We’re arrogant. Hope that helps

We’re trained like dogs by corporations to fight each other instead of them.

Noam Chomsky talked a lot about how political conversations in the US transformed into battles, as Republicans/Conservatives have adopted a policy of never working with Democrats to fix problems.

I’m curious, have your interactions with Americans been with those that have traveled to Europe? The reason I ask is because I was able to visit years ago and wondered if maybe European’s view of Americans is skewed because they mostly see those of us that come from well off backgrounds (upper income). I met young Americans that had been there multiple times because their parents paid their way while they were on summer break from school. In contrast, I was the exact opposite. You’re not likely to see many low income folks visiting so you may have a skewed viewpoint.

All this shit could be said of every other country in the world. Americans don’t have the market cornered on being a prick.

I watched a Chinese tour group practically destroy a museum exhibit. Germans don’t tip. Some Brits still carry a colonial attitude when it comes to people of color. We had to ban an Indian family from this restaurant I worked at because they thought they could bring the caste system with them on their vacation. In my early twenties, I almost got into fist fight with a Russian guy who didn’t understand why I couldn’t break his $20 with the money in my till.

Go out into the world and actually interact with people instead of painting broad stereotypical strokes on the Internet. You’ll see the capacity for being an asshole isn’t relegated to one nationality or ethnicity.

theres some confirmation selection bias in that most americans will never have the ability to travel abroad. so the group youre interfacing with are the more entitled, wealthier class which is also a much smaller contingent of americans.

US citizen here, sounds like you have already figured it out:

And I know that America is a very individualistic culture that focuses on the self and the belief that everyone can achieve anything on their own.

This goes deep into the heart of the matter. A good portion of the population has been propagandized for literally decades that every man is an island and reliance on others is “pussy shit.” There is no conception of society. No one wants to fix society, they all want to become rich so the rules of society just stop applying to them.

Temporarily embarrassed millionaires billionaires and all that.

For those of us with empathy and understanding of how economics and international relations actually function, let me tell you, it is a nightmare on our mental health. It has been that way long before Trump, too, I remember how viciously we wasted the world’s outpouring of compassion after 9/11. In response to that compassion we went and swung around our big military dick in the middle east and wrecked millions upon millions of lives. It is a daily endless gaslighting by society that caring about people makes us weak. We often are literally denied opportunities to thrive because we aren’t following the right “script.” We will be passed over for jobs in favor of nepotism and social connections.

Like literally the entire fraternity/sorority culture in the US is and always was for forging early business connections so you can be a useless fucking loser but still rise to the top.

That culture has lead to the worst, dumbest, and least competent running the entire fucking country.

A lot of days it really feels like it would just be easier to let this system fucking kill me and let it win just to get it over with.

Somehow, though, people like me continue living out of spite for what America is and what it represents.

Others have already pointed out that we’re indoctrinated into the myths of American exceptionalism and rugged individualism from a young age. I very much agree, but those myths are only part of it.

That indoctrination, combined with our lack of safety nets, shows up as a hypercompetitive attitude. (“It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.”) We feel pressured to be the very best so we might earn the privilege of feeling secure and stable. Trash-talking and bragging are hamfisted attempts to portray high status.

If you look at our social injustice issues through that lens, the injustice makes a certain kind of disgusting, antisocial sense. One who’s internalized the hypercompetitiveness will look at someone lying in the middle of the ground in a public city and think: they just aren’t trying hard enough, they just couldn’t compete. We look to others’ misfortunes for reassurance that we’re good enough, that we’re at the front of the pack. To make oneself smaller, to put oneself second, becomes unthinkable. (“Second place is first loser.”)

But after more experience with meeting real Americans I noticed this personality type that I and I think many other non-Americans would describe as arrogant.

Where did you meet them?

Tourists are usually only rich people who can afford traveling around the world.

Regardless, Nationalism is an idea almost universally taught in every country. I was born in People’s Republic of China and National Anthems, Flag Raising Ceremonies are a common thing. Chinese movies were all WW2 war movies portraying the CCP in a posiyive light. Similar to Americans with the Pledge of Allegience, National Anthem, and American movies also portraying the US in a positive light.

People grow up with nationalism, and of course feel very arrogant because they are part of a powerful nation, so they feel superior. And the US military bases all around the world probably make them feel like they own the world, especially if the Americans you were talking to were rich tourists.

America is a very individualistic culture that focuses on the self and the belief that everyone can achieve anything on their own.

Yes this is a thing I’ve noticed when I immigrated to the US. Apparantly parents in the US like to kick out their kids at 18, or sometimes at 16, and kids really want to run away from parents for some reason, even though its a very bad form a financial standpoint. In many Asian cultures, you aren’t expected to move out until marriage.

People in western cultures seems very anti-mask, where as in Asian countries (even the Democratic ones), they are much more willing to wear a mask.

But I still think having a sense of empathy and sensitivity towards others is a very important core human quality that everyone should have.

Empathy isn’t just lacking in Americans, but all around the world. But of course, western individualism is only making that aspect worse.

Because the American culture has indocrinated Americans to put themselves first. Whoever has “me first” hard-coded in their personality tends to view everybody else as inferior, and tends to have an unwavering confidence in their own greatness.

The US suffers deeply from cultural narcissism where a significant number of people believe that their needs are more important than the needs of others.

American culture, partly because of bullshit mythos and partly because of religious like devotion to oligarchic capitalism, selects for low-empathy sociopaths and individual atomization/isolation. My favorite low end example is to observe my fellow citizens driving when I go to the suburbs: you are in their personal story, and you are in their way. City living doesn’t fix all that, but having to live in close proximity to neighbors and get used to compromise helps push a slightly more communal vibe.

But basically the entire culture is built around a get-yours-first mentality? And more recently an influencer-inflected sort of hyper-real understanding of one’s value and potential. We’re like a national exemplar for the dunning-Kruger effect, or like kids who cheat at online video games swaggering around proud of their “achievements”.

Seems like we’re in the finding out phase after fucking around though.

I’m a Canadian who has lived and worked in the US, so I’ve got some familiarity with it.

There is a pervading sense of exceptionalism buried deep in the American zeitgeist. It runs so deep that most people don’t even notice it - even on the outer edges.

Case in point: My closest friends down there were staunch leftists. In a land of gun owners and meat lovers, they were vegetarians and pacifists who marched in protests against the government. Most of the time they were quiet, charming, soft-spoken, but firm in their beliefs. Pretty much the polar opposite of the “loudmouth American tourist abroad” stereotype.

And yet if you asked them if the US was the greatest country on earth, they’d say “well yeah, which is why we have to fight for it.” An admirable sentiment, but the “well yeah” speaks volumes for how the country sees itself.

The protest singers who lived through McCarthy are the same. Woody Guthrie and his son Arlo would probably say that for all of its flaws and horror, the US is still the best nation we’ve got so far.

When you know deep in your soul that you’re the best, it’s hard not to let some subconscious arrogance show through.

Where in Europe are you from? Cause Im from Europe and i feel like this is just a human trait. To answer your question though, america is basically the center of the world for a lot of people, and they truly do think america is better than the rest of the world. That’s probably why.

I have observed a huuuge difference in this regard between the Usamericans that I have met in real life (when they have moved to Europe) and the ones that I have met online because they still live there.

So, one part of the arrogance comes when they have never seen the world, but talk about it as if they knew it.

I wouldn’t say arrogant, but I’ve worked with a lot of Americans, and there’s something most of them have in common. I can’t quite put my finger on what, but it’s in the vicinity or arrogance. I simply don’t have the necessary English vocabulary to explain it properly.

In short, I’ve found that most of them likes to swing their dick around and pull rank, even if someone else clearly has a better approach/solution/suggestion. This is far from unique to americans, but it seems more prevalent compared to the other nationalities I’ve worked with.