I think a lot of it comes from being the military and economic superpower of the world. We Americans must be an exceptional people, since we are so powerful in so many ways! (Please, feel free to add as much sarcasm as you feel is necessary to the previous statement, but remember that a lot of people say that with almost religious seriousness.)

Not enough people take geography into account, either. It has had a major effect on American society and our attitude towards other countries. We Americans have rarely needed to share. Our country is almost as big as, and quite isolated from, all of Europe. Our neighbor to the north largely speaks English, and is culturally quite similar to us. Our neighbor to the south has a culture worthy of admiration, but they are not seriously respected by most Americans.

That’s it. Two neighbors sharing borders with mainland USA. On the east and west, we have huge coastlines on two of the world’s largest oceans.

The most serious military threats to America were caused by countries an ocean away, and they were ultimately unsuccessful. Don’t forget our civil war… but even through all that, the government survived (and I’m glad it did, because we were basically fighting against people who wanted to uphold the right to keep slaves. Sure, you can argue that I’m oversimplifying things, but I’m not wrong). Add to that the concept of Manifest Destiny. People sincerely believed that it was GODS WILL that we conquer the land all the way to the Pacific, natives be damned.

Americans have believed in American Exceptionalism for about as long as America has existed. I can’t blame people for having a view that was drilled into their subconscious, but I can (and do) blame us when we’re insensitive dicks about it.

theres some confirmation selection bias in that most americans will never have the ability to travel abroad. so the group youre interfacing with are the more entitled, wealthier class which is also a much smaller contingent of americans.

As an American that worked for a German company for ~10yrs, and spent a significant amount of time in Germany, I’d say many Germans have an arrogant personality trait.

We’re trained like dogs by corporations to fight each other instead of them.

Noam Chomsky talked a lot about how political conversations in the US transformed into battles, as Republicans/Conservatives have adopted a policy of never working with Democrats to fix problems.

I think its because they tech how great a nation is America from a very young age. The country is great. It is the best. The ultimate true power. President is like more powerful than pop. God always their for America. White american people are true American etc etc. So it goes on and they become blind of truth. Hence it forms in their character. Its the main contributing factor I believe.

We’re arrogant. Hope that helps

I think a lot of their culture revolves around adolescence. Sports, music, movies, fashion etc. are based on juvenile traits, where talking, actions and getting attention are more important than more mature things like listening and compromising.

They’re not all like that, but there certainly are many who get through life in an American cultural bubble. When you reach your early twenties you probably think you’ve got everything figured out. That will last until you encounter other cultures that can challenge your views. A lot of Americans don’t encounter other cultures.

I know plenty of Europeans who are similar, but they don’t appear as one group. A German ignorant appears and speaks different than a Swedish ignorant, and both countries are known for having a similar superiority complex based on their own domestic successes. The Americans are in a disadvantage here, since everyone can hear and understand them, and there’s quite a lot of them, so their presence is just a lot more obvious.

American culture, partly because of bullshit mythos and partly because of religious like devotion to oligarchic capitalism, selects for low-empathy sociopaths and individual atomization/isolation. My favorite low end example is to observe my fellow citizens driving when I go to the suburbs: you are in their personal story, and you are in their way. City living doesn’t fix all that, but having to live in close proximity to neighbors and get used to compromise helps push a slightly more communal vibe.

But basically the entire culture is built around a get-yours-first mentality? And more recently an influencer-inflected sort of hyper-real understanding of one’s value and potential. We’re like a national exemplar for the dunning-Kruger effect, or like kids who cheat at online video games swaggering around proud of their “achievements”.

Seems like we’re in the finding out phase after fucking around though.

I’ve heard similar stories during my random travels around the world over the years. It’s unfortunate that people in Europe and elsewhere are subjected to these negative encounters. As you said, I don’t believe it’s every American, but from these consistently shared anecdotes, I learned early on in my travels that the USA is not always sending its best people.

With that said, I would like to share some observations about this from the perspective of someone from the USA. Amongst my friends and other American travelers I have spoken with, there is a noticeable anti-American sentiment that we have felt from, for example, Europeans while we are traveling throughout Europe. It ranges anywhere from immediate, perceptible changes in demeanor upon hearing my accent, to unsolicited and overly judgmental comments on every aspect of American society, all the way to unprovoked anger.

Many of the complaints I’ve heard from Europeans about Americans, I’ve ironically experienced myself from Europeans: arrogance, intolerance, racism, overt drunkenness and loudness, a lack of understanding about geography (Europeans don’t seem to understand how large the USA is), uninformed opinions they absorbed from sensationalized media sources, etc.

As a result of these experiences, we are sometimes hesitant to talk or discuss anything related to our country when forced into a conversation about these topics. The key word is forced. This is not to say we are afraid of admitting the issues that are prevalent throughout our society. In fact, I would say most Americans who are traveling would agree with you. It’s just that when we travel, it can be difficult to have a conversation with a European without being bombarded by unsolicited opinions on everything they believe is inherently wrong with me. While I have encountered this elsewhere, this tends to be a mostly European experience for me.

Having to hear that over and over can get tiresome, whether deserved or not. Especially since this isn’t something new, and has been going on for many years before the Trump and Bush eras. I’ve resorted to self-deprecating humor when any of those topics come up, which seems to assuage most people. I’ve noticed a lot of Americans do this online or in person, even some taking it to the point of self flagellation.

All of this is to say that most of my travels and encounters with people around the world are positive. It’s a great way to experience other cultures and people different than our own self-contained society. It’s one of the reasons why I love to travel, and encourage most of my fellow Americans to do so. The more we learn about the world, the better we will be at being good neighbors. Until then, I’m sorry we keep sending shitty people to your countries.

Because the American culture has indocrinated Americans to put themselves first. Whoever has “me first” hard-coded in their personality tends to view everybody else as inferior, and tends to have an unwavering confidence in their own greatness.

All this shit could be said of every other country in the world. Americans don’t have the market cornered on being a prick.

I watched a Chinese tour group practically destroy a museum exhibit. Germans don’t tip. Some Brits still carry a colonial attitude when it comes to people of color. We had to ban an Indian family from this restaurant I worked at because they thought they could bring the caste system with them on their vacation. In my early twenties, I almost got into fist fight with a Russian guy who didn’t understand why I couldn’t break his $20 with the money in my till.

Go out into the world and actually interact with people instead of painting broad stereotypical strokes on the Internet. You’ll see the capacity for being an asshole isn’t relegated to one nationality or ethnicity.

It’s not all Americans, but there is a certain type that when you see them, you know it.

I’m talking the type in baggy cargo shorts who 20 seconds after meeting them brags about having great weed and how many women they’ve fucked.

I had one of those come work with us in Mexico some 6 years back. We had an integrated karate dojo where all employees could train and at the first (and last) training he joined he immediately grabbed two women by their breasts because USA! USA! USA!

Since I ran that dojo he was banned right there and then, but the company owner did not wanted to fire him because he saw absolutely no problem with that behavior. Owner was Russian so take from that what you will about certain types of Russians

More ashamed of my country than ever and feel stuck here. From California and feel like we have some dead corpse strapped to us.

Where in Europe are you from? Cause Im from Europe and i feel like this is just a human trait. To answer your question though, america is basically the center of the world for a lot of people, and they truly do think america is better than the rest of the world. That’s probably why.

The U.S. is like any other country; it has its share of assholes. But I generally avoid painting everyone of however many million people with the same broad brush.

There is a somewhat obnoxious level of patriotism to Americans in general that comes from simply being the biggest economy and a net cultural exporter to the rest of the world; think blue jeans and coca-cola, metaphorically. (I’m sorry, Americans, but it’s true. Put on your big boy pants and deal with the criticism like adults, please.)

But it only rises to the level of arrogance in those people who think that the rest of the world only exists because of them and should behave as some sort of client state to American hegemony.

That’s not all Americans. Heck, I’d say it’s not even most Americans. But they’re just really really loud and drown out everything else.