i gather some non-americans think all americans are like this....
fat
stupid
loud
obnoxious
love war
wanna take over the world
never read
racist
don't know real humor
can't make scary games or movies
don't know anything about the rest of the world
rednecks/hillbillies
celebrity obsessed
lazy
cowboys
play sissy sports (compared to rugby hahaha..see this one so many times)
extremely patriotic
everybody loves guns
Nah, that's not the stereotype for all Americans. Just the Republicans
As for my own country (the Netherlands), some of the stereotypes I often hear are:
- Everyone is into drugs --> Completely false, the Netherlands actually has one of the lowest drug-abuse rates in the Western world.
- Dutch people love to walk around in wooden shoes --> I've lived here all my life and never saw anyone wearing them. It's something of the past.
- Dutch people love cheese --> Well that's true, at least for me
- The Netherlands is in danger of 'sinking' any moment, floods are a real danger --> We have a very elaborate delta network for that so there's no real danger. The last major flood is almost 60 years ago.
- The Netherlands is a place where "anything goes", there are hardly any laws --> While the NL is certainly a very tolerant country when it comes to things like divorce, gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, soft drugs and prostitution, it is actually very strict in other areas and very bureaucratic. There are rules for
everything. For example, if I want to take the trash out I can only do it after 10 PM (or risk a hefty fine) and I can only use trash bags of one specific brand that is issued by the municipality. The prison sentences also tend to be longer than in other WE countries, although many people still complain that our justice system isn't strict enough