What are Americans?

[Riverwolf]

I have always wondered what in the hell a 12 year old needs a cellular phone for

Actually, if the 12 year old gets into some kind of trouble, a mobile phone can be a great way to contact someone trusted.

I mean, I was walking to and from school by that point. Sure I don't live in a dangerous neighborhood, but still.

 

[DallasApple]

whats spectacular for me??LOL...Is I had a grandmother who lived to be 98..Her great grandmother was 100% Creek Indian.

I miss my grandmother.

 

[DallasApple]

[Actually, if the 12 year old gets into some kind of trouble, a mobile phone can be a great way to contact someone trusted./QUOTE]

AGREED!

 

[ignition]

Like being apathetic towards victims of horrible beatings due to religious affiliation?


Like football hooligans you Brits are well known for being?


And negatively generalizing all of us isn't a show of lack of respect?


Right. How do you say aluminum again? Right, now go back to flooding the world with nonsense of your silly royals.

You guys are speaking our language, always remember that

 

[tumbleweed41]

Some of us Americans are working hard to improve the perception the world has of us.

 

[Revoltingest]

You guys are speaking our language, always remember that

But first we had to renovate it from its decrepit condition.
Some automotive corrections:
"Boot" became "trunk".
"Car park" became "garage" or "parking lot".
"Near side" became "left".
"Far side" became "right".
"Lucas Electric" became "dead".

 

[LuisDantas]

South America is quite interesting, though, since I understand there are still plenty of tribes living as they always have there, some of whom have barely had any contact with foreigners.

I don't know what would qualify as plenty, but it is certainly true that to this day there are native brazilians that are not even aware of Portuguese language. We still occasionally find previously unknown tribes, although it is a rare occurrence.

But foreign and foreign-inspired culture is still quite prevalent down there, I understand, especially in Brazil.

Sort of true. Brazil is perhaps less xenophobe than Venezuela and Colombia, but far more than Chile and arguably Argentina. It is all but taken over by a mistrust of Europe and particularly the USA.

It has massacred its native residents to a trace, though. So much so that African ancestry is considerably more common here than Native ancestry, and far more so than many other South America countries, such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Perhaps more significantly, it is pretty much ruled by eurodescendents despite its racism being far less overt than that of the USA.

Despite all that, Brazilians seem to be among the people who less care about actual blood in the whole world. We are generaly fairly proud of our intermiscigenation, and of one would be hard pressed to say that a random human being "could not" be Brazilian. There are significant colonies of descendants of Germans, Ucranians, Japanese, Italians, Polish, even Dutch. And, of course, a whole lot of Portuguese and African descendants. Even a few Turkish and Lebanese (Muslim Brazilians are generally well-accepted if perhaps a bit insulated).

You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to tell that some of our Japanese descendants are Japanese descendants. I don't think there is anything quite resembling the complexity and rich opportunities of the Nipo-Brazilian culture anywhere else, although Hawaii and Hong Kong may challenge my statement.

However, there is a downside to it. One that few Brazilians give much attention to. We generally have very loose roots and very little caring for each other beyond actual family, and far too little in the way of actual common goals. Brazilians generaly crave wealth for wealth's sake and hardly even bother attempting to find common goals. Such is the fascinating flip side of our lack of a true national or ethnic identity.

 

[Assad91]

You guys are speaking our language, always remember that

And just like dentistry, we do it better

 

[Alceste]

It's a pretty diverse country, but most of the Americans I've met are uncommonly guileless and surprisingly ignorant of certain areas of knowledge their schools apparently purposefully neglect to teach that the rest of the developed world learns. Like, for example, the subjects of evolution and socialism and world history (as opposed to American history). Conversations with Americans on subjects like that are really awkward, since they seem to live in a parallel reality. Generally speaking, they seem to have an unrealistic and heavily gilded impression of America's status, behavior and reputation on the international stage. Perhaps because they don't seem to learn much about any political theory but capitalism, they have a pronounced tendency to assume capitalism is the best solution to every conceivable problem, including problems that are solved with socialism everywhere else in the world - and even in America, to a lesser degree. They generally tend to be apathetic about the impact of deadly violence. Internationally, that's demonstrated by an eagerness to start wars or enter existing conflicts. Domestically, it's demonstrated by an irrational attachment to guns designed specifically for killing other people.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[DallasApple]

It's a pretty diverse country, but most of the Americans I've met are uncommonly guileless and surprisingly ignorant of certain areas of knowledge their schools apparently purposefully neglect to teach that the rest of the developed world learns. Like, for example, the subjects of evolution and socialism and world history (as opposed to American history). Conversations with Americans on subjects like that are really awkward, since they seem to live in a parallel reality. Generally speaking, they seem to have an unrealistic and heavily gilded impression of America's status, behavior and reputation on the international stage. Perhaps because they don't seem to learn much about any political theory but capitalism, they have a pronounced tendency to assume capitalism is the best solution to every conceivable problem, including problems that are solved with socialism everywhere else in the world - and even in America, to a lesser degree. They generally tend to be apathetic about the impact of deadly violence. Internationally, that's demonstrated by an eagerness to start wars or enter existing conflicts. Domestically, it's demonstrated by an irrational attachment to guns designed specifically for killing other people.

That's all I can think of for now.

Why be so vague and flowery about us?No need to tip toe through the tulips you won't hurt my feelings.

 

[Awoon]

Why be so vague and flowery about us?No need to tip toe through the tulips you won't hurt my feelings.

Maybe She didn't watch the video from a Canadian I posted?

 

[Alceste]

Why be so vague and flowery about us?No need to tip toe through the tulips you won't hurt my feelings.

Lol - I'm just making "general" observations. I don't think every single American is exactly as I've described. I think your education situation is pretty dire compared to the rest of the developed world, which makes Americans somewhat identifiable abroad, but I certainly don't think it's their fault. To understand how it all came about, you'd have to watch Century of the Self.

 

[Riverwolf]

You guys are speaking our language, always remember that

Well... technically, no we're not. "Your" languages (that is, the native languages of Britain) are lost to the depths of time, unless you regard Welsh as having its roots far enough in the past to regard it as native. English has its roots in continental languages.

 

[Riverwolf]

I don't know what would qualify as plenty, but it is certainly true that to this day there are native brazilians that are not even aware of Portuguese language. We still occasionally find previously unknown tribes, although it is a rare occurrence.



Sort of true. Brazil is perhaps less xenophobe than Venezuela and Colombia, but far more than Chile and arguably Argentina. It is all but taken over by a mistrust of Europe and particularly the USA.

It has massacred its native residents to a trace, though. So much so that African ancestry is considerably more common here than Native ancestry, and far more so than many other South America countries, such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. Perhaps more significantly, it is pretty much ruled by eurodescendents despite its racism being far less overt than that of the USA.

Despite all that, Brazilians seem to be among the people who less care about actual blood in the whole world. We are generaly fairly proud of our intermiscigenation, and of one would be hard pressed to say that a random human being "could not" be Brazilian. There are significant colonies of descendants of Germans, Ucranians, Japanese, Italians, Polish, even Dutch. And, of course, a whole lot of Portuguese and African descendants. Even a few Turkish and Lebanese (Muslim Brazilians are generally well-accepted if perhaps a bit insulated).

You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to tell that some of our Japanese descendants are Japanese descendants. I don't think there is anything quite resembling the complexity and rich opportunities of the Nipo-Brazilian culture anywhere else, although Hawaii and Hong Kong may challenge my statement.

However, there is a downside to it. One that few Brazilians give much attention to. We generally have very loose roots and very little caring for each other beyond actual family, and far too little in the way of actual common goals. Brazilians generaly crave wealth for wealth's sake and hardly even bother attempting to find common goals. Such is the fascinating flip side of our lack of a true national or ethnic identity.

Thanks for the clarifications. My knowledge of South American history and culture is pretty much nonexistent beyond little factoids I pick up here and there. ^_^

 

[Shadow Wolf]

You guys are speaking our language, always remember that

Nuh uh! We speak American!

Not that good of a song, but the lyrics are pretty good.
[youtube]Z37Lu8-jmTM[/youtube]
Marilyn Manson - We're From America (with lyrics) - YouTube

 

[Pastek]

Besides American citizenship, is there any defining characteristic that the vast majority of Americans possess?

I would be especially interested in any responses to the question from non-Americans.

What do you think? Are there any defining characteristics for most Americans? Or is America fragmented into different cultures, each with its own defining characteristics?

Here, we define them as : puritans, ignorants about the world, selfish when it concerns their country (economy/agriculture/politic), greedy, too much patriotic/proud, they don't care what is in their food, the "God bless America" sound very arrogant

PS : They are just generalizations. i myself just knew few americans and they were cool. I would say that it's easy to talk with them, contrary to here i find people more cold. Other than that i don't know them enought.

 

[Alceste]

Maybe She didn't watch the video from a Canadian I posted?

Half of it. Obviously I disagree with that guy.

I agree with this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0rUtSLZTlc

 

[Revoltingest]

One good thing about Americanistanians is that most of us aren't as full of
smug sanctimony as some of our rapacious capitalistic neighbors to the north.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Americans are smug, arrogant, nationalistic, and think people of other countries are inferior, unlike the citizens of all other countries who continually rail on about how they are better than Americans.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If you have Netflix, there is a documentary called The Listening Project that is worth checking out. It's about what people from around the world think of America and Americans.
The Listening Project