Exporting American culture around the world - Page 2

[El Casey S]

Originally posted by amyrpk
Why anyone feels they have the right to scream and party outside people's windows at three a.m. is another question ...

T The night before last at 3 ish AM on this hot summer night, some drunks were carrying on a conversation outside our bedroom windows and I thought to myself in my exhausted stupor, "It shouldn't be against the law to just shoot people who are so loud in the middle of the night in a highly populated area, just POP - they asked for it!"

You are right about the tourists in every country getting carried away at times, but there is no excuse for intolerence - especially to the "hosts" of the visitors' place of holiday. I am really sorry for the abuse you get!

[Arduinna]

Growing up in LA and living there for over 30 years I can say I've seen more than my fair share of tourists. While I'm sure that tourists leave trash, I've never seen any be blantantly rude or racist to anyone. In fact the French boys we let stay in our home because they had no hotel reservations, that my sister met on the airplane were very nice. So much for the uppity french assumptions often made.

[3boys4us]

Why anyone feels they have the right to scream and party outside people's windows at three a.m. is another question ...

Ummm I have a horrible confession - in college every once in a while a bunch of friends and I would get horribly drunk (usually after exams) and go play in the playground in a residential area in DC. I know - completely rude and uncalled for. I just liked to swing (and now I realize how badly this looks written down)

[El Casey S]

Originally posted by 3boys4us
Ummm I have a horrible confession - in college every once in a while a bunch of friends and I would get horribly drunk (usually after exams) and go play in the playground in a residential area in DC. I know - completely rude and uncalled for. I just liked to swing (and now I realize how badly this looks written down)

[MelKnee]

Originally posted by emmaline
since our drongo Prime Minister has just about bought a free trade deal with the US govt by sending Australian troops to Iraq, our film and tv industry (which has produced some fabulous stuff) is about to be totally destroyed - there's no way we can compete with cheap imported products though our film and tv industry works very cheaply compared to big budget US productions

raising hand for diversity!!! we might speak (almost) the same language but we are not Americans (yet)

OH, NO! I love Australian films.

I voted NO. I hate "American" Culture. I hate having a McDs on every other block. I hate having a Starbuck's every where I look. I hate that small mom and pop stores can't survive in the face of WalMart, Barnes and Nobel, Home Depot, Rite Aid and Stone Cold. I hate that most of our movies are utterly predictable and a waste of time and money. I hate network TV (thank goodness for cable).

I don't think you can refer to what the U.S. has as culture. It is homogenized crap. I love the differences in other countries.

[daylily]

Au contraire, the United States has a culture and it has nothing to do with McDonalds or Nike or The Gap. There is an amazing body of American literature dating from the 1600's. We have rich traditions in dance, visual arts and music that are different from the arts in other countries. Our language, American English--love it or not--is a vital and wonderful part of our culture.

I don't think our culture should be forced on the rest of the world, but let's acknowledge that in the US, we have a culture that we can be proud of.

edited for grammer.

[MelKnee]

Originally posted by daylily
Au contraire, the United States has a culture and it has nothing to do with McDonalds or Nike or The Gap. There is an amazing body of American literature dating from the 1600's. We have rich traditions in dance, visual arts and music that are different from the arts in other countries. Our language, American English--love it or not--is a vital and wonderful part of our culture.

I don't think our culture should be forced on the rest of the world, but let's acknowledge that in the US, we have a culture that we can be proud of.

edited for grammer.

But, the culture we can be proud of is not the culture that is being forced on other countries. Sure our literature is available elsewhere, but it is the crappy movies and crappy food that is the focus of exported culture.

[El Casey S]

Originally posted by daylily
Au contraire, the United States has a culture and it has nothing to do with McDonalds or Nike or The Gap. There is an amazing body of American literature dating from the 1600's. We have rich traditions in dance, visual arts and music that are different from the arts in other countries. Our language, American English--love it or not--is a vital and wonderful part of our culture.

I don't think our culture should be forced on the rest of the world, but let's acknowledge that in the US, we have a culture that we can be proud of.

edited for grammer.

JAZZ!!!

[daylily]

But I think we could argue that what is being exported isn't culture at all. It's business. The typical Hollywood movie isn't artistic the way a really great film is, it's just a product.

[barbara]

I agree that the import of American Pop culture is obscene, however, I think that at least some of the population of the world is wanting it, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing the "McDonalds" flooded with nationals!

That said, I think the rude tourist thing is not limited to americans, but exisits in the "tourist mindset" everywhere. I recently ran into a family of tourists in a local (US) coffee shop. The young woman spoke english so was ordering for the family. I can honestly say I have never seen anyone be so rude to the people serving them in my life. Nothing was right and she made a point of telling them it is done her way, in every other place she has ever been. I felt so bad for the girls serving her, as they were honestly trying their best to please her and not lose their cool. It made me think about what a bad impression this woman was making for her fellow countrymen and women. I'm sure after running into a few tourists (American or any other) who act this way, one would tend to lump all of that cultural group into the same basket.