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

Americans aren't all that bad (though right now I am quite annoyed by the average one!!!). The people I know from Great Britain who have visited the States all remark on how surprised they have been to find out how FRIENDLY and nice we are.

My theory is that Americans are falsely nice(at LEAST 75% of the time, plus or minus, depending on the individual). Hey. I've seen it. I've seen people give great customer service and then complain to me and say rude things about that same person once they've gone. Of course, we've been told, also, to be falsely nice and always polite when we work retail.... "because they should leave here happy and satisfied... we should be able to turn another person's day around by giving great customer service."

In the English mentality, well, I'd say, by and large, they believe that it is up to the INDIVIDUAL to make their day rotten or lovely. Here in the States, we're told how genetics and chemical makeup create the challenges of mental illness and homosexuality, for example. Sexual preferences aside, it seems to me that the English point at their enviornment and hold it responsible for mental illness. And "you just have to pull yourself out of it."

Americans seem very fond of having excuses.

With my customer service mentality, and, with what I'd like to think of as my genuine niceness, I saw a lady on the streets of Denver around 5:15 or so and I thought she REALLY needed a smile.

So I gave her one.

"Don't smile at me, !" she said.



Made me feel like .

I just kept walking, and REALLY thought about who I would or would not smile at next. I planned to say, "Thanks for that smile!!!" if I got a smile back. But it was Denver, and I didn't get one, though I had earlier.

....Earlier that day, OH BOY!!!! My art professor made us feel a bit . She had some information on the board (power point-- computer layout), which was a summation of the crappy chapter, dated from 1990 (which referred to research from the late 1970s) that she had us read over the weekend. She interrupted her own lecture to say, "If you're writing this down, I'm really disappointed (or ashamed, or something!!!!). It's straight out of the book." And made a point about how we ought to be listening to her.



I didn't bother saying anything back. I usually do. But I've never had such a demeaning professor!!!! I'll speak up in an English or History course, but this one!?? I am a novice to art. I like art. I don't very much like the papers she wants us to do. I am not an art critic. When I write about art, I want to WRITE ABOUT ART!!! Write stories, write phrases, write creatively in reaction to it, not about its context and what the art maker's purpose might have been in making it. Well, ha. Maybe I should write about the art maker's purpose in making it. As a fiction piece. That'd be in' interesting. And enjoyable.

Hee hee. Or I could very well write the bland stuff she wants, and then hand in a creative piece.

She KNOWS that some of her students are new to this whole artsy-fartsy thing. ::sigh:: but she'll rush through things. Then expect us to apply the concepts.

She also had us spend a two hour class session in our library learning how to research materials. That was almost all wasted time for me. This course is a 300-level art course. All students enrolled in such a course ought to know how to in' do their in' research!!!!

And then, she had us write a one page paper about the library training for five points. I let her know I thought it was pretty daft. But not in those exact words.

This professor is quite demeaning. But I have a very good professor for my Nature of Language class. He's very nice, and very helpful, and he makes us laugh and he is respectful of us, and invites us to contribute. He also doesn't assign horrible, outdated readings from outdated books (my other professor's second book for the course is 3 years older than the one I mentioned. The one from 1990 is written by an anthropologist, and the other is 13 years old, and I have yet to really understand how the chapters are divided up... and why!!!), or stupid papers worth only five points each. He also proofreads his handouts.

And best of all, he doesn't glare at his students and say things like "If you had come to class on time, you would have known that!!!!" which is different from anything like "If you have trouble making it to class on time, don't let it happen often, and see me after class to find out what you missed at the beginning of it, so we don't lose valuable class time. Thanks!" And that's the GENERAL message of most professors at my school, plus or minus a bit of cheerfulness and/or compassion.

in' Americans. Forgive ME for writing down my notes. I'm SO ing sorry I smiled at you walking on Broadway. At least in London you KNOW that no one really expects a nice smile from a perfect stranger.

Where I grew up, you smiled at everyone you passed by. Sometimes I can forget where I am, especially when it's a very nice June evening. But bloody hell. I think Americans can be some of the hardest lot to understand. They have a surface that is sometimes very different from what lies beneath.

Sure, that's human. But Americans are highly charged. Europeans, I've found in my meager travels, are not highly charged. At least not on the streets at 5:15 pm.

So I've heard (and can many times agree that in many respects) the English are emotionally crippled. Sometimes I think that's a lot better than being a U.S.-type: Irrational. Outright Cranky. Uppity and opinionated. Stressed out. Locked in to their own mindset. LOUD, LOUD, and LOUDER. No wonder there are so many nutcases in the States.

It all goes back to the American Revolution. We were real jerks, in spite of what the white men in suits up on Capital Hill want you to believe. We were rebels, quite disrepectful. Yes, the War of Independence was bound to happen. But we didn't have to be so bratty. And we were. We wanted what we wanted then, and we want what we want now. And we go kicking and screaming to get it, and kicking and screaming and crying when we don't get it. in' Americans.

At least in London you don't hear "Don't smile and me, !"

I usually find americans quite friendly. i met a couple in a cathedral in Liverpool, they were total beatlemaniacs though.

I wouldn't say the English are emtionally crippled, just shyer, and nervous about insulting strangers. There was an american kid at our school who was really shocked about how open everyone was - but that was between friends.

Stick with smiling at old people - They always smile back

Herrrmm... that's good advice... old people, kids, and people holding hands. That's what I'll stick to!!!!

Of course, I can smile at EVERYONE at school and they either don't see it or they smile back. And I can say things like "What a cool hat!!!" to them and it's all lovely.

::giggles:: I got teased big time by some blue collar workers in Southern England when I walked to (and sometimes from) Sainsbury's. I have a favorite floppy hat, which happens to be an Aussie one.

"G'day, Sport!!!" They yelled. I was laughing too much to really reply, but I waved and smiled.



Americans are spoiled, let's face it. And the English are fortunate, but I wouldn't say they are spoiled. Maybe that's one of the main differences....

Re: Friendly Americans.

I don't think it's always false. I think the main thing is that most of us have a lot of confidence, or, because many of us are nice (save for those New Yorkers, ) we are accustomed to being smiley as we walk down the street.

Builders are funny. They're always nice and jokey.

do they actually have beauty competitions in America or is that just the films (don't know why I just came out with that - I just watched Miss Congeniality)

They do have those. And they send mail out to almost every young girl to try and get them to participate, because I got one. No, I got more than one. And they pissed me off. Although I admit they interested me....

They have local beauty contests, too.

By its nature America is a foreign country, no matter where you're from. And the pop stuff doesn't substitute for a real culture.

Herrrrmmm.... I don't entirely agree with that... The pop stuff is crap. But we have SOME culture-- look at jazz. And Andy Warhol. Amd Tex-Mex food.

Yeah, I'm looking. What's American about that stuff? The combinations?

No you need roots in the land and most people haven't been living in America long enough for that. So they substitute other people's roots or the ones they brought with them that really don't apply.

The English have their crown. That unites them as a people. That's why they don't just chuck the whole thing as an expensive luxury of questionable political application. And that's why a lot of Americans wish they had a monarch despite the revolution or maybe because of it.

That's also why they've created the myth of the pioneer spirit and the frontier. It's a lie but it's about all they've got. A nation of nomads without the freedom that nomads have had because of their herds like the Mongols or their families like the gypsies.

Oh, the promise of freedom is there but the freedom isn't really.

You've got to be nice or you'll be branded a non-team player and lose your job which is the only thing between you and sleeping under a bridge. You don't have any land or crops or game to hunt and you wouldn't know how to do cultivate or hunt if you did have those things. You can starve in the midst of plenty because you can't recognize the food all around you if it isn't labeled in shrinkwrap.

And you destroy it in your ignorance, noxious weeds of the wilderness. Better to have luxuriant lawn although you can't eat it and you don't run a herd that can eat it.

So you're actually quite dependent on corporations and government to survive in the promised land, except it's not your land. The land doesn't own you although you imagine you own it, but the bank actually owns it and the bankers couldn't care less about you or it as long as they get the interest payments. The coercive power of the state sustains the bankers' tenure. It has to because the titles derived by treaty haven't been secured except by brute force.

If you don't believe it just try missing your payments and see how long they'll let dwell on land you think you own. If the payments aren't enough think about the taxes that ostensibly make it secure for you, provide the services you require whether you need them or not.

Then think about the water too. That doesn't belong to you either but it doesn't matter. Those who own it can't take it away from you. But you can take it away from them and you have.

So, where does all this leave most Americans?

Strangers in a community of strangers living from paycheck to paycheck, struggling to balance greed and debt and some of the debts are never paid and the greed? Well, it's never satisfied is it? If it were, that would mean loss of jobs. You got to grow the business or it whithers. There's no sustaining it. And that's what's wrong with the system among other things.

Hi, Analiese.

I agree with a lot that you say, but I do
it with great sadness. Many of my ancestors
could have been considered pioneers. They
don't *really* have a lot to do with me, though.
They were who they were, and I am what I am.
I can't change what they were, and what they did.
So far, I haven't heard of any who were slave
traders, but that may just mean that my cousin
who is in charge of the family genealogical
search hasn't gotten to them yet.

When you say that a lot of Americans wish they
had a monarch, are you basing that on research,
or on some sort of a hunch? Thomas Jefferson
said that, on average, royal families produce
a great leader once every 20 generations or so.
The rest are mediocrities or worse. I don't see
that as particularly strong proof that having
a monarchy would benefit America.

<>

I had various aunts and uncles and cousins who were
farmers, so your statement would not have been true of
them. My parents have always raised a lot of food in their
garden. But your comments about having to be nice or risk not
being considered a team player is right on the mark
for a lot of workplaces nowadays. It's true in mine as well.
Barbara Ehrenreich's "Fear of Falling" does a nice job of
illuminating middle-class fears of losing everything
they have. I personally own no land, so I technically
might find it hard to grow my own food. That's a scary
thought. On the other hand, I had a long period of vegetarianism,
and can find inexpensive ways of feeding myself. I can
grow soybeans and pumpkins and carrots, among other things.

I think that we Americans are losing our freedoms at an
accelerating pace. Four more years of Mr. Bush would
not be a good thing, in my humble opinion. But we could
also run into trouble with whoever the Democrats nominate.
And, our military is getting unusually vocal about what
*it* wants (see the influence they had with the Supreme
Court over the Affirmative Action cse that was just decided ).

The "coercive power of the state" has been around for well
over a hundred years here, so it's nothing now. The oligarchies
and robber barons of the late 19th century were probably
even worse than the ones we have now. At least we have
more protections for investors than we used to have. And,
our social safety net, meager though it has become since
Ronald Reagan's reign, is far better than what our 19th
century citizens had.

I hate lawns anyway! But I live in a trailer park, and
one of the rules is that I have to keep my lawn mowed.
I let milkweed and chicory grow on the edges of it,
but I can't really do much more than that.

Dragonfly, dear, I am puzzled. How is your
art teacher connected to the woman who didn't
like to have you smiling at her? And why are you
so sensitive to what they say? If you were a man,
and you were in boot camp, your drill sergeant
would be saying far more abusive things to you,
and the whole process would be considered to be
for your own good.

Your art teacher is apparently a jerk, though she
might just be an overstressed single mom who has
just escaped from a marriage to an abusive alcoholic
husband. (Or, she might be none of those things.)
Her "issue" is that she doesn't think anybody
listens to her. I feel like that sometimes, too.

There are about 275 million Americans. There isn't
a more diverse national population anywhere in the world,
to the best of my knowledge, yet you've formed a
negative opinion of them from a relatively small
sample. Maybe Denver has a cluster of ugly Americans,
though I doubt that the situation is as extreme as that.
Probably (I'm guessing here), your sample is strongly
influenced by the fact that *all* of the people that
you deal with in your workplace are (1.) Wal-Mart
employees, or (2.) Wal-Mart customers. And most of these
are limited further by the type of merchandise that
they are looking for in your department.

Good points, but I haven't been working in jewelry at Wal*Mart forever. Not even for a year yet. And I've been going to school since Fall of 1999. It's not like I don't interact with anyone there, either.

Not everyone at my school is based IN Denver. All of us have to make the commute to the college, because there are no dorms.

The rest of my family are NOT either college students or employees (and few are customers shopping at) (of) Wal*Mart. They are from small towns in Western Colorado. And the majority of them are racist, and either clutch their Bibles tightly or let their minds and muscles go lax. A lot of people on my father's side are not very ambitious.

And then I get the ugly spoiled Americans who live out here and visit my house as customers of my mother's piano lessons.

Then there are my professors, who I visit outside of the classroom enviornment, who come from a wide variety of backgrounds.

What all these people share is the fact that they have opinions. And they stick to them, and let their beliefs get in the way of further understanding. It's not so apparent at my college, but it is there.

And maybe I'm guilty of having opinions that get in my own way, too.

Beyond this usual crowd of influence, Pauly, I've experienced some very UGLY Americans. I can't think of any instance in which I heard a person of British background or of New Zealand background complain like I've heard Yanks complain. Maybe the New Zealanders were only being polite.

My complaints about Americans came from a day that I spent at school and in Denver. I wasn't near a Wal*Mart. I'd like to see if British people are as lazy as American ones in retail stores. According to a friend I have who is from Romania, who works at my store, our customers are horrendously inconsiderate. She's had tears in her eyes telling me about it, begging to know what is wrong with these people.

And yes, Annaliese, nearly all Americans are dependent on stores for their food. If that doesn't say something about the U.S. having a culture, why, what does!?? Our pre-packaged goods, our hamburger helpers, our two-minute macaroni and cheese meals, are those NOT evidence of a culture!??

To me, a culture does not need roots. The American culture is a conglomeration of cultures, with emphasis on the glory and divinity of the Anglo-European and the English language. Our culture can not help but be pop-dominated.

As for the pioneer legend, who is it not true!?? There is some truth in it. How the heck did every get this far out west if not for travel by wagon and rail!?? In every history, fiction is fabricated around fact. The Romans did it. The English have done it. We all need something to feel a tad proud of.

The professor and the woman who yelled at me have one thing in common: they were both, for one reason or another, unhappy, and they took it out on someone else. They disrespected another human being. Maybe it's a city thing!??

All cities are afflicted by the same concept that food must be bought, not grown or raised, by those who live in them. It's not just the U.S.!!!

It seems to me that Americans are allowed to treat each other like crap. Some are rewarded for being victims, others are let off easily for victimizing. The U.S. can't function without holes and peons. Wasn't it strange when, for a little while after 9/11/01, we all acted like we were united and supportive of one another!??

Now we're back to the American Way, that attitude that everyone's so comfortable with. It seems to me that few of us think about what we say, unless we are trying to get something, or unless we are thinking of a lie to protect ourselves. Otherwise we just open our mouths, and out it comes.

I don't really see that in the other nationalities I've briefly observed.

As for my sensitivity, Paul... I'm a pisces. I'm a woman. I'm a writer. This is my world and I perhaps feel it too much. There are two ways of building strength: through kindness and through cruelty. I like to say I'm the kind type.... but no one's purely good or purely evil.

I've also spoken to people while on my travels about Americans. The best explanation for "them" is that "they" are spoiled. They have the best, and they are quickly dissatisfied with new experiences.

AND I've heard people demo-ing food complain about British cooking.

I find Americans to show a lot of ingratitude. They love to complain, but how many of us have taken real action to change how things are!??

Looks like your having a bad day Dragonfly

You can't have figures like Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty without some culture behind them.

If we don't have a culture at all, I'd like to know why places like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, the Panama Canal, Boston, New York City, Mount Rushmore, and Washington D.C. are such tourist attractions. Why do people gather around the Vietnam Wall and the Declaration of Independence!??

Look at our commercials, our channels, our sports...

Look at Mtv. Look at Reality TV. Look at our news and how bloody narrow-minded it is. THAT is culture, for better or for worse.

So what if it is borrowed. It is culture.

And some experience culture shock when they leave this country.

Don't tell me we don't have a culture, when we've all taken Webster to heart. Don't tell me we don't a culture, when my Norton Anthology of American Literature from 1865 is 2852 pages of small type and there are authors, playrights, and poets who have yet to have their fair share.

Don't tell me we don't have culture after I've been to the Denver Art Museum. Don't tell me we don't have culture after I've been to the Smithsonian. Don't tell me we don't have culture when I find that the words I use to define things like gasoline and trash are not the same as the words other English speakers use.

Don't tell me we don't have culture when there are piano students learning to play Scott Joplin's Entertainer, Sousa marches, Ragtime Pieces, patriotic songs, Gershwin, Rogers-and-Hammerstein, and others downstairs.

Don't tell me we don't have culture when there are phrases such as Real McCoy, out west, back east, etc. Don't tell me we don't have a culture when there is African-American ebonics, when there are southern dialects, Californian dialects, and dialects all over New England.

What do you mean, no culture!???

I think that goes for lots of people.
Loads of people here are closed minded too.
That's why places like this are so popular. NO one here is closed minded!
People everywhere walk around with blinkers on so they can't see the beauty of the world. They just see the fly in their soup. Or ointment. Or whatever.
It's not just America. I like Americans. At least the one's I've met. Although I don't like beauty competitions or extreme patriotism. Or capitalism. But I think when the first people came to America they learned that to even stay alive you don't have to mind stepping on other people. And that mentality is gradually fading away. Just give it time and hope for the best.

Man I write a lot of waffle don't I?

*gives in and just hugs Dragonfly*

You said culture 14 times

GOOD!!!

Anyway... the stinking point I wanted to make in the first place is that an American will say "Don't smile at me, !" while an English person is VERY unlikely to say anything when you smile at them.

There's something to be said for keeping your opinions and complaints to yourself. That's one thing I like about the English.

And that's the end of that.

Now lets all hug Dragonfly.

Nah... arguing is enlightening!!!!

Werekitty