Reply to Critical/judgmental AP...does it get any better?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Tell her about the American custom of "If you have nothing nice to say, you keep your mouth SHUT." [/quote]

But it's not necessarily about keeping her mouth shut, it's saying what she wants to say in a nicer way.  It's completely fine to share opinions or ask questions, particularly in a cultural exchange program.  But posing the statement or question with an open-mind and not generalizing or being mean is the better way to make your statement.  The "Americans are so fat" statement can be an example.  If someone goes on and on about how "all Americans are so fat and in their country no one is fat and everyone knows it's important to healthy and of course everyone is fat because all they have is gross fattening food to eat and ugh..." that is received much differently than opening a dialogue about obesity and healthy eating in this country and indeed in the world, which is a conversation I've had with other Americans not to mention the subject of millions of very nicely worded thoughtful articles.  It's not that topics are off-limits.  It's posing them as a "your country (which you've invited me to and which I have chosen to live in for a year) sucks and my country is perfect."[/quote]

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