johnman said:
Nobody cares what the Irish think (thats probably the English in me speaking though. They are portrayed as drunks in all media, this is'nt the first or last time it will happen. That episode of Family guy for example portrayed all Irishmen as drunken catholic wife beaters.
Well, I'd say a lot of it has to do with the Irish encouraging parts of that stereotype themselves. Look at old bands like "The Irish Rovers" for example.
USSR said:
DividedUnity said:
Yeah but this stereotype is actually believed by alot of people which is why theyre getting so pissy.
And?
Americans are stereotyped as being fat and lazy, but are they?
A good bit, yes, but not all.
Irish are stereotyped as drunks, but are they?
Same goes for them. A little bit yes, but not all.
All in good humor; no reason to believe they are a "special stereotype" in any way.
Well, that's one of the problems I think. There really isn't any kind of a real "American" stereotype that can be picked on. Probably because we're simply put the greatest power the world has ever known *at this moment in time* (it could change). A lot of the British stereotypes I've seen, seem to have come about AFTER the fall of the British empire when they went from being the most dominating force on the planet, to merely a world power.
In general being "fat and lazy" isn't something specific to Americans, what issues you see there are generally the result of our success. Basically we've built a culture where people are raised with the (not unfounded belief) that they shouldn't have to do hard, physical labour. Being fat is similarly from having more than enough to eat, combined with a lot of technology which means strenuous physical activitiy is something a lot of people have to seek out.
To countries where people routinely live more hand to mouth, and doing hard, physical labour is a way of life for pretty much everyone, we can seem fat and lazy, but it can't really be used as an insult because we've been successful enough to build this for ourselves and have managed to hold it for a substantial amount of time without our perceived "decadence" causing us to fall.
If you've read this far, don't misunderstand. This isn't so much about defending America from slights, or making excuses about it. Simply to point out that it's not the same thing. It's sort of like how you might find people being "Racist" against people from say poor Eastern European countries (Borat, etc...), but in general there really aren't all that many racial slurs or "smackdowns" that can be used against whites that get any kind of response. That's how it is when your dealing with whomever is at the general top of the pole. If the mighty fall... well, things change. I'm sure if the US ceased to be a superpower, and most of the Western World because secondary to the Eastern one, we'd all hear all kinds of wonderful new insults and painfully true stereotypes non-stop.
The point being is that while stereotypes exist (I'm a defender of sociology) I don't think you can try and say "well people stereotype Americans to" the same way. It's differant, and honestly it seems that most of that "fat and lazy" stuff comes from other Americans to be honest.
lol
