America through a foreigner's eyes

I am kinda of curious what America and Americans would look through a foreigner's eyes. I have a feeling that they would think of the usual stereotypes that come from media and news about America.I also think that many who come with these stereotypes will have the shattered notion of the blue eyed,white American because most of the times Americans will come in different races and now there will be a time where Hispanics will be the face of America.

I still believes that there are still more nice people than nasty people over there. But the douches you got are really on an epic scale individually.

Perhaps it's time to really say something about this.

We all know the negative stereotypes of Americans, from the ignorant ones to those who are arrogant and advocate a belligerent foreign policy while giving international relations the finger.

We all know America's (more) recent history. We know how the CIA toppled democratically-elected governments in the past and how the FBI was used for mass surveillance under J. Edgar Hoover. And things like the Iraq war.

We all know politics in America are boggled down by extreme polarization, mutual hatred and too much corporate influence.

But why do people go to America anyway?

Because we also know America is much, much more than that. It is a varied, diverse and unique culture, a bastion of artistic and engineering creativity. It is a place where people try to solve the country's flaws instead of just running away. It is an open door for the whole world.

And I pity those who can only see the worst in it.

I'm sure this is what we look like foreigners.

By the way Jazz, could you please put spaces after the periods? I always end up glossing over your posts due to that. It's not even voluntary.

What's so special about that video, It's just normal American-English.

: No, it's gibberish that sounds like American English.

that actually is amazing. It seems like I should be able to understand the lyrics, and its pronounced in an english way, but its utter gibberish! how did they do that? :O

Also, american troper here.

@Black Humor: Sounds like Elvish to me.

edited 7th Jul '11 10:41:24 PM by JBridge

Sounds like every Sting song ever.

Considering the outfits, that's probably not to far off from what they were going for.

edited 7th Jul '11 10:45:49 PM by Alichains

Is there any explanation given for how that english-gibberish video was made? It sort of reminds me of Simlish.

edited 7th Jul '11 11:01:18 PM by SgtRicko

America has had a cultural influence all over the world. I look around my room, and I see... my computer, running Linux. (American). It's an Advent. (American). I have an Xbox. (American). And a Sandisk Sansa Fuze (American.) The concepts of these things are American-made.

And then, most my media consumed is of an American nature.

Sure, it sucks. But so do most countries. Easily-bought politicians are common in all democracies .

However, I do see it as a very capitalist-driven nation, with little regard for the poor or middle, and terrible public services to boot, which shocks many Europeans. Even the right-ish parties here are still in favour of some form of social security net.

it was a french dude I believe who made it to show how he thought english was like without know english.

Italian, actually.

I think Linux is actually European. Or at least the original language is.

Linux was originally written by Linus Torvalds, a Finn.

I have no stereotypes about Americans in general. I mean, Americans consist of like twenty different nationalities. There's no way everyone who lives in either South America and North America can have some unifying thing about them.

edited 8th Jul '11 1:21:40 AM by Kerrah

Okay. Wait... European? YES! Inhopeless - supporting local-ish produce!

Well, I have Ubuntu. That's the American one.

Yeah, it's originally from some country but the Americans and their Borg like tenacity will consume anything they deem useful.

Linux is updated by users anyhow. Just because most of the people who work on it are from the United States doesn't make the property United Statesian.

If a million Chinese editors edited TV tropes, would that make the site Chinese?

edited 8th Jul '11 1:34:07 AM by Kerrah

But freedom, democracy, and Facebook aren't allowed in China.

Americans are pretty cool dudes/dudettes.

From where I'm sitting:

1.It's a very large place, mostly uninhabitated with many beautiful forests that people keep wanting to cut down.

2.Large portions of the population live in levels of poverty we haven't seen here since the 19th Century while a few have more money than any individual could ever need.

3. Violence is widespread. The police are omnipresent, unrestrained and heavily armed.

4. The government essentially belongs to a few corporations who are actively trying to secure control of every aspect of the people's lives.

5. Most of the populace (including those in power) are shockingly, damagingly ignorant of anything outside their own state, let alone their country. This ignorance is actively cultivated by the media.

6. Total economic systems failure is imminent.

7. The food is mostly synthetic or toxic.

8. The culture was much cooler in the early '50s than British culture in the same period.

9. Debates that were long ago settled in other developed nations are still raging. Nobody out here is sure why, but point 5 probably has a lot to do with it.

10. China owns it lock, stock and barrel.

Every time I've been on holiday there it's been a wonderful place. Every American I encountered (with the exception of one rat-faced little teenager) was unfailingly polite and friendly, even in New York. Being consistently mistaken for Canadian or Australian did grate a little, though.

^ You forgot our ingenious talent for adding bacon to everything.