The American Tourist Stereotype - Still Going Strong

This isn’t my bitch blog. I don’t use it to take out my frustrations.

But a quick trip to San Francisco this week was a blatant reminder of stereotypes and manners, or the lack thereof; and I’m curious if anyone else feels this way & knows how to fix it.

Traveling alone gives one a different perspective of a city, neighborhood or culture. There’s not as much chit-chat. There’s more time to observe, to think, and appreciate. I truly hate the loud, obnoxious American tourist stereotype - it’s embarrassing, unfortunate, and quite frankly, I’m baffled it still exists. It’s the new millennia, for God’s sake, why haven’t we all progressed further than the elitist “we’re number one and rule all” cliche?

It’s startling to walk around a quiet little wok shop admiring the array of hand-pounded woks, and hear four bumbling (perhaps hearing-impaired?) folks from Texas (judging by the accent) wearing fanny-packs cinched around yards of polyester loudly expressing every thought that pops into their heads. When you say, “Oh honey, look at the darling Chinese girl,” you know, that little girl can hear you. (And for that matter, probably speaks better English.)

Also bewildering is the excessive gum chewing whilst scoffing at the proprietor of an intimate neighborhood trattoria because she doesn’t serve beer. Aaaaargh!

And for the love of Pete, the “show us your boobs” mentality should be reserved for the Mardi Gras week in the French Quarter, not inspiring middle-aged women in sweatpants to show appreciation for the trolley finally coming around the corner.

Is it me? Am I too hard on people? If these people were of another nationality, would I be just as judgmental? Honestly, unless the social blunder was quite severe, I’m pretty sure I would chalk it up to quirky, cultural behavior.

The situation reminded me of something Anthony Bourdain said on No Reservations: “As a New Yorker, I used to feel like the rest of America was a foreign country. Actually, it’s an attitude you see all around the world. Parisians hold French Provincials in withering contempt, and there are natives of Tokyo who’ve traveled every part of the world except Japan outside of Tokyo. A few years ago I began asking myself what it was that distinguished the quaint, charming folk ways of everyone else’s native cultures from the people of my own culture. I still don’t know. A lot of America still feels foreign to me. But I have found that respecting that foreignness by simply cutting Americans as much slack as I would anyone else’s indigenous culture has made things easier and a lot more enjoyable.”

To be very honest, it’s not necessarily the “tourist attire” that gets to me - that’s more entertaining than anything else. But the rude, loud, ignorant behavior is something else entirely. We are, for the most part, a “good group of folks”, so I don’t buy that we are purposefully rude - I mean, who does that? And we have reasonable intelligence - hell, many of us are just darn smart. But perhaps it’s not the right kind of smarts, maybe we need a little cultural education. Maybe our schools should teach diplomacy. Maybe we should standardize shock therapy. (Nipple clamps could be adhered to the obnoxious at the airport - right after the metal detectors, of course.) Maybe I’ll just sew a Canadian flag patch on my backpack - my Canadian accent is pretty good, and everyone likes Canada. On behalf of those of us who would desperately like to shed the cliche, does anyone have an idea? Clearly ranting on the internet won’t do it, but I do feel a little better.

Comments

[Howard]

While I'm not much of a world traveler, I of course have an opinion... er, a couple of 'em:

1. Americans, up until recently, felt pretty safe when traveling. They are Americans, and their gov'mut takes care of their own. When you feel safe, you are willing to take risks. This includes little things like talking loud and feeling confident to interact with the locals.

2. I like to think that everyone is basically good, but morals (along with manners) is cultural and personal, and in one person's head, it might be inappropriate to compliment someone directly, but it would be a very nice thing to talk nicely about someone to your spouse.

There's the story of the Texas oilman, who thought he was being kind and fatherly when he called a woman he had just met, Missy. She didn't quite see it that way.

Now, if one was feeling a bit less confident and secure, one just wouldn't say anything, and this is why non-Americans often don't get into trouble in this way.

Of course, this doesn't explain the bubbling Irish traveler with an accent that makes him seem so warm and jovial...