h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, being one, I suppose I can tell you what I think about us:

TV-addicted--noone reads if they can just watch it or see it online

know/care very little about the technology in their daily lives

know/care little about the world: couldn't find most European nations on a mape of Europe, some couldn't find Europe on a map of the world

get their news from late-night comedy shows

vote on party lines a lot

everyone has a cellphone

rarely check their email regularly

I hope that helps.

wow. this I gotta see.
But let me summarize:
Americans are very insulated: ie: dont get around much, and when they do, they dont do too much research about where they are going. Dont know about life on other continents.
They rush, they are $ hungry, they talk loudly, they brag.
They dont act European.
They think every place is sort of small.

Wow. I think I should move.
But did you know that its an awful lot harder to get from New York to Canada then it is to get from London to Calais?
And PS: the USA IS actually bigger then most of Europe, possibly all of it. Makes travelling more expensive.
I guess I might just be starting an arguement here by defending, but we aren't exactly insular because we're snobby.
I heard they move slower in the middle states. The rushing Americans must be from the East Coast.
I dont either like people who talk loud and brag. When someone says "I'm good at golf" i wince. Surely you have those types in Europe as well?! Oh well, possibly they are the result of our idiotic 'feel good' campeign. Not possibly, probably.
I'm getting good stuff here. Keep it coming. Thanks.

I don't know how hard it is to get from London to Calais, but, before 9-11, at least, all you needed to get from Detroit to Windsor was a driver's liscence (or simialar state-issued photo ID).

ive already said my peice elier somewhere"evry one should have an opineon"
but i dont dislike america any more than other current power systems.

On a visit to Nebraska, I found that Americans DO travel quite a bit (300 miles for dinner!), it's just that it's so bloody enormous that they don't leave their country.

Two things which have annoyed me about Americans (who I've met). And I know I'm massively over-generalising...

1- They are very earnest about everything, including jokes. They say, 'that was funny' but don't laugh. I figured out after a few days they they did actually think it WAS funny, and weren't just humouring me.

2- For such religious people, they have no idea that compassion should have any relation at all to Christian behaviour.

We travel a bit, but we virtually never use trains except to commute within urban areas.

Amtrack, the US state-sponsered long-distance passenger railway nearly got shut down a year or so ago because of low ridership and unprofitability.

Also, Americans like big cars, and, for a country that knows nothing about the rest of the world, we seem to prefer imported goods (such as cars) over domestic ones.

OK, I got all the complaints about Americans that anyone seems capable of generating, and alot of "I like my American freinds," but no real defense, (other then, their courntry is so bloody big that they dont bother leaving it, which is quite true.)
So... How about nice stuff or defense? Something like: Americans are very generous: just check out the portion sizes in McDonalds. or something more relevant.
Thanks guys.

The travel thing is definitely tied to economics. It's 1500 miles to either coast for me and the cost of either driving or flying is prohibitive - fuel & hotel expense vs. ticket expense & hotel. Would love to see my husband's cousin in Okinawa but the cost is too high - $950 range to fly to Japan, then have to find transportation to Okinawa. I've had a yen to see pretty much everything in the UK for as long as I can remember, but it's the same story. Costs about $745 to fly to London. Average Americans who are concerned with eventually puting their kids through college (yes, we have a few) aren't likely to spend $3000 (not including hotels) to fly their family of 4 to the UK for vacation.

LeoAlpha,

>>How about nice stuff or defense? Something like: Americans are very generous: just check out the portion sizes in McDonalds. or something more relevant<<

you could have just killed this thread
Mox

One thing you might make note of:

US citizens have fewer vacation (holiday) days than Europeans. I believe on average (it would be worth looking up current statistics) that in the US we have on average 2 weeks (ten working days) off per year, while some countries in western Europe average as much as two months or more. A lot of this is off set by the exorbitant taxes Europeans are often burdened with.

And we have cr*p maternity leave - 12 weeks unpaid.

I think most of what people have said relates to stereotype vs. individual characteristics. Most of the people I know/am friends with are college educated with at least a bachelor's degree, have travelled out of the US at least once, try to stay up-to-date on current events, could locate any number of countries on a map if asked and are appalled when told 'Americans abroad' stories. I also know some people who are close-minded and uninformed and have no desire to change that. You'd probably find similar circumstances in any country.

Well, let's see.

The fact that Americans often know nothing about the rest of the world can be blamed on our horrid public school systems.

Not traveling--well, it is a lot harder to visit another country if it requires flying or driving 500 miles to the nearest border, esp if college tuition for your kids will cost quite a few thousands of dollars.

And, since our schools don't really try to teach languages, most Americans would only be able to go to countries where English is spoken predominantly, becuase, even if they do learn a second language in school, they probably didn't learn that much of it.

Can’t stop for your response R. Daneel Olivaw but have you ever wondered why the American education system does not offer other languages. Maybe it's because America feels it doesn’t need to ………………

That's probably part of it, but I think there are two other reasons.

1: Since it didn't in the past, there aren't that many multi-lingual people in the US, so there aren't as many qualified teachers, especially outside of urban areas.

2: Many US schools, especially urban ones, seem to be unable to just teach kids math and English on grade level. As long as they can't do this, there is state and federal pressure to devote whatever it costs (within the small budget for education) on these subjects and ignore things like social studies and science and foreign language until test scores improve.

Not all the public schools are bad. I went to a few that were quite good.

I learned Spanish in high school & French in college. Could have taken Japanese in high school, but it conflicted with calculus.

Music programs have been cut in a lot of places. One school I attended didn't officially have band/orchestra. The English teacher let it be known that anyone who wanted to could be in an informal school band if they were willing to give up lunch hour.

PS - only 2 of the 6 public schools I attended could ever be described as 'urban'. The school where I studied Spanish & the one where Japanese, French and Spanish were all on offer were both rural. At one I had 19 classmates, at the other, 41.

The ones I've attended have been horrible, but then I am in the worst school system in the state according to standardized tests, so maybe my experiances aren't particularly normal.

>> And PS: the USA IS actually bigger then most of Europe, possibly all of it. Makes travelling more expensive <<

Well, given your low price of car fuel and airline fares, it's actually cheaper in the US. Europe is gradually catching up with the liberalisation/commercialisation of airlines, though, to te extent that a couple of "national flag carriers" have beeen allowed to go bust. Even so, it's generally easier to get around, and to get abroad, from the US than any other country. Now getting back in...


>>So... How about nice stuff or defense? Something like: Americans are very generous: just check out the portion sizes in McDonalds. or something more relevant. <<

An abiding national stereotype of Americans is how fat they are. This is a problem that seems to be getting worse, by all accounts. Not something to be particularly proud of. It's *not* generosity.

I have eaten in America. The abiding impression I have of it is quantity over quality every time. I'd rather eat here (in London) thank you very much. (Can someone tell me where to get a decent dinner in the US?)

On the holiday front, US get more public holidays than Europe. But on balance we probably get more holidays overall. This gives us a better quality of life, I think. I don't think any country >> averages as much as two months or more. << this would imply some people on 4 months' holiday. If this is true, please tell me the country!

RF

True learning can't be measured by a standardized test - despite what the government likes to think.