Stupid Americans
By Cari Crosby

Being an American who has lived in both England and Canada, I am well aware of all sorts of negative American stereotypes. From the dumb or rude American tourist to the ignorant and narrow-minded Midwesterner who doesn’t have a clue about the world around them, most of the stereotypes play up the stupidity of Americans. Hell, even our president is considered dim-witted by much of the world. Yet, when think about most of my friends back home, I see a pretty smart bunch: more than half of my friends are doing graduate work at the moment – clearly they can’t be dim-witted? 

But lately the examples of people I personally know saying and doing stupid things are pretty astounding:

- A few months ago, I was having a conversation with a young woman who happens to be in a very challenging academic field. I’ve always regarded her as extremely intelligent – as she was able to get very good marks and seemed to balance her time well between study and play.  Then we had a conversation about the upcoming presidential election. I mentioned Bush, and her response, much to my surprise was, “Oh, he’s running again? I didn’t think he would because no one liked him.”  …. I was left in a bit of shock after that. I didn’t want to make her feel stupid, but at the same time – how could you be living within the US, and not know that the current president was running again?

- More recently, someone I know admitted to not knowing who John Edwards was. Only months before such an important election, it is frightening to consider that someone in the US is unaware of who John Kerry’s running-mate is. Then again, you see people on Jay Leno’s Jaywalking that don’t know who Dick Cheney is…

- A number of my friends - intelligent friends - have no interest in politics, voting, or even watching or reading the news. Now, I know that not everyone needs to be political, or even all that well-rounded in world happenings, but it bothers me that it is socially acceptable in much of the US to not have a clue about basic things like the debate over gay marriage, abortion laws, the situation in the Iraq, the upcoming election, environmental debates, etc

- I traveled with someone through Europe last year, who made a few embarrassing and ignorant comments.  While in Italy, he claimed that “all Italians are lazy” because they close the shops in the afternoon for siesta. Now, he didn’t seem to think that the shops being open later as a result made up for it.

- And why is it that Americans are so easily spotted when we travel in Europe? I wasn’t sure until I lived in England briefly…after only a few weeks I could spot the American tourists as soon as they entered a pub, even when I couldn’t hear the language they were speaking. I began understanding why some of the locals would roll their eyes as the American tourists took their seats and ordered their Bud Lights.

- And speaking of American tourists – why do so many Americans see the need to wear USA Flag T-Shirts while abroad?  I completely understand being patriotic – I too am very proud of my homeland – but I saw people who were wearing USA T-Shirts while in France during the Iraqi war. Does anyone else see a problem here?

Now, with all of that said, I don’t think Americans are stupid at all.  I think there are a lot of us who are very well versed in the ways of the world, know the important debates for the upcoming election (along with who is running), don’t expect everyone to speak English where ever we travel to, and do our best to stay well-informed.  Why can’t we be the stereotyped American?\

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