Thanks for the interesting responses, I'll now lift my skirt and show you what I think of all you down-undies
Actually, this has covered politics to history to social interaction, which was pretty much my hopes - thank you.
Ignorance exists everywhere. I've been asked (sometimes by fellow Americans) some ridiculous things like
- Is the entire state of Florida a swamp?
- With all those alligators in Florida, aren't you afraid of being bitten going from your house to your car?
For those that were deprived of viewing our "Miss Teen USA" contest, one of the final contestants is still being drilled for answering the question "Why do you think so many Americans can't find the US on a globe?" with the gem of "Because they aren't given a map!" Truth be told, very few of us know our own geography, forget about comprehending someone else's country...or the globe. I'll bet you 9 out of 10 wouldn't know your seasons are reversed from ours.
To the idea that we're "Americans" and it deprives the rest of the N&S American countries of an identity - it's partially true. We consider Canada our lesser siblings to a large degree, basically American wannabes (though if you ask any Canadian, they'll quickly inform you otherwise), and Mexicans just aren't thought of at all (unless we're discussing illegal labor or immigration). So, we ARE North America, at least in our minds. South America? Too many countries with equally strong self-identification. They have Columbians, Argentinians, Peruvians, and the Brazilians who talk funny (doubt many Americans realize that they speak Portuguese there
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
). So they live on a continent called South America, but they have their national identities. We perceive ourselves AS North America, plus what would we call ourselves? United States of Americans? United Statesmen? United Statesians? Fuckit....Americans.
Politics? I would imagine the Aus-NZ people are similar to us in that the most publicized views are generally a minority. While the vast majority of us don't give a flying fuck. In the UK, they have to care - they interact with other cultures daily, and have grown up with a recognition (and sometimes bias) in dealing with others. We grow up mostly knowing other Americans, and have found that apathy on politics serves us as much as being highly active, but with less effort. Our news is a buzz with Democrats and Republicans (especially in election times) but we barely get a decent turnout of citizens willing to actually be bothered to vote. Many of them couldn't tell you the difference between the two political parties, and don't care as long as their individual lifestyle isn't effected - which really drives our motivation levels. We get news blurbs of 'the war in Iraq' but most conduct their lives the same regardless unless they are directly effected (ie, family member in the military, work for a company that supplies military or overseas, etc). I often think apathy (or at least, self-centered lifestyles) is the national past time.
As for being open minded and accepting, I think you'd find the same ratio of racism and exclusionism here that you do elsewhere. Again, I think Europeans are forced to face it and be more tolerant, but the US and Aus both are fairly isolated and independent - only dealing with their internal populations. And there, you've got whatever established biases at work with no real influence to change
Scoping down to just a site like BL, I like to think you have a higher percentage of tolerant, open minded people from all cultures - otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to join. But to judge Americans on the LOUNGE is a mistake. As most of you know, that forum, while dominated by Americans, is actually serving the lowest common denominator of discussion. The more intelligent American voices are usually expressed in more serious forums.
Visitors are obnoxious? I think that is common whether it is Americans down under, or Australians visiting Asia - you're on holiday, you're there to enjoy yourself. More importantly, as long as you aren't rude enough to get arrested, you can act an ass all you wish as you'll never see these people again - forgetting of course that you are creating or continuing an image that the next visitor will have to endure. It is a self centered approach, but isn't that what holiday is for - serving yourself? The balance is that some people go somewhere to 'get away'. Others, go somewhere to 'experience and learn' the place they visit - which is typically the type of visitor that is welcomed back, and goes home to share how much they appreciated the place they visited.
