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Originally Posted by garentee  Thats not dumb, thats ignorance. I do not think that Americans as a whole are dumb. I think the words would be more like ignorant, lazy greedy selfish,and the granddaddy of them all.....Entitled. All that said though I think there are some incredible and amazing thinkers all around us. Evferybody has something to bring to the table some of us though do not know that we have anything to bring to the table my take. Thanks G |
America has a huge upper middle class and a huge lower middle class which creates an over all lower test score and averages. So when it comes to education and world knowledge it would depend upon which American you are speaking to. What I mean to say is that the US has a system of disparity which skews data. Socialistic countries have higher averages however this does not mean that the US cannot compete going head to head in int'l commerce. If you asked a general laborer in a socialistic country a question about the world he is more likely to know the answer than his American counterpart. Kudos but it doesn't tell the full picture.
As for the remark about Americans being lazy, greedy, selfish and entitled; I think this is more a result of modern society. As we loose more of our culture and the world becomes more Californicated into pop culture, fast food , etc. it has an affect of desensitizing the masses. The US does not have a strong cultural base as France, for example.
Some other adjectives that you left out when discribing Americans are hard working, ambitious, ingenuitive and free thinkers. On average, Americans work hard (maybe too hard) and are very upwardly mobile. Also, Americans have free thought and less restriction in problem solving on average. Not to mention any nations by name but some countries are too regimented (on average ) and they have their own unique approach to product manufacturing. In addition, Americans are great marketers and it is home to the concept of franchising and other modern marketing techniques.
I hope those int'l readers to this post don't think that I'm a "typical arrogant American" who thinks they're the best. I'm merely stating that each country has strengths in its system. Thats what makes the world interesting. I am simply giving the other side to the notion that Americans are stupid or ignorant. We all know that you can take data and manipulate it and we all know that American must be doing some things right to be a member of the world economy. I don't think the US is number one but it is unique; just like Germany is unique, Japan is unique and so on. As I travel around the world I receive negative feedback about being from the US. To lump an entire nation of people into a group is stereo-typing and anyone who does this is the ignorant one. (clearly). Whenever you generalize you simply show your own limitations in understanding....