I agree. Judge people as individuals and not before you even know them.

Yeah, sweden was indeed on the german side during ww II, Im not even gonna argue about that. We werent neutral, we were fighting for nazi germany. Cowards who choose side depending on who was winning.

Who invaded Irak and Afganistan recently?

You can have 50 öre, the krona is mine!

You know what? Im not stupid enough to keep at something I have been corrected at, MOST of americas citizens are not stupid and ignorant. But many americans ways seems weird to me. I will indeed talk about the government instead since that would be more accurate. Im sorry if I offended any of you.

Spoken like a reasonable person. Well done.

It seems that the phrase "Americans are stupid" is getting popular these days. In my country a bloody lot of people hate the Americans. Starting with "Americans put their pets into the microwave" leading to "USA plans to invade every country for oil and/or other natural resources". The truth is, most of the people in the world don't really know anything and have no idea what's what.

Listen doublenature, I know you listened to a couple Pink Floyd albums and think you're a bigshot on philosophy or whatever, but I must admit, i admire someone who has done absolutely no research into their argument subject whatsoever. I admit it, I'm American and it's true, I spend all day stuffing my face with cheeseburgers, wearing wife beaters, and if you asked me to pinpoint Europe to you on a globe i would laugh and respond "what the fuck is a yurop?" You have sure put it all into perspective. And it is true, Americans are mostly Christian who are crazy extremists and ignorant. You sure do know how America works!

What does Pink floyd have to do with anything ? I listen to the band becuase I love their music.

And did you read what I said about 2 posts back ?

Many american peoples ways seems ODD to me because we dont have the same kind of culture here in Sweden. Americans and Swedes are two different people even though it doesnt LOOK like it. I took back my statement about americans being ignorant because it obviously wasnt true (I can actually admit a mistake).

Now this has shown me that the way Americans are portrayed here in Sweden is incredibly dumb and ignorant. Therefore I will not make a statement like this again without facts.

Everybody stereotypes everybody. In Spanish “be a Swede” or “Hacerse uno el sueco” is “Playing dumb” or “pretend not to have taken notice of things you actually know perfectly and decide to ignore anyway.”

We all are victims of stereotyping. For example, as I was preparing my last reply, I googled "typical swede," and found this, written by a Swedish blogger:



He also goes on to discuss "unwritten laws" for etiquette in Sweden (and really, I think such things should be printed up and published as guides for travelers), including:

The Swedes do not show their feelings in front of strangers if it can be avoided.
You should not be different or think that you are better than anyone else in any way.
Don’t look directly at another person in an elevator or on the subway.
Do not say “Hi” to a stranger.
Do not take a seat in a location next to a Swede on the bus, theatre or subway if there are seats available anywhere else.
Learn how to stand in line properly!
(Most of these have to do with the Swedes having a very large "personal space" as opposed to other nationalities.)

Someone else says that Swedes REALLY like to plan ahead - if you're having a party, it's rude not to let your friends know at least 2 weeks in advance.

Now, all this is NOT to say that Americans travelling abroad really give the best impression of our country. After all, most travelers abroad are "tourists," an epithet despised in every country, even our own. (Just listen to New Englanders talking about the Mid-Atlantic and Southern "Leafers" sometime.)*

*Leafers are people who travel up north in autumn to watch the leaves change color.

Atleast up here in the more northen parts (northwest) people can be really unpleasant.
An example: This winter I saw a guy that was stuck with his snowmobile. I drove up and asked if he needed any help, the response was a look of death and the words: "Do I look like I need fucking help?!". So what he wrote is true for northwest sweden (mostly anyway). If you go northeast people are just as friendly as ever.


Now this is how I see it, people from other countries may find all of us to look pissed off when we walk by. Most of us doesnt even say "Hi" to our neighbours. Alot of my teachers could very well be serial killers.

People are idiots.

And no I'm not excluding Americans.

OMG, only been away for a few days and it seems like the US and Sweden have nearly had a war over Poland already!

Regards

Yeah, and why shouldn't they? It's a great tradition to fight wars over Poland for diminuitive reasons (farmland, cities "being historically ours", world domination... you get the idea).
But for what it's worth: I'm more than a bit put off by the way a single (in my eyes exaggerated) complaint about a badly chosen (though generally legit) term derailed to people basically going "Your people are stupid"-"No, yours are"-"Ain't"-"Are"-... I mean, get your act together; there's no point in simply throwing insults and stereotypes at each other.
Anyway, the first step to overcome your stereotypes is to acknowledge, that you have them. Obviously, you got there. Go on, then.

Best,
Simon

MY PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS!!!

How do Americans feel about an American opinion?

We somehow managed to get someone who had lied about virtually everything all the way through his campaign into the Presidency, and then allowed him to pass an unconstitutional bill, and try to censor everything we see or hear.

Show me where that doesn't paint Americans in general as idiots.

Isn't that how it's always done?

Regards

I'll post on this thread no more because I'm affraid I may hurt someone's feelings who will think I'm dumber then he is by not using propper grammar and not being born in US. Also I know how ppl can get mad/sad/angry et cetera whenewer war is mentioned. Esspecially WWII so... I'll shut up now.
T.T

"Look at any particular country in monkeydom. The proportion of lower to higher intelligence levels will be pretty close world wide. There are proportionally as many 'stupid' people in Britan or Germany or France or India or anywhere as there are in the USA.

However....America has a lot of people - Nearly 313 Million People... So obviously there ARE definitely more stupid people in the US than any other country in the west. It's mathematics."

---courtesy Jason Carter, the guy who played Marcus on "Babylon 5"

+1 (if I still could that is)

I think this is the best point in the thread.

I'm going to lock this thread because it definitely became more heated than it should have.