Let the eeeeeaaaaggles soooaar...

Apparently to many people, Americans are all the same. We all own guns, we're paranoid, rude, obnoxious and we have a bad accent. At least that's my impression from most of the other foreign teachers here. I find myself trying to explain the diversity we have in cultures, opinions and even accents. Just because it's not in the media doesn't mean it doesn't exist. (Just ask Michael Moore.) Anyway, I miss conversations with people who know we're the big bad wolf of the world, and want to work to change that. I'm having quite a few conversations explaining that I do know it and I do want to change it. Many have commented that I am a "strange" American or that I am "more like a Canadian" than an American. I appreciate the sentiment, but it makes me sad that I'm not just seen as an American with these points of views and that there are MANY more like me. They seem to think Michael Moore movies are made for the world's benefit, not necessarily our own. But maybe other countries don't comment on their own in quite the same way. In any case, the perception is real. I just met the manager at a school who hires anyone from Britian, Australia, New Zealand or Canada - but not America. I thought it was the accent, but is "eh" enough of a difference between the yanks and the mooseheads?