Zonie63
Posts: 2826
Joined: 4/25/2011
From: The Old Pueblo
Status: offline
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I think America is one of the least understood nations on Earth. Even Americans don't really understand America. We've been making it up as we go along.
Even the name "America" comes into question. For Pete's sake, we named ourselves after an Italian navigator and mapmaker. Make no mistake, Amerigo Vespucci was a great man and worthy to have the continent named after him, but it was mainly geographical happenstance that we have the name "American." Canada and Mexico took Native names for their countries, and it sounds a bit awkward to call ourselves "United Statesians," although I've heard some people call us that. "American" may have been more of an artificial creation in order to unify different states which saw themselves as separate and distinct from other states.
What's in a name? An interesting side note is that the oldest and largest of the original colonies was Virginia, named after a Virgin Queen. If history had taken a different course and Virginia had taken over all the other colonies, then the entire country could have been called "Virginia."
It would have made it sound like we were all full of purity and goodness, and maybe there's a part of us that still sees ourselves that way. There's this image of America as being a righteous and decent nation and only wants to do good works in the world, such as spreading freedom and democracy. The belief is that if things go sour, it's not our fault, but it's only because these foreigners have corrupted us. 
As for being quick-tempered, I see that as more an individual personality trait which isn't directly linked to a person's nationality or culture. Everybody has something which will push their buttons and cause them to react with quick anger, although it seems to vary from person to person, as well as from culture to culture. Things that might be insulting and provoke anger in our culture might not be the same in other cultures, and vice versa.
Even if we're talking stereotypes and imagery, I don't even see that Americans are really portrayed as easily goaded and quick to anger. Even the so-called "Ugly American" might be portrayed as greedy, arrogant, overly fussy, picky, condescending...but not really "angry" in the obvious sense. Other nationalities might be stereotyped as quick to anger or somewhat volatile. I've heard people talk about an "Irish temper," and just about every movie portrays Germans as these unyielding martinets who always yell and scream at everyone, as if they're in a state of permanent anger, unlike other nationalities which might be stereotyped as quick to anger over something explainable, like an insult or slight.
The English are often portrayed as not getting angry at anything, as if nothing fazes them at all. You can insult an English person and they might come up with some clever rejoinder in kind, but they don't really seem to get mad about it. But if you root for the wrong soccer team, then they want to beat you up.
I think most Americans can handle insults and don't really seem to be as volatile or quick-tempered as some might see us. I think certain recent developments might make us look as if we're more thin-skinned than we really are, such as political correctness and the general practice of rewording things to try to soften the language and make things seem not so bad. A word like "downsizing" doesn't sound quite so bad as "a lot of people are going to lose their jobs." Or terms like "collateral damage." There's a tendency in our culture to not want to say things as they really are, although I don't really think we're quick to anger.
Sometimes I think that Americans should be angry, but we're not angry enough.
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RE: American people are easily goaded and quick to temp... - 
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