[BaronChairman]

In America, we tend to often look at European destinations and places like India as exotic getaways. Especially in countries that aren't first world, we see them like simple lifestyle places where we escape the material life and apparently learn new, simplistic styles of living from villagers.

We tend to forget that people who live in those places do, in fact, actually LIVE there and have problems there, not agree with everything there, and may look at the United Sates as a cool, exotic getaway.

So I'm curious: How do people who live in other countries look at America? Are we the slobs who people slap on the back and say "this guy's nuts, but he's okay!" Do people genuinely not like us? Are some of them REALLY jealous of us?

[EirinnMoChroi]

Lol good question.

A friend of mine did an experiment for a language class. She wanted to know what English sounded like to non-English speakers. As native English speakers, we have no idea what English sounds like to others since it's just like breathing for us. To see what it sounded like, she put together long "sentances" using words that she's never heard before out of an English dictionary and then said them all in a long paragraph. It was pretty cool.

But I also think that people dont think about everyday American culture when they think of America. They dont think of the farm families, the small towns, the truly American things about America. They see the commercialized, tourist, globalized America. They see McDonalds instead of grandmas eggs with bits of bread in it. They see KFC instead of homemade apple crisp. I think my own culture has beauty and has an exotic side to it that others cant appreciate or choose not to because they only see the "fake" America, the same way we may see the "fakeness" in other countries.

[Scarfy]

A lot of people ignorantly assume that you must be rich if you live in America.

[BaronChairman]

Scarfy, on 18 January 2012 - 07:19 PM, said:

A lot of people ignorantly assume that you must be rich if you live in America.

To be fair to them, on the global social scale, everyone in this country is a One-Percenter.

[ChotooMotoo]

Not everyone, just all the people you see glamorized by the media.

[BaronChairman]

ChotooMotoo, on 18 January 2012 - 08:55 PM, said:

Not everyone, just all the people you see glamorized by the media.

Yes, everyone. People in this country at least KNOW what running water and electricity are.

[ChotooMotoo]

Ummm.... honestly so do most people in the rest of the world. They know what it is.

[Bruinrab]

Yeah, I would also add, there are plenty of people (think rural Appalachia, inner city slums, etc) whose standard of living is no better than people living in the slums of Mumbai. They may have more money, but it takes much more to maintain equivalent standards of living. Now, granted, the heat of the subcontinent adds its own miseries, but the weather in most of the US is often unpleasant too, especially in a home without insulation or heat.

My aunt and uncle came to visit last year from Pakistan. My uncle has been all over the world, and he's always held on to this kind of fantasy of leaving Pakistan for the US, because it's so much more "civilized". Once he actually came here as part of a cultural exchange program, he changed his mind. He was shocked by some of the things he saw (parts of DC seemed to him like a war zone - and he's been to actual war zones, "schools need police?!", etc). He came expecting roads paved with gold and left with a much more dystopian vision.

[ChotooMotoo]

You can have a better life with less in many parts of the world than you can here. That's why, despite being the largest economy richest nation etc. We're 10th place or worse by all other standards of living.

[Purple_alien]

When I was in Syria, people really didn't believe I was really American because of my race. Apparently, only White people exist in this country.
They also don't really understand how big this country is. I'm from the east coast, and my friend was from the west coast. When we tried explaining that she is 3 hours behind, they didn't really get it.
Oh and sometimes people think we all agree with our government. Funny thing is as much as they seem to hate America, the Embassy is always full of people trying to come here. So maybe they don't really think it's all that bad.

[Bruinrab]

Purple_alien, on 20 January 2012 - 01:41 PM, said:

They also don't really understand how big this country is. I'm from the east coast, and my friend was from the west coast. When we tried explaining that she is 3 hours behind, they didn't really get it.

Yes! Hurricane in Louisiana? Grandma's calling to see if we're ok. We're 1000+ miles away...

[BaronChairman]

Bruinrab, on 20 January 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

Yes! Hurricane in Louisiana? Grandma's calling to see if we're ok. We're 1000+ miles away...

I once heard a story of a group of British travelers who wanted to visit Los Angeles. But they wanted to save a few bucks, so they figured, why not fly into New York City and then drive a rental car to Los Angeles? Can't take more than a few hours! Genius! Why don't more people think of it?

Well, they got to LaGuardia, and caled the hotel in Los Angeles to make the reservations for that same day. Then they rented their car and hit the road. Several hours later, they called the hotel back and asked to move the reservation back, because they weren't even outside of New York state. The next day, they called again, and were going through Ohio, next was Nebraska...

[Sherlock]

Just remember Great Britain and America are two different countries divided by a common language.

[ChotooMotoo]

Sometimes I wonder if its even a common language

[BaronChairman]

Sherlock, on 21 January 2012 - 10:03 PM, said:

Just remember Great Britain and America are two different countries divided by a common language.

I'm familiar with this idea. I want to visit England so I can experience this division myself. I'm not trying to flippantly dismiss it when I say that. I'm just very curious and I want to be able to tell people in America stories about just how deep the divisions run.