Posted on 07/13/2012 10:34:52 AM PDT by SLB
Imagine you have a brother and he’s an alcoholic. He has his moments, but you keep your distance from him. You don’t mind him for the occasional family gathering or holiday. You still love him. But you don’t want to be around him.
This is how I lovingly describe my current relationship with the United States. The United States is my alcoholic brother. And although I will always love him, I don’t want to be near him at the moment.
I know that’s harsh, but I really feel my home country is not in a good place these days. That’s not a socio-economic statement (although that’s on the decline as well), but rather a cultural one.
I realize it’s going to be impossible to write sentences like the ones above without coming across as a raging prick, so let me try to soften the blow to my American readers with an analogy:
You know when you move out of your parents’ house and live on your own, how you start hanging out with your friends’ families and you realize that actually, your family was a little screwed up? Stuff you always assumed was normal your entire childhood, it turns out was pretty weird and may have actually fucked you up a little bit. You know, dad thinking it was funny to wear a Santa Claus hat in his underwear every Christmas or the fact that you and your sister slept in the same bed until you were 22, or that your mother routinely cried over a bottle of wine while listening to Elton John.
The point is we don’t really get perspective on what’s close to us until we spend time away from it. Just like you didn’t realize the weird quirks and nuances of your family until you left and spent time with others, the same is true for country and culture. You often don’t see what’s messed up about your country and culture until you step outside of it.
And so even though this article is going to come across as fairly scathing, I want my American readers to know: some of the stuff we do, some of the stuff that we always assumed was normal, it’s kind of screwed up. And that’s OK. Because that’s true with every culture. It’s just easier to spot it in others (i.e., the French) so we don’t always notice it in ourselves.
So as you read this article, know that I’m saying everything with tough love, the same tough love with which I’d sit down and lecture an alcoholic family member. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you. It doesn’t mean there aren’t some awesome things about you (BRO, THAT’S AWESOME!!!). And it doesn’t mean I’m some saint either, because god knows I’m pretty screwed up (I’m American, after all). There are just a few things you need to hear. And as a friend, I’m going to tell them to you.
And to my foreign readers, get your necks ready, because this is going to be a nod-a-thon.
A Little “What The Hell Does This Guy Know?” Background: I’ve lived in different parts of the US, both the deep south and the northeast. I have visited most of the US’s 50 states. I’ve spent the past three years living almost entirely outside of the United States. I’ve lived in multiple countries in Europe, Asia and South America. I’ve visited over 40 countries in all and have spent far more time with non-Americans than with Americans during this period. I speak multiple languages. I’m not a tourist. I don’t stay in resorts and rarely stay in hostels. I rent apartments and try to integrate myself into each country I visit as much as possible. So there.
(Note: I realize these are generalizations and I realize there are always exceptions. I get it. You don’t have to post 55 comments telling me that you and your best friend are exceptions. If you really get that offended from some guy’s blog post, you may want to double-check your life priorities.)
OK, we’re ready now. 10 things Americans don’t know about America.
1. Few People Are Impressed By Us
2. Few People Hate Us
3. We Know Nothing About The Rest Of The World
4. We Are Poor At Expressing Gratitude And Affection
5. The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great
6. The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us
7. We’re Paranoid
8. We’re Status-Obsessed And Seek Attention
9. We Are Very Unhealthy
10. We Mistake Comfort For Happiness
*********************
Throughout history, every dominant civilization eventually collapsed because it became TOO successful. What made it powerful and unique grows out of proportion and consumes its society. I think this is true for American society. We’re complacent, entitled and unhealthy. My generation is the first generation of Americans who will be worse off than their parents, economically, physically and emotionally. And this is not due to a lack of resources, to a lack of education or to a lack of ingenuity. It’s corruption and complacency. The corruption from the massive industries that control our government’s policies, and the fat complacency of the people to sit around and let it happen.
There are things I love about my country. I don’t hate the US and I still return to it a few times a year. But I think the greatest flaw of American culture is our blind self-absorption. In the past it only hurt other countries. But now it’s starting to hurt ourselves.
So this is my lecture to my alcoholic brother — my own flavor of arrogance and self-absorption, even if slightly more informed — in hopes he’ll give up his wayward ways. I imagine it’ll fall on deaf ears, but it’s the most I can do for now. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some funny cat pictures to look at.
Oh well, who cares? I’m sure others think of us about as much as we think of them.
—In those terms, despite the average American having more material wealth than citizens of most other countries (more cars, bigger houses, nicer televisions), their overall quality of life suffers in my opinion.—
Reminds me of what Chris Christiansen said, He “gave up a high standard of living for a high quality of life.”
It is what I did when I moved to KY from Seattle. And it is still like heaven on earth for us, a full year later.
The problem is that more and more liberal Americans criticize the country and the people who have provided them an easy and comfortable life. They are unwilling to contribute and sacrifice to make our country successful.
All they can do is ridicule people who are better than them at the same time they take from them.
Great response!
All one need do is google this twit’s name and find his way to his website.
Based on a quick view, PostMasculine means one big ass pussy that is really, really full of himself, and one who is likely GAY but does not know it yet.
I’d suspect that whatever female conquests (if there really ever were any) he’s had wondered about his lovemaking. You know, asking her to put on a football jersy and helment and then taking things from behind and missing (oops)......
I doubt he’s really been anywhere enough to really see the third world squalor and hatred for this country.
1. Few People Are Impressed By Us
Pretty true in prosperous parts of the world,untrue in less prosperous areas
2. Few People Hate Us
Absolutely not true
3. We Know Nothing About The Rest Of The World
True when describing many Americans
4. We Are Poor At Expressing Gratitude And Affection
I’ll pass on that one...no opinion.
5. The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great
I’ve seen many parts of the world and know this to be completely untrue when compared to 80% of the earth’s population.
6. The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us
Not *all* of the rest of the world is a cesspool.Only 80% of it is.
7. We’re Paranoid
It’s a very dangerous world and it’s getting more so.Paranoia is *irrational* fear
8. We’re Status-Obsessed And Seek Attention
No opinion
9. We Are Very Unhealthy
To the degree that we eat garbage and sit on our hindquarters most of the time that’s true.Our unhealthiness is a product of our prosperity.
10. We Mistake Comfort For Happiness
Maybe.
I keep thinking of Robin Williams, playing the Russian immigrant in an american grocery store: “Where is the coffee line?”
Sorry, but most of this IS TRUE! I've lived overseas myself, and the attitudes of the Europeans toward us are pretty much as he described.
Have you ever watched the “Jaywalking” segments on Leno's show? I used to believe they were scripted; (nobody, let alone that MANY average Americans, could be so incredibly ignorant!) but they're not. I've seen similar levels of ignorance exhibited during impromptu interviews of voters conducted by news stations, as well as a few mocking videos of Americans’ knowledge(lack thereof) made by foreigners.
The average American these days is an ignorant, self-centered, arrogant, godless slob (but who feels VERY good about himself)—we can thank 30+ years of liberal brainwashing and dumbed-down standards for it.
1. Few People Are Impressed By Us
I don’t care.
2. Few People Hate Us
I don’t care.
3. We Know Nothing About The Rest Of The World
I don’t care.
4. We Are Poor At Expressing Gratitude And Affection
I don’t care.
5. The Quality of Life For The Average American Is Not That Great
I don’t care.
6. The Rest Of The World Is Not A Slum-Ridden Shithole Compared To Us
I don’t care.
7. We’re Paranoid
I don’t care.
8. We’re Status-Obsessed And Seek Attention
I don’t care.
9. We Are Very Unhealthy
I don’t care.
10. We Mistake Comfort For Happiness
I don’t care.
I’m not a world traveler and find some interest in your post. But I believe you to be off base on at least a couple of issues listed, specifically as you describe American culture.
Your thoughts are through the prism of your own experience and perception of the world. I admit some of your thoughts are also enlightening.
I believe your perception of America comes from your life lead here in the states in the big blue cities. Across the midwest and the south here in America the cultures are very different. I did see you said you visited most of them and lived in many states too. But if you live in Dallas and Los Angeles and Chicago and New York, you really aren’t getting the full flavor of the American culture. Try Demoines Iowa, Topeka, Kansas, Tulsa, OK, etc. Then live in small towns (which make up the majority of the US). You’ll find that you, too are a victim of American TV with regards to understanding American Culture. You, like the rest of the world understand American Culture through as Hollywood portrays it.
I have lived in 5 states (each for more than 2 years. West Coast, Texas, MD, VA and IN. There are VERY different cultures across this country and even city to city.
This author is full of crap. First, only idiots behave overseas as he describes, and most of those idiots are probably left-wingers. I’ve spent time overseas and have never seen Americans behave as he describes. So, either he’s focused on drunk tourists at the party hotspots, or he’s just full of crap.
Additionally, almost every foreigner, in his own country, when asked, will claim that he doesn’t care a thing about the US. He’ll proudly claim that he never thinks about the US at all. But amazingly, he’ll have an opinion about every single little facet of American life imaginable. I noticed this when I was in Germany.How is it that they have such well-developed opinions about our lifestyle, our politicians, our movies, food, etc if they just don’t care about the US? Because they are lying, usually out of pride. American left-wing nutbags, however, LOVE to go overseas and commiserate with the locals on how screwed up the US is (we are, but we’re no worse than anyone else and a lot better in some ways...or at least we were).
Finally, this “we know nothing about the rest of the world” stuff...well, who’s “we” kemosabe? The halfwit inbreds you hang around with? Sure, we’ve got plenty of ignorant people in the US now, thanks to decades of a failed left-wing public school system, but I would wager that when statistically normalized for certain ethnic groups, we fare no worse than Europe, South America or anywhere else. But the Europeans will understand how that all works soon enough, now that their multi-cultural mass importations of third world savages is well underway. They’ll enjoy watching their collective IQs drop as well.
To sum up, this author is yet another left-wing elite snob who feeds his sense of superiority by bashing the US. F him.
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The only thing that is really true in this article is that Americans are ignorant.
Dems are this author’s idiot cousins:
“The Idiot Cousin Theory of Government”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2850188/posts
Much of what this guy thinks is great about the rest of the world is funded in an unsustainable manner. Wait a few years after the European economic collapse and ask him again how great the health care systems are, or the free wifi. This guy thinks it is great because he gets stuff bought with other people’s money. As Margaret Thatcher once said: “The problem with socialists is they eventually run out of other people’s money”.
Other than that, from my travels he is fairly correct on items 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10. I knew a Swiss woman when I visited Guatemala who was very insulted when a local mistook her for American, so national pride may come off as hating the USA for some people. The other items are typically Liberal failings, especially the paranoia.
Bullshit.
What a yawn.
I wonder if he's run into many Frenchmen who dislike their own country? Or even citizens of Singapore who feel the need to trash their own countries? Probably not. Trashing one's own country seems uniquely 'American liberal'. The self absorbed mockery - the uber critical navel gazing - is uniquely 'liberal elite American'. And it's boring.
Hippies stink.
This author has done exactly the right thing and left our free nation because freedom is too difficult for him.
True freedom of thought requires a strong sense of personal responsibility(which mostly translates to hard work and sacrifice to meet one’s goals.) It’s not for everyone, especially for Liberal pantywaists who need Big Brother and Nanny Government to provide for them from cradle to grave.
And so I commend the author for exercising his God-given right to leave a country that he has neither the fortitude or respect to defend. It would be my hope that he departs and doesn’t return. We have enough ungrateful instigators in this country who want to “fundamentally transform” the nation into just another failing Socialist model.
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