Why are so many Americans so whiney?

Before I start- let me establish that I am American- and probably one of the whiney ones, though I'd like to think I'm not. And there's probably a thread on this somewhere, but I couldn't find it. It just seems to me that a large portion of the whiney threads started lately are from Americans. Now, I do realize that there are loads of Americans on TT who are NOT whiney, but why is it that you get so many Americans moaning about everything from unfair treatment in one form or another or Germans being mean to them, etc?

It's just the recent thread about that woman with her German boyfriend going out on dates, and now this new one about racial profiling... dunno. Is America on the whole just a nation of big, fat whiners?? Jebus people. Get over it already.

Both the dates and racial profile threads smack me as Troll/Wind up merchant threads.

Well I wish they'd sign up their stoopid troll names under some other nationality.

Why is everyone here always picking on Americans? Why all the haters? Everyone's bashing us ALL the time.

Oh wait...I'm starting to whine. Never mind.

As an American, I find much of the crying going on quite annoying. People need to smarten up and grow some thicker skin.

@DanH- Nice one.

I shall dedicate the song "Get Over It" by the Eagles to my irritating fellow countrypersons.

Get Over It

Because we're more capable of feeling emotions, and/or would rather vent peacefully online and get it out of our systems rather than bottle it up and then blow a gasket?

How many riots break out at American Football games?

Just a thought ... please, please don't throw that 500ml lager bottle at me

The US legal system has systematically undermined common sense and installed a sense of "someone is responsible for this" instead. Like the guy who sued a ladder company after he fell off the ladder that he had stood on a frozen manure pile in the morning. As the sun warmed the manure the ladder became instable, they guy fell off and broke his leg. Whose fault was it? The ladder manufacturer's, of course!
So when Americans encounter an unaccustomed situation they look around for a law to overcome it instead of using their own brains to find out the reason behind the action.
Signed, an American with a background of legal training but loads of common sense to counteract it

@Expaticus- Possibly. But in my opinion there's a difference between "venting peacefully" and WHINING. And the thing is, no matter what advice they're offered-- they're not happy with it. They just carry on pissing and moaning...

I suppose there aren't lots of organized riots at American football games- however in my hometown the action happened in the high school parking lots after the games when the bad kids from our school got their baseball bats out of the trunks and met up with the bad kids from the visiting school.

How many away supporters do you get at American football games?

I'm also told that after every Superbowl game the tradition is the winning supporters go on a riot.

Sara might be onto something. It's perhaps the lack of common sense mixed with an urge to blame someone else the minute things so wrong. Disgraceful if you ask me.

I think it's disgusting picking on Americans during the closed season.

And without the proper license.

Exactly. It's the total dropping of our standards I bemoan. Before you know it they'll stop using traditional American guns.

Isn't a 4x4 with brushguard and roof-rack-light-bars an acceptable weapon? Hell, it is for deer in the off season

And we all know that gun crimes don't happen anywhere outside of America ... until they do.

@ Expaticus - That was not a gun crime, neither body had any external injuries.

...erm... Where's the mention of the gun? Anyway, surely you must realize that the only reason other countries have problems with guns is because their cultures have been perversely influenced by American culture. I blame MTV.

I personally think that an absence of "loser pays" is a spur to greater litigation. Look how many of these damage awards get reduced upon appeal. That the US, like many other wealthy countries, is overlawyered, as well as the US tradition of populism, also has something to do with the "ambulance-chasing".

Not in Europe, no, heaven forbid. We should hunt our Americans in the traditional way, and when and ONLY when in a position to get off a clean shot should we let our prey have both barrels: sarcasm AND irony.

EDIT: I should like to mention that we are not barbarians here in Europe. We tend to favour culling the more problematic males and allowing the females to gain in numbers. American females have often managed to outwit European hunters with impressive mammalian protruberances.

And remember, after the hunting season comes the rutting season.

My bad ... had the wrong TT link on my clipboard. Will edit.

Americans don't whine. They invade countries, feed themselves and polish their guns. Americans point out the flaws inherent in countries like Germany and any place that isn't America so that those places can improve themselves until they too bear some resemblance to the greatest country on the face of the earth ever: America. Citizens of other countries are too stupid to understand that what they perceive as whining are actually helpful suggestions. Dumb-ass foreigners.

Impressive mammalian protruberances, mixed with European hunters tranquilizing us with the golden elixer "Helles", plus our inherent desire to mate... recipe for disaster if you ask me.

Had a think on the topic, and think it may have more to do with the long-standing US tradition of not suffering in silence/cowering in fear when one feels wronged. Representative democracy in the US has traditionally been one involving direct vocal involvement. An unintendended consequence of this has been increased litigiousness and perhaps even a higher propensity for whinging on internet fora.

My experience in Germany is that citizens are just expected to shut up and rubber-stamp whatever their "professional politicians" jam down their throats law/rule/tax-wise. The lack of outcry over the lack of a public referendum on the EU constiution was a real eye-opener for me.

Or maybe it's because we're just a bunch of loudmouthed assholes who need to learn to clam up and learn to live with being oppressed as the other 5.7 billion people on the planet appear to have done?

Brilliant, FA, you just express your distaste with Americans whining by... that's right, whining about it.

I think every rich civilization accustomed to a long (nascent) period of unthwarted expansion and, more importantly, entitlement, eventually hits the whiney stage when it becomes obvious that perhaps a major shift in values is needed because suppplies and tolerance are running out. Americans are extra whiney now because it wasn't just a group of royals that had the world at their fingertips... it's a country filled with little kings that is still raised on the myth of a world up for grabs.

@ Genie: FA would be whining if she said, "So many Americans start these whiny threads and the mods never do anything about them, just leave them up for us to read and wonder why they are so whiny". Instead, she kicked them symbolically in the butt and told them to get over it. Therefore, not being whiny but assertive and proving herself a valuable member of our happy little online family.

Maybe it's that we're homesick, want to be back 'home' and need a vehicle to vent to. It's Christmas time and we're not there. Sniff, a little compassion goes a long way.

If you see my other post, I'm whining because our satellite broke on Christmas Eve night and haven't been able to watch tv since. Argggghhhhh...

Americans are often under the mistaken impression that someone gives a shit...

Well, sb, if I'd think there was the slimmest chance in the world that you'd agree with me on something, say that it's day now, or that 2007 is coming to an end, I'd argue that this is exactly what the black American woman was trying to do, pick up some advice for butt-kicking some racist policemen (at least as they seem to her).

But, yeah, that's whining and this is not.

No, Genie, the OP is whining for some authority to fix a situation that she considers wrong and discriminating without informing herself about the background, i.e. an influx of possibly illegal aliens, such as the US experiences as well. FA is informed about both sides of her topic - the non-whining Americans who see the bigger picture and the whining ones who don't bother because the US system is the bestest and greatest in the world and should be crammed down everyone else's throat imposed on every righteous thinking country or such country is to be considered fundamentally racist.
P.S. It's nighttime in Japan.

Unfortunately this trait is spreading to this side of the Atlantic as well.

Fighting fire with fire I guess. Not particularly bothered either way really, but TT has been a bit slow over the holidays and I was merely trying to spark a bit of conversation.

I still believe that half of the problems that a lot of americans have is because they themselves apply a racial stereotype to themselves.

The sooner americans become just american the better for all concerned imho.

Ah well, as long as everyone's having some fun, I see no harm about it. Plus since it seems to be the national sport in this country, I guess we might as well have some protected environment to practice before we hit on some real competition. Do proceed.

I can think of another one.

Some of the "ethnic pride" and hyphenation is doubtless a latent reaction to early racism ("NINAs", Wetbacks, and "WOPs" ... proudly becoming "irish-americans", "mexican-americans" and "italian-americans", respectively) to reassert their standing in american culture despite their lineage. I applaud that ... it demonstrates that assimilation functions well enough that people fee comfortable describing themselves as such. Like the moment when US people of the jewish faith stopped using "jewish" and started saying "jew". It's not a 'tendency' ... it's what they are ... and they're tough enough to say it loud and proud.

Among American WASPs, no one ever said "english-american" or "german-american' because they pretty much ruled the roost for the first 300 years. However, I don't see hyphenation emerging as their relative power and influence wanes. Similarly, I have yet to ever hear a German describe himself as a "Prussian-German", a "Sudeten-German" or an "Alsatian-German" ... why? Because one can only employ ethnic pride when the place one ends up is better than the one from which one came.

not sure about that one, I work with Bavarians, Pruessens, Ossies and then us foreigners... nobody really says German.

Thank you for the permission to run away and play. We'll be home in time for dinner.

Fine, just don't be surprised that because of that, then people will apply stereotypes too . .

Well, the thing that gets me is that 99% of the "African-Americans" don't have any relation to any person that came from Africa for 4 or more generations. These are children born of American citizens who's parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were also American citizens. That makes them ... hmmm, lemme see... American. Just American. They don't hold dual citizenship with any country on the continent of Africa and the United States. They don't want to be called "Negro", but there is the United Negro College Fund. They don't want to be called "Colored", but there is the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They don't want to be called "Black", but there is Black Entertainment Television (BET).

It makes me sick how often the "race card" is thrown down every time something doesn't go the way that an individual wants. Can't we all just get along? Can't we all just accept each other for what we are? Accept who you are and what you are (an American) and be done with it. Anyone that insists on being an "African-American" is free to spend half of each year in Africa (or even the rest of their lives) and see just where the would prefer to live. An "African-American" traveling in Africa who gets arrested for whatever reason would claim that they are... African? No Sir!! The first words out of their mouths would be "I'm an American! I want to speak to the US Embassy".

/rant off

But... one woman's disaster is another man's triumph, as we used to say at extreme flower arranging classes. One finds that the whining always fades to nought upon realisation that the lady is a leading citizen of Boobyland.

Actually, you're grounded.

It´s all well and good saying all Americans are "just" American, but we are not all treated the same. A good American friend of mine was living here in Germany and often was asked what her nationality was. The answer "American" was never satisfactory. "No, but where are you REALLY from?" -- because she is of Japanese and Hawaiian heritage. I find in the States that you can be American no matter what you look like, but in Germany, because of the homogeneity of the people, they think you must be a foreigner if you don´t look like the majority of the people.

I think the OP was nit-picking and looking for a sign of racism upon her arrival in Germany. On the other hand, she is not yet familiar with the German way of controlling everyone and the first time it happens to you, it feels a bit invasive. She needs to learn that it is normal.

I don´t get checked going around town, but at airports I always get the super-duper special treatment because I use two passports and got flagged. I used to get upset about it, but now I have just decided to deal with it. One needs to pick one´s fights.

But really. Anyone form anywhere that has it too good and doesn't have to think to survive isn't going to a paragon of endurance. Adversity builds character. Too much, for too long, destroys it. So that would answer the question concerning the Americans that post here and whine too much. They have it too good and they don't have any perspective as to what it's like in the real world.

I don't think all Americans in general are whiney. The Americans that post here are though. I think it's class based and not culture based. The type of Amis that are posting here and whine alot seem pretty white collar or hippy expat college middle or upper middle class. Working class Detroiters don't whine. They'd just beat you with a pipe. But working class Detroiters are more rare among the Americans you would see over here. I would say that the well off children of the boomers and their even worse offspring would be the loudest whiners. Oh and Democrats. They are very very good at whining. Not winning unfortunatly. Just whining.

As a scientist I follow the Genetic Mutation Theory. We should pity these poor people brothers and sistas, not mock them, and thank INSERT PREFERENCE HERE the European whining gene was evolved out.

I have been to Superbowls and lived in Dallas when they were winning. Never seen a riot. Some pretty wild parties but no riots...hmmmm

Is it OK to still whine about German taxes?

I hate it when working class Detroiters whine about the white collar upper classes, or when the priviledged whine about how easy they have it and how little character it's given them.

That's probably true.

I have, however, been told that College football matches can get more than a little out of hand . .