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That man was most definitely rude but it's what people hear on Tv and just in general how America is so well unpleasent. I personally don't hate America but sometimes I surpose I do try bring America down when talking to Americans because you assume here comes another loud mouthed American but sometimes it's true, though I do know this is a stereotype. Aussies, canadians, kiwis don't have this stigma on them.
But how would you like it if you were visiting the US and were talking with someone, and suddenly out of nowhere they started trying to bring down England? You'd get defensive. It's the same thing, and it's not fair to try to rib people into being unpleasant and then complain when they are!
I was in England in 2006 and was at a small pub in a small town in Warwickshire, enjoying a pint and chatting with another guy at the bar who was curious as to why I was in town, offering me advice for places to go, places to eat, beer to drink, etc.
From the opposite end of the bar, a fellow goes, "Oh, you're an American?"
"Yeah, I am," I smiled and nodded politely.
"You here to bomb us and murder our children?"
"...what?"
"Oh you know, there's a little war going on in Iraq right now -"
"- a war I've got nothing to do with."
"Yes you do, it's your president's fault, you voted him in!"
"I voted for Gore and Kerry. Do you support Tony Blair?"
The guy I was talking to interjected and said to the guy, "if he was some dumb cowboy who hated everyone, why would he be over here having a drink?"
The intrusive fellow just sort of glowered and went back to his beer. I just wrote him off as an unpleasant, bitter man... not as some sort of uptight, arrogant European.
And that sums it up: the people who you're likely to meet who are visiting from the US are people who enjoy traveling, seeing other places, and experiencing new cultures. If you meet someone unpleasant - here or abroad - it's because they're an unpleasant person who's unpleasant everywhere. I don't like playing games about nationalism or blaming the country for an individual's transgressions.
An American who decides to spend $4000 to visit Japan or Australia or England for a couple weeks most likely has enough of an affinity for that culture to save up and spend money to go over there and experience things... so, how could you make a logical assumption that they are disdainful or dismissive of your culture? Wouldn't someone who's just all up America's hole and thinks other countries suck just go and buy a bigger TV and go jetskiing on the lake with that $4k rather than go overseas and complain about how it's not like being back home?
It always disheartens me to hear people start dumping on America as a whole, because more often than not, they're doing it in part to show that they are more "enlightened" or "cultured" than Americans, or people who think America's alright. And in the process of doing this, they actually make themselves just as ignorant and myopic as a hick making fun of France.
The example you gave is extreme that's just an exception. I know there are good americans out there but let me just sum it up I rather visit Canada or Australia than america if I was choosing a place to go on hoilday.
Now, does anyone else think this a rude thing to say to a visitor to their country? I did, and I was pretty young. I smiled and walked away from the guy.
I would never, ever do that to a visitor to the US. I always express interest in where a person is from and try to make their trip a pleasant experience.
I was at a Bevmo (more or less, a supermarket for alcohol) last weekend and there were a group of young French guys who were perplexed at the choices of beer. One of them asked me, "excuse me, what beer do you think is good?"
"Well, are you looking for a light, dark, medium...?"
"Anything, just... strong!"
I advised them to go ahead and try a bottle of California-made Old Rasputin stout, which is about a 10% ABV. They were interested but said that it was too expensive, and instead went with a few bottles of Russian Baltika. A couple of them then started talking to me: "We heard that all you had in America was Budweiser, but we barely see Budweiser anywhere. There are so many beers... it's very surprising. It's like Germany!" They noticed my riding gloves and asked if I was riding a bike, and then told me I should come for the Tour De France next year.
I felt bad for them; I've traveled on a budget before and had to suffer subpar beer, and they were nice guys... so, I went ahead and bought a four-pack of Old Rasputin. I got on my bike and caught up with them, then went ahead and gave it to them. They were shocked and thanked me; they started speaking in French... I don't speak French but assume that they weren't saying "Americans are a bunch of fat, greedy jerks... I can't wait to get back home."
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In a general sort of way there does seem to be a deep seated dislike for America in general by many Europeans, and in a way, I think many enjoy provoking Americans into a defensive position about their country.
I could never ever picture a Canadian or Australian being treated like that in the UK or Europe in general.
There have been a good number of times that I've read obviously-provocative attacks against America and Americans by Europeans and Middle Easterners online, and generally just chalk it up to teenagers and bitter young men who haven't traveled abroad or had much of a chance to meet foreigners out and about yet and are still going on some sort of nationalism kick. The internet can be a cesspit of ignorance no matter where in the world you're talking about... when you take a latent disdain or dismissiveness for another culture and give people a springboard on which to anonymously rant, you're going to get some pretty epic-nasty things said on both sides of the fence.
The example you gave is extreme that's just an exception.
It was indeed an extreme situation: the other guy at the bar, I was having a great conversation with and he stood up for me. The entire month I was in England, that was the only abnormally stand-out negative situation I had.
Part of the reason I didn't have any other negative encounters was because I didn't approach people with a chip on my shoulder.
Do you assume that it would be any different for an English/French/Russian/Japanese person in the US?
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I know there are good americans out there but let me just sum it up I rather visit Canada or Australia than america if I was choosing a place to go on hoilday.
That's absolutely fine; we all have our preferences for places to visit and that's that. But, your statement that there are "good Americans out there" implies that the majority of Americans are, by proxy, "not good."
Why?
I'm not trying to convince you that America is better than anywhere else, I'm just trying to get you to understand and appreciate that in this sense, America is not different from anywhere else in the world.
That makes alot of sense but I think the ignorance may have came from the fact if you live in the states you simply don't need to go abroad because the states have such diversity. Maybe that's why Americans are ignorant about the World. For example if you live in Seattle and you want to experience sunshine you just need to go to california or florida. But here in the UK we need to go to Spain etc.. But i'm sure you've hard this kind of thing before I guesing?
Not true at all. TONS of people from the states travel abroad to other countries. I have friends who are constantly in Europe and Asia from here. I have traveled to four different countries this year outside of the US, and yes this includes Europe. It is very ignorant to assume that people don't travel to other places here just because we have some diversity. NOTHING can replace the feeling of being in China, Turkey, Russia, UK, Norway, Spain, Brazil, Australia, etc itself. California and Florida are alright for sunshine, but nothing can compare to even the Caribbean, Australia, New Caledonia, Maldives, Seychelles, Turkish Riviera, etc.
While traveling abroad can be expensive (much more expensive than going from the UK to France), many many people here still do it. I think you don't really understand the people here, honestly, just by bringing this up. Certainly there are some that just say "Oh, diversity? Just go to New York City" but certainly many people are NOT like that. Traveling to other countries is extremely common amongst many people here.
Even at work amongst my team of 10, we have visited UK, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, and Portugal this year. I have other friends who went to Madagascar, Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, India, Kazakhstan, and China this year, not to count the places in the Caribbean like the Bahamas, Grenada, Anguilla, Dominican Republic, Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago. It seems like I have a friend/acquaintance here at least once every two weeks traveling to Europe or Asia.
I don't understand why Europeans are always singled out as being particularly anti-American. I don't think these sentiments are any more prevalent here than in other parts of the world.
On the other hand, I had a really great experience 20 years ago when I was traveling through eastern Europe right after the Berlin Wall fell,and the Soviet Union was dismantling their presence in Poland the Czechoslovakia.
My dad and I were in a little town outside of Prague at Christmas time. I believe it was the town of Jihlava. Anyway, we went into a pub on a cold, snowy night and sat down and ordered a beer. The elderly owner came out almost immediately and asked if we were Americans - in German, the only language we could manage to communicate in together.
We told him "Yes," and complimented him on his pub, which was very warm and pleasant in spite of being obviously put together on a shoestring budget.
He said something in Czech and gestured for us to sit still. He ran to the back and then came back with something amazing - two Czechoslovakia flags and two American flags (small ones). He put them together in a glass and sat them on the table in front of us, and then ordered another round of beer, which he would not let us pay for. Then he said this:
"I have not seen Americans since 1944 -before the Russians moved in and before the Allies defeated Germany. I am honored to have American GIs in here again - it's been a very long time." (My father is a Vietnam veteran and had told him that already.)
We were very touched by this display of affection - which was repeated over and over again as we took a two week long trip through eastern Europe in 1990. We were honored by their appreciation.
There are plenty of people the world over who appreciate the US and Americans, and what we bring to the table. This man was sincere - and in "real life." I take his actions and words a lot more seriously than I do those of people I will never actually meet.
On the other hand, I had a really great experience 20 years ago when I was traveling through eastern Europe right after the Berlin Wall fell,and the Soviet Union was dismantling their presence in Poland the Czechoslovakia.
My dad and I were in a little town outside of Prague at Christmas time. I believe it was the town of Jihlava. Anyway, we went into a pub on a cold, snowy night and sat down and ordered a beer. The elderly owner came out almost immediately and asked if we were Americans - in German, the only language we could manage to communicate in together.
We told him "Yes," and complimented him on his pub, which was very warm and pleasant in spite of being obviously put together on a shoestring budget.
He said something in Czech and gestured for us to sit still. He ran to the back and then came back with something amazing - two Czechoslovakia flags and two American flags (small ones). He put them together in a glass and sat them on the table in front of us, and then ordered another round of beer, which he would not let us pay for. Then he said this:
"I have not seen Americans since 1944 -before the Russians moved in and before the Allies defeated Germany. I am honored to have American GIs in here again - it's been a very long time." (My father is a Vietnam veteran and had told him that already.)
We were very touched by this display of affection - which was repeated over and over again as we took a two week long trip through eastern Europe in 1990. We were honored by their appreciation.
There are plenty of people the world over who appreciate the US and Americans, and what we bring to the table. This man was sincere - and in "real life." I take his actions and words a lot more seriously than I do those of people I will never actually meet.
On that note, take a look at this speech that Barack Obama held in Berlin before he was elected President:
Look at that huge crowd (200.000 people) that showed up to hear him speak, holding American flags and cheering whenever he says something positive about the US or European-American relations. This whole idea that Europeans are fundamentally anti-American is simply not true.
I don't understand why Europeans are always singled out as being particularly anti-American. I don't think these sentiments are any more prevalent here than in other parts of the world.
It's probably because Europeans are still culturally and economically the closest to Americans. If people in Latin America, Asia or Africa are being anti-American, then that seems to be more understandable because they are much more different from Americans generally.
It's probably because Europeans are still culturally and economically the closest to Americans. If people in Latin America, Asia or Africa are being anti-American, then that seems to be more understandable because they are much more different from Americans generally.
But what about Canadians and Australians? I never hear as many complaints about them as I do about "Eurotrash" and "Eurosnobs" even though anti-Americanism is as prevalent, if not more so, in Canada and Australia as it is in Europe.
Edit: I think "prevalent" is not the right word to use here because it suggests that anti-Americanism prevails, which is not true. I mean to say that it occurs just as much there as it does here.
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