Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a bait or any kind of bad-faith devaluing or stereotyping. This is only based on my experience, hearing similar stories from others and wanting to understand. I’m aware that there are good and bad people everywhere.
So I’m European and starting on a good note I always admired America for many things like the freedom, diversity and cool movies.
But after more experience with meeting real Americans I noticed this personality type that I and I think many other non-Americans would describe as arrogant.
Like I stated before I’m not saying every American is like that and I know there are many very nice Americans. But I often saw that some Americans seem to only be nice on the surface (if at all) but actually seem to have this attitude of “I don’t give a f about you”. And I know that America is a very individualistic culture that focuses on the self and the belief that everyone can achieve anything on their own.
But I still think having a sense of empathy and sensitivity towards others is a very important core human quality that everyone should have. And from personal experience and also from a very prevalent notion of others both in every day life and when looking it up online it’s clear that many non-Americans perceive many Americans to cross a line there.
For example there’s a prevalent observation of Americans visiting other countries and acting like they own the place by being very loud, demanding and not accepting if things aren’t the same way as they are in America.
We know that Americans have very big issues with divisiveness and social injustice and it seams like there’s also this sort of “ghetto” personality including trash-talking, lots of vulgar slang and slurs and bragging.
And a general perception of money playing a big role as if many Americans judge someone’s worth by money and this attitude of not feeling like needing to help someone. I think there’s this famous description of a person lying in the middle of the ground in a public city and people just walk around the person not feeling the need to help.
It almost feels like they’re very entitled and put their ego up way higher than it actually is and lacking the quality of making themselves smaller/putting themselves second to treat others with more dignity.
We’re arrogant. Hope that helps
Oh my god I laughed and laughed and laughed 🤣 I needed this tonight. You poor folks, I hope you figure it out soon, it ain’t pretty to watch!
We’re trained like dogs by corporations to fight each other instead of them.
Noam Chomsky talked a lot about how political conversations in the US transformed into battles, as Republicans/Conservatives have adopted a policy of never working with Democrats to fix problems.
All this shit could be said of every other country in the world. Americans don’t have the market cornered on being a prick.
I watched a Chinese tour group practically destroy a museum exhibit. Germans don’t tip. Some Brits still carry a colonial attitude when it comes to people of color. We had to ban an Indian family from this restaurant I worked at because they thought they could bring the caste system with them on their vacation. In my early twenties, I almost got into fist fight with a Russian guy who didn’t understand why I couldn’t break his $20 with the money in my till.
Go out into the world and actually interact with people instead of painting broad stereotypical strokes on the Internet. You’ll see the capacity for being an asshole isn’t relegated to one nationality or ethnicity.
I could say the same about Germans based on their tourists, but it’s because the people you notice most often are usually the most obnoxious individuals. Then meme-level thinking makes the false assumption that millions of others must be identical to them, because “it’s obvious” or some such stupidity.
theres some confirmation bias in that most americans will never have the ability to travel abroad. so the group youre interfacing with are the more entitled, wealthier class which is also a much smaller contingent of americans.
@[email protected] this comment is mostly it. Live in America for a bit and you’ll see there are people that way and there aren’t. And guess what, every other country, too. Americans also have speech patterns that push more air, which sounds loud and projecting to many other nationalities. (Am American)
Not to be contrarian, because I think you’re probably right, but for example if you send my poor southern family to another country and expect better results/impressions on the populace, your gonna be in for some disappointment.
not to be that guy, but that’s selection bias
oops, thanks!
You’re welcome
I wouldn’t say arrogant, but I’ve worked with a lot of Americans, and there’s something most of them have in common. I can’t quite put my finger on what, but it’s in the vicinity or arrogance. I simply don’t have the necessary English vocabulary to explain it properly.
In short, I’ve found that most of them likes to swing their dick around and pull rank, even if someone else clearly has a better approach/solution/suggestion. This is far from unique to americans, but it seems more prevalent compared to the other nationalities I’ve worked with.
Confidence?
Maybe, but not necessarily in a good way. Unfounded, to the point of cocky, I think.
More than once have I had to say something along the lines of “Yeah, we know, you’re not the first to suggest this. There’s a reason why we don’t do that.”
…and, again, not exclusive to Americans. Bur definitely more common.
They have a tendency to be cocky, headstrong, and ignorant of the greater world and people around them.
I have lost count of the amount of Americans I have met and spoken to that think them and their country are the centre of the universe. And I don’t mean that in a mocking or mean way - many of them were amazingly nice people but they legitimately did not know any better.
I think a lot of ignorance of other countries and people are tied into how big the US is. it’s basically as if all of Europe was one country, had a shared, baseline culture, and everyone spoke the same language.
Over in Europe, you can travel through multiple countries, each with their own shared history, language, and culture, each distinct from another - all in the same day.
More perspective on how big it is: You can drive 12 hours and not make it out of California. And our rail system is pitiful, meaning many people don’t travel anywhere they can’t easily drive or affordably fly.
But after more experience with meeting real Americans I noticed this personality type that I and I think many other non-Americans would describe as arrogant.
Where did you meet them?
Tourists are usually only rich people who can afford traveling around the world.
Regardless, Nationalism is an idea almost universally taught in every country. I was born in People’s Republic of China and National Anthems, Flag Raising Ceremonies are a common thing. Chinese movies were all WW2 war movies portraying the CCP in a posiyive light. Similar to Americans with the Pledge of Allegience, National Anthem, and American movies also portraying the US in a positive light.
People grow up with nationalism, and of course feel very arrogant because they are part of a powerful nation, so they feel superior. And the US military bases all around the world probably make them feel like they own the world, especially if the Americans you were talking to were rich tourists.
America is a very individualistic culture that focuses on the self and the belief that everyone can achieve anything on their own.
Yes this is a thing I’ve noticed when I immigrated to the US. Apparantly parents in the US like to kick out their kids at 18, or sometimes at 16, and kids really want to run away from parents for some reason, even though its a very bad form a financial standpoint. In many Asian cultures, you aren’t expected to move out until marriage.
People in western cultures seems very anti-mask, where as in Asian countries (even the Democratic ones), they are much more willing to wear a mask.
But I still think having a sense of empathy and sensitivity towards others is a very important core human quality that everyone should have.
Empathy isn’t just lacking in Americans, but all around the world. But of course, western individualism is only making that aspect worse.
Tourists are usually only rich people who can afford traveling around the world.
That’s an excellent point. A lot of people are getting their impression of Americans from those of us who are likely conservatives, and therefore the least likely to show any humility or empathy.
It seems that way because we are, on the whole, actually arrogant.
Why does it seem like so many non-Americans stereotype Americans?
Ah, there’s that arrogance.
^case in point
I’m an American citizen, buddy.
Okay buddy. Stockholm syndrome isn’t a bragging point
Self reflection doesn’t hurt that much. I’ve been doing a lot of it lately. I see it as a sort of … Not inoculation, kind of a penicillin shot for the current Ill of thought, word, deed. We’re human, sometimes better, often worse, never a train not to seek to be better, but even then, we’re human. Some days are better than others.
That’s not how Stockholm Syndrome (not real) is supposed to work (it would mean I held my fellow Americans in high esteem, not the opposite) but whatever… It doesn’t mean I can’t recognize the arrogance of my fellow Americans, including one who literally had the situation explained to him very clearly but is still too obtuse to understand as if that doesn’t prove his arrogance. But you do you, man. Have fun being the Ugly American.
^When you get wooshed but double down on it and start insulting people because you didn’t get the joke
I’d rather not get a weak joke than be insufferable.
Because everyone hates xenophobia until it makes them feel superior.
You assume that just because you and your country is so ignorant to the rest of the world that we too are ignorant to you.
We experience your country and its citizens everywhere, all the time, constantly. You come to our cities without even learning how to pronounce their name. You get confused when we don’t know your local terms for food, drinks, podunk towns, etc. Your discourse consumes the internet, colonialistically driving all analysis through a purely “American” lens. At this point you’re so used to this digital status quo that I am regularly assumed to be American by default, even on local discussion boards. My news feed is filled with articles about your despotic leader and increasingly radicalized population, as they speculate whether this spur of the moment decision will crash our economy or totally collapse the world order. And then I’m told by you (not literally you) that “this is not who we are”, despite the fact that a majority of your voting population asked for this. Asked for persecution of your most vulnerable populations and cheered on as it was enacted.
I understand that the negative associations do not apply to all Americans. For one, obviously near half of the voting population did not vote for your current largest liability and are also horrified by his actions. My point is that you’re failing to recognise how omnipresent your culture and politics have been on the global stage for decades, along with your literal presence in our conversations. A lot of these “stereotypes” are formed from personal experience.
You managed to describe a feeling I’ve had for a while but never managed to articulate correctly. Thanks.
My point is that you’re failing to recognise how omnipresent your culture and politics have been on the global stage for decades, along with your literal presence in our conversations.
Well said.
This is itself arrogant.
Are you American? If no… Ever heard of stereotypes?
US citizen here, sounds like you have already figured it out:
And I know that America is a very individualistic culture that focuses on the self and the belief that everyone can achieve anything on their own.
This goes deep into the heart of the matter. A good portion of the population has been propagandized for literally decades that every man is an island and reliance on others is “pussy shit.” There is no conception of society. No one wants to fix society, they all want to become rich so the rules of society just stop applying to them.
Temporarily embarrassed
millionairesbillionaires and all that.For those of us with empathy and understanding of how economics and international relations actually function, let me tell you, it is a nightmare on our mental health. It has been that way long before Trump, too, I remember how viciously we wasted the world’s outpouring of compassion after 9/11 in response to that compassion we went and swung around our big military dick in the middle east and wreck millions upon millions of lives. It is a daily endless gaslighting by society that caring about people makes us weak. We often are literally denied opportunities to thrive because we aren’t following the right “script.” We will be passed over for jobs in favor of nepotism and social connections.
Like literally the entire fraternity/sorority culture in the US is and always was for forging early business connections so you can be a useless fucking loser but still rise to the top.
That culture has lead to the worst, dumbest, and least competent running the entire fucking country.
A lot of days it really feels like it would just be easier to let this system fucking kill me and let it win just to get it over with.
Somehow, though, people like me continue living out of spite for what America is and what it represents.
I have a soft center and part of me wants things to slow down and be more inclusive and understanding and to have time for more connection… and generally shift our culture away from survival of the fittest.
That didnt get me anywhere and i was poor as shit and was taken advantage of by employers and the system constantly.
Now i say fuck everyone else im getting mine and relish getting ahead. Its a learned behavior that i want to shed when i have financial independence. It is what it is.
It’s seems like USA’s culture rewards individual success above all else, hence successful people behaving like main protagonists, or even as of others were NPCs.
To be fair, other comments that speak about selection bias are also spot on: not all people there do commercial tourism, even domestically. The ones that do are successful enough to have that disposable income.
the american populace at large is deeply arrogant; not only that but also incredibly ignorant. it’s this noxious blend that is not only really popular to personify, but often lauded for doing so as loudly as possible.
American culture, partly because of bullshit mythos and partly because of religious like devotion to oligarchic capitalism, selects for low-empathy sociopaths and individual atomization/isolation. My favorite low end example is to observe my fellow citizens driving when I go to the suburbs: you are in their personal story, and you are in their way. City living doesn’t fix all that, but having to live in close proximity to neighbors and get used to compromise helps push a slightly more communal vibe.
But basically the entire culture is built around a get-yours-first mentality? And more recently an influencer-inflected sort of hyper-real understanding of one’s value and potential. We’re like a national exemplar for the dunning-Kruger effect, or like kids who cheat at online video games swaggering around proud of their “achievements”.
Seems like we’re in the finding out phase after fucking around though.
“I learned it from you, Dad! I learned it from you!” - America to England
UK does have a special hate for the poors and yes US models it on it and adds but UK version is the OG disdain for the less fortunate
Americans seem to only be nice on the surface (if at all) but actually seem to have this attitude of “I don’t give a f about you”
Nailed lol… an American wants people to like him while he screws you over.
Example archetypes: CEO, Billionaire, Manager,
For example there’s a prevalent observation of Americans visiting other countries and acting like they own the place by being very loud, demanding and not accepting if things aren’t the same way as they are in America.
That’s just poorly socialized people though. We hear of other countries tourist behaving poorly all the time… Russia and China for example.
“ghetto” personality including trash-talking, lots of vulgar slang and slurs and bragging.
I guessing you never met a British lad after a few pints haha
And a general perception of money playing a big role as if many Americans judge someone’s worth by money and this attitude of not feeling like needing to help someone
I am pretty every one is like this, it is human nature, some people are better at controlling it OR
masking it which ties into the first quote of this post.
Overall i think you called it right at first but examples you are providing is just shiti behavior people over all but it does support the original premises that Americans want to be liked while fucking you over.
I think it comes from the propaganda we consume that essentially say:
If you fuck people over to get paid, you are still a good person and other people must respect your “achievement”
