wondering if anyone else experiences this…
in the states, I am perceived as foreign, when not in the states I am considered american. in the states, I feel like the culture is to either (1) lean in to being american (which comes with some implications of country, republican, etc) or (2) fight like hell to disassociate with America(ns). trying to figure out why that is.
personally, I have picked number 2. whatever the public perception of American is abroad is not something I want to associate with, but I cannot escape that due to my accent. I don’t really identify with a lot of the american maximalism, ethics, loudness, etc, but cannot seem to effectively communicate that to people who aren’t american.
has anyone else experienced this? I suppose if someone is so eager to put me in a box anyways, they aren’t worth being my friend…
While agree with others saying how this post is “so American”. I have spent a good amount of my adult life in Europe. Here is the experience I’ve had: Europeans will never truly understand or appreciate how diverse the US is in so many ways. Yes, London, Madrid, Paris have people from all over the world but it’s not the same diversity we share in the US.
This diversity makes Americans not able to see that we do have a shared culture and we are “just being American” when we move through life. When we are in America, we are with the subset culture we identify with. For example:
My husband just said “those people are looking over here thinking what is that Mexican doing?” And then he quickly goes "actually here I’m just an American so they’re thinking “what is that American doing?”
There is nothing wrong with being an American. As long as you aren’t out in the world perpetuating terrible American stereotypes like being loud or obnoxious then you’re good to just relax and enjoy your life.
Americans have no problem seeing “shared culture”.
A lot of Americans are quite loud about many of those “shared” American culture things, and they like to focus on negatives of that shared American culture.
And, as a immigrant in USA, I have seen plenty of Americans who failed to see themselves how diverse USA is. Americans are very good about generalizing Americans.
As for Americans identifying themselves as subculture is not something unique American, this happens in every country.
There is really no need to over explain yourself to the world: Americans are not exceptionally bad or extremely good or exceptionally unique or exceptionally misunderstood.
“A lot of Americans are quite loud about many of those “shared” American culture things, and they like to focus on the negatives of that shared American culture.” - My what a gross generalization.
Every country has its unique characteristics and the US is no different.
I did not say all Americans and I did not say it is unique to Americans.
So where is exaggeration?