Shortly after coming to Taiwan, I began to realize just how many people disfavor Americans. It's not the Taiwanese, though; they love Americans, God knows why. It's just everybody else, especially Canadians. We Americans always call them our friends up north, little do we know just how deeply ingrained this enmity towards us is. One Canadian friend told me that when he was young, while watching the Olympics, his grandfather would make him to cheer for the Russians rather than the Americans. "Go Russians!"
Another Canadian friend was telling me how these guys in her Chinese class were being vulgar by constantly asking the teacher how to say dirty words and generally just acting really coarse. Then she added, "And they're not even Americans. They're Canadians. I'm so ashamed!" You mean, there aren't any rude, disrespectful people in your country? Wow, that must be nice.
People don't just come out and say they hate Americans. They're little comments like these.
In the prep room I'll sit through extensive discussions of when the American empire will crumble.
Yesterday afternoon while having lunch, another guy from Europe was denouncing American book publishers for changing the British English in Harry Potter to American English and producers for trying to make an American version of the popular British sitcom The Office. The two Americans sitting at the table, including myself, squirmed uncomfortably in out seats.
Now, don't get me wrong; I have plenty fun criticizing my country. I went half way across the world and spent a lot of money to vote this damn president out of office. The thing that irritates me is that people will snivel about America much more than any other country, including their own. They make excuses like, "Oh it's not Americans we hate, it's the politics" or "It's because America is so rich and the most powerful country in the world." Yes, of course, that makes things much more justified. And, come on, there aren't enough, bad things about your country for you to complain about. Give me a break.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Well, let me see if I can shed some light here, having lived in Canada, America, and the developing world.
The developing world sees two aspects of American life, Hollywood culture, and the turmoil/war America has going on worldwide. Neither of these is a true representation of true American "life." Thus, they develop a love/hate relationship with America. Having both feelings simultanniously, I think they are confused themselves.
In Canada, the lifestyle is extremely similar to the States. Same claim can be made to a certain (limited) degree for life in Europe. So Canadians and Europeans are less likely to glorify American life through Hollywood's lenses. A Canadian, for example, thinks to herself, "hey, we're living a very similar life up north in terms of values, democracy, etc. But we're not starting all this shit worldwide." So naturally, America's actions are not justified. There is no more of a love/hate relationship, just a vision of injustice that leads to dislike.
What do you think?
Oh just for the record, I've met Americans who "strongly dislike" Canadians, just for them being Canadians.
Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it, but I never want to leave it...
Misery loves company.
You cite non US-citizens exasperation at changing a book to American English or reshooting a comedy in the 'mother tongue' as examples of unreasonable behaviour or prejudice. But perhaps you should consider that the Anerican need to dumb everything down for their own audience is deserving of some condemnation.
Do the British demand that every Hollywood movie is dubbed into 'British' English? Do we reshoot Friends and Frasier in case the plebs over here don't get your social references? Of course not. Try accepting the cultures of others without needing to 'Americanise' everything all the time to have stateside reference points, and perhaps the world will be less scathing....
Post a Comment