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And because many Americans are ignorant about how things work in other countries, when they do realize there are some downsides to American culture, instead of
by klipt 7y ago
And because many Americans are ignorant about how things work in other countries, when they do realize there are some downsides to American culture, instead of recognizing it's an American problem they will usually blame it on whatever group they're politically opposed to.
Eg take for example the lonely individualism and lack of community the article talks about. If you discuss that with an American gender studies student, they'll say "oh we have many studies about that, it's called toxic masculinity" which implies it's a global problem with men who need to be "fixed". But actually as the article points out, no such lonely individualism exists for men in many other cultures, so it could more accurately be called "toxic Americanism".
- Der_Einzige 7y agoI can assure you that this is a gross mischaracterization of gender studies students. There are a significant number of them (maybe over 50%) who don't even use language like "toxic masculinity" and out of the remainder they won't attribute American individualism to it.
- danbolt 7y agoInteresting, most examples of toxic masculinity I see are related to machismo when it hurts men and those around them. Wikipedia [1] seems to consider masculinity toxic once it is considered “harm”. I’m curious if you have sources about it being related to lonely individualism. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_masculinity https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_masculinity
- klipt 7y ago> I’m curious if you have sources about it being related to lonely individualism. Literally the second paragraph of your link: "Self-reliance and emotional repression are correlated with increased psychological problems in men such as depression, increased stress, and substance abuse." "Self-reliance and emotional repression" are phenomena which as the OP article says, are much less present in eg Armenia than America.
- danbolt 7y agoHaha, I should have read it further. Thank you for pointing it out!
- pjc50 7y agoNo, it definitely manifests in other countries, but because it's cultural it looks different. Lots of places have an ugly relationship with alcohol, violence, and football, especially at the same time.