Your Country

[Vincent Vega]

Ok, this video puts an end to every stereotype we have about the USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE

 

[BVS]

We're wicked smart

 

[VertigoGal]

wow- there are stupid people in the united states! it must be wonderful for all those people living in other countries with no stupid people.

 

[Vincent Vega]

Yes, probably.

I'm not sure. Here are stupid as hell people as well. So, you are not alone.

 

[yolland]

What's the best thing about your country?
The dynamism.
The worst?
The impatience, 'short memories'.
(* Basically plagiarizing the above two from something Irvine said once. )
What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?
Hedonistic, don't care about family, no concept of etiquette or propriety.
What sterotype seems uncomfortably accurate?
Poorly informed about the rest of the world, and as a result (and especially as tourists) tend to have a self-indulgent, the-world-is-my-oyster attitude towards other countries and cultures.

 

[intedomine]

as a swimmer who grew up in a country that doesn't know swimming exists except for one week every four years at the Olympics, i always envied your Aussie swimmers for being a part of sporting culture and getting headlines and being in the media and stuff.

*and* i was sad when Thorpie retired.

Hackett seems a bit of a whinger, though. ow, my shoulder. ow, my collapsed lung. ow, i've just moved to Melbourne and i haven't been training because i'm getting married.

Haha.

Thing is, it's like cricket I suppose, whilst swimmers get a lot of media attention and stuff, most Aussies don' really care that much about swimming. The World Champs are happening down here right at the moment, and there's been all this hype about them, but they haven't even sold 1/3 of the tickets and the event has just got under way. It makes you wonder....

If it's any consolation, America's female swimmers are hotter than Australia's. Amanda Beard

 

[Caroni]

What's the best thing about your country?

People

The worst?

The President

What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?

we are not famous enough to have a stereotype

What stereotype seems uncomfortably accurate?

we are the most beautiful girls in the world


My country is Venezuela of course

 

[ntalwar]

Re: Re: Re: Your Country

What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?

That everything here is so cheap and its seemingly so much easier to live here and get ahead.

I somewhat agree with that "stereotype". I guess it depends on who holds it. A lot of immigrants come to the US precisely for the reason that it's easier to advance economically here than in their home countries. As for the prices, a lot of Europe is very expensive compared to here.

 

[Canadiens1131]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg

 

[A_Wanderer]

as a swimmer who grew up in a country that doesn't know swimming exists except for one week every four years at the Olympics, i always envied your Aussie swimmers for being a part of sporting culture and getting headlines and being in the media and stuff.

*and* i was sad when Thorpie retired.

Hackett seems a bit of a whinger, though. ow, my shoulder. ow, my collapsed lung. ow, i've just moved to Melbourne and i haven't been training because i'm getting married.

Want to trade some of your spectacular geology (not that Australia isn't cool in it's own way) for the inane cult of sport that runs this country.

 

[Angela Harlem]

What's the best thing about your country?
the spiders. no, the heat. hmm. medicare?


The worst?
the people. cobwebs? it might be medicare, or it might be rugby league.


What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?
we do away with our own by cutting down the tall poppies. we're a hateful spiteful nation.


What sterotype seems uncomfortably accurate?
we're a bit simple, really. but i think that's a good thing.

 

[Salome]

What's the best thing about your country?
our liberal attitude and open-mindedness

The worst?
we whine too much and don't realise how good we have it

What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?
our attitude to soft drugs

What sterotype seems uncomfortably accurate?
cheap and blunt
and we do really have quite a lot of windmills

I like the tulip, clog wearing stereotype

should do one for Northern Ireland too:

What's the best thing about your country?
people
scenery

The worst?
weather and the driving

What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?
a riot is around the corner

What sterotype seems uncomfortably accurate?
number of drunk people on the streets and that it really is that green

 

[ntalwar]

What sterotype seems uncomfortably accurate?
Over a rooftop dinner in Egypt once, some Egyptians mentioned to me and those I was living with and tell me that we weren't like other Americans -- we dressed modestly, respected the religion and culture of our host country, and weren't loudmouthed braggarts. I asked where they got this impression of Americans, and one Egyptian turned and gestured to the roofs of Cairo, all of which had satellite antennas pointing to the sky. I didn't think it was a fair stereotype, until a trip to the Gaza Pyramids saw a bunch of American guys and girls drunk at 10 in the morning, underdressed and simulating sex against a pyramid in full view of children and tourists from other countries.

I still think it's the exception more than the rule. For every American tourist you see acting like that, there are fifty+ others who are not. E.g. during the World Cup, it wasn't American hooligans that the German riot police were fighting against and rounding up.

 

[Vincent Vega]

It's not exclusive to the Americans.

In Italy a few years ago the minister for tourism complained about German tourists that party at the beaches and make too much noise and drink too much etc.

At the moment many are complaining about Russian tourists that invade the touristic hot spots and the hotels and are partying without carrying about anybody else, or about the culture of the host country.

Every country has its tourists that represent the country very negatively, and the USA are just one of these.

 

[Irvine511]

Want to trade some of your spectacular geology (not that Australia isn't cool in it's own way) for the inane cult of sport that runs this country.

no thank you. i feel quite oppressed by (american) football, baseball, and basketball and all it's accompanying inanities. i just want my swimmers appreciated, dammit. Michael Phelps is every bit the transcendent athlete that Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are. it's just underappreciated, is all.

wah.

[q]If it's any consolation, America's female swimmers are hotter than Australia's. Amanda Beard[/q]

fair enough (and Natalie Coughlin is quite the looker too), but the Aussie women are still going to win the medley relay.



okay ... anyway, back to topic ... interesting thread.

 

[anitram]

What's the best thing about your country?

The vastness of space, the fact you can drive out of a city and feel like you are the last person on earth, the nostalgia that hits you up north - that this really is in many ways the last frontier and there is unlimited opportunity that comes with it.

The worst?

The weather. It's disgusting. How could anybody settle here voluntarily?

What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?

That we're polite, yet unsophisticated version of Americans.

What stereotype seems uncomfortably accurate?

That we are obsessed with not being identified as Americans by the rest of the world.

 

[yolland]

What stereotype of your country would you most like to be rid of?
That we're polite, yet unsophisticated version of Americans.

Really? Huh. I'm aware there's a certain stereotype of Canadians as the 'nice' North Americans, and kind of get the sense that some Canadians feel this threatens to signify 'bland' at times, but I've never had the idea that there's a stereotype of Canadians in general as 'unsophisticated.' I mean, I kind of figured we had the market cornered on trash culture.

What sterotype seems uncomfortably accurate?
The situation for aborigines

To the extent that external stereotypes could be argued to have some useful ability to bring about change, I've actually often wished there were more of a stereotype about the situation of Native Americans than there seems to be. They are, by far, the single most impoverished American ethnic group, and while the handful of people I've known who specialize in Native American studies hold widely divergent ideas as to what the best solutions to that are, I don't know a single one who believes we've done anything remotely resembling a good or fair job at it. Maybe it's mostly because they're a considerably smaller share of our population even than indigenous Australians are there, I don't know.

What stereotype seems to be the most accurate?
Some Southerners *are* stupid hicks.

Just got back from a conference in Georgia last week, where I received a nice refresher course in that archetype courtesy of a singularly ill-advised motel choice on my part. Trying feverishly to polish off the paper I was presenting with drunken fistfights and fireworks and prostitutes, the whole bit going on right outside my door (and through the very thin walls) until the wee hours. Good times!

no thank you. i feel quite oppressed by (american) football, baseball, and basketball and all it's accompanying inanities. i just want my swimmers appreciated, dammit.

I can relate...trying to find someone who actually wants to sit down and watch the track and field events at the Summer Olympics with me is like pulling teeth.