Okay so, a few weeks ago, i found this wednovel (it was shit, don't remember the name), and i looked at the commentary. I was surprised to found that a few american guys were really angry about the hate people may write in their story about their country. So i was curious to know if this "incomprehension" about their hate was shared by all the americans or only a few of them.
American people come here
It gets a little annoying but most of the time i just laugh it off i have lots of online friends and we always talk crap about each others state or country but most people are easily offended now days so unless you know them best to ignore them
I thought this might be a trap but clicked it anyway. Um, without seeing exactly what you're referencing, I would say that hating a person's country is like insulting their parent. If the hate is over-generalized, it feels misplaced when it doesn't seem to apply to the individual reading it. Wouldn't you feel wronged by getting crap from someone you haven't personally done anything to? I can also speak from personal experience that many Americans feel helpless about our corrupt politics and evil corporate empires.
It has been the case that humans tend to get greedy since money and power were first used. It is unfortunate that America's faults affect the rest of the world so much. Us poor Americans just try to put food on the table as well as we can without causing anybody harm. At least, that's what me and mine do.
We're stuck between a rock and a hard place and then we get scorn from random people for things we have no power over. As a voter, I've come to feel that voting has just been a way to placate the masses by making us think our voices matter. It seems like it takes the politically motivated news to sensationalize an issue before it even gets addressed and I'm sure we've all seen how that can get out of control.
In summary, the world is getting scary for many of us and we often find ourselves lashing out when we feel frustrated. The comments section of such and such story is an easy place to vent for some people. I haven't done so myself. I find writing a story is what helps me survive my stress more than anything else.
Then again, some people just don't like it when you bash what's theirs no matter what.
Tbh, as someone living in the USA, I am not offended at all because it’s FICTION. Nowadays, people literally get triggered by accidentally breathing the same air as someone next to them
I don’t have any problems reading about writers dissing on my home country. What does start bothering me is when the writer starts beating your head in with “his/her” country is better than all the other countries because (ancient stupidity is noble?).
That, i see in alot of Chinese books. The majority of the book is based in China, with the main character dealingwith 100% of his own people being either corrupt would be thiefs and rapists or gorgeous women, and somehow this main character has pride in MIGHTY china. I stop readingalot of stories when the author tries to sell me this. When the story makes the main character seem delusional its bad writing.
Xyphon_Storm Well, thank you for your comment, it wasn't a trap eheh. I really made this "question" because i really felt the anger of "this guy" about that, I guess that you're right when you talk about the sensitivity of some about that subject.
You talk about economic but i don't think that's necessarily the "source" of the issue, the economic aspect isn't the only one i was talking about, the second catalyst that led me to ask this question is more historical than economic, although I imagine that today both "feed" each other.
Okay so i will talk about experience here, i saw people in my country ( french ) who may have a bit of a grudge against American, it's not only about economic, but also historic here. Okay so here is the situation : In France, there is some sort of crazy thing which happened after the WW2, with the Shoah born, there is an extreme sensitivity about that subject today, all the years in the education, you will have to EAT this new religion of : french collaborated, they are guilty, they made slavery...( i guess it's a bit like America today, but for us it has been 40 years.
So you may wonder what's the relation with American, but there it is : Since people are extremly sensitive about that part of history, they began to search a bit more with time about that periode, and i guess a few things had been occulted before that. Like the fact that when American came in, there has been 4000 rape reported from them to the population. They made as much rape in 4 month than Nazi in 4 years. So even if not everyone is angry about that sort of historic fact, or even economic situation, it's not that unusual to see people with resentment, and from what i saw, the others countries seem to share a part of those negativ opinion about you guys.
Yet again, i know it doesn't concern americans right now, it's not because there is some asshole that everyone is like that. The whole point was to ask you this question : Do all the Americans even know how much of a grudge there is against them in others places ?
I hope i made it clear, sorry for my shit english, i'm french, that's my excuse.
silentscarlettt Well, it may be right that people get triggered easily, but is that always without any reasons after all ?
Precheur
Yea. That is true. I'm not follower of any religion or such thoughts, but i've seen instances where European finds themselves 'uncomfortable' when being in the same space as someone from Islamic religion. Some think that every Muslim is from the IS and that's not a good thing
Btw, I'm not a Muslim and this may not even be the topic of this thread. Well, Chinese WN do have a nationality issues. Their gate is mostly towards Korea or southeastern nations. Not quite sure becos I haven't read many novels recently. But yea, I'm in the same thought on the nationality topic. I do hate people when others diss about one's own country. Btw, I'm Indian and this maybe 'american' thread but I read it. Hope the owner doesnt mind.
Precheur
And yea, that also apply for many americans. They would rather believe a beaver than a Muslim and indian. There have been quite a lot of atrocities committed to them In the last half year or something.
Precheur I was mostly saying that it is inaccurate to generalize an entire nation when talking about personal knowledge and or opinions of each individual within a said nation (blah blah blah). There are so many different social groups and distinctions between people even within the same neighborhood in many places within America. This is especially true in the larger cities where people from different cultural groups and original nationalities intermix and live next to each other more often. We have new immigrants coming from virtually every nation worldwide all the time. There is a common saying here that compares America to a great melting pot where cultures from all over mix in and each group may even have a different idea about what being an American is even about.
The public face of how America is can also be different around the world depending on how your own news organizations want to spin us. It doesn't help that our broadcasters tend to put only the most controversial or entertaining people they can find on the airwaves because it makes them money. Something that many countries try to prevent to preserve their nation's international image. Let's face it, all countries have idiots that tend to get the most attention.
I could probably write twenty pages of this poorly organized explanation, but if all you want is a yes or no answer to blow off steam and justify any conclusions you may have made, then I'll put it more simply.
Many Americans have no idea what is going on beyond their line of sight and have no clue about the rest of the world, but there are exceptions.
Not everyone views the news and even if they do, they only see what the news wants to show them. There are a lot of ignorant people all over the world and America definitely has its fair share of them. I wish more people would go out of their way to find out about the rest of the world but even investigative journalism has been in decline.
I want to go into more detail but this isn't a research paper and it has been more than ten years since I took a sociology class. I've already put in an effort to give a somewhat coherent answer. If you want more than what I've said or more than simple answers based on individual perspectives, you should start researching more into the different socio-political groups around America. A simple forum is hardly the place to get a serious answer if you were looking for one. If you wanted a magic button to solve all human stupidity in the world there are two people you can contact. Putin and Trump. Scary, I agree.
Precheur guess if I could put in a sentence, "only a pinch of salt comparable to a bottle of salt shaker" would people react in such manner.
I was about to Diss the gathering of top authors in singapore and I was wondering why should I start a wildfire by casting racist remarks.
I had to type and delete and retype what I had in my mind but then I stopped since I decide to add a note of appreciation and dedicate them to the ones who would be reviewed as top authors.
Cheerio... Answer may be off topic but what the heck... Hahaha
PaperbackWriter Eh? Did the Singaporeans there offend you or something? Sorry about that if you had an unpleasant experience there.
If you find that the pinch of salt is nasty, most people's gut reaction would be to dump the entire shaker assuming it's all bad. It takes more effort to pick out the bad salt from the others.
It's a natural reaction, and it takes a will to be diligent to overcome it.
kazesenken This just reminds me of poison Skittles.
In my circles, patriotism is lacking, but I feel that this generally comes with higher education and disillusionment with the state of the world.
Since this is fiction, misunderstandings are understandable and perhaps even expected.
Although I do get disappointed when some of the better cities (New York, Philadelphia, LA) get labeled as cesspools of rampant crime and degenerates, when there are much more frightening areas that could be used (Baltimore, Detroit, and Camden come to mind) and I wouldn't necessarily bat an eye unless they start using tanks for general safety.
I don't think I have encountered anything else that stuck with me as an unreasonable misunderstanding in literature though.