How would you describe America's culture?

[Dakho]

Especially if you don't live in America. I'm curious as to how the world views our culture, as I find we don't really have one other than gangsters and rednecks.

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

world's not exactly a fan of the western culture. also most people picture every american as

i live in canada (toronto to be exact) and we make fun of americans every now and then, but tbh we rnt too different (refering to not TOO different from places like northeast america but still quite different). ofc im talkin bout the toronto area. people in the bc area hate torontonians cuz we are too "posh" etc.

sadly though i have made trips to america, and i cant say that most of the encounters didnt support the theory. in fact it was the exact opposite. woman in mcdonals didnt give us the right change and we had to spend 5 minutes convincing her that in fact, a 10 dollar bill will give us 3.25 change on a 6.75 meal, and not 2.75. there was even a person behind us in line who tried to tell us we were wrong and it was in fact 2.75.

also on several occations (wc3 chat, msn, friends of friends, etc) a lot of people i talked to kept for some reason getting into the same argument about how "america single handedly defeated germany in WW1 and 2 and won both wars, and how russia was getting owned by germany until america showed up and helped"
funny though cuz at the end of each of those arguments id prove em wrong with facts and their main argument would be "no your wrong im right america is the best"
i dont know if im just unlucky with the people i meet or what, nor do i know if its sheer incompitance or just patriotic to a point of ignorance.

"gangsters and rednecks. " those are stereotypes not cultures. not everyone in the south is married to their sister and not everyone born in brooklyn is going to die in either gunfight or crack overdose. then again most of what i stated seems like sterotypes from reading over it, so meh i dk.

real culture wise, my mom was actually saying how there isnt really a lot of culture in north america, because everything is so multicultural (well especially in canada because, well, its canada) that everyone is always doing something from their own culture.

i personally wanna move to europe when im older, roadtrip to a lot of different countries and go touring.

/endrant

also hope i didnt offend anyone.


EDIT: oh also, a lot of people arnt really fans of how the us seems to think its the "big brother" of other countries and always try to stick their noses into porlbems not revolving around them. its like when your a kid and you get into an argument and your mom all of a suddens comes in trying to help, and ur all pissed off because you dont need her trying to help. i get that its trying to help but in the end it should just let them solve it out themselves (unless its something like rwanda, etc. ofc theyd need help in that sort of case).
also sort of related to that how when 2 american cia agents got caught in italy when the italian government wasnt aware of their presence and when they were arrested, america was all like "give them back rarararara". dont send them in there in the first place or at least notify their government.

also, related sort of story. a mexican was trying to text me for some reason, thinking i was like his sister or something (according to google translator), and i kept telling him he had the wrong number and he kept texting back and eventually i told him to srsly f' off and stop texting me and he replied to quote "gringo bet your son of bush cancer of world", then i told him i was canadian and he didnt reply after that.

also another story, teacher was telling us how he went to australia in the summer, and how in bars, people tried to pick fights with him thinking he was american, and when he told them he was canadian apperently they were all like "[australian accent]ahhhhhh canadian im is so sorry here i buy you drink[/australian accent]"

/real endrant

2ndedit: oh also canada has their own kinf of rednecks. we call em noofies. (no offense to anyone from nfld, but man they speak funny)


3rdedit: tl;dr version: people arnt big fans

 

[Winterherz]

I think influence is the word.

 

[YourFace]

I live in the north east so I have never seen a red neck. However, there are a lot of obese people in my area and it's just remarkable as to how they became so fat!

 

[tom_mai78101]

What I viewed of America, is that they are not like others. They devoted themselves to being a unique person or (a person with some unique traits and some other below-average traits).

Most of them are traits I don't want to see. Very few have very few traits I loved to see. I've bet a lot of you hated some of my traits.

It's probably because of lifestyle and different opinions about different things. Science is one of them, which I loved the most. Curiosity is one of them that boosts the core of science (Albert Einstein method).

Every one of you, is using up-to-date technology from 5 years ago. (The past 5 years were in alpha and beta testing before releasing/selling to the public)

Being fat and being pretty are both singular things, how they became like that is out of my limit. How do they grow so fat? Genetic reasons, probably. How do they thought of USA women as "beautiful"? I don't know, but it has to do with local population and where you live in.

Why do we view USA as the top country? It was mostly the USA that created or made new things that affected our lifestyle by a hundred fold.

What else do we think of the USA? It looks nice, it looks better than other countries, it looks like I can live a simple life, it looks like the destination for my Big Dream, it looks like it won't have a lot of international problems (China and Taiwan), it looks like a place where life is easier than it seems, it looks like everything is better.

Why? Isn't it like that?

 

[Zakyath]

>Especially if you don't live in America.

War, xenophobia, stupidity and McDonalds. That's what I've seen from america.

 

[sqrage]

>Especially if you don't live in America.

War, xenophobia, stupidity and McDonalds. That's what I've seen from america.

Yea let's just forget about the harnessing of electricity, some of the most prestigious schools in the world, great medical and scientific breakthroughs etc.

I personally live in NYC so I know nothing about American culture... but NYC is awesome and has a little bit of everything in place. You can walk 10 or less blocks in any direction and you'll be faced with a completely different neighborhood with completely different types of people.

Xenophobia...that's just hilarious, have you ever been to any state in America that isn't 95% white and 94% conservative?

Obviously there are idiots here, where aren't they? But for the most part people mind their own business and are self-centered the way they should be.

Not to mention America is so large that you can't really say such a phrase as "American culture". Each state is different in its own way and some even go as far as seeming like different countries all together.

 

[Zakyath]

Yea let's just forget about the harnessing of electricity, some of the most prestigious schools in the world, great medical and scientific breakthroughs etc.

I personally live in NYC so I know nothing about American culture... but NYC is awesome and has a little bit of everything in place. You can walk 10 or less blocks in any direction and you'll be faced with a completely different neighborhood with completely different types of people.

Xenophobia...that's just hilarious, have you ever been to any state in America that isn't 95% white and 94% conservative?

Obviously there are idiots here, where aren't they? But for the most part people mind their own business and are self-centered the way they should be.

Not to mention America is so large that you can't really say such a phrase as "American culture". Each state is different in its own way and some even go as far as seeming like different countries all together.

I know what my description isn't a realistic view of how the US is, but that's kinda what most people think of you and how your country is displayed over here. I have never even been in the states, of course I haven't got an idea of how it is.

 

[tom_mai78101]

I know what my description isn't a realistic view of how the US is, but that's kinda what most people think of you and how your country is displayed over here. I have never even been in the states, of course I haven't got an idea of how it is.

About 80% of all mangas and anime portray Americans as "white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, tall person". Your description fits, in such a way I don't need to decide.

 

[ElderKingpin]

remember that america is called the melting pot of the world, although immigrants only consists of about 21% of the population, i think the amount of cultural diversity in America is amazing.

 

[Hatebreeder]

About 80% of all mangas and anime portray Americans as "white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes, tall person". Your description fits, in such a way I don't need to decide.

Sounds more like old German Ideology.

I've known a friend, who is American, for 3 years and to be honest, I don't see any culture.
It's more like a smelting pot of cultures and the church. Why Church? Because it still has great influence on the majourity of people (well, over-influence... Like; It's OK to believe in Jesus and all that (pardon me) nonsence. But litterally, religion has been pressing down some, in a way, where everything is false but what the church says... However, it does help motivate people to rise from the deepest agony and other personal problems).

 

[ReVolver]

Spoiler

Living in California I see lots of Mexican, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese culture. You can't go 5 feet and not see a taco shop, korean bbq, karaoke bar, etc. I see America as a place with the little things that remind you of home.

 

[Xienoph]

I notice that Americans are more self sufficient. They renovate, paint and even build their house themselves, move stuff (furnitures and other household goods), do gardening, etc etc. Basically, it's the DIY culture.

They are also a lot more vocal with their opinions. That'll explain the existence of those xenophobic and racist people, and religion fanatics. I feel that those people exist everywhere, but since they're a lot more vocal in the US, you hear them a lot more.

EDIT: I'm from Indonesia, grew up in there and in Singapore, if that helps.

 

[tom_mai78101]

DIY Culture. I'm really into this.

But, I'm not so sure about it if I'm just an average Taiwanese. They aren't like USA, independent of something.

 

[celerisk]

I always though America went straight from Barbarism to Decadence without bothering with Culture.
But, then again, our definitions on what culture actually is probably already don't agree.

 

[YourFace]

America's still the best place to live in!

#1 In Economy so far
Most of the middle class suburbs towns and cities are clean
Religious freedom
Top schools in the world, save maybe china
Most successful businesses originate from America, i.e. microsoft, apple, blizzard, ebay, google, etc.
Nice weather, san fransico and LA are really nice all year round.

Also xenophobia is rare in the northeast and probably the west. The south maybe xenophobic, but you should also consider the fact that they're undereducated and rednecks.

 

[Zakyath]

>America's still the best place to live in!

Source?

dead link removed

This article says the opposite.

 

[celerisk]

" Why do we view USA as the top country? "

Because they are? Difficult to beat that.

 

[tom_mai78101]

America's still the best place to live in!

#1 In Economy so far
Most of the middle class suburbs towns and cities are clean
Religious freedom
Top schools in the world, save maybe china
Most successful businesses originate from America, i.e. microsoft, apple, blizzard, ebay, google, etc.
Nice weather, san fransico and LA are really nice all year round.

Also xenophobia is rare in the northeast and probably the west. The south maybe xenophobic, but you should also consider the fact that they're undereducated and rednecks.

Not considering economy...

1. I don't care about whether the towns are clean or not. I care about safety. Just to show that looking on the outside doesn't mean it's good.
2. Religious freedom, well yes. I'm not into religion, so I wouldn't mind about it.
3. Top schools...If you have the wealth to spend in those universities and colleges, and you have the grades, USA is your paradise. I'm pretty sure a lot more people aren't in those top schools, combined. Not counting graduated people.
4. All of those business companies are technology-based. I see the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy..., which is economy-based. What about those?
5. Mother Nature isn't allowing us to see that most USA places have nice weather all year around.
6. Undereducated and rednecks...that's an opinion, not a fact. I've been to the South, and some people aren't like what you said. Just not all.

So, in spite of all "USA is the top country" phrases, some people don't really consider it at all. We're just biasing this because of your military defenses and how powerful you are in international organizations...WTO, WHO, etc.

They're my two cents. Plus, they are only opinions.

 

[tooltiperror]

YourFace is talking like a private school kid from America, brainwashed to believe we're #1 and everyplace else is #3 (There is no #2, because no place gets close to being good as #1)

There is no American culture because we're, as said, a melting pot. Some Americans are korean. Some are german. Some Americans are Native Indians.