Defending America
By Sarah Pinkerton
Many people speak of Americans in scoffing tones, labeling us “rude, loud, and ignorant.” I will not deny that some Americans are indeed rude, loud, and ignorant— but the same is true of people al over the world. Rudeness wasn’t bottled and shipped off for only Americans to use, and we are not the souls of ignorance others would often have us be.
I recently took a train from Leuchars to London, and a young woman seated behind me repeatedly referred to ALL Americans as “rude and whingey.” I may let the “whingey” slide, as I’m technically whingeing right now, but I know that I make every effort to be polite when I interact with others, and not only when I travel. I make sure that I ask questions nicely and I say thank you when someone helps me find my way— so it seems to me that the only thing I can be faulted for is being a tourist with poor directional skills, not for being American.
I understand that an aspect of each person’s personality is going to be based on his or her culture, but the US is such a varied landscape that no one is going to have the exact same experience. Therefore ascribing the same characteristics to everyone is illogical. Casting one person’s character onto all other people doesn’t actually do any good in the long run, as it actually makes human behavior harder to predict— because this tendency is based on assumption, not studied fact. Assuming that all Americans will act the same way is as offensive an assertion as any other blanket cultural assumption, and it’s just as closed-minded.
Have I met rude Americans? Yes, but I thought of them as rude people, not as simply being rude because they were born or raised in a specific place. People are individuals, and no one’s identity is going to fit every stereotype. While I won’t allow this article to descend into trading stereotypes blow-for-blow, relevant examples certainly come into play. For instance, Americans themselves often broadly stereotype Southerners—specifically those from the Deep South— as rude, ignorant, and loud. Yet in my collegiate career I found that the majority of people I met from Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee were warm, welcoming, and kind.
To be frank, those who write an entire group of people off as “ignorant” are usually far more closed-minded than those they are disparaging. And for those willing to call their fellow university students ignorant, remember that we are obviously at university to learn— not just about our subjects, but also about other people. Of course I’m willing to learn something, and I enjoy being taught by those around me. However, please don’t talk down to me or assume I’m a less-evolved person because I’m American. I’ve gotten this assumption before, and it gets old quickly.
Yes, I love America, but I have no desire to cut down someone else’s country so I can be on the top of the dog pile. Doing so would be an exercise in futility. No single country is absolutely perfect, and neither is any person. Just as I love America, I love living here in Scotland, and I love learning from the people I’ve met. Learning and acceptance, though, are most successfully implemented when they go both ways.
I recently took a train from Leuchars to London, and a young woman seated behind me repeatedly referred to ALL Americans as “rude and whingey.” I may let the “whingey” slide, as I’m technically whingeing right now, but I know that I make every effort to be polite when I interact with others, and not only when I travel. I make sure that I ask questions nicely and I say thank you when someone helps me find my way— so it seems to me that the only thing I can be faulted for is being a tourist with poor directional skills, not for being American.
I understand that an aspect of each person’s personality is going to be based on his or her culture, but the US is such a varied landscape that no one is going to have the exact same experience. Therefore ascribing the same characteristics to everyone is illogical. Casting one person’s character onto all other people doesn’t actually do any good in the long run, as it actually makes human behavior harder to predict— because this tendency is based on assumption, not studied fact. Assuming that all Americans will act the same way is as offensive an assertion as any other blanket cultural assumption, and it’s just as closed-minded.
Have I met rude Americans? Yes, but I thought of them as rude people, not as simply being rude because they were born or raised in a specific place. People are individuals, and no one’s identity is going to fit every stereotype. While I won’t allow this article to descend into trading stereotypes blow-for-blow, relevant examples certainly come into play. For instance, Americans themselves often broadly stereotype Southerners—specifically those from the Deep South— as rude, ignorant, and loud. Yet in my collegiate career I found that the majority of people I met from Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee were warm, welcoming, and kind.
To be frank, those who write an entire group of people off as “ignorant” are usually far more closed-minded than those they are disparaging. And for those willing to call their fellow university students ignorant, remember that we are obviously at university to learn— not just about our subjects, but also about other people. Of course I’m willing to learn something, and I enjoy being taught by those around me. However, please don’t talk down to me or assume I’m a less-evolved person because I’m American. I’ve gotten this assumption before, and it gets old quickly.
Yes, I love America, but I have no desire to cut down someone else’s country so I can be on the top of the dog pile. Doing so would be an exercise in futility. No single country is absolutely perfect, and neither is any person. Just as I love America, I love living here in Scotland, and I love learning from the people I’ve met. Learning and acceptance, though, are most successfully implemented when they go both ways.