Your national complex

[Winner]

Allright, there are types of national stereotypes or prevalent ways of thinking about the nation itself and about the other nations, usually the neighbouring ones. Almost every nation has some more or less unfounded image of itself or of other people, which is remains hidden in minds of its citizens.

For example there is plenty of stereotypes and complexes between Czechs and Slovaks, originating in the times of the 1st republic, when these two countries joined together to form Czechoslovakia. Czechs believe, that they actually saved the Slovak nation from being "hungarized" and that they developed this totally backward region. In short, they view themselves like sort of a "colonial power".
On the other hand, Slovaks developed sort of bigger brother mentality, so they now feel they need to step out from the Czech shadow and prove them something. In short, they probably feel the same way the Czechs feel about the Germans

So, I want to know what kind of national complex do you or your nationals have. Please, be open and honest

 

[Caprice]

Americans: "Our country is Jesus' gift to the planet"

I don't think it is intentional, but I know a lot of people who act as tho they think this way.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Norway: "It's typically Norwegian to be good." (In practice: It's typically Norwegian to be arrogant. In a friendly sort of way.)
Also: "Norwegians are born with skis on their feet." (Usually amended to "...with skis in their garage.")

Americans: "Our country is Jesus' gift to the planet"

I don't think it is intentional, but I know a lot of people who act as tho they think this way.

You forgot to mention that the Constitution was handed down by God the same way he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses.

 

[Winner]

Norway: "It's typically Norwegian to be good." (In practice: It's typically Norwegian to be arrogant. In a friendly sort of way.)
Also: "Norwegians are born with skis on their feet." (Usually amended to "...with skis in their garage.")

That's exactly what I wanted to hear

BTW, are there any stereotypes concerning Swedes, Danes, or British?

 

[Gangor]

We have several, including:

* Oh no! The Aussies are stealing the credit for all our tallented artists!

* Hey, that atom split! The end is nigh!!!

* Wow, we live in the most beautiful counrty in the world. I know! Let's emigrate!!

Edit: Also we have the crazy notion we can fix anything with a little imagination and some No. 8 wire.

 

[Verbose]

Sweden: "We are the most and Modern and Rational country on earth!" Consequently better than the rest of you lot.

 

[Winner]

When we're at it, Czechs think they're the most cultured country in Central Europe, which raised many famous composers, artists, scientists and philosophers.

They forgot to mention, that almost all of them were Germans or Protestants, therefore people we usually persecuted

Also, many Czechs are proud of their cultural heritage, but they don't care about it, know almost nothing about it and they talk about it only if they want to get some attention in the world. The most absurd thing about us is that we boast about our people, who achieved something great, but only after they left our country because we laughed at their dreams

 

[malclave]

Americans: "Our country is Jesus' gift to the planet"

I don't think it is intentional, but I know a lot of people who act as tho they think this way.

Americans have many "complexes".

Some feel that the nation is the "big brother" (not capitalized) to the rest of the world.

Some think that the country can do know wrong, while others think it can do nothing but wrong (coincidentally, many of the people in these two categories spontaneously change sides depending on whether the Head of Household at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is associated with the fourth or eighteenth letter of the alphabet).

Some think that withdrawing from the world would be a good thing to do.

 

[Verbose]

When we're at it, Czechs think they're the most cultured country in Central Europe, which raised many famous composers, artists, scientists and philosophers.

Sweden doesn't have any composers, artists or philosophers of note. Never had any.

The Swedish contribution to international philosophy consists of killing Descartes and turning down Michel Foucault's application to become a PhD student.

It's better stocked on scientists and inventors, so Modern and Rational tends to get a hearing, since we're not really Cultural or Intellectual.

The Danes, Norwegians and Finns all beat us in the latter departments.

 

[Winner]

Americans have many "complexes".

Some feel that the nation is the "big brother" (not capitalized) to the rest of the world.

Some think that the country can do know wrong, while others think it can do nothing but wrong (coincidentally, many of the people in these two categories spontaneously change sides depending on whether the Head of Household at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is associated with the fourth or eighteenth letter of the alphabet).

Some think that withdrawing from the world would be a good thing to do.

Well, many people outside America have the impression, that Americans don't really car about the rest of the world. They just love to talk about their country's greatness and the rest is utterly inferior. But it's just an impression I hope.

 

[Yeeek]

There are only french wines, Nederland's cheeses are pale copies of french cheeses.

Champagne, foreigners who tryed to copy it failed miserably, all of them.

Its only a matter of time before croissants and baguettes de pains are common world wide , therefor world domination through eating habits.

British are jealous of us and our Provence (south).

There are colonies of Germans, British and Scandinavs all over the south west coast and the south coast. Did i said colonies? I meant campings.

Every tourists has Paris on his "to go" list, but then they think they've seen all of France. Thats where they are wrong, Parisian and their city are quite a different breed from the rest of France.

English don't like us but they like our football players.

We make fun of Belgians, i have no idea why.

And.. i could go on!!

 

[Grisu]

first there's, of course, our national smaller brother complex. we feel like we have to beat germany in every sport we compete with them, naturally we rarely do, but when we win, it's like a national holiday

then, we basically get the best of everything, especially education: therefore everybody who didn't go to school in switzerland must naturally be an uneducated fool

we fall into a national state of depression everytime we don't finish in the top 10 in some international ranking

we are the oldest democracy on earth (never tell a Swiss anything different, even if the facts say otherwise, who cares about facts in politics anyway )

there actually are no anonymous numbered accounts on swiss banks. Such practice wouldn't even be allowed by law. keeping dirty money on a swiss bank isn't really that smart...

we take pride in the fact, that most stuff is more expensive here than in the neighbouring countries : (except gas and zigrarettes)

our chocolate really IS the best

corruption doesn't exist here, not even the tiniest bit, and if it does, it was probably braught here by them dirty italian immigrants

that's it for a start

 

[Steph]

- The French language is the best in the world: it is the most subtle, the most accurat,e is the one with the most words, etc.
- The French "Lumières" invented modern philosophy and we are still a shinning beacon for the World.
- The French food is the best in the world. We are the only one to know how to make wine, cheese and bread.
- We have no obese people in France.
- Our justice is working well.
- We have the best education system in the world.
- We have the best transportation system in the world.
- We have the best welfare system in the world.
- In sports, the French are always the most likely to win the competition.
- In a sport event, you know that the first French arrived 214th. But you don't know who was the winner.
- France is the leader of Europe.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

i didnt notice any sort of militaristic complex there, eh steph

 

[Erik Mesoy]

That's exactly what I wanted to hear

BTW, are there any stereotypes concerning Swedes, Danes, or British?

Glad you liked it.
Swedes are the "joke people", much as blond/ines are in other parts of the world.
"How do you sink a Swedish submarine?" "Swim down and knock on the door."
"How do you sink another Swedish submarine?" "Send a diver in their general direction and wait for them to open the door and say 'We're not falling for that one again!' "
"How do you get a one-armed Swede down from a flagpole?" "Wave."

Danes are vaguely existent on the edge of the collective Norwegian consciousness as "those people with the good sausages and the mermaid", while the British don't really enter into it.

Here's another complex I forgot: Corruption only exists in countries to the south of Norway.

 

[Steph]

i didnt notice any sort of militaristic complex there, eh steph

Why should we have one?

 

[Ethics]

Allright, there are types of national stereotypes or prevalent ways of thinking about the nation itself and about the other nations, usually the neighbouring ones. Almost every nation has some more or less unfounded image of itself or of other people, which is remains hidden in minds of its citizens.

For example there is plenty of stereotypes and complexes between Czechs and Slovaks, originating in the times of the 1st republic, when these two countries joined together to form Czechoslovakia. Czechs believe, that they actually saved the Slovak nation from being "hungarized" and that they developed this totally backward region. In short, they view themselves like sort of a "colonial power".
On the other hand, Slovaks developed sort of bigger brother mentality, so they now feel they need to step out from the Czech shadow and prove them something. In short, they probably feel the same way the Czechs feel about the Germans

So, I want to know what kind of national complex do you or your nationals have. Please, be open and honest

You know, I had an Italian professor in college who would just go on about Czechs and Slovaks all the time. I remember her talking of a foreign exchange program the university had several years previous. Apparently the Czechs were delirious in their notion that their language was separate and different from the Slovaks (I believe the program was right after de-unification) and the information and materials they provided the school were to be only taught by a Czech. Well, being Mississippi, its a little hard to find a Czech, but they managed to find a Slovakian to teach the language to the people planning to go over. Turns out the differences were more of an accent then anything, or so she says.

You know, I really liked her various stories about Europe from time to time, because I would notice the same things on this forum from time to time =P

Now onto the American bashing!

I find it here that we pat ourselves back on our "diversity" too much in this country. "Were a nation of immigrants," or were a rainbow of skin color. We're so concerned about being something else; we've lost the notions that were Americans. You really can't just "be" an American in this day of age. We've hyphenated to the brink of madness.

Of course then we snub our noses at anyone whos not as "diversified" in the colors as others. Its a strange elitism. We just can't get off skin color... its either negative or a positive, but its always an issue. Case in point, to hear some of my friends that stayed in H-town and went to school here, you'd think their connoisseurs of "diversity" and everyone else outside is a racist inbred hick. Having been one of the few to leave for school out-of-state, I saw a very diverse, if not in skin color, part of America that most don't get to see.

 

[Leifmk]

Norway: "It's typically Norwegian to be good." (In practice: It's typically Norwegian to be arrogant. In a friendly sort of way.)

In practice, I find it's typically Norwegian to be preoccupied about what's typically Norwegian. Also to worry about what other people know/think about Norway.

 

[sysyphus]

Canada: "Everybody loves us just because we so great and nice about it and don't have a big ego like the Americans... right? Anyone? Aren't I right? Hello?"

 

[Verbose]

Glad you liked it.
Swedes are the "joke people", much as blond/ines are in other parts of the world.
"How do you sink a Swedish submarine?" "Swim down and knock on the door."
"How do you sink another Swedish submarine?" "Send a diver in their general direction and wait for them to open the door and say 'We're not falling for that one again!' "
"How do you get a one-armed Swede down from a flagpole?" "Wave."

And of course it works in exactly the same way in Sweden, only inverted.

The back story is that all these jokes in the 1950-70's used to be told about "negroes". Rumor has it the trigger was a Swedish radio game show for kids where one hopeful little boy replied to the question: "What's brown, eats bananas and lives in the trees in Africa?", with "Could it be a Negro?!" (In an extremely thick south Swedish accent, all diphtongs and throaty r's.)

Action needed to be taken, some people thought. So in the 70's a joint effort by some pretty media savvy anthropologists on both sides of the border started what has been describe as the Swedish-Norwegian "Joke War", letting the Africans off the hook.

It wasn't too hard hooking Swedes and Norwegians on slagging each other off, considering the already existing tone of inter-Scandinavian rivalry. Already in the 60's you got immortal classics like the lyrcis to the tune of the Helmer Bryd Emminent Five Quartet: "Norway, Norway, it is a rotten country".

And generally Swedes have an overbearing Big Brother attitude towards their neighbours (without much solid reason). It's just that the other Scandinavian countries rarely register in Sweden. The Norwegians may slag it off but also pay Sweden the tremendous compliment of actually reading its books and newspapers. Swedes don't return the courtesy.

For historical reasons Swedes tend to look more to Finland, with a more or less patronising glint in their eyes. So the Finns look back and for some reason assume all Swedish males to be gay. Never did fully understand that one, but I have heard the phrase "Chocolate boys" used by Finns to describe Swedes.
And the great Nordic sexological survey that turned up the fact that a Swedish male on average has fever homosexual experiences than a Finnish one hit like a bomb in Finland. ("Swedish men less gay than presumed!" was one Finnish headline IIRC.)

The Danes are on the one hand the Old Historical Enemy, but since that conflict hasn't been really hot since the 18th and Russia has ecplised Denmark as the Ogre anyway, there's no real hard feeling. Just a Swedish smugness about having come out on top in that historical conflict. Aside from that Swedes actually like Denmark, it's like Sweden with cheap beer flowing freely. Not to sure the Danes return the feelings.
Maybe the Danish posters can enlighten me if Swedes are still taking the ferry to Copenhagen in order to get beastly drunk, puke in the public parks and piss in the stately fountains of the Danish capital? It used to be rather bad, and I would habitually speak English in Copenhagen as not to flaunt my Swedishness.

And curious fact: I'm currently working for the man who's the real life inspiration for the dreadful Swedish chief surgeon Stig-Helmer ("Med plutonium tvingar vi dansken på knä!/"With Plutonium we'll force the Dane to his knees!") in Lars von Trier's cult TV-series "Riget". He still uses the phrase "Danskjävlar!/Bloody Danes!" Needless to say, in his native Swedish setting he's a perfect dear, if a bit volatile.

Bearing this in mind one may recall what the Danish director active in Sweden Rumle Hammerich has said about Swedes:
There's this extraordinary reasonableness and rationality about Sweden and the Swedes compared to Denmark. Which of course means that there's a powerful lot of insanity lurking there as well. Danes can go crazy, but to reach truly dilerious hights of insanity look to the Swedes.

In any case Swedes tend to tell all passers that Sweden is a small country. That's actually only to remind themselves of the fact. Swedes never compare their country to ****ries smaller or of similar size. The collective mental habit is instead to invariably compare Sweden to the US, the UK, Germany and France, i.e. the Big Boys. That's the league Swedes think Sweden should be/is playing in.