USA.
- Melodrama.
I don't know if Americans are wholly unique in this respect, but when it comes to politics, Americans are just ridiculously melodramatic. It's no wonder nothing ever changes there, they've been having the same debates using the same dumbass melodramatic examples for decades.
This applies to almost anything.
Take the whole medical care drama. Listen to the rhetoric of either side, you come away with the impression that either
- Americans are dying by the thousand on the street from untreated paper cuts.
- Europeans are literally dropping dead from untreated cancer while waiting in long queues for their first check up.
or immmigration! For christ's sake, it's either legalize them all for the sake of humanity, or round 'em all up and put em in camps and build a fortified wall around the continent. Meanwhile, engineers and people America really need can't even get a visa because of a system that makes no sense whatsoever.
I don't know if it's Hollywood that makes Americans so dramatic or what, but they definitely are--not only about politics, about literally frickin' everything. It's like every situation is a Hemmingway novel to be overcome in triumph or go down in crushing but all-too-human defeat.
2. Putting people into boxes.
I mean I get it. America is a complex society. So it's natural that people will categorize people in order to deal with them. And I'm not just talking about race. It's everything. I remember talking to an American colleague (young, fresh out of college) once about how much I missed biscuits and gravy, you know, with chunks of sausage and pepper...yummius maximus! Her reply: she literally GASPED and said: But that's...like...TRUCK DRIVER FOOD.
I was floored. What the hell? Has American society so progressed that choice of food ordered after a drunken night out defines a person? And it does. Dreadlocked white girl in college? Goddamn, you KNOW she's a vegan and goes to the Lilith fair and probably, I don't know, worships Ceridwen or some shit. Blackguy with your pants falling down? Sorry, you are either a thug or a wannabe thug. Eating biscuits and gravy. My friend, you are a definitely a redneck who probably voted for Bush.
What are you: a progressive? A libertarian? A Democrat? A centrist? A Republican? Can I trust you based on what candidate you look like? Are you a skate-punk? An art-fag? An emo? A surfer? A vile, stinking hippie? A punk rock-ah? A redneck? If you write poetry, do you dress the part, you know, all tweedy or at least all turtlenecked in black?
Americans have no idea how much this plays into the drama of everyday life, just how much they themselve adopt their behavior to fit into that whole milieu..
And do you want to know the worst thing about this? If everybody starts treating you like a genius, an idiot, a thug or a crazy person, then you literally start acting like one if you're not really really strong.
3. Waste.
I hate national sterotypes. And America is so big, the very size of it explains a lot of national quirks. Having gotten that out of the way, I'm going to make two that I think set Americcans apart that applies to most of them. One is that Americans are Wasteful. I mean, I can't recall how many times I've literally thrown out good food in America just because the portion I got was too big. And what's worse? I used to throw away MONEY! Literally. Those ridiculous coins. So heavy. You put them in a pocket and your pants fall down!! Pennies, dimes, nickels...I used to throw them away! OK, maybe I'm stupider than your average joe, but the point is, whether it's gasoline, food, money, energy or spending disposable income on patent crap, Americans are wasteful.
4. Ignorance. The other thing that sets us apart.
When it comes to other countries, I can mount a pretty good defense of American ignorance. I mean, it's hard to stay on top of things when you're bombarded with celebrity news and general bullshit 24-7. I get that. And I am proud to say that most of the Americans I count among my family and friends buck this trend--to some extent, at least.
Still, it's a well-known hallmark of Americans that they are generally ignorant about the world. It's a bit embarrasing. OK, so it's not like the rest of the world are all exactly aces about eveyrthing--they are not, but they really do know more than Americans do, especially about geo-political realities. Even highly educated Americans display shocking ignorance about the world.. Dumb people have an excuse. Smart people don't.
Apology: This may all seem too negative. I love my home country(though I'm personally better off in Europe); and I love the American friendliness, the helping hand to strangers, the way I can go to a bar and bullshit with some guy I don't know. That is, if he's not engrossed in his phone.
I miss the laid-backness that can characterize elements of American culture; the disregard of having to impress people with material wealth because; the relative lack of envy. The straightforwardness of communication and dating. You don't get that everywhere. There are great things about America! But these above are the things that I think are uniquely American that I kind of wish we could...de-emphasize.
No comments:
Post a Comment