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Published: November 2nd 2007
The long awaited cultural differences blog- or at least my lame attempt to explain it
It’s so easy to form a bias against people - it only takes ten seconds or so upon first impressions. Before I left, everyone wanted me to find out what other cultures really think of Americans. And as with everything else in life, there’s never really a one-sided answer to such a complicated question. I’ll just give you some of my impressions.
On BBC, a newscaster said that, ‘when America sneezes, we catch a cold over here.’ He was referring to business matters, but I got the idea it was an old refrain. I read a newspaper disparaging how British television is following the way of American ‘smut’, but from what I’ve seen, they’re ahead of the game on that one. They have shows like The Sopranos and Sex and the City on their public channels. They’re obsessed with reality tv, especially their ‘Big Brother’ which is watched with a type of fanaticism. The show itself seemed to be on at least two or three times a day, then there were one or two shows rehashing the actual show. It was ridiculous, but difficult not
to be sucked in, coming from all angles. The papers every morning, the trash rag magazines. Speaking of trash mags, there seem to be a lot more of them over here. If I had to over-generalize, I’d say the British are more ‘gossip-y.’
The British, probably like every other people, tend to think down on Americans. I never think we are worthy of it, but what do I know?
I meet hundreds of super nice American tourists at my job every week. We always talk about their holiday, where they’re/I’m from, etc. One day, I waited on this bitchy, fake tan and the whole bit, American lady who was rude and condescending and just basically pissed me off. I immediately thought, ‘This is why Americans have such a bad reputation abroad. People like her...’ But at the same time, she was just one person, but she made more of an impression on me than most.
Then there are the large groups of American tourists that come from the cruise ships. They come in, and sometimes I don’t think they even know what country they’re in. They enter the gift shop- ‘Can we pay in US Dollars? Euros?’
The kind of food they eat around here
(Or why Britain is not known for their culinary progress)No...you are in the United Kingdom, Britain, we use the British pounds here. That’s what we accept. We tell them over and over, at least once every 20 seconds. One couple came to my till to pay and the woman just told me, ‘I’m going to pay in US dollars.’ Oh, really? I don’t think so. I think it’s their attitude of ownership they project. No matter where they are, it projects as a sort of ‘superiority’ which is not something that will endure you to locals, no matter where you are.
‘Fair trade’ and ‘global warming’ seem to be more of an issue here than at home. They are taking more of a stand against it. Although who knows what changes have been happening since I’ve been gone. But every grocery store carries a large selection of fair trade items-fruits, veggies, coffee, cereals, granola bars, etc. Also, most stores and corporations have taken a serious stance against global warming. The best example I have of that is Marks & Spencer, which is a British retailer and is iconic. It is the largest clothing retailer in the country, as well as a multimillion pound (£) food empire. They do
have corporate social responsibility, and try to show that in all they do. Currently, they are working under a plan I really like. They call it ‘Plan A’ and their slogan is ‘Plan A. Because there is no Plan B.’ Plan A is a five year, one hundred point plan to change things. Some of the things they’re working on are : climate change-becoming climate neutral and helping their customers and suppliers cut carbon emissions; waste- stop spending waste to landfill and ensuring customers don’t need to throw away any of their products; fair partner- using fair trade for all of their store brand items; raw materials-making sure all items, from fish to forests, are coming from the most sustainable products; and lastly, healthy eating. It interests me because it seems as though they are actually doing something about the problems facing our planet. The latest is opening up their first ‘eco-store.’
Here are just a few more differences: Medical treatment is free, under their “National Health Service” which I believe is similar to Canada. Free medical treatment is available whether a person is employed or not. Their government is a constitutional monarchy, headed by the Prime Minister and is called “Her Majesty’s Government.” By law, every employee gets 4 weeks paid vacation a year, 20 days, and within the past month, it was just changed to 24 days. By next year, it will be 28 days. To me, (obviously 😊) that’s the best thing in the world. And I don’t know if it’s just the place where I work, but it does have a very positive effect on the workplace. They don’t have any free public tv, any household has to pay a “tv license fee” to get even 4 channels. But at the same time, they don’t have half as many commercials as they do at home. Plus, I was talking to Keith, one of my co-workers, and I was saying how horrendous I think those prescription medicine commercials are at home, always telling all the side effects and everything, then Keith mentioned that they don’t have those in the UK, because of the National Health Service. A lot of people seem to know more about ‘world issues.’ Brits seem to think Americans are too egocentric to care about anyone/thing outside their own country, and I’m not sure what I believe about that. It might be because of our place in the world, and our land mass. I mean, America is such a huge country that many people never travel out of it, believing there is too much to see to warrant going to another country. Plus, where the UK is located, so close to Europe and Africa, it makes sense that they know more about the countries. But I remember thinking this when I was in Australia, as well, that Australians knew a lot about American government and happenings, more than I knew about Australia, hell, more than I knew about the US. But that may just be me..I don’t know. I’d like anyone’s thoughts on this, though.
I think that’s about it for now
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Dad
non-member comment
The differences
I think you are correct in many of your observations of the differences in US and UK culture. The UK is definitely ahead of us in the whole Green movement. I do believe that it is really starting to gain momentum in the US, though. E85 and Soy Diesel use is starting to grow and I think most Americans are starting to get it. Too many Americans do have the superiority attitiude. There's nothing wrong with our pride in the US. It's well placed, but it's just not polite to carry that as an attitude when visiting other countries. I never met a person in Ireland or the UK that had that attitude toward us. I will say that although there are too many pushy Americans with an attitude, the vast majority are very much like the British. I believe we will always have a kinship with them. They were the original immigrants and fathers of our country.