Overseas Viewpoints

Pig’s Heads for Soup! Mercado Central, Mendoza, Argentine, 2016

Since I am out of my country temporarily, and in constant conversation with foreigners, I have been reminded of a blog post I have had sitting in draft form for some time. It might be time to post it!

Here ya go…

I was part of a conversation the other day with a number of foreign folks who are in the U.S. of A. for a variety of circumstances. Most had been here for a number of months or even years for reasons of schooling and work, and they hailed from Europe, the Far East, and the Americas.

Here are some interesting tidbits (I have smoothed out some of the grammar errors, filled things in from my notes, and edited a bit as English is not their native language).

First and foremost, if it weren’t for the economic and post graduate opportunities, many said they wouldn’t be here…

–As one declared: “We certainly are not here for the sense of community, the food, or the human warmth and compassion, as those things are often hard to find. I see way too much greed and individualism, and separation of families for the sake of work.”

–“I rarely see lots of people together here unless it is a special occasion or some sort of organized event–Americans seem to often isolate themselves in their cars or the houses. Where are the busy plazas and markets where the people mingle? Well, I guess there’s the mall and Walmart.”

–“Personally, I love the customer service here and the fact that you can find just about any product or service you could ever want–much better than in my country.”

–Said one with dual citizenship in the U.S. and a European Union country: “I certainly don’t plan on getting old here–I’ll go back home. The medical care is better back home and there is a more humane sense of caring for the elderly. And, anyway, what do you do here when you are too old to drive a car?”

–“Yeah, I have a friend who received a bill from the Emergency Room for almost $17,000. It was for an MRI, some X-Rays, and an exam for a possible back injury. How can that possibly be? Luckily, they had insurance…but what do you do if you don’t?”

–“The National Parks and Forests are one of the the best things America has done. That, and winning the Second World War, the Marshall Plan, and landing on the Moon. That was probably their zenith–if you discount all the racism of those times, that is.”

–“During a drive in a rural area, I saw a cooler by the side of the road with eggs for sale. No one was there. You could just take a dozen eggs and put the money in a can. That wouldn’t work in my country–someone would just steal everything. Such trust!”

–“The fruits and vegetables in most supermarkets have very little flavor! They look spectacular on the shelf, but the bruised and ugly stuff back home have a lot more flavor. I wonder if most Americans really know what a strawberry or a tomato really should taste like.”

–“How can a country have such wonderful democratic ideals yet still be so racist? I guess my country can be pretty racist, too, though. Maybe it is just a sad, human, thing.”

–“I see one huge and strange contradiction here. Despite my wonderful graduate studies program, it scares me when I see the general lack of culture and education…like that high school girl who came up with a Latin moto for her state and was accused of writing a Latino or Mexican phrase for the state. Or the people who confuse Sikhs and Muslims (or peaceful Muslims and Muslim extremists, for that matter). Or the people who think global warming is a political hoax…or that the world was created 6,000 years ago. It worries me that these kinds of people have guns and control nuclear weapons.”

–“I think it is quite revealing that there have been something like 400,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S. since 9-11 but only around 4,000 terrorism-related American deaths world-wide during the same time period. It seems to be just fine for a crazy white man to shoot up a bunch of people, but if a Muslim does it, people freak out. It seems like it is all about fear mixed with ignorance and political manipulation. In Europe, we have experienced terrorism before, so I think we tend not to overreact so much.”

–“I laugh when they call themselves ‘Americans’. I am from Argentina, and I am American, too!”

–“I think it is crazy that they don’t have a national health care system. I heard that people go bankrupt and lose their homes to pay their medical bills. That is really very strange. And they say this is a ‘Christian’ country. Weird. I guess the insurance companies have a lot of power.”

–“And how Christian is it to send someone back to Mexico when they came here at the age of three and they are now 18? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Mexico is a foreign country to them and it wasn’t their fault they were brought here. In my country, we never say ‘illegal immigrant’. No human is ever ‘illegal”. Instead, we might say they are ‘without papers’.”

–“I think it is funny that some people here think Obama is a socialist or leftist–he is really very, very conservative, definitely right of center, at least based on my political experiences in Europe. Someone like Bernie Sanders seems more mainstream and normal to me.”

–“Yeah, everyone here seems paranoid about what they call socialism.  They always talk about Stalin and North Korea, and Castro. But those were dictatorships, not true democratic-socialist states like, say, Denmark.”

–“I respect the historical founding of the United States. It certainly was a bold experiment for its time. The freedoms in the Bill of Rights are incredible statements and were a huge leap forward and have been an example for many. But, I think other countries have taken it another step beyond…places like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, for example. The U.S. is caught in a trap of individualism taking precedence over community and I think that–along with not investing enough in education, infrastructure, and health care–will be their eventual downfall.”

–“I don’t like having to drive everywhere. I feel like a slave to the automobile. I wish there were more trains and buses.”

–“I think the Americans are way overextended militarily, just like the Romans. That’s why they don’t invest inside the country on things like health care. And they aren’t really a democracy any more, anyway–more like an oligarchy ruled by powerful individuals and corporations…and they have done a great job getting poor people to keep voting the powerful oligarchies into office. Which is something I can’t really understand, until I think about their primary and secondary education systems (their universities are generally awesome!) and the weird and very limited news sources many listen to.”

There you have it.

Most said they would be leaving as soon as their work was completed, or they finished their degree. Two were staying because they were married to U.S. citizens and had children here. All were quite thankful for the opportunities afforded them, but were often perplexed by the contradictions and idiosyncrasies of this huge country and why some of these glaring problems couldn’t be patched up, at least a little bit.

Interesting perspectives. Food for thought?

How would you, as an “American” explain these things to them?