4 ms·

I have lived in Europe for about 5 years now, and sadly this is correct. German and French media in particular seem to delight in disparaging America and Americ

by ciguy 8y ago

I have lived in Europe for about 5 years now, and sadly this is correct. German and French media in particular seem to delight in disparaging America and Americans. Most Germans I've talked to are incredibly misinformed about what life in America is actually like. They think the entire country is more like a small southern town and that police roam the streets shooting citizens at random. We have our problems of course and are far from perfect but the extent of them is grossly exaggerated by European media.

friedman23 8y ago
Even the southern towns aren't like their caricatures. Don't feel bad, people in California do the same thing and they don't even have the excuse of language or distance.
- garmaine 8y ago
  Which is actually part of the problem. Hollywood is in is in own massive filter bubble, and what Hollywood portrays about America is what the world believes... whereas most Americans look at Hollywood/Los Angeles with the same confused bemusement.
oldgradstudent 8y ago
> and that police roam the streets shooting citizens at random. In a sense this this is not so divorced from reality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#... So if you ignore the context, it does seem like police roam the street shooting citizens at random.
aetherson 8y ago
I spent a month in Germany in the mid-90's as a high school student. At the time, Bay Watch was big thing, and the (friendly, nice) people I met had a pretty tough time wrapping their heads around the idea that my experience, living in California, did not include warm beaches, that I didn't surf, etc. It's really easy to pick up caricatures of life in foreign countries. I don't think anyone is immune to imaging that foreigners are more exotic and strange than they really are. I remember someone on an American forum confidently saying that in anime, a character's family owning a car was supposed to indicate great wealth because car ownership was super rare in Japan -- a vast exaggeration of a minor demographic difference.
- veddox 8y ago
  > It's really easy to pick up caricatures of life in foreign countries. I'm a German who's lived abroad for the majority of his life. This statement is so true. I've heard of Africans asking if Hitler was still in power, Americans thinking Germans all lived in castles, and Germans wondering whether we had electricity in Zambia. If you've never lived there, how can you know? I have dozens of American friends and frequently read American publications. I daresay I have some understanding of US culture from this exposure - but even so I still don't know what it's like to actually live in the United States.
garmaine 8y ago
A mythical small southern town, since the real thing isn’t anything like what you are implying.

by ciguy 8y ago

friedman23 8y ago

Even the southern towns aren't like their caricatures. Don't feel bad, people in California do the same thing and they don't even have the excuse of language or distance.

garmaine 8y ago
Which is actually part of the problem. Hollywood is in is in own massive filter bubble, and what Hollywood portrays about America is what the world believes... whereas most Americans look at Hollywood/Los Angeles with the same confused bemusement.

oldgradstudent 8y ago

> and that police roam the streets shooting citizens at random. In a sense this this is not so divorced from reality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#Germany https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_firearm_use_by_country#... So if you ignore the context, it does seem like police roam the street shooting citizens at random.

aetherson 8y ago

I spent a month in Germany in the mid-90's as a high school student. At the time, Bay Watch was big thing, and the (friendly, nice) people I met had a pretty tough time wrapping their heads around the idea that my experience, living in California, did not include warm beaches, that I didn't surf, etc. It's really easy to pick up caricatures of life in foreign countries. I don't think anyone is immune to imaging that foreigners are more exotic and strange than they really are. I remember someone on an American forum confidently saying that in anime, a character's family owning a car was supposed to indicate great wealth because car ownership was super rare in Japan -- a vast exaggeration of a minor demographic difference.

veddox 8y ago
> It's really easy to pick up caricatures of life in foreign countries. I'm a German who's lived abroad for the majority of his life. This statement is so true. I've heard of Africans asking if Hitler was still in power, Americans thinking Germans all lived in castles, and Germans wondering whether we had electricity in Zambia. If you've never lived there, how can you know? I have dozens of American friends and frequently read American publications. I daresay I have some understanding of US culture from this exposure - but even so I still don't know what it's like to actually live in the United States.

garmaine 8y ago

A mythical small southern town, since the real thing isn’t anything like what you are implying.