Typical American

On this planet, NOTHING is typical. Those that live here can be "profiled" by their fellow human beings
but in the long run...the only ones that know what another is like is the person being "profiled".

Human beings are programmed from birth by the society that raises them. Some will adhere to the programming, while others will not. We all have opinions and assume....but we all know what happens when we assume. When someone tries to save face, for prideful and egotistical purposes is when they take their anger, fear, and embarrassment out on one another....and once again "fear" rules.

After reading through this whole thread and seeing some of the replies, from both Americans, and from those that are not...surprises me? NO.

Everyone and everything is "TYPICAL"...Nothing is typical.

EVERYTHING JUST IS.

~holly

reply to post by Skyfloating


Exactly how do they dress and eat differently? Just give me some examples please.

If I tell you that I'm wearing skinny jeans today, a grey cardigan and ankle high boots, can you tell where I'm coming from? As for how I eat, I can't tell you without sounding sarcastic, so I'll let that go.

Because of the diversity I should not be able to see differences? That doesnt make sense.

What I meant is that WITHIN every country people have different tastes. People are not homogeneous. Within every country, city, village, even family, you can find people how are religious and people who are not, people who dress smart and people how dress casual, people who like classical music and people who like pop music.

Not to mention the regional differences between north and south, east and west, country and city within each and every land on this planet.

No, I don't have a problem with differences and diversity, I have a problem with stereotyping people. Again, precisely because I do like diversity and I do see it.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


All the people that dont like america or find it funny place those photos up just to make fun of americans. I mean we could put up people with nasty wooden teeth and lable it british. It doesn't mean that is correct.

Originally posted by Sahabi

Typical American:

• Fat
• Lazy
• Stupid, Idiotic, Uneducated, Unintelligent
• Believes everything on television
• Believes America and Americans are the supreme beings of earth that all others should emulate
• Has no true understanding or perspective of the world outside of America
• Lack morals and values
• Many American guys are gay
• Most American girls are unworthy of marriage because they are overly promiscuous, can't cook, can't clean, party too much, and are not faithful. Only worthy of dating and sex, but not to marry.
• Some Europeans do not wish to be categorized with white Americans because they consider them white trash
• Many Native Africans do not wish to be categorized with African Americans because they consider them ghetto trash
• Emotionally Weak; cry-babies. Complain and cry about tiny things and have no concept of true pain or true hardship.
• Spoiled brats
• Rude
• Arrogant
• Egotistical

I am not American but i have a lot of friends from the States.NON of them is even close to what you are describing .I believe that all those ideas about the typical American are coming from what the mainstream media are choosing to present.Most people here in Greece believe the same things about Americans and most of them have never met one or never been to USA.
There is not such thing as a typical American.As a matter of fact there is no such thing as a typical Greek or a typical German or a typical [pick a country]. These are labels put by some groups as a propaganda so people will hate and fear each other.

By the way i have noticed that everyone hates the Americans but they read American literature,they listen to American music and watch American movies.

I myself am American, even though I am born of Chinese ethnicity, I have always been proud of who I was until I discovered the truth about our system and our people/mindset.

Typical American in my eyes and through my experience spending my 24 years on American soil:

- USA! USA!
-America can do no wrong
-America is #1, why?
-Best in entertainment, art, culture history (wow)
-We have the Constitution and the Constitution will protect us at all costs
-We are free and that entitles us to do whatever we want despite the consequences.
-BLIND
-Ignorant
-Lazy
-Nobody can touch us because we are the richest country in the world with the greatest military man has ever seen.

One last thing I would like to add is:
WASTE WASTE WASTE

We buy, throw away, and buy again. I have been to countries that take recycling and conservation very seriously, coming home from vacations and trips just BLOWS my mind how bad we really are. I mean, when I volunteer at large events, I will see tons of recyclables in the trash can when there is a recycling bin literally right next to it. Same thing happens at my gym. I have come to the conclusion, in that aspect Americans have no self respect.

And this is the downfall of our once great country.

What a shame...

One thing Americans do well is be friendly and enjoy life, this is one trait we don't need to ditch.

i was stationed in germany for a few years and this is what i saw both there and coming back.

a lot of the soldiers over there refused to adapt. they were arrogant and rude. they wouldnt try new things, and always criticized the locals. they got roaring, puking drunk (which is rare for a german, even tho they drink a lot), and treated the girls badly. easily excited or embarassed over cultural norms (porn and nudity is no big deal and prostitution is legal. americans just couldnt handle the fact that topless mags are sold in the grocery store, yet violent movies are censored)

when i returned, i was shocked at the number of fat people. they seemed everywhere! and the trash! everything just looked so dirty. i suffered more culture shock coming back than i did going there.

now, dont get me wrong, i was born and raised american, from a long line of americans, and spent two years in the desert fighting for her. im proud of my country, but at the same time, im not so proud of some of her citizens. it disappoints me when i hear people putting down european ideas just because they are european. i believe in taking what works to improve ourselves. for example the autobahn! (we couldnt have that here because it takes so much upkeep to keep it safe, which means taxes, and americans hate paying for things)

someone earlier said we were the most advanced nation on earth. this is a lie. japan is far more advanced when it comes to computers and cell phones than we are. european trains are twice as fast (more comfortable and cheaper) than anything in the u.s. bottom line is we used to take the best and make it better. no we just "believe" we are the best and are resting on our laurels. instead of pushing ahead, we are being dragged down by the conservative/regressives.

i, being very open minded with a "when in rome" attitude, never had a problem, but i knew a lot of "joes" that did because they just couldnt, or wouldnt, adapt. i even went to paris, and never ran into the "rude parisian" stereotype. i think it comes down to your attitude when in a foreign place that will put you into the "typical" or not catagory.

I haven't been in US. But imo, Americans are hard working ,friendly, willing to help and honest people. I live in Turkey. I love my country but it would be great to go to US as a tourist.

Originally posted by Arrius
I think Homer Simpson is the typical American.
2nd line.

I share my home with my girlfriend. It may be stupid but we are fan of Shaytards we watch their daily vlog.

www.youtube.com/user/SHAYTARDS

To my experience the Americans I have met in my life are not that different from typical Germans. The differences rather lie in the details. Too much to list, therefore only one example.
Most of them are a bit more conservative than Germans - the biggest difference is that they've never experienced that another country completely destroyed their country. That is why the majority of us here are strictly against all wars and don't like the official German "military commitment" in Afghanistan.

reply to post by Wallachian


Look, I can tell where an airplane is headed 9 times out of 10. Thats not stereotyping, thats PERCEPTION.
Perceiving difference is not stereotyping. Perceiving difference is nothing "bad" either. Its natural. Its nice. Its fun.

You ask me "how". Answer: By paying more attention. If you're not paying attention then you think Chinese and Koreans look exactly the same.

Originally posted by Sahabi
I was born in America and raised in an immigrant community. I can tell you what the "Typical American" is from the point of view of the many immigrants I have been exposed to my entire life.


Typical American:

• Fat
• Lazy
• Stupid, Idiotic, Uneducated, Unintelligent
• Believes everything on television
• Believes America and Americans are the supreme beings of earth that all others should emulate
• Has no true understanding or perspective of the world outside of America
• Lack morals and values
• Many American guys are gay
• Most American girls are unworthy of marriage because they are overly promiscuous, can't cook, can't clean, party too much, and are not faithful. Only worthy of dating and sex, but not to marry.
• Some Europeans do not wish to be categorized with white Americans because they consider them white trash
• Many Native Africans do not wish to be categorized with African Americans because they consider them ghetto trash
• Emotionally Weak; cry-babies. Complain and cry about tiny things and have no concept of true pain or true hardship.
• Spoiled brats
• Rude
• Arrogant
• Egotistical

This. Except from an Aussies point of view you can delete the gay references and the stuff about American girls.

Oh and you forgot one thing:

Loud. So very very loud. Nobody can miss an American in the room simply by the volume of his or her voice. Did the whole country swallow microphones or something?

reply to post by stormson


Rude people are everywhere.If you come to Athens you will meet a lot of rude people,most of them they will try to cheat you.But that's not the typical Greek.Same way goes with the Americans.It's not a matter of nationality,the behaviour is a matter of education and what values someone has in life.

when i returned, i was shocked at the number of fat people. they seemed everywhere! and the trash! everything just looked so dirty. i suffered more culture shock coming back than i did going there.

I visit Germany at least once a year.I must admit myself that everytime i return from Germany i just want to leave the moment i step foot out of the plane.Fantastic country and people.

The typical american is whatever you perceive once you have met a few americans. If you haven't met any then you have no right to judge. Though the typical american is hard to judge because everyone is so different. I'm an american though I don't seem to fit in the cookie cutter of what a typical american is to many people. I'm not fat, but I think that stems from the fact I cannot eat unhealthy food without becoming violently ill. But I am stupid and have no understanding what it's like outside of my country; I'd love to know though. I'm being forced to be what I consider lazy at the moment due to medical reasons. How anyone can enjoy being lazy is beyond me; it's boring. I don't understand how anyone can like guns let alone own them. The list goes on...

I live in an asian/indian community that has many immigrants. I will say that they treat me like trash and hate my guts. I never understood what I did wrong except for the fact I'm an american, brown, and alive. I have no idea what the typical american is except that they're patriotic, and have an odd belief that the constitution defends them. Other than that it's up in the air.

A typical American is somehow described by the term "The American Dream". I am of Asian tradition, but my mom is from America. She always told me that typical Americans are very nationalistic that they take pride purchasing American-made products. Freedom and democracy is also their stereotype. People from around the world see America as a filthy country (drugs and sex), but I am sure that is not true because we can clearly see how united they were in tragedies such as the 9/11 and natural disasters. Anyway, here are some typical American..



and the most notable, thanksgiving day.

Originally posted by hotbakedtater
(fat lazy eats McDonalds, gun nut)

Fat, lazy, eats McD's?

No.

Gun nut?

Yes. Most definitely!

Well their are to many fat americans . I live in NC im a american. My fiance is from Canada. We go there to visit sometimes. Last time we went to Montreal i started noticing and was like damn fat people actually stand out here. In NC they are a dime a dozen

I've recently become a US citizen -- born, raised, and lived most of my life in Germany. I've been here in the US for about 11 years now. I don't know what a "typical" American is, but I can tell you what I see as the most obvious differences to Germans/Europeans.

- As one other poster said, to a European it's amazing how open and friendly Americans are when you first come here. Germans are often wary of strangers and generally a suspicious and slightly grumpy lot. Americans, comparatively, are incredibly nice and helpful... so much so that some Germans I know think it's disgusting and not genuine.

- Germans (don't know about other Europeans) seem to have much stronger bonds in general. They can fight and argue, and five minutes later make up and be just fine; here, it seems, people will hold a grudge against you forever if you don't "behave." Germans take forever to make friends (if you know someone less than five years, you're not a friend, you're an "acquaintance"), but once they do, they're very faithful in their friendships and would go through hell and back for you. Americans seem to make friends very quickly and easily (I used to joke, "May I introduce you to my good friend Joe? We just met back in the men's room."), but those friendships seem rather superficial in comparison.

- Americans are a lot more charitable than Germans. I've never seen so many people doing some sort of volunteer work... in fact, in Germany we don't even have that many charitable organizations, because no one's willing to volunteer. It's so ingrained in the American mindset that it's almost a "culture of volunteering."

- The flipside of Americans' kindness and friendliness is that most Americans I know are extremely nonconfrontational... to the point of cowardice. If any kind of unpleasant topic comes up, or an argument is brewing, they rather withdraw and walk away than talk it out. Sometimes that's very frustrating to me, because Germans (and I'm no exception) tend to be very opinionated and love to debate. Sometimes we have heated political discussions and then slap each other's backs and go have a beer together. Here that seems almost impossible: a discrepancy of opinion almost equals being enemies... "If you're not with me, you're against me," that kind of thing. It's really sad to me. PLUS, IMO, it breeds a sheeplike attitude (because you don't want to "make waves"), which results in following orders from "authority figures" without questioning. Germans are a lot more cantankerous and belligerent -- if there were another "Nazi Germany," I think the preconditions would be much better for that in the US today.

- Americans are more patriotic and nationalistic than any nation I've ever seen before. Germans, for example, are not patriotic at all. In school, we get hammered into us that we need to be ashamed of our history and by extension our country, and we don't have a spark of patriotism in us (except for the Neo-Nazis, of course, they have too much of it). So, on one hand I was always impressed by the Americans' fierce love of their country and found it quite endearing. On the other hand it's downright scary at times, because it often breeds an unquestioning support of anything and everything the US government does, including those completely pointless wars in the Middle East or the x-ray scanning and groping at airports now. I still get goosebumps when I hear kids say the Pledge of Allegiance, and not in a good way.

If Americans could just realize that their "country" is not equal to their government, and that politicians are not working in their best interest and never have, things could change quite a bit here... for the better, IMO.

There are many other things, but I gotta stop for now.

reply to post by sylvie


Thank you for sharing your insight. It is good to know we are perceived as friendly, and charitable.

This ultimately goes down to 1 persons own point of view, but here's some what i find disturbing about education




Asking where should we invade next? Why none answers; nowhere?
When showed a map of the world, people dont recognize even their own continent in it.

I'd like to add one thing more, maybe i haven't read enough about this particular topic, but i just
dont get it, why Ron Paul didn't get elected.

There's something fishy about it that makes me think even more what's happening in America with thinking and education.

Personally I think a lot of stereotypes come from a human beings want of social acceptance. We pretty much all want to be accepted in society, therefore we look for someone to idolise which will help us become accepted by friends and family. Not always consciously but by force of uncouncious nature, we copy the way we react from others.A majority of people however, tend to idolise the wrong kind of person (in my opinion anyway).

We all have common characteristics to our personality, and in such a vast space where people reside (US), there is bound to be a lot of common characteristics between the people who live there. And because of a persons nature to make judgements based on minorities, stereotypes are born.

So what is a typical American? There isn't one, there is just the perception of "Typical".

By the way, I'm British.