This dude sounds a little bitter. Some of it is true but the rest of it just sounds like he's run into some obnoxious rich kid spring breakers in Cancun.
he certainly sounds a little pretentious. I would agree that i've talked to some people with those thoughts, and there are certainly a good number out there that think that...however, he is painting with an overly large brush... that makes for good attention. p.s. America kicks your ass
I read through the article and I can agree with a lot of it but I don't agree with it in general that America is the alcoholic brother of other countries. The writer does come up as a somewhat self-loathing American who magnifies the problems of America by being fascinated with the newness of living in foreign countries. I am not going to deny that he had the experiences that he did and that things were great in Asia, Columbia and Russia for him. That said I suspect that he didn't actually blend in more into those countries to actually be one of them. I love traveling and have done it quite a bit and have lived in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, England and Taiwan (although I was too young to remember that). Further as an Asian who speaks Mandarin I can and often do blend into Hong Kong, Singapore and in Japan was considered, and treated, as a Japanese (or even worse Korean). While I totally agree those countries have much better health care are much cleaner than the US they have some very big problems of their own. If he is complaining about status consciousness and materialism Singaporeans by their own admission are the worst. They even have a term for it "Kiasu" which means fear to lose and drives much of their society. People in Hong Kong are a bit better but not much more. Asian cultures are also very stifling and Japan seems worse than others. I was publicly berated by Japanese for not following custom, such as wearing shorts to visit a shrine, or mispronouncing the name of a train station because they believed I was Japanese. They cut non-Asian foreigners a lot of slack because they expect them to be barbarians but if they think you are Japanese they expect conformity. Placing an undue emphasis on social status isn't just in Asia either as it is a big issue in the UK where people will judge each other just based on their accents. I am not talking about like how a person with a Hahvahd accent in the US judges someone with a Southern accent but about subtle differences from different neighborhoods in London. On top of that the English still place stock in aristocracy. What I have noticed from living outside of America is that what makes us great and perhaps the most important area where we are better than other countries is freedom. I don't mean that in a cliche way or simplistic way that means we can do a lot of what we want to do or that we are free from over burdensome regulation but that as individuals we are not so heavily bound by tradition, culture and history as most other countries are. We are a nation of immigrants and as such came here to establish a new life and that has freed our spirit in ways that many other places haven't. That doesn't mean that we don't have simmering problems with racism and sectarianism but those things do not define us as they do other countries. We are a place where not only can we break from our own communities in many ways we are encouraged to do so. Our national identity isn't bound up by ethnicity, religion, or history but an ideal. That is something that is different from almost any other country on Earth. and of course.. Spoiler
LOL did he think it was because he was an american? LOL. Do you know how many pictures I had to be on when I was in another country. Try being a 6"8 white guy with blue eyes, then you are going to be in a lot of pictures. I have had more pictures taken of me by other people than by my wife. They could have called this the 10 things everybody knows about Americans. There wasn't a single surprise on this list. That being said many of these things apply for a lot of other countries. Sure Americans in general are a bit more arrogant and out of touch with the rest of the world. But the Dutch are not much better. In my general experience these are all things people believe who never/seldom visit other cultures.
Doesn't mean it's not true though... I haven't even been outside of the US and at least 8 of those 10 statements have been affirmed to me by the majority of, if not, all of the people I've met from another country.
I heard Americans are real good at basketball. And are the best in the world in American Football. but that's just what I heard. Could be wrong.
Its not only "White Americans". They want to take photos with anybody that looks different. in a lot of places in China Foreigners are rare and exotic. The author should have added "exaggerated sense of self importance" especially for "White Americans".
