No, the title doesn't refer to any personal experience of mine. I ran across this post in a bl0g the other day. The post refers more to general experiences with Germans and "insights" into German culture. What really follows seems like a series of shallow observations based on stereotypes that were formed before a short trip to Germany.
Skim through the post and then read this comment from "Manfred", a German guy who ironically speaks by far the best English of all the people weighing in there. His comment very eloquently portrays an unfortunately all-too-common view of American culture: that is, that we don't have much of it, and that it's shallow.
Both perceptions seems to be based on media and short stints in the other country. Granted, both have some basis in real aspects of German and American culture, but I feel that while the latter is much more thought-out and well-worded, both points really present an us-against-them, I'll-judge-you-from-my-couch mentality.
I'd like to hear from you guys about this, especially about what you consider American culture. Music? A melting pot? Our values? Modern art? Football? Baseball? Barbeque?
PS: I'm going to be in Köln, also known as Cologne, for the next 5 days attending the mid-year meeting with the rest of the exchange students from my group. We'll compare experiences and talk about "home", and maybe something interesting will come out of it.
2 comments:
This can't entirely be a general idea... can it?? I usually laugh off at stereotype hitting back at each other... Perhaps the Germans do appear a little less friendly at first as opposed to the Americans... but people constantly go through changes... On exchange for instance =)... They are just as friendly as anybody else... You'll never know until you meet them personally...
The US plays a major role in almost any agenda the world speaks of... Economically, politically, socially etc... It is one of the most influential country in every aspect of our lives (speaking from a non-American point of view)... The US has possibly always been a land of universal opportunities... No specifications on what American culture is all about... I'm going general looking at the vast ethnic diversity which builds up the US as a nation... After all what American culture can you truly tell the world which resembles the US as a whole??
Cheers, joycelim from CS
That's a very good point. My most common response to questions here is: "Well, it depends where you live."
But there are certain characteristics that Americans, on average, exhibit more frequently than Germans, and vice versa.
But there's no way that you can say every German is more environmentally friendly than every American, or that every American is more approachable than every German, for example.
Thanks for the comment!
-Kevin
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