The I love Americans... really I do thread

[anotheralias]

heh my kid LOVES visiting forums. Almost 11 yrs old and loves religious debates, Go figure.

That I could see.

 

[jonsidneyb]

I think it's wrong to generalize people or countries. It's probably true that there are a lot of ignorant people there (I know that there are large differences between the different states, which are sometimes almost countries on their own), maybe a bit more than in some European countries. But the knowledge, technology and economical benefits we have in the world come for a great deal from the American people. I do have problems with some of the government and media there though, I think they are misleading some of the more vulnerable people and by doing that actually harming their own country. That's one of things that disturb me most, and I recognize it because in Belgium it's just the same.

I have actually lived in several countries though never any of them for a long period of time except Korea.

One of the things I was getting at that it is going to be hard to have a stereotype of Americans that fits. It seems there is a media type American and some think we are all similar. Shoot there are some Americans that beat up on other states. In flyover country people make fun of California and New York except for parts of Northern California remind me of flyover country. When I am on the East Coast and West Coast their are a few that think the center of the USA if all redneck. Then there are inttra state feelings. When I was on my way to see a friend in Northern Minnesota the people in St.Paul wanted to know why I would want to go to the wasteland. In the so called Wasteland they called the people of St Paul Citiots. There would be people from the city showing up on the weekends to show the people that lived in the woods how to hike and fish, it was funny.

Our culture is varied enough that most Americans don't know what exists in their own nation.

I had someone tell me what certain minorities in the USA where like, the funny thing is I don't know all of American culture because I have rarely run across anyone from those minorities that match the stereotypes.

I am going to add pictures of the America I am in now and might look unfamiliar to what some Americans see.

Someone from Germany told me what American Blacks where like. I told they they seem like everyone else to me. The ones I got to know in Indiana when I was working at Eli Lilly (drug company) wore suits or lab coats and where very professional, they seemed like everyone else there.

Then we go to the South West, and guess what, they are just like everyone else there too. In the biggest town in the region there is a statue of Bill Pickett next to the one of the Ponca Indian Cheif White Eagle. If you saw Lonesome Dove you will have seen Bill Pickett, the Lonesome Dove Ranch is a ways East of where I am at. The statures where commissioned by some white ranchers known as the Miller Brothers

 

[iTuN3r]

I have actually lived in several countries though never any of them for a long period of time except Korea.

One of the things I was getting at that it is going to be hard to have a stereotype of Americans that fits. It seems there is a media type American and some think we are all similar. Shoot there are some Americans that beat up on other states. In flyover country people make fun of California and New York except for parts of Northern California remind me of flyover country. When I am on the East Coast and West Coast their are a few that think the center of the USA if all redneck. Then there are inttra state feelings. When I was on my way to see a friend in Northern Minnesota the people in St.Paul wanted to know why I would want to go to the wasteland. In the so called Wasteland they called the people of St Paul Citiots. There would be people from the city showing up on the weekends to show the people that lived in the woods how to hike and fish, it was funny.

Our culture is varied enough that most Americans don't know what exists in their own nation.

I had someone tell me what certain minorities in the USA where like, the funny thing is I don't know all of American culture because I have rarely run across anyone from those minorities that match the stereotypes.

I am going to add pictures of the America I am in now and might look unfamiliar to what some Americans see.

Thats really something that surprises me sometimes when i see people who don't have anyidea about their own country .

 

[Blandt]

I am going to add pictures of the America I am in now and might look unfamiliar to what some Americans see.

This is somewhere in the Midwest ?! A Rodeo I feel right at home

 

[Blandt]

Thats really something that surprises me sometimes when i see people who don't have anyidea about their own country .

It depends really. The US is really big

 

[iTuN3r]

It depends really. The US is really big

Well it's big History / Government is Part of their School /College courses which is mandatory course in most of the states ..well i remember going through most of things in high school here even after that all they hardly know anything .

 

[jonsidneyb]

There are people that describe American Women. This is the way I see American Women.

Women can crawl under a pickup truck and fix the clutch when you break down. They can deliver a calf and climb a mountain. There are the person you trust most when setting up lines to drop down a deep 500 foot hole in the earth. They deliver calves that are backwards, they can work cattle as good as any guy. Then they clean up nicely so you can go two stepping.

 

[jonsidneyb]

Thats really something that surprises me sometimes when i see people who don't have anyidea about their own country .

We are 300 + million people and I would say we have at least 30 distinct cultures and probably a lot more. We have what is known as the Mississippi Chinese that are distinct. They where came from the Cantonese people brought over to help build the Union Pacific Railroad. They have lost everything Asian about them and became group of their own. We have large Amish areas. The people where I am at area almost all mixed race but their are exceptions. The Chinese Railroad workers that stayed on the plains instead of going to Mississippi did not die out, they where bred out and are spread out inside the cowboys. Most of the cowboys are at least 1/8 Native American and quite a few are full but that is rare.

You have a culture that is unique found in the Appalachians, actually several different groups. The natives are all very different as well.

 

[iTuN3r]

We are 300 + million people and I would say we have at least 30 distinct cultures and probably a lot more. We have what is known as the Mississippi Chinese that are distinct. They where came from the Cantonese people brought over to help build the Union Pacific Railroad. They have lost everything Asian about them and became group of their own. We have large Amish areas. The people where I am at area almost all mixed race but their are exceptions. The Chinese Railroad workers that stayed on the plains instead of going to Mississippi did not die out, they where bred out and are spread out inside the cowboys. Most of the cowboys are at least 1/8 Native American and quite a few are full but that is rare.

You have a culture that is unique found in the Appalachians, actually several different groups. The natives are all very different as well.

Yup i am aware of it 2yrs from now i am planning to go on 6months vacation all over different states .

 

[jonsidneyb]

These are members of the Otoe, and Iowa tribe with some Ponca, and Tonkawa mixed in. Well many of them are mixed and I do know these people. Most have some white and black in them as well.

 

[jonsidneyb]

 

[jonsidneyb]

I have not come close to seeing All of American culture. I do realize that Europe and Asia as well as India and Africa have varied cultures as well.

I know that in the individual nations there are varied cultures as well.

Everyone from Spain is not the same. You will have different cultures with in a single city, not just nationalities but cultures. How about the Basques? I bet they have cultures with in cultures. How about the varied cultures of Romania, or the former Yugoslavia?

 

[AnthonyCea]

We also have this group of "so called Christians" that influence the political results, they are a group that Cheney and Bush used then subsequently made fun of once they took advantage of them to gain the White House.

David Kuo, former deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, which channels federal dollars to religious charities.

Kuo says the office was misused to rally evangelical Christians, the Republican base voters, to get GOP politicians elected. Not only that, Kuo claims Bush officials mocked evangelical leaders behind their backs, alleging that in the office of political guru Karl Rove they were called "the nuts."

"National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous', 'out of control,' and just plain 'goofy,' " Kuo writes.

"You name the important Christian leader, and I have heard them mocked by serious people in serious places," Kuo told "60 Minutes" Sunday night.

That mockery, he added, included the Rev. Pat Robertson being called "insane," the Rev. Jerry Falwell being called "ridiculous" and comments that Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family "had to be controlled."

James Towey, Kuo's former boss in the faith-based initiative office, suggested Kuo is bearing false witness.

What the book seems to be "describing is kind of a personal animus against evangelicals and a kind of personal insulting behavior," Towey said. "President Bush would never have tolerated that, and I never saw it in four and a half years."

Kuo says that he never heard President Bush himself say anything negative about Christians, but he believes many Christians have put too much faith in political leaders.

"I think the Christians have viewed this president, with a lot of help from the White House, as a pastor-in-chief, as opposed to a commander-in-chief," Kuo said today on "Good Morning America."

"And Christians need to understand that there's a difference between George W. Bush who is a great man, a good, compassionate man, and President Bush, a politician."

Kuo says it should come as no surprise that any administration plays politics.

"But my point is even in this White House, you are loved for your votes, not anything else. That's what you need to know," Kuo said. "I say it within this broader argument, Christians have put way too much emphasis on politics."

These die hards will still support the Republican party even though they have been used by them as pawns for years.

more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/04/uselections2008.sarahpalin3

 

[jonsidneyb]

We also have this group of "so called Christians" that influence the political results, they are a group that Cheney and Bush used then subsequently made fun of once they took advantage of them to gain the White House.

These die hards will still support the Republican party even though they have been used by them as pawns for years.

more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/04/uselections2008.sarahpalin3

I think you would agree and people that call themselves Christians themselves will tell you they are a widely varied group.

 

[jonsidneyb]

To Europeans really know European culture? I know all my Asian relatives do not know all of Asian Culture.

I do not look Asian but I also do not look Norwegian either. I am one of those oh so common Norwegian Koreans. Would that be a Norean? Maybe a Korgian? Maybe a Norsian?

 

[jonsidneyb]

Lets be fair on Americans supposedly not knowing other cultures. I don't think anyone can know all the cultures of a major continent. Most Americans have no idea about how many distinct cultures there are here, I don't see how a European can know all of European culture or how an Asian can know all of Asian culture.

How many people out here are aware of the Karen's and their culture in the Myanmar Republic? How about the Hakka in China. One of my moderators is Hakka.

Now I am going to spell some of this wrong. Most of us in the USA, I hope don't really think that people from England are wearing a Bowler hat with an umbrella under his arm with a stiff upper lip looking on at the German with a bruatwort in one hand, an a gallon of beer in the other in his leiderhosen with a plate of kraute in front of him.

We don't think everyone in England has bad teeth, and we don't all think the French are wimps. In fact history has shown the various French historical groups where nothing of the sort.

 

[jonsidneyb]

This is somewhere in the Midwest ?! A Rodeo I feel right at home

Are you from the West....not California west but the cowboy west. I am in Oklahoma. It is a little crowded here at 3 million people.

 

[Lawrence]

This is somewhere in the Midwest ?! A Rodeo I feel right at home

Could also be in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

 

[jonsidneyb]

Could also be in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

You have cowboys in Canada?

 

[Blandt]

You have cowboys in Canada?

Yep they do ... They participated in San Antonio Rodeo last year