NationStates Jolt Archive

As a citizen of the US I have become increasingly worried because apparently I am a stereotype of somekind. So, I'd like to know if all Americans are stereotypes or is it just me and a few hapless individuals. Do other nationalities get to be stereotypes or is it a uniquely American trait?

As a citizen of the US I have become increasingly worried because apparently I am a stereotype of somekind. So, I'd like to know if all Americans are stereotypes or is it just me and a few hapless individuals. Do other nationalities get to be stereotypes or is it a uniquely American trait?
Everyone's a stereotype these days because there are far too many stereotypes. :headbang:

Are all Americans stereotypes?

Isn't that a stereotype in itself?

I think that's your answer.

No, all Americans arent sterotypes

the very word stereotype suggests a perception based on what some people of the group in question say

i know for a fact that all americans, most maybe, dont live up to the American stereotype

I have to agree with Zotona.

What is the American stereotype? Or is there more than one? I would certainly argue that there is. After all, I hear Americans sterotyping themselves all the time in the red state/blue state debate. The red staters are apparently uneducated rednecks, and the blue staters are apparently wine snipping, liberal snobs.

I regret to inform you that none of the Americans I know fit either sterotype.

Isn't that a stereotype in itself?

I think that's your answer.

No, it's a nationality.

Am I allowed to stereotype myself? If so, I want to me an irreverent, mad genious or moderate ability. I think the most important thing is stereotyping other groups and people. If I can form in my head exactly what I think everyones else is regardless of reality, then I can be confident and that is what is most important!

...red staters are apparently uneducated rednecks, and the blue staters are apparently wine snipping, liberal snobs.
I think the generalized stereotype of Americans is this:

They all believe their government can do no wrong.
They all believe they won both World Wars single-handedly.
They all believe that the American Way is the ONLY way.
They are poorly educated about anything outside the US.
They all think that Iraq has nothing to do with oil.
They'd all rather watch re-runs of Friends than a documentary on their withering freedom.
They think all non-white foreigners are potential enemies and as such should be treated with disrespect and suspicion.

Well... this is the stereotype created by the stupider Americans I've come across in my life anyway... Generally Americans are decent people, regardless of their philosophy on life. Just like everyone else. They just have wankers running the country right now, that's all!

I think the generalized stereotype of Americans is this:

They all believe their government can do no wrong.
They all believe they won both World Wars single-handedly.
They all believe that the American Way is the ONLY way.
They are poorly educated about anything outside the US.
They all think that Iraq has nothing to do with oil.
They'd all rather watch re-runs of Friends than a documentary on their withering freedom.
They think all non-white foreigners are potential enemies and as such should be treated with disrespect and suspicion.

Well... this is the stereotype created by the stupider Americans I've come across in my life anyway... Generally Americans are decent people, regardless of their philosophy on life. Just like everyone else. They just have wankers running the country right now, that's all!

You forgot warmongering oil-hungry baby killers. Oh wait, that's just Repbulicans.

But yeah, as a whole the majority of Americans are great people, regardless of religion or ideology. It's that way with most countries.

Human beings define the world through stereotypes. So yeah we all belong to stereotypes.

as an american i am a bit stereotypical. i'm also of cuban background leading me to further stereotypes. growing up in america, i've realized i have stereotyped those who have wronged my country. we grow up learning in our history classes who has done what to our nation, and that anyone who harms us is perhaps "bad." for example, do not many of our children hate the germans or the japanese? for both ww1 and pearl harbor. this is because each nation has a feeling of nationalism, in which ANYONE who hurts your nation, hurts you, leading to stereotypes of foreigners or those who have hurt us. it's not just americans, its everyone. take north korea for example, they're completely stereotypical towards americans. even their youngest of children see us "yankees" as "bad", as "evil", as corrupt. saying that an american is stereotypical, is that not a stereotype or generalization in itself?

as an american i am a bit stereotypical. i'm also of cuban background leading me to further stereotypes. growing up in america, i've realized i have stereotyped those who have wronged my country. we grow up learning in our history classes who has done what to our nation, and that anyone who harms us is perhaps "bad." for example, do not many of our children hate the germans or the japanese? for both ww1 and pearl harbor. this is because each nation has a feeling of nationalism, in which ANYONE who hurts your nation, hurts you, leading to stereotypes of foreigners or those who have hurt us. it's not just americans, its everyone. take north korea for example, they're completely stereotypical towards americans. even their youngest of children see us "yankees" as "bad", as "evil", as corrupt. saying that an american is stereotypical, is that not a stereotype or generalization in itself?

It isn't just nationalism. Look at the ethnic clashes in Africa, these are caused by tribal affilations within national borders. The Democratic Republic of Congo is a prime example. Stereotypes come down to a basic social construction of defining us and them. To define what "we" are, we inturn need to define "them". So any socially constructed group (nation, immigrant populaton, ethnic group, or religon) is going to rely on stereotypes and generalizations to define itself and others. I suggust reading Orientalism by Edward Said. It dwells into this philosophy, especially European and American views of the Middle-East.

Many of you are making the mistake of assuming the country of "America" has it's own nationality if you will, the thing to remember is that the only real "Americans" are the "Native Americans" despite the fact that classifying them as such implies another group of americans. Excluding the aforementioned group, every American is an immigrant of some sort, and when you think about it every person is an immigrant, we've misconcieved the idea of unity and bound it to the theory that countries are entities seperate, unfortunately this limits our possible choices, namely in the area of acceptance. See what I just did, dammit... I went on an inane rant about things I can't control, I'm a stereotypical dreamer, which is a much better way to classify people, by their personalities rather than their place of orgin... I'm horrible at this, if we were keeping score in the game called life, I'd be at the bottom, right above Ted Bundy and Martha Stewart, but below OJ and Nick Nolte...

Many of you are making the mistake of assuming the country of "America" has it's own nationality if you will, the thing to remember is that the only real "Americans" are the "Native Americans" despite the fact that classifying them as such implies another group of americans. Excluding the aforementioned group, every American is an immigrant of some sort, and when you think about it every person is an immigrant, we've misconcieved the idea of unity and bound it to the theory that countries are entities seperate, unfortunately this limits our possible choices, namely in the area of acceptance. See what I just did, dammit... I went on an inane rant about things I can't control, I'm a stereotypical dreamer, which is a much better way to classify people, by their personalities rather than their place of orgin... I'm horrible at this, if we were keeping score in the game called life, I'd be at the bottom, right above Ted Bundy and Martha Stewart, but below OJ and Nick Nolte...

If we is gonna play that game then Native Americans are in fact not Native Americans. They themselves displaced groups of humans, for example the Clovis people. It is turtles all the way down.

I'm a stereotypical liberal American.
Except I don't live in the northeast.
I don't drink wine.
I'm not particuliarily PC.
I live in the suburbs with all the soccer moms.
I don't shop at health food stores.
But mostly I'm a stereotypical liberal.

As a 14 year old christian and democrate (sorta) american i say,


They all believe their government can do no wrong.

our government can do no wronge? I thought they could do no right. lol some bad some not as bad if you go back a little (a few decades).

They all believe they won both World Wars single-handedly.

We had help...lots, germen scientist

They all believe that the American Way is the ONLY way.

If that were true the world would be choking on it self far more than it is.

They are poorly educated about anything outside the US.

I am not! the gunpowder plot was a plot by english men to kill their king, the failure is celebrated with bonfire day.

They all think that Iraq has nothing to do with oil.

Bush is a oil huging anti enviro...

They'd all rather watch re-runs of Friends than a documentary on their withering freedom.
What's friends...documents are interesting

They think all non-white foreigners are potential enemies and as such should be treated with disrespect and suspicion.
No that is pure racism. In fact I have a friend from germany I don't think he is an enemy. (only person born outside US I know)

The red staters are apparently uneducated rednecks, and the blue staters are apparently wine snipping, liberal snobs.

I regret to inform you that none of the Americans I know fit either sterotype.
Many of the Americans I've known fit one of those stereotypes to a T, but most don't fit either.

Also there are plenty of wine-sipping neocon snobs, and plenty of uneducated redneck Democrats out there.

Generally Americans are decent people, regardless of their philosophy on life. Just like everyone else. They just have wankers running the country right now, that's all!
We always have wankers running the country, it's just that now we have an especially violent and mentally challenged one.

You forgot warmongering oil-hungry baby killers. Oh wait, that's just Repbulicans.

But yeah, as a whole the majority of Americans are great people, regardless of religion or ideology. It's that way with most countries.

How are Republicans baby killers? I thought they were the ones against late term abortions?

I posted a topic about this a while ago.
Mostly I got positive responses. Indeed, most everybody with +1,000 posts was positive.
One particular 'negative' member sticks in my mind, as I recall, he told me to "GO fuck myself with a chainsaw".

I wonder if he'll do it again.