The World According to the United States of America

LOL!

Hello! I love your "Mapping Stereotypes"-project! I posted an article about prejudices and stereotypes about Asia and Asian people on my Blog and recommended your homepage.

I live in Two skyscrappers and stuff... lmao!! Brilliant!

Hello Alphadesigner, great job, I liket it! I found it very funny, but when will you make a world map according to LatinAmerican countries, I guess you will surprise of the ideas. Once again nice job, all of them.

Hi, can you explain rice dolls for the philippines? Because I honestly don't get it.

wtfstan.. hehehe... btw, my country u labelled as mesoindia. why is that so? nice work man..

This is funny but...

Great job, Alphadesigner! I also liked your I searched at once "Azerbaijan" (cause that's where I come from) I ahared it on my Facebook profile :))

Thank you Jack. The reason there is only one world map is because I am just starting with the world views and of course one of the first attempts is the US, like you mentioned the stereotypes are universally known and relatively easy to map. I have no reliable way to seriously measure a nation's self-absorbtion index :)) and I agree with you richer and prosperous nations sometimes have the tendency to think everything is spinning around them but the US view has always struck me as something very unique because it's such a complex amalgam of idealism, naivety, good will, greed, compassion and pride. Another aspect is outside's world envy. Small nations always try to "emasculate" the Great Power of the day and thus many stereotypes get created completely artificially. I recently made a map about Switzerland and I noticed that tendency, even in myself. In Europe we often portray the Swiss as self absorbed. Of course they are very far from being a Great Power but they are very rich and fiercely independent which basically has the same effect. :) As for the American people - some of them seem quite disinterested in the world outside their borders, you can spot that even in the presidential candidates. This of course raises another question - does the simple knowledge about what lies beyond the border makes you less self absorbed and more interested in other people's destiny. The answers cannot be provided by my maps of course, they can only serve as catalysts for discussion. As for my answer to Trueboy - I was being sarcastic, again. ;)

Also, I wouldn't go as far as saying that Trueboy is an idiot but he has clearly not seen "sarcasm" ever before.

Taken with a sense of humor (it's always a must for these things), some of these tags are wildly accurate, with some of them having a sort of rich, complex political commentary about it, like the "Estados Unidos de Cocaine." I like how that touches on the fact that Colombia is such a close ally of the US, yet it's most often known stateside for the cocaine problem. I don't suspect, however, that you think Americans are any more self-absorbed than other developed nations (but yes, you're giving us too much credit assuming we have stereotypes for that many countries), and this map reflects the fact that American stereotypes of the world are much better known and more widely discussed than stereotypes from other nations. It's kind of funny how every time you see one a map describing how Americans see the world, it's a map of the whole world, but when you see a map of how people from other countries (Germany, UK, etc.), they only show their part of the world. That kind of says something about their centrism, doesn't it? :) Great effort, man. This is by far the best of its kind.

Trueboy, you totally ignorant idiot. I am not American and you should pay more attention to what this project is really about. :)) Thanks for the laughs though, you made my day.

"alphadesigner" — u totally racist asshole. U showed to all what know about whole world? Wtf? "Civilized world"? World — it's a World... I see what u love your country much than mother. And not polite to every country — idiot! On next time writes: "F*cking democratic morons consider themselves a nation and That destroys the stand and dictates his worthless opinion of other countries who killed the people who are the legitimate owners of (the Indians)".

Oooops! Bad link! This is definetly good ;) (http://relaxdesign.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/parte-7-riflessione-sugli-stereotipi-tra-paesi/). Cheers!

It's easy to tell you've put a great deal of effort while creating this map. :) I read an interview with you for a Bulgarian newspaper but I don't remember if you mentioned this or not - aside from friends, their stories and your own experiences, do you get inspiration from anywhere else - movies, literature, etc.? Thank you for sharing your work. :) All the best, Petko

Absolutely brilliant!!! UK = Mummy .... couldn't help laughing at that one ;)

Great idea, had a good laugh, but it seems so true. I payed closed attention as to what you wrote about Poland (that's were I come from) and I must say that all in all you presented a pretty true picture of how people from different parts of the world perceive us. Is it ok if I post your picture at some later point on my blog (of course i will link it to your page)? I just think that you made a pretty good point with those pictures.

@desjardins - Thanks! My English is a weird mixture between American and British, so I make those mistakes occasionally but I think I have my information first hand. Of course many people don't agree and that's fine - this map is not a scientific effort, it's a satirical caricature. With "pals" I didn't mean Palestine (there is no such internationally recognized country), I meant Israel. Aussiebum is a brand of male underwear and Argentina is a very cheap destination, I know many Americans who love to travel to Buenos Aires these days exactly because it is so cheap. It's not a reference for cheap imports, it's a joke about a place where you can spend a great vacation and get away paying very little. :) I hope that clarifies things a bit.

I enjoy your maps, and I realize you are not American, but I question whether you have spoken to an American about these maps. We do not use the word "holiday" for "vacation." Palestine is hardly our "pal." "Bums" is rarely used and is generally an outdated term for "homeless person." I have no idea why the Bahamas are labeled "cliffs" - they are almost entirely flat. Perhaps that's an English reference? I also can't figure out why Argentina would be called a Dollar Store (China would be more accurate, since most of the cheap manufactured crap comes from there). The "...stans" thing is funny and accurate, though.

Hi, there! Your project is definetly tha bomb! I'm really into this thing of analysing stereotypes and different cultures, I'm going to talk about your stuff in my blog's heading called "Stereotipi e pregiudizi". You can read some funny and interesting stuff (Here: http://relaxdesign.wordpress.com/rubriche/stereot... unfortunately is written in italian, aber du kannst einfach mit Google übersetzen! :) Hope you'll enjoy! Ciao!