What are the best qualities of the American people?

23 comments

1. The ability to ignore the world around them.

   And I do mean that. The country would burn to the ground if people actually knew a thing or two.

2. I’m pretty sure the people in the US are the most charitable people in the world.

3. I love the optimism, ambition and innovation this country can achieve at its best. I also feel that Americans are more open to strangers then people in many other countries.

4. Optimistic, individualistic, pragmatic.

5. Americans are known for being very friendly, even to foreigners and strangers. Some foreigners, usually Europeans, think it’s fake niceness though, likely because they aren’t used to strangers being friendly in their home country. But no, Americans just give a base level of respect and friendliness to people.

6. We smile…a lot. It’s true. People from other parts of the world aren’t always sure what to make of that.

7. Friendliness.

   We say hi to each other.

   We help each other.

   We generally want other people to succeed.

8. American government is full of sins, lies, and hypocrisy. But the American people are, on a balance, an optimistic, friendly, confident, innovative, entrepreneurial, kind, and individualistic bunch. I consider myself a proud American because despite all the issues going around, I still see this country has a strong soul, and that soul is overall, beautifully expressed by the American people as a whole.

   Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely shitty people in this country, and they unfortunately are able to hold us all back, but I still believe the collective good of American people far outweighs the bad.

9. Determination. There is nothing American can not do.

10. In Cuba, people used to say “Americans know how to get things done” or “Americans are extremely innovative”.

    Living in the US now, I would say the best quality Americans have is optimism above a lot of things. Saving is a big thing here, investing for the future, entrepreneurialism, and a general sense of “pursuing your dreams”.

    These are all things that require a very optimistic and positive outlook for the future. Something that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

11. We swear good

12. patience, corporations and billionaires fuck them and they do nothing

13. We will stick up, stand by, and fight with our fiends.

14. When a disaster strikes we send people to help. If a 9.2 hit Iran tomorrow regardless of how we feel about them we’d be asking how,much help.can we send.

15. To add to a lot of good replies here, Americans Work a lot. Based off what I have read on other countries of Europe, Americans work more days per year, take less holidays etc. we are hungry to work and people like be take all the OT I can get and work every holiday if it means double time and half.

    Americans are obsessed with being punctual, many places expect you to show up early and say something if you are on time because it’s too close to being late.

16. They are genuinely kind to others and very open. Every time I go out for a walk or stop into a store/restaurant I run into people who smile and say something nice. If I need help out in the world I have always been pleasantly surprised at how quickly people will stop what they are doing to help.

    Everyone just seems pretty content in general and are happy to help others. It feels good to live in a place where people are clearly enjoying life and have a generosity of spirit.

17. I would say moral clarity. Americans are open to all people of all backgrounds, and deeply sympathetic to causes that they may not even have a strategic interest in. What they did for the Somalis, Bosnians, Albanians, Croats, Kurds (to some extents), and all the countless people from former dictatorships that fell because of American action cannot be understated. America has a strong isolationist streak, but also a strong empathetic and activist streak. Even in the heights of isolationism there were loud calls for Lend-Lease, boycotts, etc.

18. As a people I believe we mean well. We don’t always do well but we usually have good intentions.

19. We make a sort of national religion around freedom / individual liberties / civil rights / whatever you want to call it, which can get obnoxious sometimes, but the world needs an influential country harping about individual liberties all the time. Lots of places, people are far too acclimated to shit that we would consider naked oppression.

    Example: A friend of mine met a woman in Egypt, they got involved, and he had her visit him here as a trial run to see if she would be happy living here. This is in the early 2000s, during the W Bush administration and after the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions. They were watching The Daily Show, and it freaked her out watching people on television speaking so critically, and so disrespectfully, of their leaders. Now, she was from the Arab sphere and was no fan of the Bush administration to say the least. She was very accustomed to seeing them criticized … in Egypt. But seeing them ridiculed on OUR television, she was very uncomfortable with. She actually said it felt ***wrong***. Like they shouldn’t be doing that. That’s a very alien way of thinking to us Americans – sure we have people who try to chastise people for criticizing a President or whoever, especially in wartime, but those are invariably *people who actually like that guy*. They are only using patriotism or whatever as cover. As soon as there’s a President they don’t like, they forget all about “respect for the office” and hop right back on the bandwagon of dissent.

    Yeah we can be a little crazy about our rights sometimes, but it’s the kind of crazy the world needs more of, and I think there’s probably more young people stirring shit around the world than there would otherwise be, because of American cultural influence.

20. We are skeptical of anyone with power.

21. Entrepreneurship is definitely one. Not too many countries where you can go from idea to full blown business in no time given the right circumstances.

22. Yeah its in general the passion we have for our opinions, sports teams, history, way of life in general.

23. Freedom and our civic religion. For all the shit we get, we’re still more progressive and free than a solid 90% of the global population.

    We also integrate new cultures easily. There’s not many countries where an immigrant who is a different skin color, religion, and language can come in and still be considered to be of that country. Yet my brown skinned, Latino, and broke father moved here and has since become the stereotypical middle class suburban American. It’s a beautiful thing.