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I fully agree. I was astonished at how polite and helpful people were in the US for my week long first ever visit beginning of this year. The sentence you quote

I fully agree. I was astonished at how polite and helpful people were in the US for my week long first ever visit beginning of this year. The sentence you quote seems to be typically of most news/social media we are exposed to. Luckily I am aware of the technology side of the US so I typically take the cynicism with a pinch of salt but many people take it at face value and mouth it off as facts.

adventured 7y ago
It has always been that way. Gordon Sinclair famously noted it a generation ago.[1] The people I have interacted with across my lifetime from around the world have been quite oblivious to the good deeds of the US and largely only aware of anything negative the US has been responsible for. Cynicism sell better. That's what people who have been news-educated online have seen the past 25 years. In the early days of the Web most people I would chat with internationally were heavily ignorant of the US, other than select major details. Today, every flaw and mistake is magnified and broadcast globally, daily. The US kept most of Belgium alive after WW1 with the CRB [2], and fed ten million Russians daily [3] - who were nationally not our friends - during their famine of 1921-1923. Most people are entirely oblivious to that type of history, even in the US (a failure of our education system). Today it's PEPFAR, keeping millions of people alive in Africa. Or Gates & Buffett donating 2/3 of their wealth to helping poor people outside of the US (and the US treats them as heroes for it). When Russia sent that plane of supplies to the US last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted they hoped the US would reciprocate the favor back the other direction if things become increasingly dire in Russia. And that is exactly what the US will do, if it is able to ramp up the production of medical gear in the coming months. [1] https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gordonsinclairtheamericans.htm https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gordonsinclairthea... [2] https://www.nps.gov/articles/emergence-of-the-great-humanitarian.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/emergence-of-the-great-humanita... [3] https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html
- tines 7y ago
  > And that is exactly what the US will do, if it is able to ramp up the production of medical gear in the coming months. "I would like you to do us a favor though."
- mmsimanga 7y ago
  It is puzzling I must say. On the one end people here are into American things such as MacDonalds, Krispy Creme and Apple is probably the ultimate technology brand. Its a status symbol to own an iPhone. If someone goes to Harvard or MIT the rest of us will be sure to hear about. Probably a few local papers will have the story. Then the same people holding the iPhone aspiring to go to Harvard will be some of the most cynical people. An example of how "patient" I felt New Yorker's were was on Brooklyn Bridge. Even though I was a tourist myself I was annoyed at how just unaware/selfish some of the tourists were in the search for a selfy, standing in clearly marked bicycle lane. I was amazed at the restraint of the cyclists. The most they did was ring their bells. One guy did sort of say in an exasperated tone, just get out of the way. Where I am from people definitely not as polite. Look no society is perfect but America's problems are put under a microscope by the free press and because you are the biggest economy.

adventured 7y ago

It has always been that way. Gordon Sinclair famously noted it a generation ago.[1] The people I have interacted with across my lifetime from around the world have been quite oblivious to the good deeds of the US and largely only aware of anything negative the US has been responsible for. Cynicism sell better. That's what people who have been news-educated online have seen the past 25 years. In the early days of the Web most people I would chat with internationally were heavily ignorant of the US, other than select major details. Today, every flaw and mistake is magnified and broadcast globally, daily. The US kept most of Belgium alive after WW1 with the CRB [2], and fed ten million Russians daily [3] - who were nationally not our friends - during their famine of 1921-1923. Most people are entirely oblivious to that type of history, even in the US (a failure of our education system). Today it's PEPFAR, keeping millions of people alive in Africa. Or Gates & Buffett donating 2/3 of their wealth to helping poor people outside of the US (and the US treats them as heroes for it). When Russia sent that plane of supplies to the US last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted they hoped the US would reciprocate the favor back the other direction if things become increasingly dire in Russia. And that is exactly what the US will do, if it is able to ramp up the production of medical gear in the coming months. [1] https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gordonsinclairtheamericans.htm https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gordonsinclairthea... [2] https://www.nps.gov/articles/emergence-of-the-great-humanitarian.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/emergence-of-the-great-humanita... [3] https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html https://news.stanford.edu/pr/2011/pr-famine-040411.html

tines 7y ago
> And that is exactly what the US will do, if it is able to ramp up the production of medical gear in the coming months. "I would like you to do us a favor though."
mmsimanga 7y ago
It is puzzling I must say. On the one end people here are into American things such as MacDonalds, Krispy Creme and Apple is probably the ultimate technology brand. Its a status symbol to own an iPhone. If someone goes to Harvard or MIT the rest of us will be sure to hear about. Probably a few local papers will have the story. Then the same people holding the iPhone aspiring to go to Harvard will be some of the most cynical people. An example of how "patient" I felt New Yorker's were was on Brooklyn Bridge. Even though I was a tourist myself I was annoyed at how just unaware/selfish some of the tourists were in the search for a selfy, standing in clearly marked bicycle lane. I was amazed at the restraint of the cyclists. The most they did was ring their bells. One guy did sort of say in an exasperated tone, just get out of the way. Where I am from people definitely not as polite. Look no society is perfect but America's problems are put under a microscope by the free press and because you are the biggest economy.