10 things most Americans don't know about America

[Larro Darro]

So maybe I'm missing something here and you can straighten me out because I'm confused. The USA did not lose anything other than bodies and monies protecting the world from the Nazis and Imperial Japanese. Actually I think that is something, however, you said the Soviets won the war. How did that happen, I thought the Allies won the war? Also you say that every other country lost land or colonies, the USA did not loose land to my knowledge and we don't have colonies. We do have territories such as PR and Guam.

Want to clarify for me?

We lost the Philippine Islands, which we had controlled since 1898. As well as all our Naval bases on the British holdings in Asia.

Holdings, territories or colonies. It is a difference without a distinction.

And the USSR gained all of Eastern Europe. The whole iron curtain thing was a result of the 2nd world war. As is the present membership of the UN's power brokers.

 

[Larro Darro]

When I said the USSR won the war, I am talking about on the battle field. Not who gained the most in the years after the war. We won the war in the Pacific, and in Western Europe. Russia won the war in Eastern Europe. [which is where the lion's share of the German Army was at the time, ie... 9 out of every 10 German soldiers killed were killed by the Red Army] Which they could have never done without us supplying them with the tools to do it.

The big losers of the war was England and East Germany. England lost all it's Asian colonies at the start of the war, or soon afterward. This was including the jewel in the crown, India[1947]. It started a gradual weakening of the British Empire that ended in them loosing the last of their African colonies in the 60's. Eastern Germany was bled dry by Russia until Gorby came along and gave up the Evil Empire.

Russia gained land and military power, but lost out in every other way. While the Red Army, with help from the Russian winter, had been able to beat Germany, they couldn't compete with western economics.

The US, West Germany and Japan gained the most from the war. While we did lose the Philippines, and it took us a while to find our stride, the war made us bring our heads out of the sand and get involved in the word again. We took over the Pacific Rim, and it's trade. And being the only country in the world with the bomb didn't hurt.

West Germany and Japan were rebuilt on our dime, and came out of the war as strong allies. The new Germany is still the powerhouse of the EU. And we all know what Japan has done in the almost 70 years since the war.

All I was saying is that the history we are taught is so slanted it doesn't represent what happened on the ground. When Daddy's POW camp was liberated, there were both American and Russian Armies in the region. The Generals had a big pow-wow, and they came up with a plan for co-habitation. They flew the Stars and Stripes one day, and the Hammer and Sickle the next. He always said after that, that he was more worried about Russia than Germany.

 

[anethum]

Understanding that the "10 Things" are generalizations, I find a large degree of truth to most (but not all) of them. But since they are generalizations, there are lots of individuals who they don't apply to.

I think that #4 ("We are poor at expressing gratitude & affection") is ridiculous. As for #6 ("The rest of the world is not a slum-ridden sh1thole compared to us"), well, some parts of the world ARE that bad, but perhaps not as much of the world as some Americans might believe, however. And there are some things this guy wrote which I did find off-putting, but overall, it was entertaining.

I've traveled a lot, 35+ countries, and on every continent except Antarctica. I've lived with families in other countries while taking language classes. However, I've never worked overseas or lived long-term in another country. One thing I have learned is that in most other countries (including Canada), the average citizen is just as ignorant as the average American.

For those here who have criticized the list, have any of you traveled extensively, esp. in the developing world?

 

[Letj]

I too don't believe we are poor at expressing gratitude but we are indeed poor at expressing affection outside of our family. It's very normal to affectionately touch a friend or even a new aquaintenance which Americans would find rather off putting. Members of the same sex express physical affection which would be considered taboo here (I am not refering to same sex couples here). Also, a man in our culture will not touch a woman unless they are romantically involved. For good reasons, of course; he could be charged with a sex crime or the female could get really uptight about this. Spend anytime in Latin America, Caribbean, Africa or just about anywhere and you'll see how much affection people express to each other compared to our culture.

 

[youbet]

I too don't believe we are poor at expressing gratitude but we are indeed poor at expressing affection outside of our family.

Are you poor at expressing affection outside of your family or do you have different customs and traditions that should be respected by others with different customs and traditions about expressing affection?

For example, my extended family does not have a tradition of being "huggers." Yet we are an extraordinarily loyal group whose actions over the years are typical of a group sharing unconditional love. Do we need to take hugging lessons to avoid being criticized by a pompous blogger? Or can we have our customs and traditions honored as we always strive to honor the customs and traditions of others?

OTOH, I have a group of buddies from college I still see from time to time. We are huggers. Every reunion begins and ends with guys embracing one another. Is that OK? Should the behavior be criticized by others having different customs?

If you don't like what your culture is in this regard, change it. But it isn't my culture. And I'm an American.

 

[Letj]

Are you poor at expressing affection outside of your family or do you have different customs and traditions that should be respected by others with different customs and traditions about expressing affection?

Good point. Poor was probably not a very good word choice.

 

[NW-Bound]

I am a 1st-generation immigrant who came here to the US as a young adult. I have grown accustomed to the US culture, and found it more to my liking. We did not hug in the old culture either. If anything, I initially thought that Americans showed too much affection.

Cultures are different. One can compare them, but it is pointless to say what is better. There are many cultures I do not care to visit, let alone living in one. However, people are free to have a preference, and should be allowed to vote with their feet.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Many people in Japan, including DD's inlaws' extended family, are quite averse to hugging. What to do when they come to visit--be perceived as being poor in expressing affection or make them extremely uncomfortable (and have them discuss how rude Americans are)? Such a quandary. We'll go with their preferences.

 

[clifp]

Like all good lies, there is an element of truth in what he writes. We can all find certain Americans who think the rest of the world is a dump compared to the USA, who think everybody else wants to be an American, who think little of value comes from anywhere but the USA, etc. But, we can also find people who understand and enjoy other cultures, other points of view and other lifestyles. And can do so without having to measure which is best and which is worst.

I think the author takes the same superficial view of Americans, that he thinks Americans take of others in the world. Not much difference in thinking between him and the people he is critisizing. My 2¢.

+1

Pretty typical stuff from the "professional" life coach class. It certainly helps to be born wealthy, so you can casually say that money doesn't pay happiness. It is certainly true, but the lack of money causes plenty of misery.

I believe I come from a unique background when it comes to wealth. I grew up in a family with a lot of money. We had a massive house, swimming pool, expensive cars, expensive vacations. By the time I was eight my brother and I each had our own televisions and video game systems. By the time I was 10, we had our own computers. We each had two bedrooms and our own bathrooms. I attended expensive private schools and was given a car on my sixteenth birthday.
But for most of my childhood and adolescence, my family was miserable. My parents divorced, and my brother and I each went through our own episodes of trouble with the law.

Evidently he makes a living giving dating advice.
Advice #1 It helps to be really handsome, like Mark, when trying to get dates. In fact if you are good looking enough, the dates come to you.

 

[NW-Bound]

Evidently he make a living giving dating advice...

Never heard of this guy before this thread. You made me go back to look.

Yep. So, that's how he also knows where one can get tested for STD for free, as I noted in an earlier post.

 

[Larro Darro]

Something I have noticed in my brief time spent abroad is how formal people are when they first meet. We will be calling them by their first name the first time we see them, yet they are more comfortable with sir and ma'am.

 

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
#7 - (We’re Paranoid)I don't think this reflects general paranoia. It is simply the news media trying to sensationalize things. If you want to generalize, how about "Mainstream 'journalism' in the US sucks"? I can buy that one. Is it better in other parts of the world? I would hope so, but here's a sample from the #1 circulation paper in the UK:

...

Pot calling the kettle black?

Well, it would be, if the article's author (or I) had invoked the quality of American print journalism, and attempted to assert that they do it better in Britain. Otherwise, it's just a straw man. Plus, even if the paranoia is created by the media, that doesn't mean that there aren't people building panic rooms, emptying Home Depot of duct tape to keep out terrorist nerve gas attacks, etc. If nobody consumed what the media produced, they'd produce something different. (Of course, I already knew that the alert readers of this forum are not taken in by media discourse. )

Nope, I'm standing behind my comment.

He was using some specific news sources as 'evidence' of paranoia, he didn't reference a direct poll of the people. So I don't see it as a straw man to compare US journalism to non-US journalism.

There will always be 'some' people doing odd things. We can find examples of that in any country. That does not say anything about the entire group of people.

Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post
What I'm most interested in now is, the OP's response to these responses. I'm curious why he considered this a 'a nicely-written piece.'?

I have a hard time describing something so critical as 'nicely-written'. Subjectively, one might think it was 'well written', but IMO, it doesn't deserve that either.

Well, apparently my subjective opinion of the piece is different from your subjective opinion. That's kind of the nature of subjectivity.

And that is fine, I didn't say you weren't entitled to your own opinion. I merely said I was curious why you considered it so.

Anyway, I used the term "nicely-written" because I thought it was written nicely. I liked the writing style, and I thought that the writer addressed some issues that many people might not have thought about, in a highly readable way.

Well, the follow-up posts indicate it was largely a 'put-on' to attract 'hits', and my subjective opinion is that does not impress me as 'well written', it's just a 'hit piece'.

-ERD50

 

[kcowan]

It took me a while to start hugging men friends while shaking their hand here in Mexico.

(I think Jaywalking is hilarious because he only selects they really ignorant respondents. If I watch Jeopardy, I am always impressed with the extensive knowledge of the American contestants.)

 

[haha]

My thoughts exactly. The impression that I have is that the Americans that the author "knows" are more red-necky than the people I know (apologies to any red-necks out there).

hey, go for it; you knew that redneck is the last slur that one can safely make or you would not have made it.

All at once it slurs a class, a place, a way of life, a race and an ethnic group. Whoopee!

But hey, we of the (for now) majority love to be ugly to ourselves, so pour it on.

Ha

 

[veremchuka]

We lost the Philippine Islands, which we had controlled since 1898. As well as all our Naval bases on the British holdings in Asia.

Well after spending 25 minutes working on a reply and being about 1 minute from submit after extensive proof reading at 10 pm last night - the house went black. Power outage and it is all lost.

So rather than trying to recreate all that I'll just say we did not lose the PI. In 1935 a treaty or law (I forget now) was signed (after several attempts that were revoked) and the PI were to get their independence (I forget when) but WWII delayed that. The PI independence day is July 4th, 1946. So I don't see we lost anything because it was all in the works for over 10 years.

I did not get into the naval bases but if they were in British colonies then yes those were lost but I suspect we gained plenty to replace them.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

hey, go for it; you knew that redneck is the last slur that one can safely make or you would not have made it.

All at once it slurs a class, a place, a way of life, a race and an ethnic group. Whoopee!

But hey, we of the (for now) majority love to be ugly to ourselves, so pour it on.

Ha

Tell that to Jeff Foxworthy. I think americans are pretty light-hearted about the redneck title.

For the record, the inbreds outnumber the rednecks in my neck o the woods.

 

[HFWR]

Tell that to Jeff Foxworthy. I think americans are pretty light-hearted about the redneck title.

For the record, the inbreds outnumber the rednecks in my neck o the woods.

Wait til I tell Uncle Dad you said that...

 

[haha]

Q.E.D.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Q.E.D.

Not entirely.
I think americans have an excellent sense of humor. Jeff Foxworthy, Roseanne Barr etc.. play best to their intended target. Penn Gillette commented that his atheist humor went over best in the bible belt.
I have spent all of my life in redneck america and it is not confined to a single geographic area.
Slur would be stretch in my experience. I have seen "locals" with redneck tatooed on their body, "backwoods hillbilly" painted on the pickup truck.....

 

[Larro Darro]

Well after spending 25 minutes working on a reply and being about 1 minute from submit after extensive proof reading at 10 pm last night - the house went black. Power outage and it is all lost.

So rather than trying to recreate all that I'll just say we did not lose the PI. In 1935 a treaty or law (I forget now) was signed (after several attempts that were revoked) and the PI were to get their independence (I forget when) but WWII delayed that. The PI independence day is July 4th, 1946. So I don't see we lost anything because it was all in the works for over 10 years.

I did not get into the naval bases but if they were in British colonies then yes those were lost but I suspect we gained plenty to replace them.

Ver...., sorry to make you work so hard. I was just making the point that the USSR was the only country not to loose territory during the war. Didn't mean to make you spend all night on Google.

The Tydings-McDuffie Law was passed March 24, 1934. It made the promise to give back the PI in ten years. That may or may not have happened as promised. I do recall in Indian Treaties something about as long as the wind blows and the grass grows.....

But much to the credit of McArthur and FDR, they overrode the top brass, and didn't skip the PI on the way back to Japan. On October 20, 1944 McArthur landed troops on the island of Leyte, 31 months and 9 days after escaping from Corregidor on March 11, 1942. The biggest battles were Leyte, Mindoro and Luzon. The fight lasted until August 15, 1945. US losses [Army and Air Corps] were 13.9K killed, 48.5K wounded. The native death toll was nearly a million, while 336K Japanese were killed.

We paid a heavy price to win the islands back, then the next year, returned them to the natives. But it was not a free and clear tittle we gave them. Do some reading on all the restrictions we placed on the new country. The two biggest being Clark Air Base, which we kept until 1991, and Subic Bay Naval Base, returned to them in 1992.

Didn't mean to get in back and forth with you, but glad you did a little digging around in American History. I hadn't read up on this aspect of the war in over twenty years, and I enjoyed doing so the last couple of days.

 

[haha]

Not entirely.
I think americans have an excellent sense of humor. Jeff Foxworthy, Roseanne Barr etc.. play best to their intended target. Penn Gillette commented that his atheist humor went over best in the bible belt.
I have spent all of my life in redneck america and it is not confined to a single geographic area.
Slur would be stretch in my experience. I have seen "locals" with redneck tatooed on their body, "backwoods hillbilly" painted on the pickup truck.....

No arguments here, other than to note that an observation that people might put up with slurs is a very weak proof that they are not slurs. Especially if you make a very good living playing to that community. Look at many black comics and the jokes they make. You had better not make any of them though. America and much of the world competes to demonstrate who can have the thinnest skin. Appalachian whites do not appear to be thin skinned, but some guy with an upper class New England accent might find out that he had better be very careful how he acts around them. What someone can say on a stage is quite different than what he can say in a bar.

And I have not spent my entire life among those groups, but I come from them and I think I understand pretty well how they feel. We should be free to slur anyone, or keep shut about whatever groups seem at least temporarily to be putting up with it. That is just cowardice. I like the attitude of the JADL. They are no one's idea of the downtrodden or underprivileged, but they are smart enough to remember what it means to be in that position, and to fight those wars long before things are getting close.

Ha

 

[bjorn2bwild]

No arguments here, other than to note that an observation that people might put up with slurs is a very weak proof that they are not slurs. Especially if you make a very good living playing to that community. Look at many black comics and the jokes they make. You had better not make any of them though. America and much of the world competes to demonstrate who can have the thinnest skin. Appalachian whites do not appear to be thin skinned, but some guy with an upper class New England accent might find out that he had better be very careful how he acts around them. What someone can say on a stage is quite different than what he can say in a bar.

And I have not spent my entire life among those groups, but I come from them and I think I understand pretty well how they feel. We should be free to slur anyone, or keep shut about whatever groups seem at least temporarily to be putting up with it. That is just cowardice. I like the attitude of the JADL. They are no one's idea of the downtrodden or underprivileged, but they are smart enough to remember what it means to be in that position, and to fight those wars long before things are getting close.

Ha

Good point
So many words can be either descriptive or pejorative - i.e. New Yorker, ditch digger, southerner, choose a body part, hippie. During my hippie phase an older man burst out "my god you look like jesus christ". My Italian step father called people he did'nt like "bananna" etc...
When I lived in your fair state I recall the Space Needle/Goat Rocks divide.
In the quote you cited I think redneck was meant to be descriptive.