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What always annoys me is when American senators/presidents say at a Press Conference (say someone has been killed) "this AMERICAN man has been brutally murdered" basically insinuating that Americans are some sort of "master race" and that the rest of us don't matter.
This or that is better in Germany, this or that is better in France, on and on.
That seems a pretty normal behaviour to me. Of course I compare many things to what they are in Germany. For example for the U.S.: your kitchen sink is much larger than ours, that's much more convenient. Or German sockets are better than American ones. Of course I would try to say it in a nice way and I would combine it with something positives about the U.S.
Americans constantly ask "Do you like it in the U.S.? Do you like our food? Do you like Walmart? If they ask, they will get a straight answer.
But I think that I'm very open-minded and I don't have any problems to say: this and that is better than in Germany. I also try to understand why things are different in other countries.
What the heck are Americans suppose to say? The reaction they may get, or how people interpret their answer is not in their control.
Thank you. So many times people have said that Americans should learn about other places and don't make assumptions. Or that not everyone worships us. Both of these are valid points.
However, then when we inquire, we get criticized for worrying about what everyone else thinks of us LOL. Just no pleasing some people.
- I'm mixing my experiences by meeting individual Americans with my experiences I have made with Americans online.
- Americans are definitely different compared to e.g. Dutch, Spaniards or Swedes when it comes to the importance of the nationality.
The excessively patriotism in the U.S. leaves marks how Americans see their own nationality. Of course that's not the case for every American, but on average more distinct compared to people from other countries.
A good example why I think that many Americans put their patriotism or nationality above rational thinking:
Trump criticizes China quite often, sometimes in a very misleading way. China retaliates with "Trump is childish and impulsive".
A thread about this topic here on CD:
Quote:
China attacked our new president on several fronts today calling him childish and impulsive. They threatened to reverse China/US relations and cooperation in various fields. Are we going to tolerate this?What should we do?Should we put nukes in Japan to counter the threat? Economists are warning that a trade war with China would be a disaster for our economy. But can we tolerate them insulting our leaders this way?
A typical example for the grotesque patriotism in the U.S. that makes it obviously impossible for many Americans to think rationally.
Rational responses would be: "Trump should reject this insult" or "The remark from China is understandable". I think only people in Russia or China would react in a similar way like Americans here on CD.
Other example: American exchange student in Cologne get asked about her opinion about the Bombing of Cologne during WW2. She was shocked about this question. But instead of just answering it with the obvious, it was wrong to bomb residential areas or it was a war crime. She just said "we had to do this". Why is it even for educated Americans often so difficult to admit when the U.S. make a mistake?
Quite often one can find articles from American professors of economics that are spreading absurd ramblings about American superiority. And then moderate Americans are wondering why people from around the world think that Americans with their patriotism are insane.
On average, they're not well-travelled and their news media is very America-centric. They're already very fearful in their own country, so they naturally take their fears with them when first travelling to others.
Americans who are well-travelled or now live outside the U.S. are less like this, however.
I have the impression that for Americans the nationality comes first and only then other features like job, educational background or interests. Americans take it definitely more personally when someone criticizes the U.S. They almost always seem to feel the need to defend the U.S. even when it's absurd to do so.
Sometimes it seems difficult to discuss a serious topic with Americans because they put their country above rational thinking.
It seems that you have never met British or French people. Several peoples of these two nationalities take criticism of their nations too seriously.
A lot of non-Americans make generalizations about Americans, but get twisted up when Americans make generalizations. It's rather strange.
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