I hear this persons perspective but .. I can't agree overall with the generalities he is making for all the rest of the 316+ million US people. I know at least one person who isn't like most of those "ideals" he's got listed .. that'd be me.
He left out the fact that most of the world thinks the US is insanely puritanical, or at least schizophrenic (make it forbidden, so that we can make money off it), about sex.
This is just a general fact about humans. We're social animals who care for status almost as much as we care for food and sex. If you don't notice the status games of other cultures, you just don't know the rules.
I actually agree with most of this but I am double sick of the essay-presented-as-a-list-of-little-known-facts form. This an opinionated view of the US, it would appeal to me more if presented as just that. The present form might indeed appeal to lazy readers and thinkers more, yes. But since I assume the text is partly intended to convince people stop being so lazy, it could by taking a different form.
The worst thing about this article, is so much of it applies to human nature, not just Americans. For example:
"people from other countries don’t hate us either. In fact — and I know this is a really sobering realization for us — most people in the world don’t really think about us or care about us."
This is not a sobering realization.
Americans don't think much about people from other countries either. Indeed, as a culture we're constantly unfairly criticized for that. We get trashed for lacking knowledge about the rest of the world, but that applies both ways.
How much do Australians know about Nigeria? How much do Romanians know about New Zealand? How much do the Chinese know about Colombia? How much do Mexicans know about Sweden? Point being, in my observation and opinion, most people are ignorant of anything but their own culture (and often anything but their own local culture).
How much do you think a billion people living in China actually know about America? Not much. How much do you think people in Ukraine or Spain or Congo actually know about America? Not much. They've never experienced the vast diversity of culture and people here, and most likely don't know it exists and don't care about it. And that is a shared ignorance: most Americans don't know squat about those cultures either.
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[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 23.3 ms ] threadThis is just a general fact about humans. We're social animals who care for status almost as much as we care for food and sex. If you don't notice the status games of other cultures, you just don't know the rules.
"people from other countries don’t hate us either. In fact — and I know this is a really sobering realization for us — most people in the world don’t really think about us or care about us."
This is not a sobering realization.
Americans don't think much about people from other countries either. Indeed, as a culture we're constantly unfairly criticized for that. We get trashed for lacking knowledge about the rest of the world, but that applies both ways.
How much do Australians know about Nigeria? How much do Romanians know about New Zealand? How much do the Chinese know about Colombia? How much do Mexicans know about Sweden? Point being, in my observation and opinion, most people are ignorant of anything but their own culture (and often anything but their own local culture).
How much do you think a billion people living in China actually know about America? Not much. How much do you think people in Ukraine or Spain or Congo actually know about America? Not much. They've never experienced the vast diversity of culture and people here, and most likely don't know it exists and don't care about it. And that is a shared ignorance: most Americans don't know squat about those cultures either.