Ugly Americans. What is that? Do they really exist?
Oh, you bet they do. They are amazingly loud, talking as if
their ears have not yet depressurized from their flight. They don’t speak any
phrases in the local language, choosing instead to speak louder when a local
does not understand them. They display an arrogance that is often shown with
demeaning comments about the way things are done in that particular country.
They do not consider local traditions, choosing to wear inappropriate clothing
in more conservative places or refusing to research local customs before
arriving to avoid any misunderstandings or disrespect.
The Ugly American is
also a novel, written in 1958 by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer. I found this great quote on Wiki where a Burmese character in this book explains his view:
“For some
reason, the [American] people I meet in my country are not the same as the ones
I knew in the United States. A mysterious change seems to come over Americans
when they go to a foreign land. They isolate themselves socially. They live
pretentiously. They’re loud and ostentatious.”
(You can see more about the book, and the 1963 movie staring
Marlon Brando, here.)
This is a drastic version of people from the U.S. who are
abroad. Oh, these drastic versions exist. But there are also those who aren’t as obvious, not as obnoxious. Yet they, too, have trouble opening their minds to absorb differences and find value in them.
They say things like:
“They drive on
the wrong side of the road.”
“Their doors open the wrong way.”
“They don’t know how to make a sandwich.”
“Their coffee is too strong.”
First of all, let’s establish that if you want everything to
stay the same, to experience only the same things you experience every single
day of your life at home, then don’t travel. Stay home. Order a pizza. This
seems like an extremely boring way to live in my opinion, but if that is what
you prefer, then do what you do.
Second, when you are going on a trip-- particularly if it is
a trip to another country-- it is a good idea to shift your thinking a bit. I
believe that the fun of visiting another place and experiencing another culture
is for the differences. The differences are interesting, beautiful, and often
inspiring. And all these differences, whether they are the way coffee is
prepared or how people drive, are not necessarily “wrong.” They are just different.
To people in other countries, the way you
do something is very different. Sometimes we forget this when we are
traveling. Much like the character in The Ugly American, I do not know why.
When I was in Nicaragua, the sea turtles in the Pacific were
laying their eggs on the coast. There were night tours from San Juan del Sur
that took people to watch them lay their eggs. A group of us packed into a couple crowded vans and bounced along a bumpy road for about an hour to another beach.
When we got to the nature reserve, we were greeted by the scientists who would
be leading us to the turtles. They gave us explicit instructions: no
flashlights unless they were red light; no flash use with cameras; and no
talking. Easy enough. We didn’t want to scare the turtles and keep them from
their job of laying eggs in the sand.
In the very dark night, we eventually came upon a female
turtle digging away at the sand to lay her eggs. The guide pointed a
red-filtered light at her so we could see. All of us were silent ...except for
one couple that evidently did not hear, or chose to ignore, the previous
instructions. They were talking normally, like they were having lunch at a
cafe. They were promptly shushed, and it took a few times before they finally
shut their respective pie holes. Now, I am not 100% sure this couple was
American. But based on past experiences, I am 99% sure they were.
Yes, it’s true that there are people from all cultures that
are oblivious, obnoxious, loud, embarrassing, etc. I am not saying that all such people are my fellow U.S. citizens, because in fact, I have seen and heard such behavior from other countries as well. But it has become such that
no matter where that particular type of person is from, people assume they are
American. So I simply suggest that when you are going to travel abroad, shift
your thinking for the little things, and maybe you can help shift the thinking
of others in the world and help make the Ugly American a thing of the past.
It’s a simple shift.
Not “They drive
on the wrong side of the road” but “They drive on the other side of the road.”
Not “Their doors open the wrong way” but “Their doors open
differently.”
Not “They don’t make a sandwich the right way” but “This sandwich is a whole new experience.”
Not “This coffee sucks” but “This coffee is definitely going
to wake me up!”
It is not about being polite. Or politically correct. It is
just changing your frame of mind so that you enjoy the differences instead of
making them into something annoying. And then you can possibly avert becoming
an annoyance yourself.
Zach Galifianakis in Due Date (also starring Robert Downey, Jr.). Hilarious movie.
