Foreigners Obsession with the US Must Stop

Stephen King once said that he writes about Maine because no person can truly "know" more than one place intimately because of the distinct cultures that emerge as you cross state and then country lines.

There are a lot of foreigners who weigh in on American issues with their own personal experience or statistics from another country. In doing so they disregard any and all cultural factors that play a part in why certain things happen in the US that don't happen in other places and therefore their arguments for what we should do fall flat.

The US is not England. It is not Switzerland. It is not Japan. It is not Australia.

Live Science describes culture as thus: Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

Culture affects all aspects of our lives from our tastes to our speech, moreover culture fundamentally alters the brain:

When people from other cultures weigh in on our problems they do so with zero understanding of the issues affecting us and apply solutions that are unworkable in the United States and solutions that would in fact cause violent unrest.

Rather than ban guns, we need to change our culture to one that respects life and that, once more, has values. Our children have parents who work 40 hour work weeks, commute home for 40 minutes to an hour and a half, families that barely see each other and are now being raised by the schools, television, and the Internet. They have homework that begins with 40 minutes and can be as much as 4 hours if you are an advance placement/college prep/honors class. They are stressed, they lack affection, they lack attention and receive validation through peers as desensitized as they are. Their values come through violent music, consumerism, and gadgetry.

It would be nice that instead of trying to quick fix EVERYTHING we try to reverse the trend of familial apathy and lack of respect for human life.

 

Way cool thread!

 

"Foreigners Obsession with the US Must Stop"

and the same would be true of US, we need to stop our obsessions with policing the rest of the world, cut our military spending, we can't afford it

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^^^Yes. We need to quit proselytizing others to our corporatist system.

 

and end our war on drugs, our war on drugs has caused more problems around the world, financed crimes lords, ect then some can possibly imagine

it has created a culture of crime... even here in America...

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And contributive to the status raising of those who own illegal guns with no serial numbers, of being lawless, of the honors of prison terms, etc.

 

Another (*)(*)(*)(*) good post. You've been on a roll here lately, Z.

I see entirely too much condescending, judgmental jingoism from people outside of the U.S. They're all so negative. So pompous. So full of themselves. Not an ounce of humility in them anywhere. And for all of their complaints about America, they're not offering a very appealing alternative.

 

Well, it's an honest mistake because we all speak from what we personally know as "truth". It's like we thought by "spreading Democracy" to the Middle East that somehow this was a good idea.

People need to mind their own business, fix their own countries problems and let others do the same.

 

We will ignore you when you lot stop interfering with the rest of the world

Truth is you do not like what my UK, Australian and European Colleagues are saying - particularly on gun control

But we DO know more about you than you know about us - that is a almost a given. The reason for this is that we communicate daily on the internet, we watch (some) of your TV shows (thankfully not the ads) We listen to your music, we read your literature and we buy your products (although anytime you want to take back KFC and McDonalds feel free)

Unfortunately most Americans think the rest of the world is like this

 

Highly doubtful.

Because it has no application on a nation with 270 million registered guns. You're acting as though the population isn't highly armed, filled with ex military, and love their guns.

You have no factual evidence of this, only your opinions which prove that you know very little of us outside reruns of our television programs and the US military's operations.

^^ Thus proving that you do not.

Again proving my point that you really don't understand Americans. Thank you.

 

Too bad you understand nothing of what you know.

That's because unlike you, our proclivity is to mind our own damm bidness.

 

So THAT'S what a rat's ass looks like!

 

Zos nailed it on the head. Fact is, most foreigners are totally brainwashed and are not properly informed on this position. Their opinion on firearms, and self defense in general means less than nothing.

They have this silly mentality where it's wrong to defend yourself. They'll let a murderer kill them without resistance. If someone breaks into their home to rob them, they'll just watch it and do nothing. Hell, if someone breaks into their home and tries to rape them, they'll likely just go face down ass up to make it easier for them.

I'm sure not all foreigners are this way, so don't take offense if you're not like this. But I think it aptly describes most of them.

 

Culture is constructed just like everything else. There is NOTHING essentially American. You can find patterns in any population group, who have been exposed to the same state propaganda(the state plays an enormous role in constructing what we would define as culture), same movies, news, television shows, etc. The definition you provide, doesn't suffice, because Americans share many of the characteristics you list with the British, Canadians, Australians, etc. Surely there are American specific trends constructed by the specific shared experiences of many Americans, but those experiences are hardly ever universal. What would we describe as the artifacts which construct cultural identity? Twilight? The murder trials nancy grace is always obsessed with? School shootings? Justin Beiber? I really don't know. What I do know though, is I never follow those murder cases, never seen twilight, and I know who Justin Bieber is certainly, but I have never actually heard a song he sings. So I am American, but I share so little culturally with many other Americans, and share lots with other "cultures." Basically my point is, I don't find the term culture in and of itself useful. But even if you want to use it, it certainly doesn't construct such clear cut boundaries and there are not such jagged edges. Transnational cultural sharing is so common, and cultural experiences are so mediated by taste, that imagining something like an essential American culture exists, doesn't make sense.

 

Americans have twice taken up arms and fought for independence from a government they didn't agree with.

So no, we're not giving up our guns.

 

Yep...without having a gun in her house this 12 year old would be raped or dead.

[video=youtube;VPfz7ENFUB0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPfz7ENFUB0[/video]

She had already called for help and help was not there when the intruder came through the door she was hiding behind, but...that's okay. Whats a few rapes and deaths of innocent people if it can make guns illegal?

I mean, its not like criminals in blue cities don't have guns or anything.

 

Nah Zos, you're wrong. A 12 year old girl could easily apprehend an armed adult. I'm sure the foreigners will agree with me.

 

Maybe "foreigners" have the right to look at our culture in a critical way. Anyone who believes that a culture trait that promotes "gun ownership for all" . . .multiple guns at that, including semi-automatics, and who refuses to acknowledge that this "cultural trait" has had NOTHING BUT NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES on the US population is fooling him/herself.

And talk about "arrogance!"
Arrogance seems to be another "Cultural trait" in our country!

We are TAUGHT that we are "exceptional!" Exceptional compared to WHOM? Compared to the Chinese who have a cultural background of several milleniums? Exceptional compared to Europeans with their rich cultural and artistic heritage? Exceptional compared to North Korea who, in under 30 years have come from a third world country to SURPASSING the US in innovation, education, and technology?

That SELF-anointment of "EXCEPTIONALISM" is laughable based on most world standards!

And. . .the fact that a good portion of our citizens have developed a FETISH about guns. . .is ANYTHING but exceptional! IT IS RIDICULOUS!

And some of those "foreigners" you so casually treat has "not worthy of having opinions on American life and standards and "culture," have LIVED AND WORKED AND LOVED this country LONGER THAN YOU HAVE BEEN ALIVE!

Get REAL!

 

It was not our business to bring democracy to the middle east, not England's business to bring capitalism to India, not France or Belgiums business to bring capitalism to Africa, and its not anyone else's business what's going on here.

It very well may be and why this problem isn't going to be cured. The fact is there are 270 million registered guns, the FBI says about that many unregistered and a culture of violence.

You want to stop gun deaths? Start promoting life. Make it your life's work to promote life, respect for all life, respect for family units--all families, change how you dialogue with fellow Americans, promote peace.

Culture is organic.

 

No, no...she should have let him rape her. The police would then have his DNA and hopefully find him the 4th or 5th time he raped someone.

 

Yes, because no parallels can be drawn. Obviously, gun control is one case where other countries should butt out; the views on it are so fundamentally different that no parallel can be drawn. But things like, say, the overall electoral campaign... If every western country is saying, "you guys should vote for this guy", that means something. When the scandinavian prison systems, which release murderers and arsonists after a handful of years in downright cushy captivity, show far better results than the American prison system, that means something.

What's more, I feel like foreigners are entitled to weigh in on American issues for one simple reason: Germany did not have a housing bubble. Because of the carelessness of the US investment bankers and homeowners, everyone suffered. In this global economy, what the USA does has major consequences for the rest of the world, and you (*)(*)(*)(*) well ought to listen, because international ill will is not something any country can afford to have these days.

Now if only we could find some way to deal with that... Well, we could use government intervention to improve on the mechanisms we have to help parents and children (like in France). We could raise minimum wage, and apply protectionistic measures to ensure that our economy stays relevant and that there can be a nuclear family unit again. I honestly don't know what you would propose.

Oh, I'm sorry, The American prison system works better than the Scandinavian one? Or the New Zealand prison system? We're offering alternatives to several problems which are miles better than what you have. It's that oh so many Americans are too arrogant or short-sighted to see what's going on.

You see, Zos, this works both ways. Yeah, we're on the outside looking in, and as a result can't see it from your culture. At the same time though, so many of you are wrapped up in your own jingoism and biases that you cannot see the big picture from within your little bubble. I think the buzzword here is "Epistemic closure". If our allies in the EU are overwhelmingly in favor of Obama over Romney, shouldn't that say something? If climate science denialism is essentially a fringe movement outside of the USA, shouldn't that say something? If every other first-world country has universal, government-run health care and it works extremely well, rationing far better than our current system, should we be so incredibly unwilling to learn anything from that?!

What's more, I agree completely with Sadanie. Just because something is a cultural trait doesn't mean we shouldn't (*)(*)(*)(*) well try to fix it. Like, our cultural trait to look down on mental health, which is getting people killed. Or just ask the Japanese, with their culture of Karoshi, AKA "working so hard it kills you". The American gun culture, whether it's an American cultural phenomenon or not, is a (*)(*)(*)(*)ing terrible idea. Period. And then you have jackasses who will publically go out and say in the wake of a tragedy, "We need MORE guns!"... You don't see that there's something seriously wrong?

Yes, this thread applies to some problems in some cases. But the vast majority of cases, it doesn't. And the sooner you guys figure that out, the sooner we can start to get things done.

 

Here's the flaw in your logic. Just because you know more about us than we know about you does not mean you have a first hand understanding of what you are talking about. When you guys try to lecture America with your "superior" stances, it's the equivalent of a poor person giving business advice to a millionaire. Everything you believe is based on theory. You are making ivory tower judgments based on your own jingoist cultural prejudices. Which was exactly the point of the OP.

The fact that we know less about you is completely irrelevant, because most of us aren't sitting around trying to correct you guys. We're too busy minding our own business. And even though you won't admit it here, you know deep down inside why this hostility is a one-way street. It's the same reason everybody hates the New York Yankees. Because they're the most relevant thing in the game. And to show you how impartial this statement is, I'm typing this right now while wearing a Red Sox shirt. ..........I'm sure you get the reference I'm making here too since you know so much about America, right?

 

Only in Hollywood.

 

I think that people can be expected to have an opinion on things that affect them. Since we are a thing that affects virtually everyone on the planet, shouldn't we expect them to have an opinion on us?