On today’s episode we are going to tackle the second half of my topic concerning US Stereotypes. The last episode, we talked about the stereotypes that fit me and this week we’ll tackle the ones that don’t.
Hallöchen, Lieblings. I’m Mari, a sci/fi and fantasy author, who has been living in southern Germany since 2014.
If you notice that I’m wearing the same outfit as the last episode…it’s because I filmed them back to back.
If you watched my last episode – you saw what I thought to be American stereotypes that fit me but now I thought we could go through the list of those that don’t.
So let’s just jump into this list shall we?
1. Gun Nut – oooooooo lordy, I’m starting with the most controversial. It is no secret that the US is known for its lack of gun laws, for being a wild west, for having a school shooting almost every day this year alone……yeah….no secret.
I come from the state of Indiana, which is a known red state, meaning that they normally vote republican and they are known for having a lot of gun owners. In fact about 40%-42% of households in Indiana have guns. They are ranked as the 21st highest state in gun ownership – so at 40ish% we’re about the middle. This is just to give you an idea of the gun ownership demographics of the States. Show link and reference this link: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-ownership-by-state
The thing is – the whole topic of guns in the States is not as black and white as the media or our own politicians portray it to be. I come from a family of gun owners and frankly, none of them are what you would consider gun nuts. They have great respect for their firearms and most are educated on those firearms. Of course there are plenty in the States who fit into that stereotype…it does come from somewhere. The whole conversation is too nuanced to condense to this episode. There are other YouTubers who tackle this conversation so much better than I have. I will link to those episodes in the description below.
I don’t know if I would make a video tackling this topic. At the moment, I don’t have the mental space for it, but just to give you an idea of what it’s like talking to most of my gun-toating relatives….when I tell them how the laws work in Germany in terms of gun ownership….they like it and agree with it. Sadly our politicians that are currently reaping millions from the NRA don’t agree with them…or agree with most of the gun-owning Americans.
It’s a lot.
2. Ignorant of Geography – If you are new to this channel….hiya – I am American-Peruvian, American Dad, Peruvian Mom so I had to know geography outside of the US because….well…my mama didn’t raise no fool. But if I had a nickel every time an American thought Peru was part of Mexico….I’d have a lot of nickels…..It drove me nuts growing up having people not know where Peru is…I mean, we all took the same history classes and geography classes…like how do you not know this?
It does come down to a lot of our US-centric education and like I said in the last episode….it’s getting worse. There is a common trope on social media of europeans interviewing Americans asking them where certain countries are or their capitals and they never knew the answer to these questions….but there was usually a cut between the question and answer so it makes you question the editing. However, that stereotype does come from somewhere….there are a sad number of my fellow Americans who literally suck at geography. Oof. It’s embarrassing….
3. Always identifying as the State you come from…not whole US – Let me explain…..it’s quite common for traveling Americans (especially the ones who come to Europe cause I have seen a lot of europeans complaining about this) to identify as their state. Meaning when they’re asked where they’re from, they answer with their home state and not “the States”. Apparently this has angered European TikTok cause I saw too many videos complaining about this. *shrugs* Didn’t realize this was a hill to die on, but it’s on the list.
The thing is when I was growing up, my mom would send me to Peru by myself for the summer. I went to school with my cousins, I went to the beach, I made friends….and most of those new friends had no idea that Indiana was a state…nonetheless where it is in the US. So I was used to answering this question by simply saying I’m from the States. It’s the same here in Germany, I don’t expect Germans to know Indiana either and honestly it’s a toss up on who knows that the state exists at all, but most definitely don’t know where it is located in the country. I don’t expect them to – it’s not important. Usually if they’re interested, they ask. I have been in Germany for almost a decade and I have met ONE who not only knew about Indiana but also mentioned the Indy 500!!! He was one of the doctors at the hospital where I gave birth to my kid. Color me impressed.
On European TikTok, where the people are complaining about this – you will see Americans counter and try to justify WHY we answer with our state. I have seen responses like
“We’re used to answering thus because when we’re in the States, that’s the most appropriate answer”
Or
“The US is so big and each State is like it’s own cultural bubble within the country so we identify as our region/state because it gives more insight into who we are”
Or
“There are so many cities with the same name across the US and the only differentiating factor is the State it belongs to”
I don’t think they’re wrong but those European TikTokers argue how it’s all stupid and it’s a thing and it’s emotionally exhausting.
I have to note, that there are definitely some Germans who would also likely relate to some of these reasonings….like Bavarians relate to being Bavarians first, Germans second. Some – not all.
Or the fact that Germany also has several cities with the same name, but instead of City “,” State like in the US, a lot of those German cities are city preposition nearest body of water like Frankfurt am Main = Frankfurt on the Main River -or- Rothenburg ob der Tauber = Rothenburg above the Tauber River.
Like I said, I thought this was a weird stereotype to harp on, but I felt it was something interesting to at least comment on.
4. Monolingual – my first language was Spanglish. My mom spoke only Spanish, my dad English – so what came out was a mixture of both. We’re doing the same with my kid. I speak English, my husband and mother-in-law (who lives with us) Hohenloisch, and we video chat with my mom every day and she speaks Spanish….also my dad still speaks English. I. AM. DYING to know what’s going to come out of my kid’s mouth when she finally starts talking……
While the majority of Americans are monolingual….that is rapidly changing. The number of people in the United States who spoke a language other than English at home nearly tripled from 23.1 million (about 1 in 10) in 1980 to 67.8 million (almost 1 in 5) in 2019, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report. And that’s within my lifetime…so I’m intrigued to see how it will be in my kid’s.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/languages-we-speak-in-united-states.html
I think a lot of people forget that the US is a country of immigrants so there will be plenty of Americans who speak more than one language.
5. Religious Fanatic – oh goodness gracious…..THOSE people. Yeah. So you will find fanatics in ANY religion and in every country. But the American ones are well known….I remember on a Hayley Alexis episode that a lot of churches take over the social programs that the government in Germany would likely do. A good example is preschools as we call them in the States and Kindergarten or Kitas in Germany. When I went to preschool from ages 3-5 – it was at a Lutheran church. The daycare I went to after school was run by a christian church. A few of the summer camps I went to as a kid were also run by churches.
So for most Americans who have connections to christian churches, because obviously there are other religions in the States as well, there are many opportunities for kids to grow up with a positive relationship with their religion and church community.
My mom is also a very spiritual woman whose religion is important to her so we went to church every sunday and I went to Sunday school and I was an altar girl and I never considered myself religion and church was something I just shared with my mom.
Once I moved out of the house, I rarely went to church. I was so used to going with my mom that when she wasn’t around I didn’t feel motivated and being catholic, I have my issues with the church as a man-made institution. You can probably guess what those are.
But I found myself coming back once my kid was born because it’s one of the few things I can share with her that has a community. So while I don’t consider myself a fanatic, church was something special between my mom and I and it’s something I want to share with my little one.
What do you think? What are your thoughts on all of this? What other American Stereotypes come to mind? There are no wrong answers here, folks, but I would love to know your thoughts. Let me know in the comments below!
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And that’s it. Until next time. Adee.
Gun Episodes:
Kelly Does Her Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-rpMuBZRWY
Leeja Miller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcMrDGs71v8&t=294s
Interested in more?
mltishner.com 