"In my country"..... Oh please, shut up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who else is sick of posters who ostensibly are not American and are always trashing the U.S. on this forum? I'm hardly a jingoistic Sarah Palin type, but it irks me that these posters live in the U.S. but seem to love to denigrate it. I've lived in Europe and loved it there. The things that did bug me I pretty much kept to myself.

Recent examples on this forum (I'm paraphrasing here):

Americans are gross and lazy b/c a lot of them don't brush their teeth after lunch.

Americans don't understand the real meaning of Christmas; all they want to do is buy crap.

My new year's resolution is to lose weight, because America and its junk food has made me fat.

Et cetera.


I realize this country is far from perfect... I get it. But these types of posters are just tiresome. If you don't like it here, go home already.

Hey Glenn Beck! Don't you have better things to do than frequent our little parenting site?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am American, and except for the teeth brushing after lunch comment, I agree with what the "foreigners," and others have posted. Should I "go home" as well? OP, get over yourself. yes, I just said that.

So you agree with the poster who says the USA's food made her fat? In that case, you don't need to go home, but you do need to stop being lazy and go to the gym.

A country cannot make you fat when there are healthy options for those who seek them. I am not speaking of those who live in poor neighborhoods with little/no access to fresh foods- I'm assuming most posters on DCUM are lucky enough not to have that problem.

what the what? clueless, go to bed.

[Anonymous]

OP, I bet you've never been out of the USA.

"In my home country" kind of conversation is very common when someone is living abroad no matter where they're from. It's part of the cultural shock process and there's a lot of research on it.

Before bitching around do some reading. It won't hurt, I promise.

[Anonymous]

Uh, didn't the OP say she lived in Germany and France?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Expats do it all the time.

Ditto that. As someone who lived in China among US diplomats, I can attest that US diplomats are the most undiplomatic people about their host countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with OP, it's irritating. Mostly because it's usually done in such a smug, self-satisfied manner.

I've lived in Europe and I made it a point to never complain about a country to citizens of that country. No one held a gun to my head and told me I had to live there and I received no engraved invitation to live ther, so I was there by my own free choice and that meant I had to accept the ways of that country. I, too, am so sick of America being bashed by those who come here for a better life and still tell us how wonderful it is in their third world country.

[Anonymous]

I think it's rude when foreigners living in the US do it and I think it's rude when US-born people living in other countries do it. I agree with you, OP.

And yes, it's part of culture shock, but you can also show good manners. I have vented to family members, but never to the people of the country I was living in. That's just rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's rude when foreigners living in the US do it and I think it's rude when US-born people living in other countries do it. I agree with you, OP.

And yes, it's part of culture shock, but you can also show good manners. I have vented to family members, but never to the people of the country I was living in. That's just rude.

OH PLEASE... this is an anonymous forum... rude? seriously? LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's rude when foreigners living in the US do it and I think it's rude when US-born people living in other countries do it. I agree with you, OP.

And yes, it's part of culture shock, but you can also show good manners. I have vented to family members, but never to the people of the country I was living in. That's just rude.

OH PLEASE... this is an anonymous forum... rude? seriously? LOL

Yes, you can be rude on an anonymous forum. Are you familiar with the definition of rude? I have been called rude (and much worse worse) several times on this forum.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't bother me to hear criticism of the United States. I have no problem with that. It is strange, however, in the middle of a parenting discussion, to have inserted as a non sequitur a comment about Americans and how we overfeed and spoil our children. There is some poster who is always harping on how overweight and spoiled American children are, no matter the topic of the discussion. I don't get this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't bother me to hear criticism of the United States. I have no problem with that. It is strange, however, in the middle of a parenting discussion, to have inserted as a non sequitur a comment about Americans and how we overfeed and spoil our children. There is some poster who is always harping on how overweight and spoiled American children are, no matter the topic of the discussion. I don't get this.

Or it's about how all the generation should live together and MILs are all loved, respected, and housed in their old age. Barf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As I stated, I've lived in Europe (Germany and France) and was mostly thrilled the whole time I was there. I certainly didn't go around proclaiming that some Germans have B.O. and that some French people wear the same outfit 5 days in a row.

And I am well aware of the Ugly American image abroad. Once I was at a hotel on the Isle of Ischia. There was a congressional junket there. As I stepped up to the beautiful continental breakfast buffet, a member of Congress said in his loud southern accent (which BTW reminded me of a voice someone in the KKK would have), "This here's not breakfast, this here's lunch!" He made a big ugly scene to the waiters about how he wanted fried eggs and bacon. Never was I more embarrassed to be an American. So I guess the provincial attitude irks me from both sides.

So in your non-judgmental world, people with southern accents are racists. Lovely

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uh, didn't the OP say she lived in Germany and France?

She says that. I doubt it's true. She also claimed not to complain when she lived there. As one who has lived abroad, I doubt that, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Expats do it all the time.

On the other hand some people feel insecure about their home countries and try to make up for any feelings of inadequacy by putting America down, as if to try and let you know that they are not so easily impressed by what is American.

When you said expats, I thought you were referring to American expats who live abroad ... American expats trash their host countries, too - the countries in which they find themselves working and living. Americans and others who live outside their native countries tend to idealize their home countries and be more nationalistic than before they left their homes.

[Anonymous]

In my country, we don't tell people to shut up.