I really don't think the original commenter was implying that everyone was an American or that the American system was the proper way to do things, especially based on his/her other posts. I see this kind of comment all the time, and it doesn't appear to be constructive but antagonistic.
Maybe it's because I'm not American and am pretty unfamiliar with that system, but yeah.
To be clear I'm not disagreeing with OP or saying nobody else is to blame, I just didn't fully understand. I was glad someone else had asked and hoped to scroll down and understand, not find an argument, I think everyone had good intentions here.
Your comment was literally "#America", certainly this implies you think it's different in other countries, otherwise, why would you highlight the Americanness?
Sorry I was agreeing with you... Can see how you could read that in a way I didn't intend. My point was that by thinking the American way is the best already it stops healthy feedback loops.
I'm not sure what people think comments like this accomplish. Americans aren't super gung ho about America. The great universal American past-time is criticizing America.
I didn't get the sense that they were implying that it was acceptable at all. My understanding of that comment was that they were pointing out that the problem is international, and doesn't only exist in America.
amusing that a comment designed to mock the irrationality and simple-mindedness of "Americans", itself provides a strong example of overgeneralizing entire populations, society and culture into simple, easy-to-understand tropes suitable for simpletons.
I am not an American and I don't see things about the American Ethos the same way the author does. Most foreigners who have lived in the USA are far more forgiving of the American society. No, it takes an east coast intelectual born in america to be so critical of American Society.
And mind you, if you look at my history here you'll see lots of comments critical of American and especially its foreign policy. But this kind of stereotyping is basically wrong.
I agree, I found this to be a very American response. Its not typical for the US government to mandate large changes like this and force people to do things a certain way. Its just part of the culture.
I don't disagree, but my response was directed to someone who was commenting on the average American. Didn't seem reasonable to interpret them differently just to build a more convincing answer.
Could you avoid making baseless statements that an attitude is "particularly American"? I'm doubting you've done any sort of survey, even informal, to back this up. There's a mental shortcut a lot of people like to take, where if the USA does something one way, and another country does it a different way, it's because the USA is wrong, and the not-USA country is doing the same thing as the entire rest of the world. It's stupid, it's mildly insulting, and it doesn't contribute in any way to the conversation.
Your post would have lost nothing, in fact would have gained quite a bit, if you had simply left out the "Americans are weird" bit.
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