...I do owe you an apology mydsooner. I was a bit upset and started typing without thinking it out first. I didn't mean to flame you so rudely. However, in the words of my younger brother...."you started it!"
Your comments about the Hell Hole I am in were unfair, unthoughtful, and downright sickening. The stench from the rotting corpses only slightly overdoes your comments. By the way, many of these folks happen to be friends of mine. Friends that you refer to as "prostititutes." We lost an entire group of divers from Sweden that day. We, as in me and a shop that I am part owner in. I was at one of those divers' son's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd birthday parties a few years back. I guess it's okay though, because the entire family of 5 is dead, and they were Swedes anyway (not American), so they don't count, right? Your comments were very rude my friend.
Someone mentioned "ugly American?" I'm sorry, but the general populations that I am surrounded by daily are intrigued by Americans, but can't figure out why Americans are always so rude. Not so much as the English are, but rude anyway. As the only American around (I work alone, no office, I'm remote), I am the butt of countless jokes by every nationality from Aussie onward. Oh yes, many hours listening to other nationalities (don't think they're all Asian either, remember, 1/4 of the folks where I call home are Caucasian) slam me and my country. Eventually, I learned to shut up, quit bragging about how GREAT I was since I was from the GREATEST country in the world, and LISTEN to what they were saying. I was quite surprised to find that most of it was true. We are a rude nation. We do brag way too much. We do claim to be the bedrock of the entire world. We do NOT spend enough (if any) time learning about other cultures and societies. We do expect better treatment than others due to our God-given luck to be born in the USA. Etc, etc, etc. The joke amongst most folks other than Americans goes....."how do you tell if the guy in front of you in line is American?" "He's the one screaming "I'm an American" at the clerk, and demanding to be served 1st." I spend about 70% of my days travelling (comes with the job), so one day I learned to sit back and listen......the joke is true. It's obvious.....and by the way mdsooner, I'm here by choice. I do this job, and choose to live in these "Hell Holes." because I care enough about my country (the USA) to run around these places in order to protect those that are still there. No, I'm not military.
I was at O'Hare 3 weeks ago. I had just gotten off of a wonderful flight on a "foreign" plane. A carrier with the best customer service you could imagine. Anyone reading this that has ever travelled on Singapore airlines, or Cathay, or Malaysian, or one of the other top ten (none of which are US carriers by the way) will understand. I was in the Business class check in (economy ticket, lot's of miles though, so don't try to flame my travel methods!), and the woman checking the guy in who was just in front of me was downright raising her voice and being very very rude to him. I mean she was your typical overweight, paid well, but hates her job and the fact that she is forced to do it and/or serve a customer, worker we all know and love (notice I said "worker", and not "American" like I wanted to). When it was all over, the guy in front of me who was Indian turned to me, and in his wonderfully funny accent (sorry, but the accents are funny!) said, "It's easy to tell when I'm back in America....everybody is an ****!" I laughed partly because he was right, and partly because his accent...sorry. Anyway, she was rude to me too. When I checked in, the lady had the nerve to tell me how she despised at how those foreigners "come into America" to raise trouble and live off welfare. For all she knew, I could've been a foreigner too. I mean, just because I'm white does not make me American. I am though, and glad. On the plane to LA, I had a drink with the guy. He was from India, and was on his way to LA to do neurosurgery on a 14 year old boy. He was doing the operation for free, and doing it while on a "tourist" visa (no intent to immigrate). It's too bad he was treated so rudely by the staff of United Airlines...Of course though, so was I.
That's how we are perceived in other parts of the world folks....rude, violent, angry, uncultured, egotistical, etc. As one of you, I have made efforts to change my attitudes, it's difficult. It was quite humbling once I realized that although I am an American, unfortunately I had no idea whatsoever of what was going on anywhere else in the world except America.
Somebody mentioned something about my clothes in an earlier post being flashy.......I've said it before, I'll say it again.....When I'm in the Southeast, I can usually be found in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. However when in Tokyo, Singapore, Milan, Paris, or somewhere else, I will dress appropriately. Jeans and a t-shirt with a baseball hat do not go over very well in Ginza. Maybe one or two of you will even know where Ginza is, but for those of you (most of you) that don't, just imagine Beverly Hills times 400. Please don't knock a guy for his clothes. Just because a fellow or gal doesn't wear levis and a football jersey doesn't mean he's odd....It just means he's probably not in the USA at the moment (yes, feel free to read into that).
So for those of you that I offended....get over it. I apologize. For those of you that I didn't.....I bet you've travelled somewhere once or twice in your life, that's why you "get it."