Nationality Stereotypes

[Legs]

We touched on this recently on a couple of threads...


Americans are assertive, Italians are very passionate, and Germans are the picture of efficiency.

Right?

Such national stereotypes are common, but they are highly mistaken, a new study shows.

[viscousmemories]

Cool article, Legs. Can't say I'm really surprised though. Most people I've met don't fit all or even most of the stereotypes commonly associated with their race, religion, nationality, education, gender, etc.

Except Germans, of course.

[godfry n. glad]

Man, those people are really buzzkilling party poopers. If that gets out, the humor industry is going to have to append disclaimers to all the nationality/ethnicity jokes.

Didja hear the one about the sloppy German?

[alphamale]

French:

- Paranoid
- Cowardly
- Obsessed with micro-aspects of food
- "Fight with their feet, make love with their mouthes, and eat what most people would throw in the garbage."
- Will sell any weapon to anyone with the cash.
- Sit with a demitasse and argue over fine points of pseudo-intellectual BS when they're supposed to be back at the office.
- Have bourgeois shop keepers who think customers should be grateful that the shopkeepers are there to take their money.

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by alphamale

French:


- Will sell any weapon to anyone with the cash.

This applies equally to Russians, Chinese, British and Americans...all five permanent member nations of the UN Security Council.

[godfry n. glad]

In alphamale's format:


Americans:

- Paranoid
- Ignorant
- Obsessed with the velocity of food
- "Fight from a position of power and safety, make love with their guns, and eat what the French would throw out."
- Will sell weapons to anyone with the cash, or extend credit to those who don't have the cash
- Will sit for hours, sometimes days, over really crappy beer discussing brainless sports trivia when they should be doing something productive
- Have bourgeois shopkeepers who think of themselves as predators and their customers as prey

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by godfry n. glad

This applies equally to Russians, Chinese, British and Americans...all five permanent member nations of the UN Security Council.

No. The U.S. does not sell to countries that will destabilize a region, unless it's in the direction of democracy or to head off a geo-political calamity. The french will sell to anybody at any time - one of the reasons they opposed the iraq war is because they had $15 billion due from Hitler-Lite.

[Dingfod]

Was ist der deutsche Stereotyp?

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by Warren

Was ist der deutsche Stereotyp?

They're perpetually bitter, even when ostensibly happy. It probably comes from the fact that you can't speak the language without spitting on the person you're talking to.

In all honesty my personal perception of Germans (from living there twice) was that they have a cultural aversion to expressing positive emotion in public. After reading Legs' article I suspect that my opinion is as unfounded as the other cultural stereotypes. And really when I think about it I can remember many instances of the opposite being true. It's more likely I just felt shunned because I wasn't there long enough to grasp the language and feel comfortable living in that environment.

[Dingfod]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

They're perpetually bitter, even when ostensibly happy. It probably comes from the fact that you can't speak the language without spitting on the person you're talking to.

In all honesty my personal perception of Germans (from living there twice) was that they have a cultural aversion to expressing positive emotion in public. After reading Legs' article I suspect that my opinion is as unfounded as the other cultural stereotypes. And really when I think about it I can remember many instances of the opposite being true. It's more likely I just felt shunned because I wasn't there long enough to grasp the language and feel comfortable living in that environment.

I suppose my brother's German ex-wife fits the stereotype. No wonder, she's a German government bureaucrat.

[Carlos]

At 1969 I was an exchanged student in USA.
I am from Ecuador , South America.

On my first week there , I went to a high school ( 10 th grade ) at Long Island , New York.

When my classmates ( all of them where white caucasic, rich ?/middle class people) knew from what country I was, they began to ask me questions:

Why are you dressed that way? ( I was dressing like everybody else)
Do you live in the line equator? Where the hell is Ecuador , at Africa?

I know , I know ! In your land you reduce heads !
It is difficult for you to dress that way since you live naked at the jungle?

Did you scare when you saw the airplane and when you flew over?

How come you know some basic English? Was your father a USA misionary on your lands?

Are you scare with electricity and tv?

Etc, etc.

At that point, one nice looking girl said : Carlos , you looks so cute ! come with me and don't listen to these assholes !

Thanks ,
Carlos

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by Carlos

At 1969 I was an exchanged student in USA.
I am from Ecuador , South America.

On my first week there , I went to a high school ( 10 th grade ) at Long Island , New York.

When my classmates ( all of them where white caucasic, rich ?/middle class people) knew from what country I was, they began to ask me questions:

Why are you dressed that way? ( I was dressing like everybody else)
Do you live in the line equator? Where the hell is Ecuador , at Africa?

I know , I know ! In your land you reduce heads !
It is difficult for you to dress that way since you live naked at the jungle?

Did you scare when you saw the airplane and when you flew over?

How come you know some basic English? Was your father a USA misionary on your lands?

Are you scare with electricity and tv?

Etc, etc.

At that point, one nice looking girl said : Carlos , you looks so cute ! come with me and don't listen to these assholes !

Thanks ,
Carlos

They were just raggin ya.

[Legs]

Hey Carlos, I have been to Quito - as the old saying goes 'nice place to visit but......."

I went on a galapagos cruise from there - awesome.

[Carlos]

Originally Posted by alphamale

They were just raggin ya.

Be sure they were not. All their qustions were answred and they were very polite and communicatives. They blamed the education they received at that time.

Thanks,
Carlos

[Ymir's blood]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

It's more likely I just felt shunned because I wasn't there long enough to grasp the language and feel comfortable living in that environment.

Or maybe it was the leather jacket with shoulder pads?

[Ymir's blood]

I wish the linked page in the OP had more information about how the study was conducted. It seems obvious that national stereotypes are going to be false. Any society will have those who fit and those who don't.

Did anyone look at the links on the right navigational bar? They had another study on finger length ratios, which always interest me as my index fingers are longer than my ring fingers, which is apparently rather unusual.

[Legs]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

Or maybe it was the leather jacket with shoulder pads?

[alphamale]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

Or maybe it was the leather jacket with shoulder pads?

That's the way they are. I read somewhere that before you could use their first name, you must know the person for many years, and then only by permission.

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

Or maybe it was the leather jacket with shoulder pads?

[alphamale]

Why don't you hop on Air France and go where you'll be VERY appreciated? They might even give you an award like Michael Moron (but be cool - he didn't know whether to eat it or shove it up his ass.)

[Stormlight]

Originally Posted by alphamale

Why don't you hop on Air France and go where you'll be VERY appreciated? They might even give you an award like Michael Moron (but be cool - he didn't know whether to eat it or shove it up his ass.)

Awesome ... The good, old "This is America! Shut up or get out!" routine.

[Gurdur]

Originally Posted by Stormlight

Awesome ... The good, old "This is America! Shut up or get out!" routine.

It's even better than that. We've now established alphamale is a chicken who won't put his money where his mouth is and volunteer for the armed forces, and we've established he is totally clueless when it comes to history, even history of the USA.

And the poor little lost boy is quivering in his shoes because this board is a "lefty slum".
He ain't gonna win any awards in his lifetime, is he? No positive ones, at least.

[Stormlight]

Originally Posted by Gurdur

It's even better than that. We've now established alphamale is a chicken who won't put his money where his mouth is and volunteer for the armed forces, and we've established he is totally clueless when it comes to history, even history of the USA.

And the poor little lost boy is quivering in his shoes because this board is a "lefty slum".
He ain't gonna win any awards in his lifetime, is he? No positive ones, at least.

I think it's time for you to re-read the Ten Commandments of Patriotism, Gurdur.

[livius drusus]

Oh c'mon... Number 5 is way too easy.

[wei yau]

Originally Posted by Stormlight

Awesome ... The good, old "This is America! Shut up or get out!" routine.

While I agree that routine is tiresome, it's not any moreso than dismissing the "rightist" position because this forum is seemingly "leftist".

I'm not saying that the FF is "leftist", frankly I don't think there are enough of us participating in political discussions to know for sure. I'm not even saying that alphamale is "rightist" beyond the area of foreign policy and the US.

We've been through rounds of this before. Posters with dissenting opinions have stated that they felt ignored, repressed and/or shouted-down whenever they dissent. I've never fully agreed with that position, not at this forum. But, this particular thread is definitely evidence that it just might be a valid complaint.

I'll agree that alphamale hasn't exactly endeared himself to other participants in this thread. And there have been a good number of posts with solid responses. But, the whole "lefty slum" and "wrong part of town" thing reeks of exclusion.

We do enough navel-gazing about what it means to be "Freethought" and how we treat dissenting opinions. I don't think we'll ever arrive at an answer, I don't think we actually can...but I do think we can avoid blatant stuff like this thread.