It has always bothered me that people from other countries, notably Europeans, have a somewhat negative opinion of the US and its inhabitants. So one goal of mine while over there was to find out what exactly the French thought of the states.
One thing I learned quickly is that the French find Americans a little afraid to speak their minds, especially from a political aspect. It is common for there to almost daily debates over politics, most of which are for the sake of conversation and rarely become heated. I learned that the French think that Americans are afraid to discuss real issues, whether national or global because it is seen as taboo to really express opinions so publicly. They see, that as a result of this reluctance, conversation is often superficial and limited to essentially unimportant topics.
A second thing that I learned is that the French are troubled by the similarities between the political parties here. In France, the left and the right try to contrast themselves as much as possible. If the right is for something, it is almost systematic that the left will find a reason to be against it, and the opposite is true as well. So French people are a little confused at the fact that republicans and democrats can even at times agree on certain issues.
The third thing that I learned is more of a social issue. In France, you go to high school in your town, if your lucky you go to college, which will almost definitely be local, and you will then move back somewhere around where you grow up. With this said, it is normal for people to have the same friends from childhood well into adulthood. The same is not always true in the states. It is common for Americans to move around throughout their lives and consequently lose friends and then make new ones in their new location. When people move to new place, they will make friends based on common interests, if one person likes to play golf, they may make friends that like to play golf as well. This also serves to gather people with similar opinions, so by moving around and finding friends with the same interests, they are creating a kind of microcosm in which everyone they know feels the same way they do.
Although it would have been fun to run into these people, I did not meet anyone that was intensely anti American. For the most part, people that have been to the states think more highly of it then those who have not. Ask yourself what you think foreigners might think of Americans? Were you surprised by any of the things that French people saw in Americans?
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I don't really know what to say about the first two issues, because I admit that I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to most things political. But as for the third point, about moving away from your hometown-- maybe this is because America is, simply, a larger geographic entity than France? The US has very diverse climates and cities, and so people might feel like they have more options when it comes to where they want to live or go to school.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a lot of Americans, or at least those on the North Shore, can easily take it for granted that they can go to school in a different state, or across the country if they chose to. As far as I'm concerned, though I like my friends, especially those I've known since Greeley, Skokie, etc., I fully intend on going to college on either the West or East coast, and would probably not move back to Chicago after I graduate, though I would consider it.
This opinion is definitely the most surprising to me, maybe because I didn't realize people would really want to stay in the same town all their lives.