Comment by russellbeattie | Hacker News Reader

Comment by russellbeattie | Hacker News Reader

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> watch their eyes light up if you tell them you are a Canadian and not American.

This is such a cliche. I just deleted a long wordy message as to why, but I've lived abroad, speak Spanish, traveled all over and have tons of extended Canadian family, including my maternal grandmother. This sentiment is 100% not true.

I could be in the middle of Tehran or Cairo and tell someone I'm from California and will inevitably get bombarded with friendly questions and stories about how their aunt visited Vermont once, and have I been there. This is the case anywhere I've gone.

I've personally travelled with Canadians. Trust me, no one's eyes light up outside the English speaking world, if that. "Oh, you're from Calgary? Interesting... Is that on the West Coast? Oh, sort of in the middle. Like near Montana?" I mean, it's Canada.

Also, it's not as if anyone wouldn't already know someone is Canadian. They wear red Maple Leaf patches from head to toe, and will even apply fake maple leaf tattoos.

Anyways, it's completely untrue. The US government may not be the most popular all the time, but Americans are treated just fine.

Lol I literally just did it. I have friends from around the world that talk shit about Americans constantly. They love Canadians.

America and loud obnoxiousness are synonyms in lots of the world. People laugh at loud people and say oh they're probably american.

When I was in Holland this is exactly what my dutch friends said everytime they saw loud people. In Mexico there are lots of resorts where people literally try to get away from Americans. There are places where Canadians are welcome and everyone there tries to shield out Americans from buying property.

It's 100% true. I totally understand why us Americans would have our blinders on about this however.

Ah! OK, I don't agree with you in general, but you inadvertently brought up a good point. There's the perception of Americans online and that in person, and I'm sure Russia has done it everything it can to make sure we're hated abroad as much as possible.

You have a bunch of friends online who think Americans are all fat, loud, obnoxious and ignorant. Join the club. Most Americans think that as well.

Definitely another thing we need to focus on.

Just to add: this was long before Russian propaganda.

I'm not saying I agree with it. Just something I have noticed.

And my friends aren't online. They say this in person. For example, in a bar and hear someone being loud. American.

Seeing tourists making lots of unnecessary noise in the street -> american.

This is half joking but also what people seem to actually think a lot of the time.

In my experience this is more a European thing, I don’t have the same issues elsewhere, and then in the case of Europeans, they have said, you’re not like I expected an American to be, so they recognize their bias.

I met a girl last night in Mexico and she said, "you're not American are you? Americans are loud and they always want the rest of the world to hear them."

This is the sentiment I was trying to express. It's definitely not a cliche. I also find on a slightly related note that a lot of problems on social media are American problems and the rest of the world doesn't really care.

And I feel bad typing this but it's true, and if the USA wants to climb back from its decline it is going to need to get comfortable with reality.

> This sentiment is 100% not true.

Hate to break it to you but it's true. Been living in 3 different European countries for 25 years and the common perception is that these loud, ignorant tourists making fools of themselves are from the US by default.

As painful as it may sound to you in our eyes America is now a third world country with a Gucci belt.

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