Americans are all ______.

10Sep09

Living and traveling abroad can be a wonderful experience.  You learn a new language, you see a different culture and you make friends with people you may have never otherwise met.  There are downsides of course too, like the embarassing situations you create while you’re getting a handle on that new language, and a lessened ability to identify food items.  And then if you’re American, you might run across an extra downside every once in a while.

You probably think I’m going to say something about anti-American sentiment, but I have to say that in my (albeit limited) experience, the overt “ugly American” comments were few to none.  So no, the issue is not that I think people in other countries hate us (although this naturally depends on where you go…), it’s that it seems many people are sure that they already know us.

This situation was highlighted to me a few days ago by a Dutch friend, as he made several statements about Americans in the course of a normal conversation.  We were at a park along with an Italian girl and a Greek guy, sitting on a blanket trying to absorb a few of summer’s last rays.  A large group of people nearby were talking and laughing loudly, in English as it happened.  “God, Americans are so loud,” he said.  “You can always spot them from 5km away.”  I found this amusing for two reasons– first, though I am also American, I did not feel particularly loud myself, chatting normally as we were.  Second, just about 10 minutes earlier, 3 blonde girls had walked by who he immediately declared as American.  “you can just tell.”  As they approached however, we heard that they were speaking what sounded like Portuguese, but definitely not English.    This seemed to disprove his “5km away” theory, but I shrugged it off.  Besides, a big group of friends like the one we saw would be loud no matter what their nationality is.  It’s just numbers.

A little later, he dropped another comment, or a “judgment bomb” as I will call them from here on.  This one was so cliche’ that I didn’t bother to remember the exact wording or context, just the main idea; “Americans are fat.” “What are you trying to say,” I asked, mock-but-kind-of-really offended.  Though certainly not model material, at 5’8″ (about 175cm) and weighing in at a whopping 125 pounds (about 52kg), I don’t usually classify myself as fat.  “Well not YOU,” was the reply, which failed to comfort me.  It seems rather flawed in the logic department to have a non-fat American in front of you as you proclaim that they are all fat.  It’s like talking to a blonde, fair-skinned Italian (a relatively common occurence) and then proclaiming that Italians are all raven-haired and olive-skinned.  The physical evidence really doesn’t support your argument.

Yet another judgment bomb fell soon after, as we boarded the subway.  A maintenance worker had been emptying trash bags as we waited on the platform, prompting him to observe “it’s interesting that in Italy, the cleaning staff is Italian.”  I found this neither noteworthy nor interesting, as we were in Italy, where there is a fairly high probability that an employee in any position is Italian.  If the cleaning staff in say, Anchorage, Alaska were all Italian, now that might be a different story and worth a mention.  “In the Netherlands,” he continued, “it’s usually immigrants who do that type of job.”  Then perhaps looking to fill that silence that our wordless shrugs created he added, “and in America it’s the Mexicans.”  It wasn’t a question or a joke, he appeared to be stating a fact.  Now call me ignorant, but I guess I have never asked the cleaning staff of the New York City subway or anywhere else about their nationality.  Nor have I ever done statistical research on the matter.  Perhaps he had?

“Have you ever been to the US?” I finally asked him, already anticipating the answer and subsequent explanation.  “No, but I know a lot about American culture.  I read a lot of news stories about it, and like half of what’s on TV is American.”   I tried to suppress a full-body shudder at the thought that the TV shows that Italy chooses to import from the US are truly shaping people’s opinions.  They must believe that every city is so full of maniacal criminals that it employs a team of highly specialized forensics scientists to solve murder mysteries.  If we get sick, we are rushed to emergency rooms run by smart-talking, sexy doctors.  Then when we’re not plotting mysterious murders or getting operated on, we’re hanging out in California, fighting over guys with our friends between pedicures and our Sweet Sixteen parties.  And as far as the news, well, we all know that journalists never try to sensationalize a story to create a stir, so at least there it’s a fair and unbiased presentation of life in the US…

So fellow Americans, this is an idea of what you might encounter abroad.  Unlike a particular young man, I cannot make a statement like “all foreigners see us like this” or something similar, but it’s a good example of an experience I’ve had more than once.  And of course, this was just one frustrating experience out of the many great ones I’ve had with open-minded and truly interesting individuals in various places.  That being said, I do think that American culture is much more widespread and available abroad than we might realize, and more so than that of other foreign countries.  Because of this, the reactions you get from people (again, depending on where you go and who you meet) might range from fascination to amusement to downright disdain, or anything in between.  And it just might be based on the belief that they already know you from what they’ve seen and heard.

I guess it’s up to us to decide if these ideas are worth reinforcing or debunking.  I personally don’t believe that “we Americans” are like the stereotypes that define us, and I’m willing to bet that most of us have a lot more to offer to the people we meet in our travels.  So please, don’t stick a Canadian flag on your backpack before your trip.  Just show people a side of American culture that they might not have expected.  In fact, I always hope that after meeting some cool Americans, someone will go back and say to their friends “You know, I met some people from that States, and they were very ____________. [insert: modest, intelligent, physically fit, or any other positive adjective not normally associated with the stereotypes of our countrymen].”  It would be great–a sort of natural, grass-roots diplomacy.

But then again, if you’re a loud, fat American who plots complicated crimes, plans extravagent Sweet Sixteen parties and employs Mexican immigrants to clean… well, might I suggest domestic travel?

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Tags: italy, rome, stereotype, tourist, travel, ugly american