The Perception Of Americans
I had a very interesting class tonight - I am taking some business classes, to get me out of the house, and help me learn more about the business side of things (vs the technical side).
My current class is International Business, and tonight part of the class we talked about peoples opinions of one another, and how that could affect international business.
The professor, who is the director of emergency response at Northwest Medical Teams, asked me, as a Canadian, what my thoughts on Americans overseas were. And I expect I had the typical response that people have heard, that there is the stereotypical view of an American as a very loud, arrogant person who wants other cultures to bend to their view and beliefs, vs trying to fit in to a particular place or culture.
Another student also related an experience of being in the Louvre, very quietly viewing paintings with other art lovers. And he came upon 4 guys, drinking beer and being loud.. and they were Americans.
I think the problem is that all it takes is one poor experience to reinforce that view of Americans. There are a lot of people in America who are calm, quiet and respectful when the travel overseas. One can only hope that those people will help change that perception at some point in the future.
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