dumb Americans

slither12

Why do Americans get the stereotype of being stupid? Lived there in my youth and it was pretty great and most kids/teens and adults seemed to mirror people here. They have the worlds best universities and job opportunities.

WesternZulu

I suppose it's like everything in America, there's a huge inequality gap between those can attain education and those who can't.

MakersMark

Europe being so screwed up has to further this stereotype to feel good.

Every American suffering through high health insurance premiums, no mandatory holiday pay or not actually using paid holidays, no maternity leave, etc. seems to view themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires while waving the American flag claiming they're the best country in the world and the only one that has freedom.

They aren't actually stupid. They're just the most brainwashed Western country and it starts with the pledge of allegiance every morning in school.

America has led the world for easily a century, probably a little bit more, in science, medicine, literature, surgery, theatre, architecture, space travel, and pretty much any other field you can think of.

I don't know why or exactly when, but at some point in the late 20th century it became trendy to stereotype them as a bit thick. I suspect the origins may have come from the mistaken perception that they were all rich without having to work particularly hard for it. A mix of jealousy, the bizarre belief that American TV shows were an even remotely accurate picture of life for the average US working family, and our only exposure to actual American people being tourists who at that particular time tended to be rich as trans Atlantic travel was outside of most people's ability.

From my personal experience in the US nothing could be further from the truth, though obviously any collection of 350 million people is going to have its share of problems. But the very notion that a country could consistently be the biggest economy in the world whilst simultaneously being populated by thickos is just ludicrous.

Some of it is undoubtedly down to media sources going for the lowest common denominator (ie cheap laughs). I mean you won't have to Google it for very long to get interviews with Americans answering survey questions with things like "the capital of France is Europe" or "Harry Potter is the author of The Bible". That's just rubbish down to the selective editing of a TV show looking for comedy, the reality is that 99.99% of people who answer these questions know exactly what they are talking about, except they just don't make very funny TV clips so aren't the ones who get broadcast.

Fr Tod Umptious

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Americans are not as well travelled as Irish, British or European people.

Relatively few have passorts.

And it's simple to see why they are not well travelled.

They have everything in their own country.

They don't need to immigrate for work.

They don't need to go to another country for a beach holiday or a winter holiday or a city break.

It's all available in their own country.

They have indigenous sports that are only relevant to them.

So the majority of their points of reference are based on their own country, not on the wider world.

And it's not their fault either, because they have everything in their own country.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119750746#Comment_119750746

But the stereotype dumb American is often a well educated white man, not a poor black or Hispanic American.

Star Bingo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119750810#Comment_119750810

foR suRe. Can’t stand the yoyo’s, like the most insufferable Americans I never hope to encounter. Particularly the guilt tripping Germans the sooner we break free of the USEing cnuts and rediscover our own sense of nazionalism is the day we win back our esteem in the eyes of the world. And ironically win the Eurovision again…

If an Irish person mentions Americans can’t find Ireland on a map I would usually challenge them to find states on a blank map , its actually really difficult without practice 😀

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058267693/dumb-americans

If you watch CNN or Fox news it's easy to get the impression that they are stupid, also theirs loads of YouTube videos showing American people been stupid so I can see where it all comes from. I think theirs a slightly higher % of stupid people in America than Europe but that's down to less education options for poor people and news media been worse over their rather than the people.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751143#Comment_119751143

Apologies in advance, I'm not trying to come across as rude or a "grammar Nazi", but there's really no point in coddling you here. An American child with the most basic rudimentary skills in the English language could comfortably highlight at least four spelling mistakes that you just made in that post. But if they were to say "Europeans are stupid" or that we don't have education options based on your income as a result, that would be nonsensical.

The US is full of fine schools. I accept that entry into Yale and Harvard may not be in everyone's family budget, but there's no shortage of very decent alternatives and no barrier placed in front of you just because you are black, brown, foreign, living with unemployed parents, etc.

Motivator

I spent 1 year in university in America in my early 20s. The education system is totally different to what we have in Ireland. Over there we had open book exams which was essentially a race to see how fast something could be googled. We had MCQ exams for all modules and to be be honest it was all a bit of a pisstake in terms of difficulty and with very little effort I and the other Irish with me breezed through our exams. I would honestly say a junior cert student would pass final year college exams in America, if it was a subject they have had some exposure to.

American’s are what I’d call brainwashed into believing that they live in the greatest country on earth and nothing else matters. It’s not that they’re dumb but the education system is so hell bent on training young people to keep the “spirit of ‘Murica” going strong that they have no chance of learning about anything outside of their country. Americans are very similar to Irish people in that they’re incredibly clannish and proud to the point that a huge number of American people don’t venture outside of their own state. They believe everything they ever want or need is right there at home.

In the last decade or so, Social Media has opened up Americans to the rest of the world and a lot of younger people are now travelling whereas before, a crazy percentage of people in America didn’t even own passports. American tv, politics and education is totally focused on America and the outside world never really mattered to them until recently. As I said, by and large they’re not dumb they just know what they’re told.

Trigger Happy

They are not dumb...they are uncultured.

i mean you’re talking about a country who elected Donald Trump as president.

Then there’s a school/mall/cinema shooting every 25 minutes but gun control? Nah

Cops shooting people sight unseen but police reform? Surely not

And I could go on. It’s not that Americans are all stupid, but my oh my do they do a lot of stupid things.

They’re referred to as stupid because in our eyes (and many others) they’re dealing with very serious problems, but are refusing to make any changes or even have a look at why they’re having the problems. the gun control being a massive one.

It’s hard to think anything else of them when say, a preschool is shot to bits, by some mad man of 18 who was able to pop down to the local gun shop, buy an AK-47 and 1,000 bullets without any asking why?

Then the choir of Americans with their “guns don’t need tighter laws” and “FREEDOM”.

Basically, when a country is faced with endless problems, despite sensible and just plain obvious solutions coming from all sides but they choose to ignore them cos MUH FREEDOM.. well I’d find it hard to think anything more than how stupid.

This is actually a very hard question to answer. I guess the best answer I can think of, based on the Americans I know personally - is not that Americans are dumb, but I do think they are often very out of touch to the point of ignorance about the rest of the World.

And because its so drummed into them that "America is the greatest country in the world" they believe that everyone else always gets it wrong (no matter what the subject is) and America is always in the right. I've visited America a couple of times, and it's great for a holiday, but I wouldn't like to live there.

Royale with Cheese

It's the way they talk, some of them at least anyway, with that inflection at the end of every sentence. They could be PhD holding mensa member and they'd still sound thick as shít when they open their mouth.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751270#Comment_119751270

a huge number of American people don’t venture outside of their own state.They believe everything they ever want or need is right there at home.

But in many cases that is totally true.

A New Yorker has everything from a huge city to rural farmland to beaches to snowcapped peaks within their own state.

It has heavy industry, knowledge industry, everything.

Same goes for California or Texas, and for other smaller or less diverse states their need is not far away, and in the same country, with the same language, the same culture and the same currency.

We in Ireland live on a small island, we need to look further afield to get what we need.

But just because we have to do that that doesn't necessarily make us smarter than the New Yorker who has everything within their state.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751301#Comment_119751301

Sinclair Lewis? Tennessee Williams? Lenny Bruce? Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy? Eugene O'Neil? Michael Chabon? Patti Smith? Jeffrey Eugenides? Upton Sinclair? John Steinbeck? Martin Scorsese?

I could sit here all day typing these names, they are among the most cultured people in the world.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751234#Comment_119751234

Your post is very rude and not relevant to the discussion. I personally don't think grammar nazis belong on boards. I don't care about spelling mystakes on boards as its not a work or personal email.

I disagree anyway, education is very expensive in America. You also have powerful people like Trump that demonstrate that bullying and making it us v them is a better tacic than discussing topics leading American people to stay entrenched in their opinions.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119750934#Comment_119750934

I wonder how many Americans could identify all 32 counties on a blank map of Ireland.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751438#Comment_119751438

Well now to be fair I wasn't being a grammar Nazi and I did try to make that clear. I agree I don't like them either, I was only using the example to say things can easily be taken out of context. If one person makes a spelling mistake don't assume 350 million of their fellow citizens are low IQ idiots. Sorry, I wasn't trying to say that's what you personally were doing, I just meant that it's what a lot of other people do seem to do.

Jim_Hodge

Top 10 Smartest Countries Based on Students' Test Scores in Reading, Math and Science - OECD PISA 2018:

1. China - 555, 591, 590
2. Singapore - 549, 569, 551
3. Macau (China) - 525, 558, 544
4. Hong Kong (China) - 524, 551, 517
5. Estonia - 523, 523, 530
6. Canada - 520, 512, 518
7. Finland - 520, 507, 522
8. Ireland - 518, 500, 496
9. Korea - 514, 526, 519
10. Poland - 512, 516, 511

Canada makes the list. At least they are North Americans.

gameoverdude

Americans are not thick.

The majority just don't give a crap about outside of their borders. Huge country and can do a holiday for whatever you want.

They see Europe as a fantasy land. Paris, Rome, Madrid, London...a lot of them can't compute how we can just jump on a plane and be there within 3 hours. They'd love to go.

downtheroad

Thick around the waist. I was at a water park in Florida yesterday, observing them guzzling down litres of soda and devouring jumbo packs of crisps at 9am.

Young males with huge man boobs everywhere. Humans the size of baby elephants, waddling around the park.

They're too thick to understand nutrition, or corn syrup is being pushed at them from every direction.

I know a few Irish folk who got dumbed down by settling in America and have the outlook of 1950s/60s/70s Ireland. On the other hand I was very pleasantly surprised to meet seriously well relatives from California who study European architecture & history, Shakespeare, learn languages etc.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751604#Comment_119751604

That's not a huge achievement. We do that in school here. I mean kids.

Edit: we learn American history here and non Irish history as a matter of course.

Starfire20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751498#Comment_119751498

not thick, just subjected to terrible labour protections/rights, few holidays, awful healthcare bureaucracy, and the constant reinforcing of the American exceptionalism fantasy.

lots of them trying to change that of course but no doubt an uphill struggle.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751698#Comment_119751698

Agreed.

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751480#Comment_119751480

Looks like this table is based on reading ability alone? If you look at the three numbers doesn't look like we should be in 8th place.

Dav010

I used to live in the US, brilliant place to live and work. But, Americans are gullible and easily influenced, particularly by the media. They often believe without question or consideration, so their actions seem difficult to understand sometimes. They are also often fixated by money and do really stupid, out of character things in pursuit of it. I know that is a generalisation, but it’s surprising how many intelligent people I met while I lived there who said and did bonkers things.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119751735#Comment_119751735

I actually agree with you. Back when I was 21 on a j1, they were amazed I was never with a prostitute or didn't talk about ****. Weird, maybe just me.

I made good mates, lovely people and I'll embrace their differences. But believe anything.