It is needless to say that when those Americans who are fortunate enough to be able to travel outside of the States arrive to their destinations abroad, many reactions, both verbally communicated and internally conjured, are elicited simply by being American. Out of all of these reactions, there are a few reactions that have irked me in my four transatlantic trips:
1. You're an American?? But you're not like most Americans. Why are you not fat, loud or superficial??
2. You're an American?? Did you know that only 10% of Americans have passports?**(see below) They are so culturally inept and too lazy to leave the comfort of their rich, materialistic suburban havens.
(the elaboration is only to group all of the similar comments into one).
3. You're an American?? You know your women are sluts, right? I mean, jeeeez, have you seen the way they dance?
I'm not saying that these stereotypes and, indeed, characatures that are employed in conversation have materialized out of thin air. In fact, I see very clearly where most of them come from (the ubiquity of American entertainment), how they are construed in such a way (the human being's propensity to compartmentalize and mindlessly deduce), and how it is thought as acceptable to bring something like this up to an American (It feels good. America is one of the biggest superpowers in the world, if not THE superpower. So let's fuck with her). I see how they are construed clearly because even I myself am guilty of indulging in the "Characteristic X of Culture X is weird/funny" rapport with my fellow Americans.
Some examples are:
The French are existential frogs who smoke cigarettes all the time and make love in the glow of Parisian afternoons
The Spanish are lazy socialists
The Dutch are drug-addicted hookers
Brits have bad teeth
Arabs throw rocks
Italians would be rendered mute if one of their arms fell off
...and so on.
But,
Do I take these exaggerated stereotypes seriously, as an indication of how the culture operates on a macro level or of the intrinsic value of members of the culture? No.
Do I communicate these exaggerated stereotypes, seemingly in the form of statement of fact to members of those particular cultures? No.
If, for example, you're from Spain, how would you feel if I came up to you and said, "you know, you guys are super lazy. I don't know how you get any work done ever when your day consists of going to work at 9:30, having an hour breakfast with your friends, work for an hour, another breakfast, work for another hour, siesta, maybe come back to work - if it's not too hot out." You would take exception to my comments and call me an "hijo de puta"; then you'd probably go on vacation for 4 months. (an obvious exaggeration and I wouldn't say that to a Spaniard!).
It is the essence of cultural imperialism to look at some action through the tunnel vision that is your culture's boundaries, rush to a judgement based off of whatever perception is bounced off of your own culture's norms, and make a resulting comment in the form of statement of a fact to a member of that culture.
Am I being too sensitive? Am I not practicing what I'm preaching about cultural imperialism by noting these insensitive comments through the lens of my own culture's boundaries - the lens of polite American etiquette? I'm not so sure. Make a comment to a member of any one of the above cultures about one of his or her culture's negative stereotypes. Bring it up as if you are speaking of a fact or as if you seriously believe in the stereotype as something valid. What sort of reaction do you think would follow?
**-The number itself is inaccurate (the most recent statistics published by the U.S. State Department suggest the number is closer to 30%).
-Here's a little breakdown: The average income for American households, according to the U.S. Census, is $50,233. Housing, according to the Consumer Price Index, will cost, on average, 32.6% of your income; you're left with $33,857. Two children will cost you about $11,300 each; so, you're left with $11,500. The Environmental Protection Agency tells us that buying gas for a 2005 Dodge Neon will cost $2,088, and it will cost at least $1,400 to insure two people in your house to drive, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The average annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four, as determined by the National Coalition for Health Care, will cost another $3,300. What's left is around $4,600 (after the necessities of an average family from any developed nation are satisfied). So it's either buy food, save for retirement, and save for college with the extra $4,600, or go on an international vacation -average price for family of four in off season: $3610....Meanwhile, Europeans can fly to Budapest, Rome or Lisbon for less than a normal-priced dinner in London.
