Isabella from Italy
Dear America,
Hi, I’m Isabella and I write from
I don’t’ think to really have an opinion about American people, ‘cause I’ve never been to
I think you can really see how a person really is when he’s in his country, but after more than a month spent together with some of you, I’ll try to say something.
About American foreign politic and behaviour of your government I need only a word: horrible.
It’s horrible how many young people are dying in stupid wars they don’t even understand, and observing the situation in Italy I think that like here the poorest and most ignorant people do this work to earn money, a lot of money, risking their life, and the government need poor, scared and stupid people to go on like this and to be able to control the resources of the world.
It is really strange how many people really hate your country and I notice the different behaviour when someone thought I was American: after knowing I am Italian they get more kind and confident. But at the same time all the world want to live like you, to be rich and to be able to buy, buy, buy….
Personally the thing I like most is American music!! I think your richness is to have many people coming from different cultures and that’s a cultural richness.
I notice there are not many differences between American, Italian, French people, when they are all together, many of them pretend to be particular because of their provenience, but I think they try to be and they only seem stupid.
In a group of people, if you pretend to be something different from your own personality sooner or later you’ll be discovered, and seem fake. I noticed some American people want the other people think they are hard worker, more that the other, they are the best because American usually are, and so they are allowed to judge the others, especially if they are Italian, because usually people have the image of Italians that don’t like to work hard, and always play mandolin in the sun.
I was so surprise that such stupid stereotypes are still alive in the mind of young people, and that could bring someone to judge an other before knowing him… so I suppose there are young people that think that Americans all live like we see on MTV’s videos!!
But I think that after spending some times together it’s impossible to follow like this, you’ll find the more similar to you and dislike some others like in everyday life.
When you use to meet a lot of people, you’ll see every time someone between them who’s feeling better than you, maybe because he’s taller, or richer, or faster, …..even if he is not American, and wants to let you know you are worse than him.
And at the same time there are some special people, kind and intelligent, that you are always lucky to meet, who can make you forget the other ones and feel happy about meeting them, and have fun together. So my experience with American is not so different from the one with every other people, maybe sometimes the problems seems bigger, but everything is bigger in
I met some great American guys and girls, now they have a place in my heart and I’ll never forget them, and after that I’m really curious to visit your country and to meet many other nice people.
And to forget all the stupid things I saw on TV. To know a country is necessary to go there.
After my first trip to
Isabella
About the author:
Name: Isabella
Country: Italy
Gender: Female
Occupation: Paleobotanist
Labels: americans, culture, europe, female, foreign affairs, foreign policy, italy, military, never been to the us, paleobotanist, politics, pop culture, war and conflict
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Isabella: "It’s horrible how many young people are dying in stupid wars they don’t even understand, and observing the situation in Italy I think that like here the poorest and most ignorant people do this work to earn money, a lot of money, risking their life, and the government need poor, scared and stupid people to go on like this and to be able to control the resources of the world."
Isabella, you are simply wrong about the people in the US military. You complain later about people having stereotypes about Italians, yet you are propagating a stereotypical image of American troops that is badly warped, probably due to your biased media. American military people are better educated at every level than the civilian population, who are better educated than most of the rest of the world (Europe being about equal).
You're also buying into the leftist charge that America is trying to control the world's resources. Nonsense. We're very happy to build business relationships with the rest of the world. Saddam was a madman who had to be stopped. If he was allowed to wage war on his neighbors without negative consequences, other bad countries would follow his example.
Isabella: "It is really strange how many people really hate your country and I notice the different behaviour when someone thought I was American: after knowing I am Italian they get more kind and confident."
Isabella, does it occur to you that such hatred is simple prejudice? After all, you didn't do anything different to receive different treatment except have your label changed.
Isabella: "...usually people have the image of Italians that don’t like to work hard, and always play mandolin in the sun."
Isabella, I came to visit Italy about a year and a half ago and loved it. I saw Florence, Rome, and Pompeii and it was fabulous. The Italians were wonderful, warm people.
You know, we Americans jump in our cars when we go somewhere so it was fun to just walk and walk down Italian streets.
I went in November and I have to admit I expected Italy to be sunnier. I also expected to see more pretty girls on the street. They must have been hiding somewhere. And I thought our Italian food was better than yours. You guys are a little stingy with the tomato sauce. But the gelato was pretty good.
I wouldn't have minded a little mandolin music.
Isabella: "I was so surprise that such stupid stereotypes are still alive in the mind of young people, and that could bring someone to judge an other before knowing him… so I suppose there are young people that think that Americans all live like we see on MTV’s videos!!"
It goes both ways, Isabella. Lots of Europeans don't recognize the names of cities in the US so you have to tell the nearest big city like Chicago or LA or Washington. They have stereotypes of people from each city. If you're from Omaha and tell them Chicago they think Al Capone bang bang bang.
However, we do live just like in MTV videos. All Americans are super-attractive, have perfect hair, and can dance and sing all day. So that part is right.
Isabella: "I met some great American guys and girls, now they have a place in my heart and I’ll never forget them, and after that I’m really curious to visit your country and to meet many other nice people."
You'll get along fine, Isabella. There are a lot of Italians in America. Going to Italy wasn't much different than walking around my old neighborhood full of Pascuzzis, Gattos, and Tuccis.
The U.S. military imposes a test called the ASVAB which is essentially a glorified IQ test. Those scoring too low are not admitted. Furthermore, almost all military personnel have at least a high school education. As a result, military personnel are actually, on average, more intelligent than the general population. If you are too stupid or too uneducated, you cannot join the military in the United States.
Furthermore, I have yet to meet a soldier who served in Iraq who didn't understand the reasons we are fighting over there. Most of them are more enthusiastic about this conflict than the general population is. They certainly are not "scared." I don't know how it is in Italy, but a great number of Iraq war veterans will tell you that they serve, first and foremost, out of love of their country. Maybe Italians are less patriotic. I don't know.
Finally, this war has nothing to do with controlling resources. If that were the case, we would have been better off attacking Saudi Arabia than Iraq. After all, that is the country that produced 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers. At the end of the day in Iraq, the Iraqi government, not the United States, will have final authority over the country's oil resources.