Dan Minette wrote:
>Plus, I've regularly seen anger from you and Jeroen concerning things
>American. Insulting food, culture, working habits, etc. Why are y'all so
>angry?
Actually, that's common here (New Zealand) too- anger/contempt for
Americans. I found it sort of upsetting when I first got here. Then I saw
how my fellow American exchange students were behaving and I forgave
them....
The general attitude seems to be that we Americans think we are the
center of the world. We think we have the best food, the best culture,
the best sports, the best *everything*- and not only that, we are
determined to export our culture everywhere else and make sure everyone
gets to share in our "superiority" whether they want to or not.
Additionally, we think we're the only important ones, and we don't see
any reason to learn anything about anyone else's country. To my shame,
this seems to be rather true. I've learned more about Europe in the few
months I've been here than I ever knew before, not to mention Asia, New
Zealand, Australia, and (in a bizarre sort of way) the US. And we *are*
pretty damn arrogant, when it comes right down to it, and we don't seem
to have a lot of reason for it.
I know this is rather a digression, but it's something that's been
bugging me for a while now. Besides, I don't seem to have time to post to
any of the other threads (which all seem to be some variation on
hunt-the-authoritative-website) even though I'm following them....
Kat Feete
--------------------
Certain things have to happen before other things. Gods play
games with the fates of men. But first they have to get all the
pieces on the board, and look all over the place for the dice.
-Terry Pratchett
