but most places in America don't have any really old buildings, that's why places like New York look the way they do...