Americans are "narrow-minded"

Psychology and Self Improvement
21

I didn’t swap the subject. I’m saying some Americans say stupid things, and so do some non-Americans. Well, if you’re talking about DA, I think DA should have said “some”.

If DA had said “some”, then I’d be asking him why he’s changing the subject. The subject of the thread, as defined by the OP, is not about “some people” calling Americans narrow minded, it’s about it being “fashionable” (a widespread cultural tendency) to do so.

I’m guessing OP is from Europe, because that’s where this is the case. Either way, he is right, this arrogance towards Americans is a cultural norm, not just an exception, in most European countries. Meanwhile, the reverse isn’t true, in the US falsely and maliciously stereotyping foreigners (I’m talking about contexts that go beyond jokes and playful exaggeration on late night TV: in serious conversation, about politics and international affairs) isn’t the norm, it’s the rare exception.

Sure, an American talk show host might joke that the French are going to surrender in the first five minutes of a war. But no one goes on CNN to say that the French are cowards not worth forming an alliance with. Meanwhile, in Europe, American backwardness, narrow mindedness, etc. is the subject of pretty much every political conversation, and the underlying premise of why American ideas are to be rejected, and American initiatives are to be opposed.

22

Americans would agree that Americans are narrow minded?

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I didn’t swap the subject. I’m saying some Americans say stupid things, and so do some non-Americans. Well, if you’re talking about DA, I think DA should have said “some”. I forget the word "some’ more often than I’d like, personally.

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My initial statement in post #6 that, “I think most Americans would agree, but not as a single group”, was perhaps a clumbsy way of saying that groups of Americans typically view outsiders, i.e., Americans who are not members of their group, as being “narrow-minded”, “close minded”, “clueless” etc.

 

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Agreed, groups view their opposition unfavorably. So do individuals. Now all you need to prove is that foreign nationals are “the opposition”, and you have a solid argument. But, if you don’t do that (and you won’t, becuase it’s not true), you have no argument whatsoever.

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That (the point highlighted) was the extent of my argument.

 

Edit:  Unless you are suggesting that individual Americans, or Americans as a group don’t view their own opposition unfavorably, I fail to understand what you are disagreeing with…  No matter, LoBagola’s reply in post #15 adequately responds to the point I was making.