[warning... rant ahead]
A popular thing to do seems to be to beat up on Americans... even among Americans. This isn't a new thing. I've heard stories much of my life about how rude American tourists can be, how very few speak another language, and how very few own a passport.
(Not trying to brag, just trying to put some credibility behind my opinions...) Having visited several countries on 4 continents, "rude" is relative. We are part of our upbringing and culture. We get used to certain behaviors because they are acceptable within the culture we were raised. Therefore, what's "rude" to one group of peoples is NOT rude to another. Sure, Americans may come across as rude to the Japanese (just as a hypothetical), but the Japanese lack of personal space comes across as rude to Americans. So... KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!!! It's these differences that make us diverse, right? We're supposed to be honoring/respecting/preserving our different cultures... right? What makes Americans different shouldn't be viewed as bad, cuz it's not. I've seen some pretty rude British tourists in my travels, and there are things the Dutch do that I consider rude (their "directness" being top of the list). But neither of these people would consider what they're doing as rude... it's part of their culture... to them it's acceptable behavior.
As for the other 2 comments about Americans, all I can say is... "DUH!" The United States and its territories cover a sizable portion of the Northern Hemisphere. I can travel from Alaska, to Hawaii, to Maine, to Puerto Rico, to Guam... and never need a passport. I can experience different "cultures" (just look at LA vs Topeka 😉) , and different ecological regions ("The United States may be the most ecologically diverse country in the world, home to 21 of 28 globally defined ecoregions." Quoted from here).
And although Europe may have a higher population than the US, the US is larger geographically. It can take quite a while to visit all 50 states. And only 1 language is needed to visit all these places. Of course Europeans learn multiple languages... you cross a border and more than likely you'll end up somewhere where the native language is not your own. Hubs and I can travel no more than 3 hours by train in any direction (except NW, cuz then we'll end up in the North Sea) and be somewhere where they don't speak Dutch. Since I've moved to NL I've been to countries that speak French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic and have flown shorter flights than it takes to go from Washington DC to LA. Plus there are many English speaking countries on the planet as well. Heck, you could visit at least 2 other continents and not have to learn another language.
On top of the above complaints there always seems to be a new list on the internet of the ways Americans stand out when traveling to other countries. Again, all I can say is.... "DUH!". Every culture stands out when it travels abroad in some way or another. (You ever been around a group of Dutchies either just heading out or just coming back from holiday? Plug your ears cuz they can be quite loud and hyper-verbal) And that standing out should be ok. We don't want everyone to be the same, do we? I mean, there's this huge push for diversity everywhere. Well, outside the US Americans are in the diverse group. These differences exist within the US itself. New Yorkers are considered rude (and even that slur is focused on NYC, not the state). Mainards can't give directions ("Yeh kant get thah from heeya"). Californians are a bunch of stoner surfers. Oregonians are tree huggers. Texans love guns.
So... lets stop proposing these differences as "bad" (Just recently someone posted yet another list in an American expat group where the poster asked "how many are you guilty of?" Why "guilty"?Why the negativity?) and embrace them as being no more than "different"
[end rant]
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