Do you think you think like American?

[temnov]

What does it mean - to think like American? My American friends tell me I'm more pro-American then they are. I'm more conservative in regard to social order - maybe because I saw a lot of selfish rulers in my old great former Communist country?

 

I believe that US bureaucracy is working better then in most countries. I believe that free speech is working here as well. I believe that US has more freedom for individuals then any other country in the world. Does it men I think like a real American? No, probably not.

 

So - what is that - to think like real American? Do you consider yourself

[boosh]

 

I believe that US bureaucracy is working better then in most countries. I believe that free speech is working here as well. I believe that US has more freedom for individuals then any other country in the world.

 

 

 

You clearly haven't visited my country.

[Jeff da Weasel]

I think like a citizen of planet Earth.

 

Mostly.

[blue2blue]

You clearly haven't visited my country.

 

They all talk like US Americans in the Netherlands -- but they sure don't tend to think like typical US Americans.

 

 

 

I suspect that in much of Europe "thinking like an American" means putting more emphasis on the individual and less on the group, leaning more towards a more laissez faire approach.

 

That said, try to take away what a US American on either side of the political spectrum has been traditionally given by the government and watch them react. Some US Americans have an extraordinary ability to look right at something like Social Security or medical care for the aged and say, Well, that's not socialism.

[FireWithin]

So - what is that - to think like real American?

 

Be a selfish pig, eat donuts while talking on your cell phone in your SUV that gets 10 mpg all the while bitching to your lezbo girlfriend about all the polution we are making and how the world will end due to global warming

 

Then claim someone is a bigot for being a Christian while you cast your vote to have foot baths for muslims installed in all public restrooms.

 

Base your politicial opinions on hate and anti-(insert this weeks thing!).

 

Teach children that there is no God then invade another country and teach them our moral and correct ways.

 

:poke:

 

 

[amplayer]

Be a selfish pig, eat donuts while talking on your cell phone in your SUV that gets 10 mpg all the while bitching to your lezbo girlfriend about all the polution we are making and how the world will end due to global warming Then claim someone is a bigot for being a Christian while you cast your vote to have foot baths for muslims installed in all public restrooms. Base your politicial opinions on hate and anti-(insert this weeks thing!). Teach children that there is no God then invade another country and teach them our moral and correct ways. :poke:

 

Very cynical views you expressed here. I wish I didn't agree...

[nat whilk II]

By "American" I'm sure you mean citizens of the USA. "Americans" are notoriously ill-informed and naive about the rest of the world.

 

It gets even worse when US citizens know a little about the rest of the world - just enough to enable them to make easy judgements that stroke the "American" ego.

 

The thread about the level of violence in the world decreasing is a case in point - you can see many people from the USA thinking that having more war news coverage on TV is changing the world to a better, safer, less violent place.

 

Clearly this is a case of people in one country extrapolating their personal, isolated experience to all the rest of the world. This can only be done in the mental vacuum of ignorance about the rest of the world.

 

On the other hand, American energy and willingness to innovate is the other side of the coin of their naivety and ignorance.

 

I love the USA. But there's no way we lead the world in many of the categories that matter the most.

 

nat whilk ii

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

The brain is an American apparatus with which we think that we think

[alcohol]

You can't generalize about what an American thinks like. We disagree with each other too much.

[temnov]

Well, I know some "American" Americans. Like FireWithin described. But when I came here first time I was so amazed that people are mostly very friendly, polite and - surprise!

[UstadKhanAli]

There's a lot of different kinds of Americans. Certainly there's the kind that firewithin describes. But the U.S. is made up of a lot of different kinds of people, many of whom are originally from other countries.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_demographics_of_the_United_States#Racial_makeup_of_the_U.S._population

 

So when you think of how an American thinks, it becomes rather difficult to really specify that. Probably bluetoblue comes closest so far when he asserts that it might be an emphasis on individualism. And when he says that, I don't think he just means "self-centeredness", although there's some of that as well. But also that sort of "I'm going to figure this out on my own" or "why can't I do this?"..that sort of "go-gettedness" that I think is one of the things that make the U.S. an intriguing country, and one of its strong points.

 

Also, I'm not sure that the U.S. has the most "freedom" in the world (and I'm not sure who would, but there are numerous countries with a lot of "freedom"), but all in all, I'd say that it's doing quite well. in general, although as with anything else, there's always room for improvement.

 

...and that's the best I can do without getting political!!

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

Europeans don't think about Americans at all as long they pay the statement of charges for staying in a hotel

 

.

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

 

But the U.S. is made up of a lot of different kinds of people, many of whom are originally from other countries.

 

 

Here too, 75% of the people in jail are nonresident aliens making luxury vacation in our closed five star establishments.

[nat whilk II]

 

You can't generalize about what an American thinks like. We disagree with each other too much.

 

 

 

Sure you can generalize. There are general tendencies, statistical preponderances, all that stuff. An anecdotal evidence is valid to illustrate the statistical stuff (but not to establish conclusions based on anecdotes alone.)

 

But you are right, too in pointing out the diversity of opinion. People don't vote straight ticket to the extent they used to.

 

But there's enough consistency to "American" thinking to win a few bets -

 

nat whilk ii

[nat whilk II]

Here's one of my favorite stories about the way USA Americans think - it's second hand from the 80s, but I like it so I retell it....

 

Young USAmerican computer tech guy works for big computer company, gets relocated for extended stint in Japan. Major culture shock - this is your very typical somewhat sloppy, workaholic, tunnell-visioned, unconsciously egotistical young USAmerican. Smart, but not exactly well-rounded or empathetic or subtle.

 

Conversation at lunch goes like this:

 

USA guy - Wow, is it true that all the cars in the city are required to have a governor installed that limits the speed to 40mph?

 

Japanese guy - yes, that is true. Much gasoline is saved, and fewer accidents, too.

 

USA guy - Well, I can tell you the first thing I'd do if I bought a car here would be to take that sonofabitchin governor off.

 

Japanese guy - [after a couple seconds of silence] why would you do that?

 

nat whilk ii

[Dean Roddey]

As mentioned, the US is, like all countries, composed of people of widely varying opinions. You have everyone from uber religious conservatives to uber atheist liberals and everything in between. We are very individualistic, a side effect of our couple hundred years of expansion in the early days and the self-sufficiency that required of people, and of course our entire country is a reaction to oppressive govt by the king, so our govt is based on the fact that oppressive govt is a bad thing and that the best way to avoid that is to empower individuals.

 

It is true that, to make that work, you have to work to create wiser (or at least smarter) individuals. But of course that's always difficult. The urge to herd and tribal mentality is strong in humans and you see it all over the world. And it's hard to product wise individuals who judge every situation on its merits instead of just following along with their self-chosen tribes. I don't think any country in the world probably does very well on this front.

 

At the individual level, Americans are very nice people. I live in Silicon Valley where people come from all over the world to work, and though some folks always end up not being comfortable enough in a foreign culture, lots of them decide to stay here.

 

I would notice interesting things like for instance at once company I worked we had some folks from India. Some of them were obviously very Brahman'ish and some quite low caste. None of the Americans blinked an eye at the lower cast guys and wouldn't even have probably thought about it, but the higher caste Indian guys could often be obverved as they absorbed the idea of a caste'less society. And particularly in Silicon Valley, which is one the purest meritocracies in the world I think, all that counts is what you can contribute, and there are no limits on what you can achieve if you have the motivation and talent to achieve it.

 

The thing is, you almost never see the reasonable people of another country on the news. You see the wide eyed freaks who are waving flags and screaming and involved in some kind of conflict or causing some kind of problems. Normal, nice people are not news. And, frankly, it doesn't pay to show people in any country that people in another country might be as good or better than them in some way. It's much easier to sell the bad side of outsiders, because it's what we all want to hear.

 

So if you've never been to another country, and all you know is the cliches you see in the news, then you know nothing about it probably and your opinion is probably fairly meaningless or wrong. You can find out useful things about other countris you want. That information is out there, but most folks don't go find it. We do have good documentary oriented TV channels here that do give real views of other countries, of real people and their real lives. But people here are no more likely than people anywhere to search that information out.

[Tedster]

What Alcohol said. I tend to think "folks is folks". Some are generous, some are selfish, some bright, some not-so-bright. Taking the U.S. as an example, if one finds a bunch of crappy people in one town, then they move to another, they'll probably find a bunch of crappy people there, too...whether they move to another town in the U.S. or another town anywhere in the world.

 

That said...I'd still rather live here in the U.S. than almost anywhere else.

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

 

why would you do that?

 

 

I think that conversation went like that:

 

 

USA guy - When do you have your election?

 

Japanese guy - Evely molning!

 

.

[Magpel]

Let's see, what do I think it means to "think like an American?"

 

As Blue suggested, it means an elevated interest in/fascination with the heroic individual and celebrity, often accompanied by a self-crippling value system that equates success with fame and deems all else failure. Yes, against every better instinct and higher thought, I do sometimes "think like an American" in this regard. And yet I see with piercing clarity that fame turns all it tuches into fame, celebrity installs itself as the supra-story in all stories...

 

To think like an educated, eastern seaboard American with a disdain for all things American and a taste for eastern spirituality means to believe that somehow, we can be purged/purified of American excess, American complicity, and American coarseness, and things like Yoga and community supported agriculture, etc., do have their power and meaning, but so often it is just another gluttonous way in which wealthy American abdicate all responsiblity for the greater good in pursuit of an uber self (kinda missing the point of Buddhism in the process)...I don't think like this kind of American but I live among them

 

...Or to think like a progressive/liberal American and believe that society can change nature...

 

...or to to think like a conservative/libertarian America and disavow one's complicity in the crimes of the past and live in utter denial of the interdependence of things...

 

Hell I dunno

 

Yeah there's lots of American thoughts. I think some of them more than others.

[echoshock]

why would you do that? nat whilk ii

 

 

Wow that is a great story. Its great knowing that even though I have the freedom NOT to have a governor on my car, I choose to still drive a fuel efficient car conservatively. Strange that none of my friends fit that 'typical' mold either. It also reminds me of the fact that Japan has some of the highest suicide rates in the entire world. I feel bad for those typical Japanese people.

[nat whilk II]

Suicide in Japan has a long cultural history that is very very different than the way suicide is thought of/practiced in Western countries.

 

Self-destruction in Western nations takes largely different forms, is triggered by somewhat (but not entirely) different factors.

 

To assume that Japanese are more depressed/despairing/self-destructive/stressed from the suicide statistics than Westerners is yet another example of assuming they think/feel/react the same as us.

 

I had Chinese roomates my first two years as an undergrad. On the surface they were more like average USAmericans that I was - loved NBA basketball, had girl friend ups and downs, no accent other than USA accents, liked cars and the radio hits. But man, there were more 10,000lb non sequiter moments over time...the cultural gap was huge, and they were 2nd generation born in the USA kids. That experience taught me to look a bit deeper, make fewer assumptions.

 

nat whilk ii

[echoshock]

 

Suicide in Japan has a long cultural history that is very very different than the way suicide is thought of/practiced in Western countries. Self-destruction in Western nations takes largely different forms, is triggered by somewhat (but not entirely) different factors. To assume that Japanese are more depressed/despairing/self-destructive/stressed from the suicide statistics than Westerners is yet another example of assuming they think/feel/react the same as us. I had Chinese roomates my first two years as an undergrad. On the surface they were more like average USAmericans that I was - loved NBA basketball, had girl friend ups and downs, no accent other than USA accents, liked cars and the radio hits. But man, there were more 10,000lb non sequiter moments over time...the cultural gap was huge, and they were 2nd generation born in the USA kids. That experience taught me to look a bit deeper, make fewer assumptions. nat whilk ii

 

I'm glad you look deeper now and make fewer assumptions than your original story portrayed.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

Suicide in Japan has a long cultural history that is very very different than the way suicide is thought of/practiced in Western countries. Self-destruction in Western nations takes largely different forms, is triggered by somewhat (but not entirely) different factors. To assume that Japanese are more depressed/despairing/self-destructive/stressed from the suicide statistics than Westerners is yet another example of assuming they think/feel/react the same as us. I had Chinese roomates my first two years as an undergrad. On the surface they were more like average USAmericans that I was - loved NBA basketball, had girl friend ups and downs, no accent other than USA accents, liked cars and the radio hits. But man, there were more 10,000lb non sequiter moments over time...the cultural gap was huge, and they were 2nd generation born in the USA kids. That experience taught me to look a bit deeper, make fewer assumptions. nat whilk ii

 

 

That's quite true. Very different perceptions about life, death, living, time, society and one's place within it, honor, etc.

 

Loved the story about the conversation between the American and Japanese person about cars, btw. Very interesting perspective.

[Anderton]

I'm not into generalizations and stereotyping.

[nat whilk II]

Sheesh....what is this, excuse me and with true respect, but what seems to me hypersensitivity about generalization?

 

Stereotyping - ok, that's a bad one, all agreed.

 

But generalizations are a basic part of perceptual frameworks....sky is generally blue (but not ALWAYS blue - I'm no bigot about the color of the sky!).

 

Winter is generally colder than summer. Ha! Caught me on that one with my anti-antipodal evil prejudice.....

 

Men are generally taller and stronger than women. The best basketball players are generally black. Rich people are generally white. Men are generally paid more than women for the same work. Children are generally less able to care for themselves than adults. Musicians are generally a relatively free-spirited crowd. People generally feel better in the vicinity of a puppy than a snake.

 

When we get to where we can't state obvious general truths (with all appropriate caveats, respect for the exceptions, and respect for the limits inherent in all generalizations, metaphors, and perceptual bias) we are tiptoeing fearfully through a world of invisible censors.

 

nat whilk ii (generally a nice enough guy, but there are exceptions)