new thread
Hi All,
My apologies for not having the time recently to post my praises to all the recent updates; but, let me at least say now that they are indeed VERY impressive!!!!!
On the topic of "Typical Americans"...
I just replied to Angel, who was commenting in French to Vivien about his amazing hair, and after reading my own reply over, I may have made an unintentional little "four paws" (faux pas)... I mentioned all the "international" MLHH members, --- as if I'm not PART of "international" (lol)!! Is this one of those typical bad habits of thinking that we Americans can sometimes exhibit, --- like as if the USA is "the Center of the Universe"?? My apologies if I came across that way. I guess what I was TRYING to say was: it's so cool that the MLHH is truly such an INTERNATIONAL celebration of longhairs from all over the world, --- and how much I enjoyed seeing 2 people converse in their own (non-English) language to each other. So, here's my question:
Did my original comments to Angel below sound a little, ummmm... "American ego-centric", maybe? It won't hurt my feelings if people reply honestly... After all, i AM an AMERICAN (lol)!!
Seriously, though, I'm curious how we North American "US of A types" come across here... I want to be seen more as just a part of the International longhair community, rather than sounding like too much of a "typical American-type." I would especially enjoy reading the replies from our users OTHER THAN from the USA; but, *all* are welcome to comment, of course (and yes, Canadians ARE from a "foreign country", --- remember: Americans think of Canada as "their poorer, colder neighbor to the North" - lol)....
- Ken in San Francisco
(the city that's the central "hub" of US coolness, in the country that thinks it's the "Center of the Universe" - lol)
Tbh until you seperately posted this comment, I didn't really think about it that much. Anyway, it's quite normal for people to think of others as international, because they view them as international compared to the nation they live in. Most comparisons are usually done with your home country, even if it's the immigrant filled America :P
Nah it's fine.
Bet you couldn't guess where my family (and most of me) is from :P
Nah, Ken, everything's okay. It's normal to say international if they're from another country. ANd don't worry, you are so different from the "regular" type of American.
Mentioning that, I want to say that generalising like that is really unnecessary because everyone is different. But it's normal people to say American - fat, egotistic powerful jerk or Russian - alcoholic villain. And that's so not true! lol
I doubt you offended anyone.
Well given that i'm Russian and I have a policy of never drinking, smoking or taking drugs, i'd say I like defying stereotypes.
Unfortunately if you go into any russian village in the countryside, half of the men really will be drunk, but you can blame the government and not the people for ruining the country by creating an olegarchic elite and depriving the poor even more than in the Soviet Union.
Although this is a Russian stereotype...I can say that majority of small towns in Europe...or well possibly just about anywhere where there is really just about nothing to do...bars are all the rage. My parents moved to Canada from Poland...and I've visited there a few times. One side of my family lives in Warsaw and its a big city..but another in a very small, low populated region..and I've seen the drinking. But I'm glad to see your taking the initiative to not drinking, smoking or using drugs.
Yeah i agree! That's a real strong thing to do actually, to not drink any alcohol nor take drugs and such.
I had no idea derf26 was from Russia:)
My father has a girlfriend in Murmansk ( Russia).
I thought Wallonia was in Belgium?
It is, I just live here :)
In fact I've lived here most of my life so I have citizenship, but the rest of my family were born in Russia and I speak the language better than French.
[snip]
Canadian fan hassled for doing wave with flag
Unfortunately there's no reference in the article to how long anyone's hair was ;-)
Seriously - as a Canadian, I appreciate your comments. Living next to the US was once described by a former Prime Minister of Canada as "sleeping next to an elephant" ... "No matter how friendly and even-tempered the elephant is, we are affected by every twitch and grunt." I have several American friends who I don't get to see often enough though with the border getting tighter all the time it doesn't look good and I know that the attitudes we see in some do not reflect the attitudes of all.
Fortunately, there are few walls between our countries on line (yes there are some) and we can all share in our "global" community.
AndrewB
. . . . . sounding like too much of a "typical American-type."
Sorry, but I'm a little confused here. When you talk about us typical American types, are you talking about the California long hair liberal flowers and peace type people, or are you discussing the Texas redneck pickup and shotgun totin' right wing militant? Maybe we can meet on middle ground; how does Archie Bunker as the typical representative sound? Maybe a little to far out; should my vote to to Richard Simmons? Jeb Bush was a popular governor from a populous state; Barney Frank was a popular legislator from a crowded state. George Carlin has a unique outlook on our way of American life; so does Jesse Jackson. And we won't even bring up Michael Jackson.
Maybe typical can be selected through our music; Pat Boone is revered by many, but doesn't Snoop Dog outsell him by a factor of 10? Oprah Winfrey represents your classic American success story, but Jerry Springer has almost as big a following, and was Mayor of Cincinatti to boot.
Take a walk down the streets of New York; who is more typical, Donald Trump in his ivory tower, or those warming their hands over a barrel behind his hotel?
Maybe I'm the typical American; two years ago I was a guy working hard in business for myself, holding a certain status among my peers. Now I'm the strange guy with long hair who has a business. How many now wonder if my business is to cover up my hippie drug trade and other illegal trades? What has changed other than "perception"?
And I too wonder how we come across to the "typical European"
Big George
Hi Ken,
I'm American, but I'll respond anyway! By definition, "inter" just means "among" or "between." So "international" just connotes a sense of kinship in between the different "tribes" of man since the "nation" part comes ultimately from the word "nasci" meaning "to be born." So, I think you didn't really do to much to offend anyone that I could imagine, but then I am American, you know. Foreign is whatever you're not. But, once one gets past the words, it's hard to put a finger on what typical could be for any nation. I think that this probably comes about from whatever pervading characteristics a large percentage of that population displays on an ongoing basis.
For example, since a high percentage of Americans are overweight, and since we as 5% of the world's population consume over 25% of the world's energy, and since in general, American are not multi-lingual yet (Viva La Raza!!!), the world sees the "typical" American abroad as the fat jerk as someone else said earlier!
However, I would like to think that we Americans here disprove this stereotype.
I think you are stereotyping Americans to say Americans think of Canada that way, because I haven't heard that sentiment before. I have lived in both Canada, was born there actually, and America and there is not much noticeable difference at all and they are both part of North America after all.
Also how you act does not represent all Americans and for people to say "typical American" they would being making their own faux pas in assuming one American represents the entire country or the majority of the people in it.