What would I dislike about living in the USA?

[rjmrjm21]

Something that permeates the whole nation, somehow, and to a bigger or lesser degree. Something that you don't feel very comfortable with and, therefore, you would assume that foreigners (aliens, greencarders, grafts, whatever you may call them) would find odd too, or something you'd assume that would piss off or sparge out belamo.

I doubt you would like the diversity. In spain, there is 1 dominant culture, Spanish. You don't have to consider 100's of others when you are simply trying to live your life. In Spain, you wake up, go to school/work, come home, hang with friends, then maybe go party afterward and do it all over again. Your interactions are a known commodity. Here in the USA, you must deal with 100s of cultures, viewpoints and customs. I think you would hate it and end up moving back to Europe.

Also, Americans work too much. You would not hang. Spaniards go home in the middle of the day to take naps or whatever but not here. It's all work.

 

[belamyi]

I doubt you would like the diversity. In spain, there is 1 dominant culture, Spanish. You don't have to consider 100's of others when you are simply trying to live your life. You wake up, go to school/work, come home, hang with friends, then maybe go party afterward and do it all over again. Your interactions are a known commodity.

Well, that's precisely what doesn't go with me: the assumption and comfort of taking things a being basically one way, and not having much room for developing out of it. It's maybe true that in the USA that is also to be found, and in a truly oppresive way, but at least limited to families and closed communities, and you can always run away from it and start a new life of your own without having to emigrate.

Here in the USA, you must deal with 100s of cultures, viewpoints and customs. I think you would hate it and end up moving back to Europe.

Also, Americans work too much. You would not hang. Spaniards go home in the middle of the day to take naps or whatever but not here. It's all work.

I feel more comfortable with that scenario because I happen to have a nature that won't identify more with the habits (call them pompously values if you want) and assumptions of one single culture or groups of closely related cultures.
Since I think I will never find an entourage, let alone a single person/partner, who would make me feel at ease, "at home", at least I prefer one that allows me to be in touch with the possibilities, here and there, that make me feel more comfortable.
Naturally, that logically means that I will be hated by all of them since, picking and being more accepting of just a few characteristics of their cultures, I could easily dismiss or even mock the rest of it. You just need to see how I get along with people on JUB...
So, as has been the case all my life up to now, I could get along well with everybody casually, but actually stand far aside from everyone.

As for the work... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, like that would be new to me. What I hate of the Spaniards (and amazes the rest of the world) is that, in general, they get such looooong and strenuous daily schedules that end up being producing comparatively so little.
What I like of people like the American or the Australian is that their working schedules may be more intense, or in some cases just as long or even more, but at least the work has a point and they try to go straight to it by following a plan. Everything can, of course, be improved, but I'd rather do it along the American line than taking it from the Spanish side/way.
I am aware that life is FAAAAR more depressing in America outside work, with that climate, that urban landscape, those social habits, but since I have no proper life outside work, and the only viable alternative I can consider is starting a family (with whom? HA!), which basically means having no life either, I don't think I should be missing, in my late thirties, what I never had before and would be too late to get now.

In short, you are assuming that I am a Spaniard at heart. The problem is precisely that I am not

 

[pat grimshaw]

… I think I will never find an entourage, let alone a single person/partner…

Don't say that! I know men who would be happy to accommodate your ways.

 

[belamyi]

Don't say that! I know men who would be happy to accommodate your ways.

I don't need a servant, I'D want a partner.
I have had people "liking" me at least since I was 17, mostly girls... and the men who may like or have liked me are more like boys or old boys.
Oh well forget it.

 

[pat grimshaw]

I yearn for a partner who is equal to me.
I'm NOT actively looking but —bearing in mind that men become more sensible with time— I believe there are men who would complement me and who would complement you

 

[belamyi]

Summarizing (20 minutes ) the above response to BENDER's post, I think that what I would, what I don't from what I get from there, is not the actual diversity, but the problems with diversity in the Americans themselves, the fact that they take just [STRIKE]everything[/STRIKE] anything so seriously, and too often precisely and mostly what doesn't deserve all that attention, like religion, skin color, cultural beliefs and habits...
On the other hand, I love how uncompromising they can be about certain things...

 

[juicyjack]

The only other country I've ever been in was Japan, but I lived there for 2 years, and have been back in the states about 2 years now. I would have to say the worst thing about the U.S. is the people are much more in your face(at least comparing to Japan). Sometimes it can even be a good thing, like if you are stranded in almost any part of the U.S. and people saw you, someone would most likely eventually stop and help you. In Japan they wouldn't be as likely, even though most Japanese people I've met are very nice, they just don't interact with strangers as much. All cultures are different I'm sure, but there is a lot to be said for the U.S. It's not all hicks and bigots like the media or some people on here may want you to believe.

 

[belamyi]

The only other country I've ever been in was Japan, but I lived there for 2 years, and have been back in the states about 2 years now. I would have to say the worst thing about the U.S. is the people are much more in your face(at least comparing to Japan). Sometimes it can even be a good thing, like if you are stranded in almost any part of the U.S. and people saw you, someone would most likely eventually stop and help you. In Japan they wouldn't be as likely, even though most Japanese people I've met are very nice, they just don't interact with strangers as much. All cultures are different I'm sure, but there is a lot to be said for the U.S. It's not all hicks and bigots like the media or some people on here may want you to believe.

One thing is the ordinary good people, who are the same anywhere on earth, and another the particular way that different countries shape their prickly righteous idiots: this thread is supposed to be about the latter.

 

[NineOfClubs]

Honest question.

Sorry if you've already answered it.

But have you ever been in the USA and met real Americans?

 

[juicyjack]

One thing is the ordinary good people, who are the same anywhere on earth, and another the particular way that different countries shape their prickly righteous idiots: this thread is supposed to be about the latter.

I said Americans can be too "in your face". A lot of people can ask too many questions and be kinda nosy. But I don't think "good people" are really the same everywhere which is what I was trying to point out. Just like every culture shapes their prickly righteous idiots, what cultures consider to be nice behavior is different. Like in Japan it wouldn't be considered nice to ask a stranger if they are ok and some argue that Japanese people are too shy and passive. Americans are kinda the opposite, where we are expected to ask everyone how they are doing, but we could be considered as pushy and aggresive. It's all too subjective since it would have to depend on what you are used to and what you prefer.

 

[belamyi]

Honest question.

Sorry if you've already answered it.

But have you ever been in the USA and met real Americans?

As an American, you should know well that America comes along wherever any American is, in or out of American soil: of course I have met "real" Americans, as real and unreal as they may be for every sort of American taking their kind for "the real one".

 

[belamyi]

I said Americans can be too "in your face". A lot of people can ask too many questions and be kinda nosy. But I don't think "good people" are really the same everywhere which is what I was trying to point out. Just like every culture shapes their prickly righteous idiots, what cultures consider to be nice behavior is different. Like in Japan it wouldn't be considered nice to ask a stranger if they are ok and some argue that Japanese people are too shy and passive. Americans are kinda the opposite, where we are expected to ask everyone how they are doing, but we could be considered as pushy and aggresive. It's all too subjective since it would have to depend on what you are used to and what you prefer.

You are talking there about the crust that every national can have, but that can be scraped away. I talk about integral idiots.
As for guileless nosey people, Chinese are usually said to take the palm but, as you can see from my posts, I never have assumptions and expectations about other people because I take for granted that, one way or the other, to whtever degree, I'm a pain in everyone's... body, so that I have more chances to make others feel uncomfortable than have the contrary happening to me.

 

[NineOfClubs]

As an American, you should know well that America comes along wherever any American is, in or out of American soil: of course I have met "real" Americans, as real and unreal as they may be for every sort of American taking their kind for "the real one".

No offense.

But most "Americans" haven't really seen much of America.

They criticize people from regions other than their own, but have never been there.

 

[belamyi]

No offense.

But most "Americans" haven't really seen much of America.

They criticize people from regions other than their own, but have never been there.

To what extent can you blame them for living in a country which is in fact a whole continent spreading over three and a half milion square miles in the crossroad of the Western world?

Although he is singing to the Americas, and more the Southern part of it

 

[NineOfClubs]

Precisely.

We don't even know ourselves and yet you ask others to figure us out?

 

[juicyjack]

You are talking there about the crust that every national can have, but that can be scraped away. I talk about integral idiots.
As for guileless nosey people, Chinese are usually said to take the palm but, as you can see from my posts, I never have assumptions and expectations about other people because I take for granted that, one way or the other, to whtever degree, I'm a pain in everyone's... body, so that I have more chances to make others feel uncomfortable than have the contrary happening to me.

Every nation can have integral idiots that act exactly the same way or not. My point is it is all perception of if these people are integral idiots or not. Some may find it incredibly rude or offensive of people being in your business, others don't. In my opinion that is something that I see more in America specifically. Things like people who are racist or blatantly mean occur in every country, so I didn't see the point of saying things like that.

 

[belamyi]

Every nation can have integral idiots that act exactly the same way or not. My point is it is all perception of if these people are integral idiots or not. Some may find it incredibly rude or offensive of people being in your business, others don't. In my opinion that is something that I see more in America specifically. Things like people who are racist or blatantly mean occur in every country, so I didn't see the point of saying things like that.

Well, I always say that idiots are a nation of their own, but still the privileges, the laws, the status of their nationalities make a difference, and a very important one, particularly when they can use them to pass for true nationals and not the actual Idioland nationals they actually are: if they substitute the people and the vast reality for their limited rules and beliefs, instead of using them as the maleable instruments they are supposed to be, and they remain very aggresive about defending the written rules for their own sake more than what they are supposed to stand for, they are not leaving much room for intelligence.

In other cases they are simply blinded by their faith in those rules and habits. Take for example the rules of etiquette and racism (they apply to Britain too, since they share the same history of prejudice and repentance from it): poking fun at people's looks, whatever those looks are, is a no holds barred game in Spain, while in America the mere fact of pointing at some looks is charged with too much history and pain to be taken innocently. Say that a redhead Anglo he looks like a rosy pig, or a blond one that he is just like an albino monkey and you can hardly be called a racist as straightaway, if at all, as if you called the same to a black or dark-skinned man: you can have a lousy, and dark and mean humor, with just not with absolutely anything.

 

[juicyjack]

Well, I always say that idiots are a nation of their own, but still the privileges, the laws, the status of their nationalities make a difference, and a very important one, particularly when they can use them to pass for true nationals and not the actual Idioland nationals they actually are: if they substitute the people and the vast reality for their limited rules and beliefs, instead of using them as the maleable instruments they are supposed to be, and they remain very aggresive about defending the written rules for their own sake more than what they are supposed to stand for, they are not leaving much room for intelligence.

Unfortunately our government can't control the idiots entirely haha. I think in general our nation teaches acceptance and freedom, but of course people don't always agree with that and that's where the idiots come in. We fortunately have a lot of laws against bigotry, and predjudice in the U.S. It's not perfect, but it could be a lot worse as far as that goes. If people hate someone for being black, gay, or just being themselves, they usually don't hate publicly.

 

[belamyi]

Unfortunately our government can't control the idiots entirely haha. I think in general our nation teaches acceptance and freedom, but of course people don't always agree with that and that's where the idiots come in. We fortunately have a lot of laws against bigotry, and predjudice in the U.S. It's not perfect, but it could be a lot worse as far as that goes. If people hate someone for being black, gay, or just being themselves, they usually don't hate publicly.

Well, fortunately they do more than just "teaching": they effectively implement, or at least they work very hard for it.
The French have been "teaching" their http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen but they human rights and the concept of citizenship more like another cultural item than as the real fact it is supposed to be in real life. It's a very Continental Europe way: big perfect principles on a chart to ensure our own sense of morality and righteousness, but let's not deal too overtly with reality because it's too complicated.
When we were asked to vote a European Constitution a few years ago, they made ads on TV reading articles of principles which don't needed to be written again, not even updated in a brand new version, those so vague, moral and general that even terrorists claim to defend them; but they totally drove around the age-old actual problems of political and economical cohesion that now are being made evident even for the most clueless of watchers.

 

[LilBit]

No offense.

But most "Americans" haven't really seen much of America.

They criticize people from regions other than their own, but have never been there.

I've visited many northern states. Does that mean I've earned the right to bitch about damn Yankees?