Is There A General Distain For Americans In Australia?

[freezkat]

I know we have had some idiot presidents. I haven't voted for less than an "A" student president ever.

I'm not looking for sympathy. I am just curious, do (in general) Australians dislike Americans?

Be brutal honest mates. What pisses you off about Americans? If an Australian boy married an American girl is that a problem? If an American boy married an Australian girl is that a problem?

We are are all rejects of His/Her Majesties Kingdom. William Penn was granted lands in the New Continent to take his pain in the arse puritans with him. He wasn't royalty or a land owner. The King just wanted him and his sexually frustrated mob, out of England that bad.

Why could there be any discord between both of our countries. I have felt the same thing when surrounded by Canadians.

Should I be defensive anytime I meet anybody from the Commonwealth?

 

[freezkat]

Be brutal honest mates.

 

[bum]

I'm not looking for sympathy. I am just curious, do (in general) Australians dislike Americans?

No. But opinions are often held and voiced that Americans are somewhat insular in outlook (punny).

Be brutal honest mates. What pisses you off about Americans?

Nothing except for when they try to use our vernacular. Never, ever get it right ever. Never.

If an Australian boy married an American girl is that a problem?

Yeah, but only for the Australian boy.

Should I be defensive anytime I meet anybody from the Commonwealth?

^This is the general issue in a nutshell. "If someone has an issue with me then I have no reason to investigate that issue - I will just get defensive."

[EDIT: typo, format, and realised the thread I was referring to (comment removed) may have been deleted/locked]

 

[seemax]

Same shit, different accent.

 

[mikec]

Americans can't spell disdain.

 

[stux]

Some Australians do have an automatic prejudice against Americans. And I think this is not warranted.

Many a time they've never met any other americans than some loud mouth tourist once or twice, and have never been to the country.

I think if they had, they'd love Americans. Great country with great people

...

Now don't get me started about The French

 

[bum]

Americans can't spell disdain.

Let's not even get started on the words Americans can and cannot spell.

 

[freezkat]

Some Australians do have an automatic prejudice against Americans. And I think this is not warranted.

Many a time they've never met any other americans than some loud mouth tourist once or twice, and have never been to the country.

I think if they had, they'd love Americans. Great country with great people

...

Now don't get me started about The French

Don't get me started on the French. (Exocet missiles in Libya and the lot)

 

[Malted]

Good questions and fodder for discussion Freezkat.

You have it wrong, generally Australians like Canadians; they have similar humour to us.
We like you and some other seppos* but maybe not all Americans.

I think that the opinions commonly held are based on general perceptions of too small a sample size. Stereotypes and biggotry and all that. Noisy, brash and in your face are general perceptions. The flipside is that we Aussies hang shit (tease or seem abusive) to people we like. It starts out that way and if they can't deal with it and then we don't like them so much.

Maybe not something I should be discussing after a few beers.

* does this discussion stem from the discussion you have had previously in regards to this term?

 

[dabre4]

Australians don't have a problem with America, the whole world does. Problem is a lot of Americans think the world revolves around them, and they are the centre of the universe. Of course this isn't the case with all Americans, i myself have been to the States twice and abolutly love the country and the people are lovely. Just a lot are quite ignorent of the rest of the world. Also a lot of (again not all, and i have met Aussies that are bit the same) Americans i've come across in my travels are loud and inconsiderate of others peoples cultures.

 

[freezkat]

Don't get me started on the French. (Exocet missiles in Libya and the lot)

I'm not trying to copy any vernacular. I just wanted to invite a more brotherly conversation. Please pardon my typos. I'm not perfect. If you want me to use the words "friends in a common struggle" instead of "mates" I will do that. I feel I am licensed to call fellow brewers "mates". I'm not rich by any means. If you think all Americans are rich, that's ok. We're not. I'm an under-employed relocated construction worker. I work at home spamming electrical contractors now. I get about 12 hours a week, for 12 bucks an hour. My wife works part time too. I'm a bum...there you go. I was a major contributor to the economy for 24 years straight. But now I'm a bum. Are you satisfied??? Have I prostrated myself enough? You are not my mate. My mate has also worked 20 plus years in construction and has been way-layed by our economy in the USA and doesn't have any unemployment insurance payments anymore...thats my mate...I don't think you want to be my mate. But mate, I will call you mate, not because I want to try to hide who I am but because we are all mates. Do you get me mate.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

White Australia is young and lacking identity.
Any disdain for American could stem from the cultural colonialism we endure on a daily basis.
A huge proportion of what we see on TV and hear on radio is American content, and our towns are littered with American fast food chains. It's not easy to escape from.
I know who Snooki is for fucks sake.

 

[freezkat]

White Australia is young and lacking identity.
Any disdain for American could stem from the cultural colonialism we endure on a daily basis.
A huge proportion of what we see on TV and hear on radio is American content, and our towns are littered with American fast food chains. It's not easy to escape from.
I know who Snooki is for fucks sake.

I have seen the Snooki..on TV news but have never watched that show. OMG Please realize that is just for morons. Don't watch it. Your brain will shrink. Our TV sucks. I gave up 'paid TV' months ago. I wish we had TV like in Europe from the satellite.

Yes I would stuff a Snooki, If I had my chance. Nice big boobs. We call tiny skrewable females "spinners", in the states.

McDonald's, KFC and Burger King aren't a cultural invasion. Don't go there. They are there to offer cheap food. That's it.

If there is something else you would rather eat, please go ahead and do so. The most common fast food chain in East Berlin Is KFC...Kentucky Fried Chicken... It's just good chicken for cryin out loud.

 

[bum]

I don't think you want to be my mate.

This is, most likely, entirely correct but is just as irrelevant. All I was saying is that you were using the word "mates" incorrectly. You started to get the hang of the passive aggressive usage towards the end but, so good on you.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Yes I would stuff a Snooki, If I had my chance. Nice big boobs. We call tiny skrewable females "spinners", in the states.

hehe, yeah. I just used that to illustrate the point. I think it's the idea of America, rather than individual Americans that causes disdain in some aussies.


EDIT: Bum has a point. It's like that scene in Borat where he says "whats up my niggers"

 

[fraser_john]

I'm married to one, have my US citizenship and really liked living there, excluding the bloody cold & snow in winter. I*'d go back in a shot, but my wife fell in love with Australia the first time I brought her here on holidays.

I just wish the Americans that complain about the current government (at any level) would actually get off their bums and vote!

 

[Gar]

I'm afraid the majority of morons do take what they see on TV as reality.

So a lot Aussies see yanks as shallow egotistical, consumer driven morons.

I don't really feel much different about yanks than us Aussies, we still have a vocal mass of morons but there's still some great people.

 

[bconnery]

I don't think there's a general disdain for all Americans, but perhaps one for America?
I've got some great friends from the US, intelligent, nice, well rounded and cultured people with a reasonable grasp of their place in the world.
It's just that for everyone one of them there's 5 or so, at least, wandering around the world going 'what do you mean you don't take american dollars' (this isn't me making this up, I actually heard this in Italy), or appearing in people of Walmart videos, or on a shooting rampage, or explaining why all x type of people are sinners and are going to burn in hell or displaying a staggering lack of basic education and common sense.
I love the parts of the US I've visited, and I've met some great people, but the US doesn't get a great press overall, and in many ways they've only got themselves to blame for this...

 

[browndog]

Freezkat, I've worked with some Americans here in Australia and they were some of the greatest guys you would want to meet. I think it is the international media that make Americans out to be (for want of a better word) Americans. The thing gets my goat when I hear Aussies putting America down is that they probably don't realise that tens of thousands of American Marines died on shitty little islands in the pacific a long way from home stopping the Japanese from invading Australia. We owe America a debt that will never be repaid.

cheers

Browndog

 

[black_labb]

I was born just over the border in Canada and moved to australia when I was 11.

I have a general disdain for american media. Listening to american ads drives me nuts and would put me off from the product/group. Brewing network ads seem terrible imo.

I do find americans can have an issue with moderation. I think there is something in the culture that encourages throwing themselves into something. There seems to be a desire to align themselves with something absolutely, as opposed to moderation and/or mixing and matching. I'm probably not describing it well but it is something I've possibly wrongly noticed.

Do I dislike americans? Not at all. I've travelled over there a fair bit and met so many great people in cities and in tiny backwater towns.

There are issues related to all cultures. I'm somewhat inbetween Canadian and Australian culturally and am able to see both from the outside so I can analyse the differences a bit more critically. From my observation all cultures have good things and bad and americans aren't any worse than Australians or Canadians.

I will say that Americans have highly developed senses of humour and the complexity can take some time to get used to.