Why Does The World Think Americans Are Stupid?

[DVV]

What is sure is that anti-americanism comes from a superficial knowledge of America.
Europe should shut its tiny mouth, sometimes.

[protohistorian]

While judging a culture solely on it's media is speculative at best, America is a capitalist society and the media reflects market demand. If there were no demand for Larry the Cable Guy on the History Channel, he would not be there. If 45% of the population did not consider Sara Palin competent, McCain would not have garnered 45% of the vote. There is more than good reason to speculate that nearly half of America is in fact just that way. Dave

[DVV]

You're right, Dave, although every country could be blamed for the same reasons.
Sarah Palin is called Berlusconi in Italia, and her French name could be Sarkozy.
I thus wouldn't blame Americans more than those who systematically mock them.

Bestest

[protohistorian]

True enough DVV. I suspect that the combination of the ease of seeing others faults combined with the aggressiveness of the exporting of American culture might be playing a part also. I would not say That Americans are more stupid, rather it is easier for a Frenchman or Italian to see the American stupidity than their own. Americans are hands down the most aggressive at demonstrating their stupidity to others. Just are foreign conflicts alone provide a global saturation of disjointed American thought. Dave

[Roy Corduroy]

Richard, I've got an idea which is smart for America. Get China to extinguish our trillion dollar debt to them in exchange for San Francisco. That's right, just give it to them. Throw in Oakland, too. It would be worth it to get out of debt.

And it would be good for the citizens of the Bay Area. Put a little structure into their daily lives. Wanna be gay, smoke a joint, have a baby out of wedlock, hit a lick? No problem. Red China has rules for all that.

A win-win situation.

Roy

[martin wilson]

Hi all
I went to New York years back, I thought the people were great, one teenager gave my young daughter a bangle while we were watching the St Patricks day parade, and generally they were like people everywhere are,no better or worse.
It takes a peculiar mindset to think that satirical shows like Family guys are specifc to Americans, they are universal and I recognise plenty of stuff that applies to my own country as well.
The only real problem I have with America is the feeling,right or wrong that their politics is drivfen by special interest,particularly corporate business, something we seem to be importing over here as well.
All the best.

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi all
I went to New York years back, I thought the people were great, one teenager gave my young daughter a bangle while we were watching the St Patricks day parade, and generally they were like people everywhere are,no better or worse.
It takes a peculiar mindset to think that satirical shows like Family guys are specifc to Americans, they are universal and I recognise plenty of stuff that applies to my own country as well. . . .

Similarly, one would not think that Archie Bunker of "All in the Family" represented all Americans, and nor that Alf Garnett of "'Til Death Do Us Part" -- the British series on which the Bunker show was modelled -- was typical of all Brits.

Chris

[The Good Michael]

Similarly, one would not think that Archie Bunker of "All in the Family" represented all Americans, and nor that Alf Garnett of "'Til Death Do Us Part" -- the British series on which the Bunker show was modelled -- was typical of all Brits.

What about the Pythons in drag. Surely thet were representative.

Mike

[Robert]

I watched a lot of American TV as a kid, and at a certain point all the old westerns like Gunsmoke and Bonanza were replaced by Charlie's Angels and Banacek. Ugh! What a decline.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Granted, there are some stupid people in the U.S. But I'd think that there are stupid people everywhere. So why do Americans have such a negative image around the world? Why do other parts of the world (Europe, for example) consider Americans to be so dumb?

The simplest explanation is often the correct one.

The US is the most visible country on the planet. It's also the one that has taken over from Britain as the nation that exports it's culture worldwide. A lot of people resent that, human nature, every one wants to be part of success, and what's left to throw back, the stupid tag.

This has been going on for centuries. The European elites scoffed at the United States as far back as the 1700s, into the 1800s etc, even though your average American was better educated, better fed, healthier and took a greater interest in civic duty than your average European.

I'm not American, I'm English, and I don't agree with stuff like waltzing into Iraq to rearrange someone else's furniture, but I'm a fan of the US and its history - once called the next step in human progress for very good reasons.

You'd be surprised at how little Europeans know of the US (much of the opinions come from television), and possibly surprised that you have a far more robust political scene than we have over here.

[Errata]

I'm not American, I'm English, and I don't agree with stuff like waltzing into Iraq to rearrange someone else's furniture, but I'm a fan of the US and its history - once called the next step in human progress for very good reasons.

It's funny. I was one of the only one of my friends to support the war, and I was told it was because I was "European" in thinking. There was no possible way that they could accuse me of buying into Bush's b.s., mostly because I was the one who informed them of it. They could not understand that people AND governments do the right thing for the wrong reasons. They could not understand that I thought the U.S. ought to have been shot by the international community for what we did to the Kurds in the first Gulf War. And they didn't understand that I thought that when you screw someone over to such a horrifying degree, you have an obligation to clean up the mess you made. And they couldn't understand that we got into WWII for the same reasons as Bush wanted into the gulf, that we SHOULD have gone in to stop the holocaust if nothing else. But we didn't. We liberated the concentration camps as an afterthought. Such an afterthought that they didn't even bother to warn officers that they might run into camps. But they did liberate them. The right thing for the wrong reasons.

And they thought that was terribly European thinking. Justifying after the fact. Rather "french occupation" thinking. Of course, being the only one of them who had in fact spent time in Europe... it's just sad to think that responsibility for fellow humans is a flaw now. But it is criminal to lie to someone about why they are being sent to die in a far off place. The very least you owe them other than a meager paycheck is the truth.

[DVV]

Iraq doesn't count.

The only shorcoming of Americans is that they don't play rugby.

[sleekviper]

We don't make a variety of televisions either, which seems odd.

[c.d.]

I think it might have to do with our beer. I mean Bud Light???? C'mon.

c.d.

[c.d.]

On the other hand, we drink our beer cold the way God and nature intended.

c.d.