BS: What is America really like??

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:56 PM

An American thinks that one hundred years is a long time - well some people in the US do - I am constantly amazed here in Upstate NY how many places are celebrating their first centennials - having grown up in a town settled in 1629.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:49 PM

What about those people on the jerry Springer Show, where do you have to go to meet them?

You can meet them at the studio where they make the Jerry Springer Show.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:32 PM

Too big to answer. If you don't like it, move a little...

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:32 PM

In a word, America is diverse. We have been in nearly every county in Ireland, both north and south, and there are differences in geography, climate, language and people, but those differences are tiny compared to the U.S. The area of Ireland is comparable to one of the fifty states and we have incredible differences from place to place. In Los Angeles alone you can drive through neighborhoods where all the signs are in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and other languages.

The beer is way better in Ireland and so are the craic and the music.

An American thinks that one hundred years is a long time while an Irishman thinks that one hundred miles is a long way.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:16 PM

What about those people on the jerry Springer Show, where do you have to go to meet them?

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: DougR
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 02:04 PM

Amos: couldn't resist bringing politics into it could you? Particularly your brand of one-sided politics.

Whatever America (U. S.) is, there are an awful lot of folks that are busting their butts to move here, legally or illegally.

I've been to Ireland a couple of times and loved it. The country is beautiful and the people are friendly. I think you would find a visit to the U. S. very similar. I don't think you will find a green, though, that is as green as Ireland is.

DougR

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,WYS
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 01:49 PM

You could ask foreign exchange students who have lived here. I think you might get a good snapshot of normal daily life and culture here, from their experience.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Amos
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 01:32 PM

I have seen "Ugly Americans" in all sorts of venues from England to Morocco to Sardinia and Rhodes, and in general they strike me as being out of place, unsure, disoriented, and as a result compensating by being loud and assertive. But the funny thing is, in their home turfs they melt into the background and while they might be just as dumb, they tend to be more comfortable; while still olud, often in a less nervous fashion, because they are among the familiar left-overs of a civilization.

This of course does not include politicians, especially those of neocon persuasion, who seem to be always on the make and always fabricating spin no matter whether at home or abroad.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 01:04 PM

Try to imagine traveling around a place like Europe... really, all over Europe. Think about how much diversity there is there in culture, appearance, topography, nature (plant life, etc), attitudes, and language, and how much area you would have to cover to see all of it. You woud have a very similar experience traveling around the US except that there would be fewer language differences (although there would still be differences, both in languages as well as in dialects), and also, while the amount of diversity would be similar, the actual attributes, themselves, would be different.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 12:57 PM

on the other hand - having grown up in an area that derives most of it's income from the tourist business - I can see where the "Ugly American" stereotype comes from.    And that's a MAJOR reason that when my family traveled my parents were VERY strict about the way we kids behaved.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 12:54 PM

When you ask what America is like, I figure that you're not asking about geography. For all the diversity rightfully commented on in the previous answers, I find a lot of common qualities in most Americans, as people. I think most Americans, like people in other countries, don't want the government in their face, but expect certain safeguards in the culture to fall back on. Most Americans don't hyperventilate about politics (Mudcat is very unrepresentative of most Americans.) In an average week, I'm not likely to talk about politics more than twenty or thirty minutes, and 90% of the time, I'm the one who starts the conversation. Americans don't talk nearly as much about religion as it might seem (although there probably should be a lot more conversation about how religion is being used in a grab for power and wealth.)

If you sat down and had a beer with most Americans, you'd probably find a lot more similarities with people where you live than differences. Most folks want a decent job that pays well, a boss who isn't a pain in the ass, enough security so that they can sleep nights, and a decent place to live. Amenities would include a full refrigerator, gas in the car, a back yard to barbeque hamburgers over a grill in the summer, and a fool-proof cure for crabgrass.

Now, as has been pointed out, you can find Americans that don't fit a single one of these descriptions, and they too are a part of what America is.

The one thing you can probably count on, is being surprised at how often people don't fit their stereotypes. For example, I know a lot of black folks who LOVE Kenny Rodgers and Barry Manilow (and the Grand Ole' Opry.) I've known a lot of Italian Americans who love country music and cowboy movies.

People usually aren't as advertised. The media is made to exagerate differences, not similarities.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: PoppaGator
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 12:49 PM

One problem for those of us who stay home is that the only folks from the other side of the ocean that we ever see are those who cross the pond to visit our countries. Those who can afford world travel are not generally typical of their countrymen ~ and neither are those so determined to travel that they do so when they really can't afford it.

The stereotypical "Ugly American" tourist is not the only kind of person you'll encounter if you come here. (I would hope that, even when observed abroad, not all American travelers conform to that awful model.)

As others have already noted, the US population extremely diverse, and the society as a whole is quite democratic and open to upward mobility. Anyone can become anything, or at least can daydream about bettering themselves. There is probably less class consciousness and greater informality in daily life here than on the other side of the Atlantic.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: jimmyt
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 12:32 PM

I have lived In Ohio (Midwest ) Kentucky and WestVirginia(Appalachia) Maryland (Urban Washington DC) California (Need I say more?) Wisconsin (Upper Midwest, ya betcha) and Georgia (deep south) I find that people are nice everywhere here, (but then again, I suspect I would say that wherever I was).

There is a great deal of diversity here, but folks are folks. Here in the south where the stereotype is beer drinkin' Baptist, prejudiced, Nascar loving, not too bright, I will say that there are some of those folks here. But then again, I have found as many rednecks in California, as many prejudiced folks in Wisconsin, wonderfully helpful people in New York City, and I guess the answer is there are no real common grounds except to say that sometimes Americans tend to not really understand the diversity that the rest of the world does and it makes us seem ethnocentric. I have been pondering this as I wrote it, and I guess the point is that because we are so darn big, it is a very difficult question to answer.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 12:31 PM

You wanna make something of that? *G*

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,Bill the Collie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 12:09 PM

Difficult to describe in a few words because of the diversity already mentioned.
I have been several times to USofA and have visited a large number of places there but perhaps the nearest I can come to something of a generalisation is that the majority of people are polite as a default.

BtC

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:56 AM

heck - the town I grew up in had a population of about 2000 and there were at least three or four distinct sub-cultures THERE

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Tinker
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:51 AM

Amos, perhaps that is a crosscut of American Dreams ??? Money/Power, Sex, and unlimited consumer goods.....

But seriously even unlimited exposure to the same music, movies and television hasn't created a homogeneous America (except maybe at Suburban shopping centers) It's still too big with too many diverse influences.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:46 AM

The US is like Canada, but with weaker beer and guns.

I hope that helps


Brian

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Amos
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:45 AM

But on the whole it is a cross between "Dallas" and "Baywatch" plus eBay.

A

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:45 AM

You're right. It is impossible.

The New York City denizen and the family in the Florida panhandle and the shrimper in the Lousiana bayou and the Kansas farmer and the Montana rancher and the New Mexico artisan and the California redwood treehugger and the Oregon bull rider and the Alaska dog musher have scarcely even a language in common.

Painting with a B R O A D brush...

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: John Hardly
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:45 AM

No, we're not like Dallas. We're like The Simpsons.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: Wesley S
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:43 AM

It's a huge country with an enormous amount of people. Any attempt to describe it will be like a blind man describing the elephant. You'll only know what you come in contact with. Louisana is not like New York - and rural North Dakota is nothing like Santa Fe.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:42 AM

well -= first - I'm assuming you mean the US -

What portion? NorthEast - Midwest? East Coast? West Coast? North coast/ Great Lakes? Gulf coast? Plains states? Rocky Mountain states? Pacifc Northwest? etc etc etc

and then within those urban, suburban, rural or "The middle of nowhere"? Because even if you specify a specific state the urban/suburban rural and REALLY rural splits probably still apply - though they vary from state to state.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:42 AM

Of course. America is multifarious.

America is huge, populous, and multi-ethnic. There is great diversity as to terrain, climate, and wealth in various parts of the country. People may be wearing sneakers, gym shoes, running shoes or tennies, all of which are the same shoes. Come over and see for yourself.

Subject: RE: BS: What is America really like??
From: jeffp
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:41 AM

I've lived here all of my nearly 51 years and I can't give you a full answer to that question. Basically, anything you've heard that the US is like, it is. And it isn't.

That pretty much sums it up in my experience.

jeffp

Subject: BS: What is America really like??
From: GUEST,divilthebit
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 11:29 AM

Just thinkin that we in Ireland often ridicule the 'yanks' and their Quiet Man version of all things Irish. However on futher reflection I realised my ideas of America are equally as dodgy. I've never been nad have programmes like Dallas or the McDonald's Burger crowd to base judgements on. Can anyone answer this nearly impossible question??