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I'm going to generalize, but the US is more diverse (rank #90 vs #151 for Germany, #169 for France, #111 for Croatia [0]) and we also have a very painful past a
by TameAntelope 5y ago
I'm going to generalize, but the US is more diverse (rank #90 vs #151 for Germany, #169 for France, #111 for Croatia [0]) and we also have a very painful past and present that makes us acutely aware of our inability to socialize.
America also has a cultural obsession with self-reliance/liberty/frontier-as-a-virtue which makes "socializing" a bit of a taboo concept, in a weird way. It's a crutch to "need" to be around others, despite it being fundamentally human to feel this way.
When you combine these two things, I think you get a group of people who need to interact with one another, but also kind of hate one another, and refuse to admit the dichotomy. What we've discovered then, is by heavy drinking we can start to pick at those barriers, though maybe that is, itself, part of the problem.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_ethnic_and_cultural_diversity_level
- Bostonian 5y ago"we also have a very painful past and present" I don't see why that is more true of the U.S. than say Germany, Japan, Russia, China etc.
- TameAntelope 5y agoWe've both refused to own our past national transgressions the way Japan and Germany have, we have more diversity than all of those countries, and have also not scrubbed all mention of said painful past from our national history like Russia and China.
- the_af 5y agoGermany I can see, but I thought Japan also refused to own many of their past national transgressions. I can stretch your analysis even further, don't some in Japan turn to heavy drinking as a way to cope with societal distancing, alienation and isolation? I read about it, at least.
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- golemiprague 5y agoThere is nothing to do with owning or scrubbing the past or whatever. The only reason the US is endlessley fettering about it is because African Americans (as opposed to new African immigrants) can't close the gap with other groups and instead of trying to solve the issue it is much easier to play an endless victimisation and finger pointing game. In Japan the victims were not there so it is not so relevant and the Korean or Chinese are doing pretty well. In Germany the Jews are doing pretty well. In Russia most of the victims were other Russians so there is no an exact group to point a finger at. America is not worst then any other country
- konart 5y ago> we have more diversity than all of those countries I'm sorry, but this is just bullshit. At least when it comes to Russia.
- jeffreyrogers 5y ago> we also have a very painful past and present that makes us acutely aware of our inability to socialize. This is only a real problem for a small, but vocal part of the population. Most people don't think about these issues much at all.
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- munificent 5y agoCulture affects you even when you don't think you're thinking about it. In many ways, culture defines the channels that your thoughts flow through.
- ashtonkem 5y agoCulture is to humans as water is to fish.
- refurb 5y agoSocializing is a crutch in the US? That seems like an absurd claim. Maybe in big urban cities, but go outside of that and socialization is a key part of life and it’s view as weird if you don’t do it.
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- throwaway21531 5y ago>America also has a cultural obsession with self-reliance/liberty/frontier-as-a-virtue which makes "socializing" a bit of a taboo concept, in a weird way. The "self-reliance/liberty/frontier-as-a-virtue" culture, which is strongly tied to Southern culture, is the culture that is more open about socializing with anyone. It's Northern and West coast US culture where people don't even want to look at each other in the eyes. Southerners will greet strangers and pick up conversations with randoms in a bar. That's taboo in the North. Your premise is wholesale incorrect.
- TameAntelope 5y agoThere's a deeper "independence" in American culture that has nothing to do with north vs. south that foreigners can smell a mile and a half away, even (especially?) on "northerners".
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- throwaway2161 5y ago>There's a deeper "independence" in American culture that has nothing to do with north vs. south that foreigners can smell a mile and a half away, even (especially?) on "northerners". Maybe if they come from collectivist cultures, definitely not if they're from strong "independence" cultures but it's immaterial to your original premise.
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- machello13 5y agoOh boy I love to read pop psychology on Hacker News. Please continue!
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- eli_gottlieb 5y ago>we also have a very painful past and present that makes us acutely aware of our inability to socialize. What are you talking about?
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- ta2161 5y agoAmericans, socializing loudly together or with locals anywhere in the world while simultaneously being unable to socialize. American exceptionalism!
- bb123 5y agoThis is hilarious. The US has a more painful past than Germany or France? That’s some pretty strange American exceptionalism.