The Ugly American?

various | 4/9/06 | Reaganesque

[Reaganesque]

From the 1958 political novel "The Ugly American": "For some reason, the people I meet in my country are not the same as the ones I knew in the United States. A mysterious change seems to come over Americans when they go to a foreign land. They isolate themselves socially. They live pretentiously. They're loud and ostentatious."

From a "Study Abroad" website: "The image of the Ugly American is unchanged since 1959: someone who is ignorant of and indifferent to foreign cultures and believes the U.S. is superior to other countries. Sometimes this ignorance and arrogance is full-blown, as in the crime sprees by U.S. soldiers in Japan. Sometimes it is subtle, as in the assumption that Americans can always make do by speaking English wherever they travel."

[Reaganesque]

Loud, brash, refuses to learn the local language and customs or obey local laws. Funny how only Americans are singled out for such boorish behavior.

[Firefigher NC]

I contest that statement and will gladly debate you on this subject, but only if you change your xenophobic opinions. Otherwise I'm not speaking to you.

[JHBowden]

That'd be hiliarous if it wasn't so obviously true.

[Graybeard58]

Nothing changes, read "The Innocents Abroad" by Mark Twain.(1869)

[Zeppo]

I have thought exactly the same thing - leftists and other hate-America-firsters strongly believe the Ugly American syndrome, but are strangely blind to it when the shoe is on the other foot...

[Reaganesque]

Contest what? The notion that when you go to another country you should be respectful of that country's culture and laws? I lived in Chile for 18 months, learned the language and the customs and had a wonderful time there. It is a matter of simple, common courtesy to do so when traveling to or living in a foreign country. How in the world is that xenophobic? Why are the rules different for people coming to our country?

[garyhope]

"Loud, brash, refuses to learn the local language and customs or obey local laws."

Gee, sounds like somebody from South of the border.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

A local police department, faced with growing numbers of illegals, has made a bold move. They sent a number of their officers to a twelve week course to learn Spanish.

Due to an increase in crime involving illegal immigrants who refuse to speak english, assimilate as Americans or simply obey the law, local law enforcement felt that they should reward this behavior by going to school to learn their language.

Taxpayer's money would have been better spent purchasing additional pairs of handcuffs.

[Shimmer128]

Ok, so I've never been to Europe, but the rudest group I've EVER seen was a plane full of Chinese on the way back from HI. Oh my gosh, they were SO rude and uncivil!
No one ever mentions The Ugly Oriental

[GSlob]

Well, US has to be better than other places - not across the board, of course, but at least in some aspects - in this here and in that there. Were it otherwise, the development of the United States into what it has become by now would have been unthinkable. This is not to be taken into jingoism - quite the opposite, the eyes should be continuously open for a good foreign things and practices to study and possibly adopt. Don't we have Chinese food joints everywhere? And they are mostly mediocre, too.

[Graybeard58]

No one ever mentions The Ugly Oriental

Not to mention the rudeness of the jet setting Amish.

[Graybeard58]

Don't we have Chinese food joints everywhere?

And cats will be on the endangered species list soon.

[Jemian]

They isolate themselves socially. They live pretentiously. They're loud and ostentatious."

This predjudice is based on the false assumption that any ex-patriat with white skin is an American. But, at least in my travels, this predjudice is being diminished.

In 1999 my family was vacationing in Bali. At the resort with us were some Europeans, we could not distinguish the exact country. We spoke the national language and dressed modestly when invited to watch a Buddhist ceremony. The Europeans were not so. They were loud, immodest, rude and disrespectful of the local customs. At one point in this vacation another white couple (it turns out they were Aussies) was having trouble asking for a particular service. We translated for them. When they heard our American accents, they sighed with relief and said how glad we were Americans. They said that Americans are always friendly and helpful.

We work on an island in the South Pacific in a close-knit international community. One Swiss lady with whom we worked told me that she would rather have Americans as guests because we're so adaptable and flexible. She said that Europeans and Koreans always arrive with a list of demands and needs. She said Americans eat what is placed before them and offer to help with the serving.

The term "ugly American" is a misnomer.

[Firefigher NC]

I was just mocking a typical leftist attitude I've encountered when arguing with some of them. They'll end the discussion when it's going bad for them and hypocritically claim they'll be glad to debate, but only if I first change my position.

[Reaganesque]

I couldn't agree with you more. Honestly, what's the point of going to another country if you don't find out about the local culture? Even if you don't speak the language, find out about how things are done there, participate in local traditions where possible and above all, obey the stinkin' laws! Try to pick up a few phrases at least. But apparently, little of this common sense applies to people coming to this country.

[dfwgator]

Reminds me of how native Africans hate black Americans when they visit Africa. They think they own the place.

[Reaganesque]

LOL! Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Doe Eyes]

No one ever mentions The Ugly Oriental

Read this one.

Chinese on a Grand Tour

Or this.

Chinese tourists: Asia's new 'ugly Americans'

You are not the first to notice them.

[marron]

The term "ugly American" is a misnomer.

That is my experience. In actual fact Americans are very sensitive about coming off like the stereotypical "ugly American" and if anything bend over backward to avoid it.

This is, in fact, the thing that works in our favor. Foreign press is as anti-American as is our own press, but when people meet and deal with and work with Americans in the flesh, we come off very well in comparison to others. We tend to treat our people far better than do local firms and better in fact than do other foreign companies. I'm not talking about pay, although we usually pay better, but just in terms of fair, respectful treatment of workers whether they are skilled or unskilled, "blue-collar" or suits. Fair treatment rubs off, and has an effect of raising the bar for all the others.

Americans are famously blind to social class, and its normal for them to treat the guy with the shovel just as respectfully as they do the guy in the front office (and treat the guy in the front office just as casually as the guy with the shovel). People notice it. It doesn't win us any friends among the local intelligentsia, who hate it that a welder on an American project makes as much money as maybe a college professor there, but the local smart people are leftists who are looking for an excuse to hate us anyway.

Aside from your average angry leftist, Americans are generally well-liked where ever they go, despite what people are often told.

The "ugly American" is actually just the last conceit of the academic who hates it when he finds a Pepsi bottle in his favorite Andean village, because it spoils his "authentic" third world experience, while up the road American drillers and builders are helping to bring these folks out of the third world into the first.

[stinkerpot65]

I've seen how American tourists behave in London. Sadly, this is still true a lot of the time.