Anti-American Sentiments on Forumosa

cableguy,
When you’ve been living abroad as long as I have, you get used to the American bashing (long before 9-11) and people actually say things to you like, “Oh, you’re ok for a Yank.” Which I abhor, because I’m not a damn yankee! I’m a southerner and being called a Yank is a curse.

But living abroad you also notice exactly what the non-Americans notice. That American FOBs (Fresh Off the Boat) are like big bouncy dogs that slobber, demand biscuits, and bark loudly.

come on, apart from the Taiwanese, who are always the target of critisism on this board, them Frenchies have taken a few sound beatings as well - ask Tigerman how things are in the internatinal politics forum, where every country is up for a tsunami of mud, wverytime the place is mentioned.

Outside Tigermans forum, the antiamericanism here seems fairly subdues - the “Americans are loud” thing is something a silent Scandinavian like me will pick up on instantly.

[quote=“Alien”]cableguy,
When you’ve been living abroad as long as I have, you get used to the American bashing (long before 9-11) and people actually say things to you like, “Oh, you’re ok for a Yank.” Which I abhor, because I’m not a damn yankee! I’m a southerner and being called a Yank is a curse.

But living abroad you also notice exactly what the non-Americans notice. That American FOBs (Fresh Off the Boat) are like big bouncy dogs that slobber, demand biscuits, and bark loudly.[/quote]

Alien,

Thank you for the description! I love it! (I’m glad you didn’t mistake the “F” key for the “S” or I would have probably gone off on another tangent!)
Actually, having spent part of my youth in the wonderful state of Texas, I can understand your aversion to being called a “Yank.” Although I am technically one, I tried not to advertise this fact too much when I lived in the “Lone Star State.”

I don’t agree with your examples, but I won’t belabour the point too much - in one case it’s trying to turn a negative into a positive “Americans are loud, and that’s fantastic!” and in the other it’s an underhanded compliment “It’s amazing that Americans have accomplished so much when half of them must be deaf!” But I do get the point you’re making :slight_smile:

If in fact someone does have deep feelings of hostility towards Americans, that’s not something you have any right to demand they change. All you can ask is that they be polite and fair to you, and try and change their minds if you can be bothered. As an example, I don’t care if someone hates women - if they treat me politely and fairly, their feelings are their own business. If they were to say something like ‘women are more emotional than men’ I would stop and think about whether that was a fair statement or not before smacking them around the head. In this case, I think it is. It’s not true of all women, but it’s a fair enough general statement for someone to make, whether or not he has hostility to women or not. I could try to refute the point, if I thought I could. However, if I suspected he hated women, it would reinforce what I already suspected, which is what I think is happening here.

I agree that America is diverse, but I would also make the point that I don’t believe anyone made the comment about all Americans - I think we all made qualifying statements. If relevancy is your criteria for bashing, then we were also guilty of bashing Hong Kong, Guangzhou, (some) British and Scottish people.

I’m personally not offended, but I do think the context of the original discussion did not justify such a strong reaction on your part, which is basically what I’ve been trying to say politely… or is that snidely? :slight_smile: I do believe Anti-American sentiment does exist to a greater extent than some other nations, and I believe most of this can be traced back to its dominance as a world power in some way or other (including the wealth that has given Americans greater travel opportunities than most), but that’s a separate issue. I think some places and people are also heavily pro-American.

Cableguy, I am not the kind of guy who hides behind ‘snide’ comments.

I don’t take your criticism as an attack on my nation, you’re just one over-sensitive arsehole who is contributing to the general lack of respect that most of the world community feels toward your country. Lighten up, get a sense of humour, and accept that conversations don’t always stay on topic. Or else fuck off and take your petty juvenile insecurities with you before you give your country a bad name.

I don’t hate ‘Americans’, but I don’t like wankers. Wankers make everyone else dislike their country, either by being loudly obnoxious or by hiding behind their flag in the face of criticism.

And, everyone else please stop hijacking this thread by bringing in irrelevancies such as common misconseptions about New Zealanders. CG is talking about attitudes to the USA, not to other piddling inconsequential countries. Get it? It’s about America, America only, and how I fail to understand America’s problems in the world. Bringing in your experiences with regard to other nations is an irrelevancy that distracts from the original topic.

[quote=“daasgrrl”]
I do believe Anti-American sentiment does exist to a greater extent than some other nations, and I believe most of this can be traced back to its dominance as a world power in some way or other (including the wealth that has given Americans greater travel opportunities than most), but that’s a separate issue. I think some places and people are also heavily pro-American.[/quote]

America is pro-America. But Australia is very pro-Australia, too. Most people everywhere are proud of their countires. They may not agree with everything their countries do, but people have a need to feel an identity (even detached) with a culture. I think that’s human nature.
There is a lot of anti-American sentiment, which is not usually aimed at its people, but what AMerica represents to the world: big business, big military, and Hollywood.

Also, “average” Americans are sometimes not the most well-traveled people, and may go overseas with specific intentions, such as study, or as reps for large corporations. That said, the most well-traveled people I know ARE Americans, myself included.

The unfairness comes when non-Americans have the tendency to group all Americans into one category, as if we’re some sort of homogeneous culture, cut from the same mold.

That, IMO, is ignorance on their part, and one that we Americans overseas should rise above, since we know this is untrue.
In Amsterdam, this guy in a glass shop started going off on me about Americans, as he’d dealt with a certain ilk of American tourists in his shop. It just made me laugh because he’d obviously earned quite a bit of money by selling his objects d’art to these ‘awful’ Americans. That to me, represented a misplaced arrogant inferiority complex that was by and large, hypocritical. In these cases, I get the, “Oh, you’re not a typical American” statement, which in come cases may be true, but only when you’re observing or associating Americans as all being the same. And that’s “bollocks”, if I may snag a British term. It’s as silly as when Taiwanese say, 'waiguorens do this, or all waiguorens think that…"

I can still understand where the resentment comes from, unfortunately. But one must stand back from it, however, when one lives abroad.

yea, and in anycase it’s Canadians who should become the next victims of rightious persecutuion…second only to japan when you talk about being cut from the same mold.
those likeable little bastards

Yes, it’s unfair, but that’s human nature too :slight_smile: I think there’s usually a grain of truth to stereotypes, or they wouldn’t exist. Not all Taiwanese people are short - but a lot of them are. Not all Japanese are polite and repressed, but a lot of them are, or at least behave like that in front of foreigners. Not all Australians drink beer and watch sport, but you wouldn’t know it :beer: I think I can safely say most Americans would have the same generalised impressions of people from other countries, even if they know it’s not true on an individual basis. Although none of the Canadians I’ve ever met have flapping heads - very disappointing…

Being from Oregon, I hate being called a Yankee as well, and anyone who blankets all Americans as a Yank is truly a dumbshit.

I really haven’t felt so much anti-American sentiment lately, from anyone. I felt more 12 years ago when there were lots more American English teachers. This was before the Asian financial crisis and the 90s boom in the U.S.–there were teachers, strippers and “hostesses” getting caught for working illegallly, and the Taiwanese used to go on and on “how the tables have turned” and “white people are going down and we are becoming powerful” because now they have to resort to teaching and prostituting themselves in super-rich Taiwan, and all sorts of other cockey horseshit. Seems the more mainland China points their missiles, the more they’ve managed to keep their anti-American bullshit to themselves.

Culture? That’s stretching things a bit.

‘Mold’. There we go again…Americans lazily omitting the ‘u’. Mould more like. :raspberry:

I’ve been trying for ages to tell my Taiwanese friends that the wildlife in Australia also includes Australian women. :smiling_imp:

Now, thanks to Daasgrrl I have the perfect example of what of I was trying to tell them. :laughing:

Cheers.

[quote=“Beachside Queenslander”]I’ve been trying for ages to tell my Taiwanese friends that the wildlife in Australia also includes Australian women. :smiling_imp:

Now, thanks to Daasgrrl I have the perfect example of what of I was trying to tell them. :laughing:[/quote]

Come here and say that, BQ. No, closer… closer… :rainbow:

[quote=“sheepshagger”]
Culture? That’s stretching things a bit.

‘Mold’. There we go again…Americans lazily omitting the ‘u’. Mould more like. :raspberry:[/quote] :upyours: Fuck you.

Cableguy et al, would you please stop wasting all your energy on this topic and focus it on something worthwhile like bashing the French?

[quote=“Jive Turkey”][quote=“sheepshagger”]
Culture? That’s stretching things a bit.

‘Mold’. There we go again…Americans lazily omitting the ‘u’. Mould more like. :raspberry:[/quote] :upyours: Fuck you.

[/quote]

That response is typical of over-sensitivity. Little joke: violent reaction. There’s nothing wrong with Americans BTW.

[quote=“sheepshagger”][quote=“Jive Turkey”][quote=“sheepshagger”]
Culture? That’s stretching things a bit.

‘Mold’. There we go again…Americans lazily omitting the ‘u’. Mould more like. :raspberry:[/quote] :upyours: Fuck you.

[/quote]

That response is typical of over-sensitivity. Little joke: violent reaction. There’s nothing wrong with Americans BTW.[/quote]

Gosh. I get sheepshagger and stragbasher mixed up. :astonished:

Perhaps ‘typical’ over-sensitivity is correct. However, snide comments are also fairly ‘typical’. :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t see too much anti-American stuff here. And when I do see it it is usually just a case of cultural penis-envy.

There you go again, lumping us all together. For the record, sheepshagger shags sheep and I shag Americans. I shag Americans for all sorts of positive reasons, and it’s usually pretty affectionate. Sheepshagger shags sheep because, well, he doesn’t know any better. I tried sheep when I lived in New Zealand, but then I went to California and learned the error of my ways.

So there, Americans are nicer than sheep. Maybe Cableguy should sleep with sheepshagger to educate him? Maybe Cableguy should sleep with everyone? Then we would all love him and he wouldn’t be so uptight.

Incidentally, I’ve noticed that Americans are not generally as loud in bed as Taiwanese. They’re not as loud as sheep either. Maybe Cableguy, who has presumably had sex with an American in the past, should sleep with a sheep as well - just for comparison’s sake, so that he doesn’t feel like I’m unfairly maligning his countryfolk’s sexual magnificence.

Sheepshagger, could you lend Cableguy a sheep after you have finished with him?

And don’t forget to wear a condom!

Yeah, leather-head envy. :laughing:

Yeah, leather-head envy. :laughing:[/quote]

Two words for you CQ:

[color=red]Mars Rover[/color]

:wink:

Absolutely! But if you’ve ever met a “NEWFY”, a Canadian from Newfoundland, then you’ll understand the flapping head reference!
:smiling_imp:

I just think that a lot of the stereotypes and generalizations that Taiwanese like to make about ALL foreigners are no more ridiculous than some statements that foreigners make about each other. See my above Newfy example. :wink: