Americans, does it bother you when immigrants complain about America?

[Anonymous]

You can only be offended if you are Native American. The rest of us are all immigrants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can only be offended if you are Native American. The rest of us are all immigrants

this!

I'm born in Europe and have been a US citizen for years. I'll complain about wherever I like!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:This is stupid. Immigrants are allowed to complain just like anyone else. It's our god-given human right.

I was born and raised in the US, and I complain about the US. Endlessly. I've also lived in 5 other countries. I've complained about those places, too, while I was there. All countries have pros and cons. We're allowed to discuss both aspects freely.

I never understand why Americans are so uptight. We really cannot take ANY criticism or we lose our minds. Contrarily, other nationalities (Brits, Irish, etc) are famous for their self-deprecating humor and seem not to be so offended. We need to learn to relax. Pointing out a flaw does not diminish your standing as a Proud American.

I don't think it's a matter of being uptight. I think it speaks to the certain feeling of superiority over immigrants. I think certain Americans always view us as not American so we can never complain about "their country." We will never be equal and therefore have no right to complain and should always be grateful to the Americans for letting us be here. This is certainly not a sentiment of all Americans.

I'll give you an example of when someone tried to pay me a compliment but was super rude instead. I speak English without an accent. Not because I'm smarter, harder working, or more talented than any other immigrant. I guess I'm just lucky to have picked it up easily. I was talking to an American guy who said to me"Geez, why can't more immigrants be like you? You speak English so good and I don't have to strain to understand you." Nevermind that someone who might be a little harder to understand is possibly ten times more educated, smarter, or talented than me. He wants more people who SOUND like him.

I don’t find this rude. Yes some people speak English but can have an accent so hard that it is very very hard to understand them. That makes the listener uncomfortable because they have to focus very hard to understand the speaker. And still may not. I work with people from around the world so are used to accents but some countries tend to have VERY strong accents making it quite difficult to understand them. For me generally I have the most trouble with many Indians and also a fair amount of Koreans. Other origins not so much.

How do you not see see this was rude? Rather than simply choosing to compliment the PP’s accent-less English, he was was complaining to them about how other immigrants speak. Not only that, he was complaining about something they may have little control over.

Rude if the person said it in front of other immigrants yes. But if PP was the only immigrant there when it was said then no I don’t see why they would have taken offense.

So try putting the shoe on the other foot. How would you feel if you turned up in Ireland, UK or Australia and somebody acted surprised about how clearly you spoke and said that most Americans have terrible accents? Would you take it as a compliment or be insulted?

More comparable would be a genuine foreign language country. If I went to France and someone said “wow most immigrants / non-French people have terrible accents but yours is so good!” I would take it as a compliment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is stupid. Immigrants are allowed to complain just like anyone else. It's our god-given human right.

I was born and raised in the US, and I complain about the US. Endlessly. I've also lived in 5 other countries. I've complained about those places, too, while I was there. All countries have pros and cons. We're allowed to discuss both aspects freely.

I never understand why Americans are so uptight. We really cannot take ANY criticism or we lose our minds. Contrarily, other nationalities (Brits, Irish, etc) are famous for their self-deprecating humor and seem not to be so offended. We need to learn to relax. Pointing out a flaw does not diminish your standing as a Proud American.

I don't think it's a matter of being uptight. I think it speaks to the certain feeling of superiority over immigrants. I think certain Americans always view us as not American so we can never complain about "their country." We will never be equal and therefore have no right to complain and should always be grateful to the Americans for letting us be here. This is certainly not a sentiment of all Americans.

I'll give you an example of when someone tried to pay me a compliment but was super rude instead. I speak English without an accent. Not because I'm smarter, harder working, or more talented than any other immigrant. I guess I'm just lucky to have picked it up easily. I was talking to an American guy who said to me"Geez, why can't more immigrants be like you? You speak English so good and I don't have to strain to understand you." Nevermind that someone who might be a little harder to understand is possibly ten times more educated, smarter, or talented than me. He wants more people who SOUND like him.

I don’t find this rude. Yes some people speak English but can have an accent so hard that it is very very hard to understand them. That makes the listener uncomfortable because they have to focus very hard to understand the speaker. And still may not. I work with people from around the world so are used to accents but some countries tend to have VERY strong accents making it quite difficult to understand them. For me generally I have the most trouble with many Indians and also a fair amount of Koreans. Other origins not so much.

How do you not see see this was rude? Rather than simply choosing to compliment the PP’s accent-less English, he was was complaining to them about how other immigrants speak. Not only that, he was complaining about something they may have little control over.

Rude if the person said it in front of other immigrants yes. But if PP was the only immigrant there when it was said then no I don’t see why they would have taken offense.

So try putting the shoe on the other foot. How would you feel if you turned up in Ireland, UK or Australia and somebody acted surprised about how clearly you spoke and said that most Americans have terrible accents? Would you take it as a compliment or be insulted?

More comparable would be a genuine foreign language country. If I went to France and someone said “wow most immigrants / non-French people have terrible accents but yours is so good!” I would take it as a compliment.

Maybe. However, if you say that to a person from say India, Ghana, Nigeria or another country where English is either the primary or secondary language, it could sound insulting. I guess maybe it's how you couch the compliment. Saying "I wish more immigrants can be like you" per an earlier poster really shows ignorance of how hard it can be to learn another language and the fact that accents can be very hard and sometimes impossible to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is stupid. Immigrants are allowed to complain just like anyone else. It's our god-given human right.

I was born and raised in the US, and I complain about the US. Endlessly. I've also lived in 5 other countries. I've complained about those places, too, while I was there. All countries have pros and cons. We're allowed to discuss both aspects freely.

I never understand why Americans are so uptight. We really cannot take ANY criticism or we lose our minds. Contrarily, other nationalities (Brits, Irish, etc) are famous for their self-deprecating humor and seem not to be so offended. We need to learn to relax. Pointing out a flaw does not diminish your standing as a Proud American.

I don't think it's a matter of being uptight. I think it speaks to the certain feeling of superiority over immigrants. I think certain Americans always view us as not American so we can never complain about "their country." We will never be equal and therefore have no right to complain and should always be grateful to the Americans for letting us be here. This is certainly not a sentiment of all Americans.

I'll give you an example of when someone tried to pay me a compliment but was super rude instead. I speak English without an accent. Not because I'm smarter, harder working, or more talented than any other immigrant. I guess I'm just lucky to have picked it up easily. I was talking to an American guy who said to me"Geez, why can't more immigrants be like you? You speak English so good and I don't have to strain to understand you." Nevermind that someone who might be a little harder to understand is possibly ten times more educated, smarter, or talented than me. He wants more people who SOUND like him.

I don’t find this rude. Yes some people speak English but can have an accent so hard that it is very very hard to understand them. That makes the listener uncomfortable because they have to focus very hard to understand the speaker. And still may not. I work with people from around the world so are used to accents but some countries tend to have VERY strong accents making it quite difficult to understand them. For me generally I have the most trouble with many Indians and also a fair amount of Koreans. Other origins not so much.

Do you realize you are making *them* the "problem"? "makes the listener uncomfortable"--you're kind of universalizing the accent difference. I just retired, but my job had me speaking to people in India and also a lot of south and east asians in the US (and people from Georgia and Alabama I sometimes have trouble understanding as well. But to make a point of saying how well they are conforming to what YOU can understand is, yes, rude, whether they intended it to be or were conscious of it or not. Besides which, people who have disabilities that affect their speech (fluency, or how it sounds, or how long it takes them to form a sentence) can be difficult to understand and require the listener to focus very hard to understand them. So be it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is stupid. Immigrants are allowed to complain just like anyone else. It's our god-given human right.

I was born and raised in the US, and I complain about the US. Endlessly. I've also lived in 5 other countries. I've complained about those places, too, while I was there. All countries have pros and cons. We're allowed to discuss both aspects freely.

I never understand why Americans are so uptight. We really cannot take ANY criticism or we lose our minds. Contrarily, other nationalities (Brits, Irish, etc) are famous for their self-deprecating humor and seem not to be so offended. We need to learn to relax. Pointing out a flaw does not diminish your standing as a Proud American.

I don't think it's a matter of being uptight. I think it speaks to the certain feeling of superiority over immigrants. I think certain Americans always view us as not American so we can never complain about "their country." We will never be equal and therefore have no right to complain and should always be grateful to the Americans for letting us be here. This is certainly not a sentiment of all Americans.

I'll give you an example of when someone tried to pay me a compliment but was super rude instead. I speak English without an accent. Not because I'm smarter, harder working, or more talented than any other immigrant. I guess I'm just lucky to have picked it up easily. I was talking to an American guy who said to me"Geez, why can't more immigrants be like you? You speak English so good and I don't have to strain to understand you." Nevermind that someone who might be a little harder to understand is possibly ten times more educated, smarter, or talented than me. He wants more people who SOUND like him.

I don’t find this rude. Yes some people speak English but can have an accent so hard that it is very very hard to understand them. That makes the listener uncomfortable because they have to focus very hard to understand the speaker. And still may not. I work with people from around the world so are used to accents but some countries tend to have VERY strong accents making it quite difficult to understand them. For me generally I have the most trouble with many Indians and also a fair amount of Koreans. Other origins not so much.

How do you not see see this was rude? Rather than simply choosing to compliment the PP’s accent-less English, he was was complaining to them about how other immigrants speak. Not only that, he was complaining about something they may have little control over.

Rude if the person said it in front of other immigrants yes. But if PP was the only immigrant there when it was said then no I don’t see why they would have taken offense.

So try putting the shoe on the other foot. How would you feel if you turned up in Ireland, UK or Australia and somebody acted surprised about how clearly you spoke and said that most Americans have terrible accents? Would you take it as a compliment or be insulted?

More comparable would be a genuine foreign language country. If I went to France and someone said “wow most immigrants / non-French people have terrible accents but yours is so good!” I would take it as a compliment.

I've at times been complimented for pronouncing people's names correctly, I enjoy that because I haven't butchered their name.

[Anonymous]

Criticism as a fellow American, as someone who feels responsibility for our shared community? Sure. That's being American.

Contempt as someone who holds themselves apart from the community, because this community is beneath them? No. That's always rude.

It's the difference between "MY people can do better" and "YOU people are gross."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can only be offended if you are Native American. The rest of us are all immigrants

Yeah, no. I have had ancestors here since the 1600s, so I’m not an immigrant. If you use your definition than “Native” Americans are immigrants too. Despite their creation myths, they didn’t spring up out of the ground.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Anyone who is not into gaslighting flag-waving horsehockey is my friend.

[Anonymous]

Nope, my wife is an immigrant and frequently complains about America. I agree with her like 80% of the time.

[Anonymous]

There's a day coming soon when immigrants won't want to come here and that's the day the US will be in dire straits. Already we are at the point where many want to come here but some end up leaving when they realize the story is better than the reality. I give the US 10 years before we lose the Superpower title. In this global world, US will definitely be a player but there will be more developing countries coming up to equalize power. Esp when our infrastructure is so weak with education, national debt, political strife and health care systems nightmares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a day coming soon when immigrants won't want to come here and that's the day the US will be in dire straits. Already we are at the point where many want to come here but some end up leaving when they realize the story is better than the reality. I give the US 10 years before we lose the Superpower title. In this global world, US will definitely be a player but there will be more developing countries coming up to equalize power. Esp when our infrastructure is so weak with education, national debt, political strife and health care systems nightmares.

Nobody wants to come here because the US is a superpower. They come for quality of life and opportunity. In the bigger picture, it's a good thing if they don't want to come because the security or economic situation in their own countries has improved. There will always be far more people who want to come here than don't. Whether they are the immigrants that the US needs or wants is another question.

[Anonymous]

The defunct ffx underground site said that white guys who go for Asian immigrants only do so because they have some deep rooted racism and Asians are a minority that they see as okay to date and marry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The defunct ffx underground site said that white guys who go for Asian immigrants only do so because they have some deep rooted racism and Asians are a minority that they see as okay to date and marry.

Yeah OK. Its defunct, but it said that. Idiot.