Why Americans are awesome (part 1)
Welcome to my first American special: Why Americans are awesome. I appreciate that I haven’t actually written a whole lot about America, so you might question my authority — and rightly so! I’ve visited a few times — about two months in total on five individual trips. I don’t claim to know everything about the States but as you probably know by now, that won’t stop this entry from being highly opinionated. Bear in mind then, as you read this, that ‘awesome’ doesn’t necessarily mean really neat, though it often does. Awesome means ‘awe inspiring’ — mouth-agape and stupefied — something you tell your kids about! Awww-sum, dude!!!
That’s why I chose that word in particular. America is awesome, no matter which facet you gaze upon. Either in military might or economic growth, America rules supreme. From the sheer vastness of their natural splendours — Yosemite, Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon — to the rich oil and gold and mineral reserves, America really is an adventurous place.
You have to imagine what it would’ve been like for an Irishman, pushing west across undiscovered America. How it must’ve felt to experience those sense-shattering sights. Mountains, glacial valleys, geysers — it would’ve been overwhelming! As I explored America, I liked to think I felt an inkling of the awe that those tiny colonies of trailblazing frontiersmen felt centuries ago as they pushed west across the New World.
It is perhaps no wonder that Americans retain an adventurous glint in their eye and bounce in their step — an enthusiasm and appetite for endeavour that precious few nations have. I guess, unlike many other countries, they still have something to be enthusiastic about. They’re still looking through rose-tinted spectacles left by their one-sixteenth Irish-blood great grandfather.
They’re big and brash
No matter which way you look at it: over wide, beautiful vistas or around the orbital curvature of an obese chest, Americans are by far the biggest race in the world. It’s no surprise, considering the seemingly never-ending expanse of their virgin habitat, that they’ve evolved into the largest of the Homo neanderthalensis. Animals tend to grow to occupy a given space — in high-density areas, animals tend to be smaller. America is huge and its population equally expansive.
The equation isn’t quite so simple though. The reason Americans are so large is because they are so self-sufficient. They have so many natural resources and such huge swathes of land suitable for agriculture that they have an abundance of cheap, locally-grown food. Couple in the fact that tropical conditions are available just short boat ride away, across the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s really no surprise that Americans are big (see Appendix A).
The brashness comes from being big and knowing you’re a force to be reckoned with, both on a global scale thanks to a huge military, and in the dusty, windswept saloons with your natural body armour. The confidence that Americans ooze is one of the (desirable?) traits that separates Americans from the rest of the world. Perhaps it’s because they’ve never really tasted defeat like most other Western nations, or just because they’re still so incredibly young in the grand scale of history.
The rest of the world knows about its weaknesses only too well. Americans are sure that they have some weakness, some flaw, somewhere… they just don’t stop to think about it. Maybe they’ll stop to think about it after yet another conquest — following yet another war that they can’t possibly lose. Because losing has never been an option.
That’s why Americans are confident.
They don’t have a class system… kind of
While the rest of the Western world is still battling with an archaic, feudal hand-me-down class system, and the undeveloped world still qualifies its leaders by the size of their ears or gonads, America is essentially classless. In England you can spot a millionaire from 100 meters. In America… good luck! A millionaire might wear a suit, or he might just wear jeans and a t-shirt, depending on how he feels. Or what’s fresh out of the washing machine.
This is because America is primarily made of new money. There are certainly a few British-occupation throwbacks — old, rich slavers — but most rich people in America today made their own money. They struggled against adversity to become stupendously rich. Capitalism might be frowned upon by many other developed nations but people forget that America has only had a couple of hundred years to catch up with the rest of the world! Without capitalism, America would probably still be a farming country (and some of it is!)
It’s only classless by definition though. Americans still strive to be better than their neighbours, it’s just more of a low-key, Cold War affair. Bigger cars. Greener lawns. Smaller dogs. Prom, rodeo and Mardi Gras queens. Beauty pageants. Bigger cows; riding rowdier bovines and horses. America is competitive. Without a defined class system, with nothing more than the equivalent of a league of comparitive penis lengths, Americans go out of their way to be bigger, better, faster and wholly more awesome than everyone else.
That continuing, never-let-it-lie attitude of trying to one-up its compatriots and the rest of the world has resulted in their global supremacy.
You can buy anything
Thanks to capitalism everything in America has a price. Really, anything; it’s shocking and at the same time strangely impressive. In most of the Western world, manners, deference, politeness and etiquette grease the cogs of society. In America it’s money. A big, toothy smile helps too — but mostly it’s cold, hard cash.
My trips to America have been liberating. I’ve known that at any time, as long as I have some money in my pocket, I’m safe; I’m enabled. I can (and did) literally anything I could think of. You’ll have to wait for my travel stories from America before you hear about those!
Back in England and Europe I’m fettered, restricted by social norms and expectations: who I’m friends with matters, and possibly who my enemies are too. I don’t think it’s any surprise that people searching for a new beginning travelled to the New World where there were no limits to what you could do or accomplish — no more arbitrary limitations imposed by your family’s history or religious affiliations — just an as-far-as-the-eye-can-see, unspoilt horizon and only one way to measure and compare success: money.
Appendix A: American Food
I’ll continue this tomorrow — there’s simply too much awesomeness in America for one blog entry — but for now, I want to leave you with some truly amazing culinary (I use that word loosely) creations, ripped off from thisiswhyyourefat.com.
The thing I love most about this one is the piece of lettuce. God bless America.
Two Danish pastries. And bacon. And is that the yolk of a sunny-side-up fried egg I see in the mix too?
You probably scrolled off this one quickly because it almost looks internal. Entitled ‘The Cornhole’, this… creation… this… monstrosity means I’ll never be able to look sweetcorn in the eye again. Or anyone else for that matter.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: God bless America.
That’s a chocolate cake with crispy bacon sprinkles. You can’t see, but right now I have tears running down my cheeks.
Salty-wet trails of pride. The tears of someone that has glimpsed true beauty in the form of cake.
America, you truly are one of a kind. Thank God.
Related posts:
This is the most fitting reply I can muster. Sometimes, you just shouldn’t try to say it better than someone who has already said it the best:
If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.
And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there’s pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.
That I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
[one more time for good measure...]
And I’m proud to be and American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
-Lee Greenwood
Yes indeed, God Bless the USA.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:39 amWHERE’S THE BLACK COCK DONUT!
May 25th, 2009 at 8:46 amps:
the corn kind of reminds me of a butt plug. jesus.
where is my mind
;P
May 25th, 2009 at 9:01 amFloreta, you should probably respond after a good 8 hours of sleep…
I didn’t feel that the black cock doughnut really represented what it meant to be an American. The Obama-shaped dildo on the other hand…
Thanks Chase. Good to know you can still pull the dusty flag out and wave it around a bit when necessary!
May 25th, 2009 at 10:44 amI don’t get how you can put bacon with something sweet….it’s like putting meat with fruit, I just don’t get it.
But the burger looks immense!
May 25th, 2009 at 12:10 pmAmericans put bacon on pancakes, with eggs, and then cover it in maple syrup.
It’s just… how they do things.
There’s no such thing as ‘Oh, that doesn’t go with that.’ If you like food A, and food B, and sauce C… just whack ‘em all together.
May 25th, 2009 at 12:13 pmChase, that IS a wonderful emotive song, but the lines,
” And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me”
can only be referring to fighting for freedom from the British, which seems so misguided to me!
May 25th, 2009 at 12:14 pmThe Americans that don’t acknowledge our massive input in their economic growth and culture are obviously in denial.
May 25th, 2009 at 12:18 pmOmg, the pics of the food made me want to barf. ><
But it is true that they don’t have a class system. People who are considered ‘poor’ there are nothing compared to the people living in the slums here.
Did you get those pics from thisiswhyyourefat.com or you really ate/saw those yourself? :s
May 25th, 2009 at 12:44 pmI was going to comment on how ‘American poverty’ is nothing like poverty in the rest of the world, probably because of the relatively cheap cost of living… but I couldn’t find any data to back it up! I’m pretty sure that’s the case though.
Taken straight from that site — you’re obviously a fan…
May 25th, 2009 at 12:49 pmholy cow! (re massive burger) bacon with everything? what the…..
the burger makes me hungry. that’s it. next time im visiting your blog, ill make sure i eat first…. and as for now, i’m heading of for lunch.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:06 pmVery interesting read.
I don’t think I’d enjoy it there though. They don’t have roundabouts.
I had a bacon chocolate bar in London, from Austria. Tasted of cinnamon.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:35 pmHahaha, the roundabouts — rotaries. I remember visiting one city in America and the host was bouncing around saying: ‘Ooh, Ooh, WE HAVE A ROTARY! I gotta show you it! It’s so COOL!’
Americans get so excited about the quaintest of things…
May 25th, 2009 at 1:39 pmLmao, maybe I would like it there because I too get excited about the quaintest of things.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:43 pmWhat an appalling thing to do to Danish pastries… and bacon and chocolate?
Vegas buffets are still my favourite of American gastronomy, people walking up to a buffet (it’s all you can eat, visit as many times as you want, not going anywhere) and filling up three plates of food in each visit, just in case it somehow disappears?!
May 25th, 2009 at 2:28 pmThinking about it, it might be some kind of caramel sauce instead of egg yolk in that picture. I’m not sure if that makes me feel any better about it, but…
Yeah, the plate-filling thing that Americans do amazes me.
I assume it comes from the classless thing again, or the fact that almost everyone that headed to America were lower-class types that would’ve really scraped together to put food on the plate. It’s the kind of thing that is passed down through the generations — your mum fills your plate (because food is plentiful now!), and then prods you to eat it all because HER mother prodded her to finish ALL of her cabbage soup…
And so on!
May 25th, 2009 at 2:35 pmso, as one of those pesky americans, i’m sitting here and i’m wondering. should i be smiling at all the things you’ve said about my country or should i sit here and be slightly offended at the underhanded jabs you’ve made that i’ve completely missed simply because i’m unfamiliar with jargon?
perhaps i’ll do a little bit of both.
and not being a great world traveler, i can’t really compare my country with others. however, on the one time that i’ve been to europe, i loved it and hated it at the same time. i love the… essence of europe. there’s just something about it that i can’t quite put my finger on. a certain je ne sais quois, if you will. the pace of life was SO much slower, so much more relaxed and i LOVED that. i hated the way that i was treated, though, simply because i was an american. i’ve never encountered so many hostile and hating people. most places we went to eat we were ignored, the waitstaff was less than helpful if they even came by after finally deciding that since we were paying customers, we could probably get some food. it just frustrated me that my nationality condemned me to poor service and glares and other forms of passive aggressive hating.
that being said, i’m not surprised that i was treated that way. because i do know that americans tend to be obnoxious and completely full of themselves and i-want-what-i-want-and-i-want-it-now mentality.
also, i drove on a roundabout somewhere in the twin cities region (minneapolis/st. paul, minnesota) and i hated every single second of it. they’re so confusing to small town folks such as myself. i prefer my straight roads and generic four way intersections. people are bad enough drivers where i’m from, they certainly don’t need HELP being worse. ha!
May 25th, 2009 at 2:45 pmI’m being fairly nice, don’t worry!
I’ve met a lot of Americans while travelling and it’s always the same — they love the experience, but DAMN they miss everything from back home! It really is just a different way of life and it varies SO much from town to town, city to city, country to country. It’s hard to put into words the historical difference between Europe and America, it’s simply so, so different. The cultures couldn’t be more different if they tried!
But hey, that’s why we travel, to see how other people live their life — it can be fun to be outside your comfort zone too! I have to admit, the Americans tend to be the first and loudest complainers when they get TOO far outside their comfort zone
May 25th, 2009 at 2:58 pmAs an American ex-pat I say you’ve perceived it all pretty well.
Now, I don’t really like being American but have to say that your points are the positives about the culture. I was raised to be better than the next person, work harder, do better than my parents, believe almost-blindly in myself, know that no one will ever be able to promote you better than you yourself, and know that nothing was impossible. Nothing. Now not all those things are good at all times but it sure builds an amazing self confidence to greet the world with. Unfortunately if you’re not good at it, it can bring devastating emotional problems too. There’s something strangely soothing in the English attitude of complacency.
And you know what most of the rest of the world has (in my experience) that the US doesn’t? Team work. Community. I had the pleasure (and actually, I admit it was a pleasure) of working in corporate banking in London (design dept) and had to do projects with departments worldwide. The New York dept drove us NUTS because they never cooperated, never gave any info they weren’t forced to, and generally made international pitch projects hell.
The dog-eat-dog competitive culture means no one inherently trusts anyone else, everyone wants the bigger piece of the pie. Frankly, I prefer to have just enough pie. It’s healthier. But admit that my cultural upbringing does mean I’m a bit better at grabbing the piece I want.
May 25th, 2009 at 3:02 pmalso, the MOST difficult thing about my european travel experience was the lack of english. not that i expected everyone to speak english. that wasn’t it. it was simply that i missed hearing it. i missed hearing a language that i understood. i can’t speak hungarian or czech (and yes, i had to go to my shower curtain to see how to spell that, funny) or german. and there was no way that i could learn enough to be useful in the 2 or 3 months i had beforehand. especially being in school at the time. that was hardest for me, i have to admit. thank heavens that mtv is in english all over the world and our room in prague had a tv with cable.
May 25th, 2009 at 3:13 pmI’m actually writing about that now, Cari — the unstoppable spread of globalisation — for tomorrow!
Thanks for sharing the insight, Tina, and it’s always nice to know I got something right. There’s always that nagging chance that I might be wrong. Thank God I avoided it yet again!
Up in Seattle, ‘neath the Twin Peaks, they gave me a very-reasonable portion of cherry pie. Then there was north of Atlanta when I ordered some pie and I got a whole pie.
A whole damn pie. And a jug of cream. Fun times…
May 25th, 2009 at 3:19 pmIn Canada, we’re pretty much bottle fed anti-American sentiment. It’s a way to protect us from being swallowed up by the giant at our border. The only thing that Canadians will ever be able to agree on about what defines Canada is that it’s not the United States.
I really liked this. Except the pictures of food. Ew. You should also talk about the American obsession with processed cheese! “American” cheese is not real cheese!!
My favourite line was “They’re still looking through rose-tinted spectacles left by their one-sixteenth Irish-blood great grandfather.” So very true. And then they turn around and claim that one-sixteenth makes them Irish?
May 25th, 2009 at 3:38 pmNo, it doesn’t make them Irish, it makes them different. A classless society is impossible. People don’t want to be THE SAME as each other, and the problem with America is that it doesn’t have the rich cultural history that other nations have. It doesn’t have the different bloodlines or deposed kings and queens of Europe. They simply have to work with what they’ve got.
It’s like trying to make one shade of grey stand out from some other shades of grey…
May 25th, 2009 at 3:42 pmIt may not be that waiters were rude to you because you were American, they are rude to most people!
May 25th, 2009 at 3:52 pmAmericans are wonderful at service in shops and restaurants. It always shocked me in Amercia to be asked ‘How are you doin’? when I entered a shop.
That burger had me cackling for a good 2 minutes. The lettuce looks like a peace flag amongst the piles of fat the eater is about to devour. I love it : )
May 25th, 2009 at 5:33 pmYou know, I can just picture an American sitting down to eat it.
Staring it down.
Daintily removing the piece of lettuce with a look of disgusting on his or her face… and then tucking in.
May 25th, 2009 at 5:46 pmI can’t really explain why, and I know this was not your intention, but I found this extremely depressing. I know you were making gross generalizations (and all generalizations are false) because obviously the U.S. is a big place with many sub-cultures. I know that in much of it you were being ironic (though as an American, this irony is all invisible to me). I always find it interesting to see what non-Americans think about us, since like many Americans I do actually care about our international image. But, especially if you consider this being “nice”, I am not pleased with the perception.
You see, I can’t say I agree with any of your three points. Most of what you said falls into the three categories of “things that I think are true and am ashamed of”, “things that I am sad to say are not true” and “things that I don’t think are true but if they are then I am ashamed of them.” Not exactly a formula to make me feel proud of my country. I guess there is some contingent of the American population that would agree with your points and find them flattering. These people are probably the “real Americans” (a delightful term that gained prominence last fall) who would call me unpatriotic.
Yes, there are a lot of fat Americans. That much is true (though, um… did that pink skirt make me look fat?). I will say, however, that if you’re going to rip pictures off of another site, it might be nice to mention it, so we’re not left to conclude that you actually found all these things during your trips to the U.S. I myself have never seen any of those items–gross! I certainly see that our military is wielded with a brash confidence. But while we may not have had any complete military defeats yet, we have certainly had unsuccessful endeavors. Vietnam still stings. And then there are our current wars and conflicts, which while not finished have not exactly been going as smoothly as we might have hoped. See, at present, a lot of Americans are not happy with what our military has been getting into and are ashamed about America’s brashness. We are not confident. It is a very sore spot.
I suppose we may not have classes in the sense of good old-fashioned nobility and peasants, but we do have a large and expanding wealth gap. Poor people who can’t get out of it, middle-class people getting poorer, and rich people living in blissful (and purposeful) ignorance. This is a highly classed society, and it’s not something any of us are proud of. And in regards to Americans competing with each other… I suppose some people might try to one-up their neighbors (like people on Wisteria Lane or something), but I haven’t noticed it so much, and I am unconvinced it is any worse here than elsewhere in the world. Not enough, at least, to inspire any awe.
And I’m not even sure what you’re saying in that we can buy anything here. I mean, we have a lot of shopping malls, but you were kind of vague at what exactly it was that you bought here that you don’t think you could have bought elsewhere. I don’t know which America you found yourself in, but it is one that I have yet to experience. I see lots of restrictive social norms and expectations, and I don’t think money is any more enabling here than elsewhere (if anything, the stereotype I’m familiar with is that American money in Latin America can buy you anything). I guess I cannot refute this point, it’s just not something that I ever would have thought of or associated with the U.S. Besides, you may be a little behind the times to jab at Americans for capitalism and riches. You may have noticed that many people are in rough economic shape, and the word “socialism” has been thrown around a lot in some circles in regards to the direction of our government.
I cannot be annoyed at this post, I cannot accuse you of being wrong or unfair, because this is your own perception and interpretation. One that I’m sure you meant even to be humorous. And I have probably misinterpreted your entire post, and I’ve missed the irony and everything and you’ll tell me how much I’ve misunderstood what you were trying to say. It’s just that I would have titled this post “Why Americans suck” or perhaps more precisely “Why Americans come off as asses to the rest of the world.” Something that to some may be amusing, but to me is just sad.
Short responses are frowned upon–hopefully very long responses are not also frowned upon
May 25th, 2009 at 6:12 pmFirst of all, we DON’T eat shit like that. EVER. The only people that eat that are people that want to be obnoxious and get on TV. I personally never eat bacon or maple syrup and I certainly don’t put them together.
Secondly, what’s up with the Irish reference? The largest heritage base in the US I wanna say is German. I think I learned that somewhere. It’s not even English though they’re the ones that primarily settled this “great nation of ours”. I’m thinking this is something that you Europeans find hilarious that is lost on me…
and for the record, I’m not big. I’m actually quite slight.
May 25th, 2009 at 6:17 pmAh, the responses I thought I would get finally came!
I make gross generalisations. It was necessary, otherwise it would’ve read: Some of America’s big and brash, but some are quite slight and demure! The fat bit came from you guys having the largest percentage of obese people in the world. Of course you have thin people. Regarding the pictures, I thought it was pretty obvious that they were humourous (one of those words that would look better in the American spelling…) I’ll put the source in tho’, to keep it relatively clean!
Eleni, I was trying to put things into perspective. (My actual knowledge of history is weak, so I might be way off the mark here). America has had… two unsuccessful military operations? Three? They are mere hiccups in the smooth passage of imperialistic time. Come over to Europe. England has been occupied, owned and fought over… 10 times? 20 times? We’ve had anarchy, feudal monarchy, lairds, robber barons, modern monarchy, republican democracy (for a while).
And England’s relatively unscathed compared to countries like France, Germany, the Balkan Peninsula (man, they’ve been fighting down THERE since prehistory!)
Please bear in mind relative poverty, Eleni. Compared to last decade, yes, America is suffering. Again, try living through the black death, or plague, or the shanty towns you still find in Western states like South Africa. At least poor people in America still get to vote…! Though, poor people in European socialist states are most certainly looked after better. I think you guys have a long way to go before you get close to socialism though, don’t worry
Your ass didn’t look fat. And remember, my tongue is in my cheek. It’s better than biting my tongue…
Hannah — I have no idea where most of the American settlers came from. They were a huge mix of Europeans, that’s all I know. Probably more Germans purely because Germany has a bigger population than Ireland. But, having said that, conditions in Ireland were pretty poor back then… So who knows!
May 25th, 2009 at 6:28 pm@hippy of doom
re: no roundabouts.
are you kidding!? you should come to bend, oregon where there are more roundabouts than i can count!!! >_<
seb,
and i don’t even have to drink…
May 25th, 2009 at 8:55 pmyes i should rest before i comment.. sorry! that’s when too funny 1am not-sober me comes out
lol
No Floreta! – you can’t apologise – I Iove the ‘Solitary Inebriated Panda’! ;P
Another post, another picture to give me nightmares…note to self – scroll, scroll, scroll!
I’m not really into travelling, but America is one of the few places I would really like to explore as it has so many beautiful places.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:42 pmhahahahaha.
I just want to say– I am American, very much so, with the military Father and the Euro-Mix ancestry and the middle-class lifestyle.
And I have never– NEVER– eaten anything like what you have pictured.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:20 amYou’re one of those, what we call, tasteful ‘merkins, Sarah. When the next great flood comes — which it surely will — make sure you get a spot on the boat. You and Obama.
Chown — it’s a bit like that age-old joke: It’s not France that’s the problem, it’s the French. But yes, certainly, America has some sights that must be seen. No more than the rest of the world though, unless you have a predilection for natural wonders
May 26th, 2009 at 12:23 amLOL! the solitary inebriated panda!!!
and so it goes, and so it goes.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:41 amOh no, I don’t mean that it’s the only country with beautiful places, it’s just that out of everywhere in the world, I have always been drawn to America.
I blame Disney.
Floreta – I finally got rid of my legendary panda skirt today. It served me well, but I had to say goodbye. I always thought the pandas on it looked a bit stoned though – like they’d been smoking the bamboo rather than eating it
May 26th, 2009 at 1:18 amWow, way to poke a beehive…. We Americans are pretty embarrassed of ourselves these days. I think your observations are unfortunately true, IF you factor in the fact that they’re based on the lowest 15% of our society. The loud, fat, monster-trucking, Nascar-ing, Bush loving, deep frying, flag waving…. You get the idea. The top 15% are the ones who swim in pools filled with gold, a la Scrooge McDuck. The other 70% of us are left to feel embarrassed and to pretend we’re Canadian when we travel internationally.
And in New England, we’re swimming in rotaries. (Possibly because it’s New *England*?) I love them. I love how they fluster visitors into red-faced, spluttering fits.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:04 amWell American settlers come (and are still coming) from literally everywhere. But I did learn in one of my classes that the largest *single* heritage base is German. Which I can see. There are huge pockets of Germans in FL and all across the midwest. I remember driving through North Dakota (and that general area) and going into towns where the primary language is still German.
And of course we have the hugest percentage of obese people….we have TX dragging us down. There’s only so much Hollywood can do. oh and we like to eat. eating is good. Someone once told me that the American obsession with food had to do with all the poor and persecuted who never had enough to eat, etc coming to America and that having elaborate, decadent meals was kind of filling that previous need and is a symbol of new prosperity. Like the starved animal that gorges itself at the first opportunity (think Scarlet O’Hara eating the rotten roots and then swearing that she’ll “never be hungry again” – o my science, I love that movie)…It’s also a midwest/German/Norwegian/Danish thing….at least with all the Germ/Nor/Danes in my family…
alright, I’ve rambled enough
P.s. I like the car-walking-the-dog picture. There is someone across the street from my best friends house who does that with her husband…only they have a dog on each side of the car. HILARIOUS
May 26th, 2009 at 4:07 amlol@ token piece of lettuce… bless!
sooo hungry after this post… even the corn thing looks good.
but then, i drooled through Supersize Me… to me food = good. regardless of how disgusting it looks/is!
last time i was in the states i found a place that sold chocolate&cheese brownies. best thing i have ever, ever tasted.
May 26th, 2009 at 4:07 am…and i’ll throw in another little lol@ rampant failure to grasp british humour/take a joke…
May 26th, 2009 at 4:19 amI could have sworn I commented on this…oh well.
Those photos are gross and I have never in my 26 years living here ever seen anything as disgusting as the food pictured :-S
And yes we love our food, what of it?
May 26th, 2009 at 5:33 pmHuh. I’m an odd mix of amused and slightly offended.
The food & the lack of class system & the fatness & the buying-of-everything definitely describes certain parts, sort of…. For example, there are definitely overweight men saddened by everyone protesting their hummers, eating things with bacon sprinkled on them, buying a catscan machine if they see their neighbor doing it… But that guy to me ( and most of the people I know) is not something I’m familiar with. The country is so big it really is like several different countries, most of which are NOT like that, and the lovely stereotype we get wrapped in happens to be that one, despite the fact that I’ve been to every state & they are the rarest-of-sightings, and in specific pockets. It’s sort of as easy as when people meet my German husband they assume his family must have been card-carrying Nazis with strange sexual fetishes & a hunger for power, or if the British stereotype were some uptight, slightly feminine man in a powdered wig. (Although I personally like to think that there are a bunch of Patsy’s and Edie’s running around.. shh… don’t take that one away from me). Sadly, a reasonable person would reach the conclusion that a powdered-wig man is probably not running around, and Bub probably doesn’t have a desire to dominate and then fuck a bear. But people seem to actually BELIEVE this generalization about all of the U.S. without ever having lived here.
And many-a-time, particularly during Mr. Bush I have contemplated running away to, well, anywhere. G-d knows being a liberal was not easy for the last 8 years. The only other country I lived in is Mexico, and I still would like to live someplace else at some point, for a few years, anyhow..
And as far as being-a-young-country.. Definitely, definitely the puppy dog of countries. But I’m 27. No one I know died in the civil war, or the black plague, for that matter…
And you BET YOUR ASS we have a class system. Ask anybody on the lower-end of those classes. The fat thing.. Sweet Jesus. I’m going to assume in order to keep my darling Sebastian drool-worthy in my mind, that you are talking about people who are in fact morbidly /medically obese.
And oh dear G-d – where on Earth is that cake with bacon on it from?!?
I just do not have it in me to understand anyones ‘we are better than you’ mentality about any country. This is perhaps why I can’t get into sports.
May 26th, 2009 at 8:41 pmMelissa, I think it’s much larger than 15% — of the good, and the bad. America, if nothing else, is… emphasised? The fat are FAT. The thin have 20 inch waists.
You need to get a photo of the dog-walking, Hannah. It would take the world by storm! Again, though, it’s not just Texas weighing you down. Remember, it’s hard to be an accurate observer when you’re actually there. The visitors can be a lot more objective, even if they don’t have long enough to form a completely accurate image.
Obviously, the world sees the stereotypical image of Americans. That’s the power of stereotyping; DAMN the media! BUT don’t forget, those of you commenting here aren’t the stereotypical American. You’re probably almost all from affluent, body-conscious ‘non-Texan’ America. You probably almost all voted for Obama, too. Of course you’re going to rile against my opinions because, from your point of view, I’m wrong! And I probably am — and I certainly haven’t been fair to the rest of the Americans that aren’t big and don’t like guns.
I guarantee there are less British people with bad teeth than there are obese Americans. I assure you, the big-and-brash American isn’t merely a stereotype only prevalent in 1 or 2 states!
May 27th, 2009 at 3:12 amI’m at a loss for words, but I can assure you that neither I, nor anyone I know, have ever eaten such disgusting junk!
But, although I consider myself a progressive American (meaning I’m not too keen on considering America to be any better than the next country, etc.), I can agree that we have a predilection towards “big stuff,” for better or for worse. (And I hate to admit that, because I would love to slash the tires on Hummers or take a plate of food from any restaurant and feed 5 people on the street).
And we may not have a class system, but as was mentioned before, there is crazy competition to be better than the next person. Of course, that’s only true if you allow yourself to get sucked into that!
I love reading your ideas about America though… and now I’m really curious about how other nations and individuals truly see us!
May 28th, 2009 at 7:39 amI laughed my way through this post. It wasn’t entirely right, but it wasn’t totally wrong either. The things that really annoyed me though, are the comments from my self-loathing countrymen and women. Someone above said it was hard to be a liberal for the past eight years. Really? Try being a member of Falun Gong, or a Palestinian Israeli, or a Catholic in Russia, or a Turk in Germany. Then, maybe, you might have the smallest idea of what it’s like to be oppressed.
I am the grandson of an Irishman who fought at the Battle of the Somme with one of His Majesty’s Irish regiments. He came to America in the ’20s, married and had two sons, both of who graduated from college. His proudest achievement? He worked every single day of the Depression and never took a handout. My father was and still is an engineer who helped build some of the greatest structures ever seen on this planet. He two married and had five children who all graduated from college. I and my two brothers all served in the Marine Corps. After the Marines and college I followed a calling and became a journalist. I am neither liberal nor conservative but, like most of the people in this country, believe the answers lie not at the ends but in the middle.
Yes, many Americans are fat. But you know what? We’re trying to fix that. I say that knowing I’d give that burger a go.
Yes, American military power is an awesome sight to behold. It can visit death and destruction on an enemy in ways you can’t possible imagine. But when there is an earthquake or flood or other disaster, who are the first people there offering aide? Usually it’s an American sailor far from his home and family. Also, name another country that has, scattered around the world, cemeteries filled with its citizens who died for the freedom of the country where they now rest.
America is a young country, 402 years old last month. But for the last 220 years we’ve had the same form of government, and that’s something no other country in the world can say.
America has its problems, don’t get me wrong, I know we do. But someone within this country, or often someone on the other side of the globe who wants to come here, has the answer to that problem. Despite all of our problems people still want to come here. They add to our history, but they also add to their future.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:37 pmThanks Kevin, for taking the time to write quite an impressive and insightful response.
(Are you sure there are no other countries that have existed in their current form, monarchic or republic, for more than 220 years? I find that unlikely, but considering how popular weekend wars were over here in Europe, back in the 17-19th centuries, it wouldn’t surprise me…)
I think your military background shines through a little too strongly. No doubt America can wield its power for good, but being an American yourself clouds your judgement. Being a righteous and forthright American obscures your objectivity. Of course you are proud of your military, and those American gravestones littered around the world, and rightly so! But don’t begin to imagine that every military action you make is right purely because you say it is so. A sacrifice is a sacrifice, but that action in itself does not make a martyr of the dead, or justify deaths on either side of the conflict.
When you think you are bringing freedom, there are others that think you are bringing oppression of another kind. Hopefully as a journalist you will get to travel and see the world, and most importantly keep your eyes open as you do so
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 am