Emily Anderbery

Have you ever thought to yourself, “What do other countries and ethnicities think about America?” It’s a common question to ask yourself, because in a world made of so many unique people, there are still stereotypes and judgements. Are we as one country, defined as one type of person?

From what I’ve picked up from the articles on the internet, there are three broad stereotypes given to the normal American citizen. The loud-obnoxious, beer drinker who has no clue where they’re going. The ghetto thugs, who rap about complete obscenities.

The materialistic, over-consuming capitalists.

Now these stereotypes seem a little negative don’t they? Well I guess it’s just the name we’ve given ourselves, because, I mean, we are “big brother” who is always watching, aren’t we? It seems that everytime there is a conflict in the world, America is right there at the door waiting to take over. That is much like myself honestly, when it’s not my problem I want to be there helping. That’s not such a bad thing though, we’re just trying to help, right?

You might be confused by all of my rhetorical questions, but it’s hard to put your opinion on paper about such a broad topic. It might be easier if I magnify on the high school spectrum of stereotypes.

We all are in high school, and if you’re not, well you’ve been here before. In the movies like Mean Girls, they centralize around the stereotypes like jocks, popular students, geeks, misfits, and nerds. In reality I don’t believe high school can be categorized by groups. What if you play sports and you’re an all-star at them, but you’re also in quiz bowl and you love poetry? You can’t categorize a human being into one solitary group, and I think that’s what we all need to learn. If you really got to know a person, there would be some sort of trait you would find in common with yourself, even if you could never imagine talking to that hot “popular” guy or girl.

So let’s go back to stereotypical America. We are one country, but we are full of individuals that make up this wonderful melting pot. I hope you get a life lesson out of this article and understand that we are all different and are not confined by the molds of what other’s see.