The World's View on Americans

Mikaela's Minute:

Beating Stereotypes

 

We have all heard it before, to most of the world Americans are "stupid", "ignorant", and "loud". We are extremely ethnocentric - meaning that we think that our culture and language is the best and only way to survive - and we refuse to take anyone else's position. Americans have been stereotyped and, as a student planning to travel abroad, these stereotypes will affect you when you travel to your host country. Stereotypes are mental shortcuts that people create to categorize groups of people easily within their minds. For example, if a European meets an American for the first time and finds them to be rude they will assume that all other Americans they meet will be rude. The problem with stereotypes is that 9 times out of 10 they are not true at all, but people think that they are. Americans have been stigmatized by the rest of the world because a few of us decided to be loud, rude, and ignorant. So, what can we do as students looking to go abroad? How do we beat these stereotypes?

 

Well, we have our work cut out for us. According to the study "What Does the World Think of Us?" conducted by PBS (public broadcasting services) in 2006 we are beginning to loose favor with the rest of the world. In most western countries we had fairly positive favor in the year 2000, around 80% in most countries, but by the year 2006 we lost favor, dropping into the 50% range. In the Middle East our numbers were initially low in 2000, around 50%, and dropped even lower, around 5-15% and sometimes less, by 2006. Why did this happen? Because most of the world feels that we are overly patriotic and ethnocentric. Americans also tend to be ignorant about world issues as well as their own domestic issues.

 

So what can we do in order to put our best foot forward in our host countries to show that we are not "Ugly Americans"? Here are my thoughts:

1. Educate yourself: learn about not only the history of the country that you will be living in, but also the current issues that the nation is facing. There is nothing worse than not being able to carry out small talk with your peers. Don't try and cram every fact that you think you should know about the country, instead learn about the things that are common knowledge. You will learn the little things through conversation and experience.
2. Be respectful: Yes, sometimes we Americans can be loud and that's ok. But there is a time and a place to be loud and social. To the people of your host country you may actually be being very rude or disrespectful. My tip is to learn from your environment; emulate what the native people do. If it's culturally appropriate to be loud then by all means be loud, but if not be respectful; you are a guest after all. 
3. Openness: Be open to having conversations with the people of your host country about what it means to be American. Try and dispel some of the negative stereotypes that they may think are true. We know that not all of us are loud, rude, or stupid so it is our job to spread the word. You can take pride in yourself and your culture, but be mindful not to let it go to your head when you are interacting with new people in new places.    

If you would like to see the full study conducted by PBS then check out www.pbs.org/now/shows/314/opinions-of-us.html . Also, if you would like some actual examples of American stereotypes, how we got them, and some more advice on what to do search for the following videos on YouTube (some of them are very entertaining):

 

1. "Dylan Moran on Americans"
2. "Why People Think Americas are Stupid"
3. "Bill Maher- America IS a Stupid Country and Now There's Proof"
4. "Is America This Stupid?"
5. "Stereotypes of Americans on Study Abroad"