Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Although, I suppose gentleness is not needed in Wasilla Alaska, is it?
Only if you want to be eaten like Timothy Tredwell. If being weak and timid is your thing, I highly recommend you avoid Alaska if you want to stay alive.
You said "some people" were proud to be that way. There are lots of "some people". So, are you acknowledging that there are all types of people in this country and surely all over the world?
You wouldn't be offended if I said you were rough, hostile toward intellectuals, violent, unreasonable etc? You claimed that in your original post!!!!! According to your logic most Americans are "not gentle". I am an American and most of my family and friends are American, so I am entitled to take offense. What if in your original post you substituted Americans with "Muslims" or "Blacks". If you did, you would most likely be called a racist.
I am unfamiliar with Portugeuse culture and therefore I am not going to cast judgement. But perhaps, I am just being irrational? By the way, message boards also bring out the lunatics and extremists. At least most American message boards do...
Also, I suppose the American professionals you worked with were rough, uneducated, unreasonable, loud mouthed, anti-pedestrian, anti-environment philistines. Right? If not, then I suppose you would argue that they were the "exception." Is everyone you encounter that does not fit into your narrow stereotype of Americans an exception?
I did not claim anything. I did not say anywhere that Americans are not gentle. I said that in my view they don't like people and things they consider gentle. Gee, are you a native speaker or not?! I wrote what my impression is and asked whether or not people agree with me. Some do, others do not.
If you feel offended by my impression, I don't give a damn frankly. I can't change the impression just because someone does not like it. I am pretty immune to political correctness. You can't change my impression by pretending to be the poor offended victim.
Your analogy to blacks or Muslims is not a good one. If those grow up in the US, they will have a similar mentality as the rest of Americans.
Despite being engineers and other highly qualified staff, my colleagues certainly had a different mentality than I do. Luckily they were far from being the Tea Party type, so I could tolerate them. Nevertheless, their typical American ways did get on my nerves at times and were one reason why I quit.
If you think all peoples and cultures around the world are equal in terms of mentality and other such characteristics, you are outright naive in my view, sorry. Move abroad and live there for years and you will notice that despite exceptions there are strong differences between the peoples of this world.
Nueling, there is certainly a coarseness about American society. There always has been. No question about that. But we Americans are a complicated people... so are you Europeans....but out complications culturally speaking are different.
Your question made me think of a story that just became public here. During the NCAA tournament (that is college basketball for the uninitiated) there was a story of a player for Kansas. In the last year, he lost his mom, grandmother and grandfather. He is now a college kid raising his 12 year old sister.
It is a sad story but we rough and tuff Americans eat it up because this kid is standing up and doing all he can to hold things together and raise his sister. It is that gentle side that makes the story so important. This kid is a hero of sorts because he has stepped up.
Americans aren’t ungentle. We are complicated.
I suspect some of that roughness comes from the fact that we are just a generation away from ancestors who settled lands no civilized people lived in. I remember my grandfather telling stories of his dad coming to the area where I grew up in the 1800’s. My Great Grandfather was a pioneer. It took a lot for those men and women to leave “Civilization” and head out to places that were harsh and often unforgiving. If a person fell and broke a leg, it might be a death sentence as there were no doctors.
That “pioneer spirit” was absolutely idolized by my grandfathers generation. They created a world power out of a wilderness. I suspect this has some impact on why Americans are…let us say “less refined” than our European brothers and sisters…
And even those who have come here in the last few generations. Those were people who left all they knew in the old world to come to a new world. The timid don’t make that kind of trip. It takes a certain kind of toughness to even consider the act.
Having said that, we do have a gentle side. We love to see our politicians kiss babies. But there is no question that we also want our leaders to be well capable of pounding our enemies into dust if need be.
WW2 would be the classic understanding of what it means to be an American. We joined the battle and did everything necessary to win including firebombing Dresden and A-bombing Hiroshima then when the war was over, we set about rebuilding the nations we worked so hard to destroy.
One could argue that isnt what America is now, but in large measure, that is still how we see ourselves.
Gentleness is important to us. But so is strength. In the American mind, those things can both exist at the same time. In fact, I would argue that we think they should exist at the same time. Its complicated….
To me it seems that Americans more or less limit gentleness to just a few people, mostly their spouses and children. There is no gentle default attitude towards society as a whole, maybe because of the exaggerated competition and perceived risk due to crime. I clearly sense a difference to my current host country. There is an American on this board who also lives in Portugal and judging from his posts in other threads he seems to have the same impression.
I agree with the pioneer spirit argument, however one might think that that is history. Except for the few people living in remote locations somewhere in Idaho or wherever, Americans nowadays grow up among lots of other people, mostly in or close to cities offering everything one needs, including hospitals and what not.
Regarding modern emigration, I am an emigrant as well, have lived in various countries. But at the same time I am rather timid and probably the very opposite of a typical American. Actually, I guess I am not tough and rough because I know that I utterly depend on the goodwill of my host country, nor do I live in the wilderness.
I think that power and toughness mentality has gradually turned the US as a whole into a bully.
It is an odd question. You should know that with over 300 million people, we will have large groups of people with every possible opinion and attitude.
Our country is no different from yours in that regard. Stereotypes only apply to small portions of any group of people.
While of course there are all kinds of mentalities and views in almost any country, the balance is quite different from country to country in my view.
Here are some common stereotypes about the country.
1. Brazil is a very poor country
2. Men are violent "machos" who are disrespectful toward women
3. Brazilian women are sexually promiscuous
4. Brazilians are superficial and arrogant
5. Brazilians are Hispanic
6. Brazil is the most violent nation in the whole World
As for Portugeuse stereotypes...
1. Cheap
2. Loud and obnoxious
3. Untrustworthy
4. VERY hairy
I'm not familiar with Brazilian or Portuguese culture. Would you say that all of these stereotypes are true?
By the way, I found all of these on internet message boards...
Open a thread on Brazil, if you feel like it. I won't even comment on the correctness of those stereotypes as except for one or two I have never even heard of them before regarding Brazil or Portugal, and I have really heard a lot about these two countries.
Nueling, there is certainly a coarseness about American society. There always has been. No question about that. But we Americans are a complicated people... so are you Europeans....but out complications culturally speaking are different.
Your question made me think of a story that just became public here. During the NCAA tournament (that is college basketball for the uninitiated) there was a story of a player for Kansas. In the last year, he lost his mom, grandmother and grandfather. He is now a college kid raising his 12 year old sister.
It is a sad story but we rough and tuff Americans eat it up because this kid is standing up and doing all he can to hold things together and raise his sister. It is that gentle side that makes the story so important. This kid is a hero of sorts because he has stepped up.
Americans aren’t ungentle. We are complicated.
I suspect some of that roughness comes from the fact that we are just a generation away from ancestors who settled lands no civilized people lived in. I remember my grandfather telling stories of his dad coming to the area where I grew up in the 1800’s. My Great Grandfather was a pioneer. It took a lot for those men and women to leave “Civilization” and head out to places that were harsh and often unforgiving. If a person fell and broke a leg, it might be a death sentence as there were no doctors.
That “pioneer spirit” was absolutely idolized by my grandfathers generation. They created a world power out of a wilderness. I suspect this has some impact on why Americans are…let us say “less refined” than our European brothers and sisters…
And even those who have come here in the last few generations. Those were people who left all they knew in the old world to come to a new world. The timid don’t make that kind of trip. It takes a certain kind of toughness to even consider the act.
Having said that, we do have a gentle side. We love to see our politicians kiss babies. But there is no question that we also want our leaders to be well capable of pounding our enemies into dust if need be.
WW2 would be the classic understanding of what it means to be an American. We joined the battle and did everything necessary to win including firebombing Dresden and A-bombing Hiroshima then when the war was over, we set about rebuilding the nations we worked so hard to destroy.
One could argue that isnt what America is now, but in large measure, that is still how we see ourselves.
Gentleness is important to us. But so is strength. In the American mind, those things can both exist at the same time. In fact, I would argue that we think they should exist at the same time. Its complicated….
What you call "less refined" I define as "out of touch with reality." That "pioneer spirit" to which you refer is still alive and well, judging by the number of people moving to Alaska to live off the grid. Europeans and Asians come to Alaska for a vacation, but Americans come to live in one of the harshest environments on the planet.
Some do not make it but survive, others die in the attempt. That "pioneer spirit" is still there, and those who do make it are respected for their accomplishment. As you correctly pointed out, nature is not forgiving or "gentle." A broken leg could indeed be a death sentence. That is reality.
Europe has been removed from that reality for centuries. They live with support systems that provide assistance should they fail. Failure in the real world could mean your life, so their is no room for mistakes.
What you call "less refined" I define as "out of touch with reality." That "pioneer spirit" to which you refer is still alive and well, judging by the number of people moving to Alaska to live off the grid. Europeans and Asians come to Alaska for a vacation, but Americans come to live in one of the harshest environments on the planet.
Some do not make it but survive, others die in the attempt. That "pioneer spirit" is still there, and those who do make it are respected for their accomplishment. As you correctly pointed out, nature is not forgiving or "gentle." A broken leg could indeed be a death sentence. That is reality.
Europe has been removed from that reality for centuries. They live with support systems that provide assistance should they fail. Failure in the real world could mean your life, so their is no room for mistakes.
What you call "less refined" I define as "out of touch with reality." That "pioneer spirit" to which you refer is still alive and well, judging by the number of people moving to Alaska to live off the grid. Europeans and Asians come to Alaska for a vacation, but Americans come to live in one of the harshest environments on the planet.
Some do not make it but survive, others die in the attempt. That "pioneer spirit" is still there, and those who do make it are respected for their accomplishment. As you correctly pointed out, nature is not forgiving or "gentle." A broken leg could indeed be a death sentence. That is reality.
Europe has been removed from that reality for centuries. They live with support systems that provide assistance should they fail. Failure in the real world could mean your life, so their is no room for mistakes.
The overwhelming majority of people in Alaska live in the cities, which are not more hostile than cities in the Midwest in terms of climate, far from being one of the harshest environments on the planet.
Anchorage for instance has about the same winter temps as Minneapolis, Juneau is clearly milder than Minneapolis.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
By the way, message boards also bring out the lunatics and extremists. At least most American message boards do... 
