New guide aims to erase 'ugly American' image
"While we are still admired for what people describe as our youthful enthusiasm, optimism and can-do spirit, we are seen as loud, arrogant and completely ignorant of cultures outside the US," Reinhard, who is chairman emeritus of the advertising firm DDB Worldwide, told AFP.Hold up a second there. This is supposed to be for businesspeople? I don't know that American business types are any worse than those from any other countries. I mean, if an American buyer is visiting Asia, and the buyer is from one of the big-boxes, then there is a certain conceit that comes from the fact that their volume will be at least three times that of any of the supplier's other customers, but that's just a fact of business. And I've still never seen this point rubbed in too much, though I suppose it happens.
But tourists? Surely no one still thinks that American tourists are that 'ugly', when compared to other countries. Ever seen Germans on vacation in Thailand? How about Taiwanese on a tour in anywhere? And two years ago, I saw a grim future of tourism in Asia: A Chinese tour group in Sri Lanka. All the noise of a Taiwanese tour group, with half the class and twice the phlegm.
Here is a quote from the book The Ugly American, published in 1958:
"For some reason, the people I meet in my country are not the same as the ones I knew in the United States. A mysterious change seems to come over Americans when they go to a foreign land. They isolate themselves socially. They live pretentiously. They're loud and ostentatious. Perhaps they're frightened and defensive, or maybe they're not properly trained and make mistakes out of ignorance."Seems to me you could apply that to a whole bunch of different kind of expats...
2 comments:
I was at a scenic rest-stop in the Sierra Nevada mountains with my Mom, when she noticed a bunch of Chinese tourists smoking cigs and nonchalantly dropping the butts onto park land, i.e. not disposing of them properly.
She wanted me to go over and let them know that was not how we did thing in the USA...I demured then...but now I think it would have been a blast to go over and lambaste their ases in Chinese. Those guys would have either ignored me or been scared stiff the rest of the trip for crazy lao wai who speak Chinese.
Dude. You should have gone batshit on them. I betcha AJ would of.
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