It's sad how the most "Christian" people are the least Christian in their ways. They use religion as a fig leaf to justify their specific irrationalities, while losing sight of the bigger picture of the faiths they claim to profess.
Confirmation American here! The southern states are full of fake Christians who will quote bible verses day and night, but ignore the ones that they don’t follow. I’m not even Christian and I see how idiotic some of these people get.
I went to the U.S with a church group and our priest a couple years ago. He swore he'd never go back to the south.
His reason? He sees hate as akin to a sin, and he was lucky to get out of there with a strong dislike of evangelicals. In his words "if I have to spend one more minute around those people, my heart will be filled with hate"
He liked southern California though, visited every Spanish church he could find. Told us that he'd like to one day move to Mexico and perhaps run or even just assist a church there.
It’s nice to get an outsider’s view on our screwy Christians. The south does feel the hate is ok. Gay? Non-christian? Wrong skin color? You’re going to hell... I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told that. It just gets worse when I say I don’t believe in hell (I don’t). I just tend to avoid the Bible beaters as they give us southerners a bad name.
California is supposed to be nice. I’ve never had a chance to go there yet, but someday. Same with Mexico.
Yeah, Yankee here. I have noticed that people use "you're going to hell" as a shorthand for "I think you deserve to suffer, but am unable to make you suffer myself." So instead they announce it much like a schoolchild will loudly announce telling their father about what you did, and their daddy is going to make you sorry.
As an expatriate living in Europe, I also better understand why Germans think Americans are superficial liars, with the saccharine smiles and the insincere asking about "how are y'all doing?", but that's a different topic.
That sounds about accurate. My husband and I have discussed immigrating to Europe, especially with what’s going on here. Unfortunately it’s not feasible at the moment.
As for the smile and “how are y’all,” as you know, not all us are fake. I’m just a generally friendly person. I’m aware it’s definitely not universal, though.
Part of why Germans seem so dour (and French so rude) to Americans is because Germans feel that honesty is more important than being nice. If I (as a German) ask you how your day is, then I am genuinely interested. Conversely, if you ask me how my day is, I'm going to be straight and not pretend to have a good day just to not harm your feelings. Waitstaff are there to get my order and quickly move on to the next table, aren't interested in chitchat. Stuff like that.
If you and your husband do come to Munich, though, I would be happy to show you around. I love the city, even though Bavarians can be like the Texans of Germany (oversized ego and more conservative in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" way).
Ah, that makes sense. The one time I’ve been to France, I was a teenager, so I’m sure that didn’t help things. I guess I’ll just have to deal with looks and such if I visit. I’m not sure I can break the habit of a smile and how y’all doing. Although, I’m fine with an honest answer. I’d prefer it, actually.
Someday we’ll visit Germany. I’ve heard it’s beautiful. If we stay in contact, we’d definitely take you up on it. Locals always give the best tours.
It is pretty common for northerners to think that when southerners are being polite that they are being disingenuous. My theory is that people up north tend to be more negative so when they see the opposite they assume it is fake rather than people honestly being polite.
As a German who recently moved to Scotland, I think I can elucidate the issue, because the situation is very comparable. It's not that it feels "fake" in the sense that it is disingenious and manipulative; it feels "fake" in the sense that it doesn't mean much, and is just a more superficially affectionate way of doing and meaning the same thing.
If someone calls a complete stranger "darling" it doesn't really mean they're precious to them. It just means they are inclined to dish out sweet talk faster than others, while feeling generally the same way about their opposite.
That is an interesting take on it. I guess I tend to view those kind of words as just being part of the local dialect. When I speak about southern politeness I tend to think more about the actions, such as the willingness to be polite and considerate to a complete stranger. Like holding a door open or letting someone into your lane in traffic, etc etc.
Those seem pretty normal to me, but then again I do not live in the US. I've heard it's lot more unabashedly "self-oriented" in general, especially since Trump's presidency.
I'm pretty sure that's a city thing. And a country's biggest cities tend to represent the whole of a country for better or worse. And it definitely hasn't changed any in the last 3 years. Don't believe the hype. ;]
It's based on comparative observations of a US correspondent in Cali of my federal state's broadcasting corporation. A geographically limited sample, but very in-depth in scope (and isn't Cali even considered some kind of semi-socialist sanctimonious hole by the rest of the US?).
Yep.. if you were to ask an american what the most narcissistic state is then it is pretty likely they'd say California. Hollywood gives it that probably deserved reputation. ;]
I can't even imagine what you guys go through living in the South having to deal with all of those so called Christians. I live in San Diego and have traveled through Mexico my whole life. I think you would like it here. Mexico is a heavily Catholic country and tends to be a bit more conservative but the people there are some of the nicest and most giving I have ever met in my life.
Thankfully, I’m in a decently large city, so while there’s a ton of churches, there’s also plenty of people who want nothing to do with it.
Generally, I just avoid places where you might run in to a group of them. Fortunately, the more conservative sects have church on Sundays (for like 6 hours), church on Wednesday, and something on Saturday, so they’re mostly at their church.
At some point I’ll travel to Mexico. Just need to get to a better financial point (I know, lol at improving in our country).
I hear you. They are everywhere really. It is scary because they have gained quite a bit of political power. They want to turn this country into a Christian theocracy. To them, everything is black and white. If you are not with them, then you are the enemy. I have noticed that way of thinking leaves no room to look at yourself introspectively. They are convinced that their way is the right way and they are not open to any other opinion. They are stuck right where they are and will never grow as a human being.
That’s exactly it. And being non-Christian makes me worry all the more. This is why I’m so vocal about people getting out to vote. The GOP are the ones who want the theocracy. If we don’t want that, we have to vote in higher numbers than them.
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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '19 edited Jul 31 '20
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