Cumulative funds given to European countries by the US under the Marshall Plan for post-war recovery, 1948-1951.
Source: reddit.com
DO NOT LET SOCIAL MEDIA TURN YOU INTO AN AMERICAN
As an American: Seriously, please don’t
ok well i don't
"Americanization" is a real phenomenon, and how non-Americans should be cautious of it is taught in different countries at school. It's taught in Greece and people from other countries told me their elementary or middle school teachers (using the American grades, to make it make sense to the majority on the site) talked to them about it.
It's common sense here, except for USians, so I'll analyze it a bit more for the dominant demographic here. In a globalized setting, the most dominant culture affects the others and sets the trends. The way our language works, how we think, our levels of politeness and intimacy, and our levels of respect. (flash news, they are going down 😂)
I don't want to imply that there is nothing good in the US. There are plenty of positives in the country. It's just that for the rest of the cultures online it's a constant daily fight to not forget our roots, with the degree US media and brands have permeated our lives. In Greece at least we watch more US American media than Greek media nowadays, and many of our shows are rip-offs of USian ones, with little adaptation to Greek reality and culture.
And to demonstrate the amount of this exposure, a 22-year-old Greek asked me the other day "if something happens we call 911, right?" This might have literally cost them their life, in a dangerous situation! Because all the movies and songs they consumed (not an unusual thing for the Greek youth) were what they knew. And I found a similar comment in this comment thread.
Lots of Americans in the notes failing to understand this post. It's not about not liking the US. It's not about you feeling ashamed or guilty for being American. It's not about you.
It's about American media drowning out native language media all over the world, and workplaces requiring the English language in your repertoire more and more. It's about proper translations and foreign language dubbing of films disappearing because "everyone speaks/should speak English anyway." All of this is leading to the deterioration of native speaker groups of languages worldwide.
In my country, Dutch language courses can't find enough people who want to study the language, while English language courses are overflowing with people who want to study the language. There is even widespread distaste for the Dutch language for being crude or sounding rough or what have you. That's our native language!!! That is our culture in its purest form!!! That is knowledge we inherit from our parents as they did from theirs!!! That is how we learned fairytales and folk stories and myths!!! That is the language that shapes our communication and our way of thinking!!! To hate your native language is to hate yourself at the deepest level.
And yet it's so normalised. Droves of foreigners living in the Netherlands will never learn a word of Dutch, because "everyone speaks English anyway." We are the world's leaders in non-native understanding of English, but it comes at a cost. A grave cost we will continue to pay.
If you're looking to support your non-American friends in any way that is not performatively shouting "I hate being an American" into the void, first of all, unlearn that hatred of yourself and your culture. You are of no help self-flagellating, and there is a difference between holding your country accountable for its issues, and denying yourself your culture because your country is doing and has done bad things.
(I am not going to get into arguments about whether or not US American culture exists. It does, and if you think differently you are welcome to change your mind.)
Secondly, learn about other countries. Learn a bit of Chinese. Take an interest in the Italian political system. Ask your friends about their countries' folklore. Watch documentaries about art from Nigeria. Absorb information that is not fed to you by American media.
And thirdly, quit expecting your non-American friends to communicate in a way that appeals to you. The French and Dutch will always seem rude to you because our way of communicating is far more direct than the way you communicate. People from other cultures may seem vague to you because their way of communicating is far more indirect, and you're not used to that either. Quit being frustrated when you don't get what we mean exactly. Quit assuming we mean the absolute worst thing you could imagine just because you didn't get what we meant the first time. Ask us to explain if you need us to, and learn to accept that we are different from you.
We are already adapting to your culture 100% of the time we are online. It's your responsibility to adapt to us, too. At least do your friends the courtesy of learning about and adapting to them.
This is a big problem in other English speaking countries. I live in the UK, in England no less, and there was a point in my childhood where my brain would bring up 911 as the emergency number. And on top of having our culture's stomped on we have people making fun of the way we do things and justifying it as "well you deserve it because you're English" like the backwater underfunded poverty stricken areas people mock have ever had any power. There's an Americanisation of food, and culture, an import of social justice issues as the American understanding of things is superimposed over our own history by kids who mean well but have learned all their vocabulary from Americans. We share many things but these issues are not the same and treating them as the same can be detrimental to the change people want to bring. (For example our most diverse prime minister's have all been Conservative, and the last one to bring up God while in office was "left wing" Labour. Even the colours of left and right political parties are different here.) Poverty is experienced differently. Class is experienced differently. Race is experienced differently. Racism is experienced differently.
And half the time if you even talk about it you have god damn 19 year olds hopping up and down screaming like toddlers because you're not doing it right for their needs.
Climate crisis is coming for all of us. We need to vote for people who are not insulated from reality via donor bribes.
We need a robust EPA. The current Supreme Court wants to end the EPA and Federal power to regulate our air and water. Never forget.
Get involved. Vote.
The air quality that is so shocking in New York is identical to the air quality I grew up with in Los Angeles. The EPA and the AQMD changed all of that, and I don't ever want anyone to have to experience what I did. It was awful. We must insist on strong environmental laws and severe penalties for those who break them. We owe it to our kids.
They want air-conditioning in the vans so they don't die from heat stroke.
I haven't found anything saying the drivers want people to boycott Amazon, btw.
Generally you wouldn’t boycott when its this scenario, because more sales means they will feel the loss of delivery drivers more keenly. You wanna make them need those drivers!
McCarthy's infinite stupidity can only survive in Republican politics.
Look, I made a collection of Fandom cakes that I found!
I like cake.
didyousayhetalia
What about Homestuck.
Homestucks aren’t sorry.
Date of origin: December 19, 2012
Nobody likes surveillance!
I like how the temperature goes up from the wolves breathing on the camera
hey science side of tumblr, if you’re not on your union mandated lunch break, a question for you
when these resin casts are made and the top is sorta like, opaque (if that’s the right word) how come when the liquid resin is poured on top and then sets, that it becomes perfectly clear
Because of light refraction! Basically when you sand Resin casts (or in this case, from sanding the pinecones down) you wind up with an absolute fuckton of tiny scratches in the surface, and light that hits it bounces in all kinds of weird directions. But, since liquid resin can still bond with set resin, pouring a *very thin* layer of it over the top fills in the imperfections and makes the surface smooth like glass, so the light travels in a normal pattern again
thanks nerd >:3c
god science is so cool
sending people wikipedia articles is my favorite form of humor. one time a long time friend of mine asked why i was using a different name and acting different i sent him the wikipedia page for DID. ryder just asked me why its 108 degrees in nevada right now and i sent him the wikipedia page for global warming and the season of summer.
i see you all in the tags going "this is so funny" you better not steal my fucking bit. im copyrighting this joke
you cant do this to me
i think you should be able to turn glass back into sand. i don't like that that's a one way road, it feels wrong to me.
nightpool i think we have differing opinions about what sand is
I just think you haven't accepted tooth roll crushers and hammer mills into your heart.
that's sand!
okay gotta hand it to you youre right. i was speaking from ignorance. thank you for educating me the world is a beautiful place
oh my god I’m crying with laughter. My idiot sons
everyone please look at my pidgeottos
the common name "fools gold" for iron pyrite is funnier than we give credit for. imagine scientists discover a new metal and they're like "We're calling this Copper for Idiots"
