Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenchu
I have met a lot of Americans, and it seems their attitude and personality always shares a similar trait. They are all rude, but dont realize it. Even when they are trying to be polite, like last week, I was on the back of a motorbike with the boyfriend of my girlfriends cousin, an American. He loves Thailand, and has a Thai wife, so he is trying to be polite. But he speeds down a crowded street tooting the horn loud. I mean, he was saying "Excuse me, sorry" a lot, but the whole ordeal was noisy and interupting, and I felt embarrassed being with him. Even when they try, they fail. I always see this. Also I think what they are taught in school is a big one. Almost all schools are pro american toward history. Considering the shameful history the country has, I think people who think the actions taken in the 40's and 70's and so on are just are pretty fuckin warped people. The amount of things and infulences an american has to ignore in their country, in both media, home and school, in order to be a polite, truly open minded person are so great, it is such few people who make it through all this to be decent people.
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I understand your feelings about American policies in the world scene, and your unfortunate experiences with some Americans. For such a well-read individual, your childish white-washing of American citizens as one way or another is nothing short of ignorant.
Some of the most crass, rude, and out of control people I ever met in Japan were from Australia and New Zealand. Nary a care for the Japanese culture, a couple of these guys were as drunk and as rude in Japanese bars as human beings could be. One New Zealander I knew was arrested and eventually deported for following a girl into a public bathroom and taking pictures of her over the door of the stall.
But never in a million years would it have occured to me to associate that behavior with all the surely decent folks from Australia and New Zealand. That young man in particular wasn't "a New Zealander who did bad stuff" but "Mike who did bad stuff". I have been around long enough to know there are all kinds of people in America and the world and when you make too many assumptions about people from a certain place, you are bound to get bit in the ass.
For someone trying to expand his mind, you should first start by letting go of some hateful baggage. That's only going to slow you down and reflect poorly on you.