Why do so many people assume certain things about Americans?

With all due respect, if MOST of your people HEATEDLY disagree with your current president, why did you re-elect him? America is an aggressive country, and the people seem to have a very limited ability to feel for the rest of the world. Any one American may be as you say, and most of the ones that I know are pretty decent, but you in general DO come off as arrogant. You have nuclear weapons for example. When my country got them, sanctions were placed against us. Now I am against these types of weapons, but where do you get off condemning us for doing what you have done for decades? Most of the greenhouse emissions and most of the fuel consumption is done by America . . . a full 6% of the world's population. Suppose the rest of the world wanted its share of the world's fuel or behaved in that way? I know most people don't think about this stuff literally, but the rest of us see you wanting to invade and Iran and possibly Turkey and saying things like the U.N. needs to be dismantled if it doesn't agree with your policies, and frankly, it is hard to come to any other conclusion.

Note to your edit: I know you personally don't have any nuclear weapons but surely you realize how it looks when your government says its OK for you guys but not OK for everyone else? As for the nuclear weapons . . . look at where India is and where the Chagos islands are. The US has a nuclear weapons base there. Now if we put a nuclear weapons base say, on Cuba or Bermuda, what would happen? Why can your country get away with this? Your people may not have any control over this, but if not, then stop pretending to be a democracy . . . and electoral college or not, Bush was elected fairly the second time around.

There are also comments, like one answer said maybe in the defensive, that are extremely rude and arrogant. Hearing an American say that they won World War II as though they did it alone is annoying, or preaching democracy when they won't practise it at home. A lot of you Do come off as bigoted, ignorant and arrogant. Again, most Americans I have personally known do not seem like that, but there seem to be no shortage who are.

Once when I criticized Richard Gere in the Shilpa Shetty kiss scandal . . . all I really said was that if he comes to India, he should obey they laws and customs . . . I had many Americans jump down my throat like I had suggested an invasion. That kind of thing leaves an impression.

They get it from the media, I think.

What's funny about these people who like to bash us is that they've probably never met an American, much less been here to see what we're REALLY like. They focus too much on world news, and not enough on interracting with actual Americans. I'm sure our nightly news (at least CNN) is available in other countries, but CNN doesn't show all the good things about our country--the only stories they tell are about someone going apesh*t at VA Tech. and killing people, or about how some guy from some podunk little town in Alabama murdered a family of six then blew up his office building, broke into the local SPCA and killed all the animals, etc.

Anyone with a grain of sense knows that not all Americans are loud, obnoxious, etc., just as I, as an American, realize that not all British people are lousy in bed and have bad teeth; not all Arabs are bombers; not all Japanese people are geniuses; not all Jewish people have big noses, etc. etc. etc.

Personally--I think they just want a reason to complain, so they're taking it out on us because everyone else does, too.

I kinda find comfort in knowing that most of the rest of the world hates us, and thinks we're all arrogant and ignorant. That way we know who our friends are (no one) and there's no expectations.

If I were to travel to another country, and people knew I was American, I would be expected to adhere to the negative American stereotype. Hence when I didn't, everyone would come away with a positive impression of me (WOW! That American actually knew something about our country! He's Smart!) , and Americans in general, just because I was being myself. Excellent!

A lot of the people who rant and rave about the evils of Americans, would probably do it on any day of the week, for any reason. If it isn't this, then it would be something else. If it isn't something today, it's something that happened in the past, and on and on and on.

If the rest of the world assumes me to be fat, arrogant, ignorant, violent, and ethnocentric, simply because of my nationality, so be it. I know I'm not, so what's the problem?

My stereotyped idea of Americans comes mostly from news medias but also books, TV shows and movies. A lot of my stereotyping also takes place online in different forums where I see how people from different nations behave. (I'm not only stereotyping Americans.)

My stereotyping does NOT concern ALL Americans. I do understand that there are many different persons and just as many opinions and ideas. It gives me a stereotype idea about what the majority of the Americans are like. Your description "family oriented, fun loving, quirky, and ambitious" fits into my stereotyped idea.

The same reason why many Americans assume things about other cultures.They are(people in general and that also includes some Americans) too lazy to find out what's true.

I will also add that Americans on YA aren't doing themselves any favours by going on the defensive and saying things like:

"They're just jealous of us"---I see this response in almost every question on America.

"Let's nuke them(muslim countries)" ---I've seen a few of these,believe me.

You guys also unintentionally convey a self-centred attitude through several small and seemingly insignificant things(like calling a domestic baseball competition "world series").

There is also a general perception that most Americans aren't bothered by what happens beyond their town or county or state or country.I am not sure if that's true.

Thank you for asking this question. For the record, I never voted for Pres. Bush and strongly disagree with the war in Iraq. I'd also like to say that it's not fair to judge average Americans by the same standards that you judge people like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson,exc.

i am from germany and have been living in the U.S for 5 years now.

I am not saying i am agreeing with MOST of these things.. but this is what some people think over there of americans:

1. that they are very lazy... which.. i must be honest.. i see a lot of laziness in this country. if you look at the school system for example..and look at how students just do not do there homework because they didnt feel like it and just do not turn in things.. in germany, that doesnt happen, well yes..maybe once in a while.. but if it does happen..then it is just once a year.

2. yes, americans are very sweet and kind, i have noticed that at first, but sometimes they come over fake.. like.. most poeple here when you see a person you know ect.. then when they say "hows it going"..they walk right past you..as if they could care less about your answer.

and also, the people that just sit with their butt at home..complain about how they live in the ghetto, with 5 children. well, people shoudl be smart enough especially when you do not live in a very ncie surrounding area to not have 5 children, espeically when you know you will just be sitting at home with yuor *** on the couch eating lays chips and not trying to look for one single job.

but let me tell you, i do not agree with it all, but i can understand whys ome poeple would think that of americans.

I agree with everything you said. This is a country of individuals. There are so many people with different backgrounds, races, religions, etc. that there isn't a typical American. We are all different. All we seem to have in common is where we live.

I was trying to watch the news recently. CNN was showing something about Britney's kids, Headlines was showing something about 10 M sexual harassment case. So I had to watch BBC. For US news networks outside world doesn't exist. If people did watch this they wouldn't be showing it.

I worked in the US in 2002. I've got to tell you, you guys are pretty arrogant.

i think we are as you described but only from certain egocentric views....

if you saw us from their perspective,, we are not such good people...

we consume most of the worlds resources...

we are overweight

our children are less and less intelligent

and a long list of others...lol...

btw we did not elect him,, we are no longer in control of our govt, it is controlled by the elite ..

we will not elect hillary but she will win and no one will even know it...

it is not our fault as people...