Why do foreigners still perceive USA as open, friendly, happy?

[sushiman]

Yeah I make $10k a month, money doesn't change anything. That's the whole USA value system, that if you only make more money everything we be great. Wrong. Heck I know guys at the highest level of finance and technology fields who have a suck life. They went the way of pursue work and status and that will solve everything, and of course failed. I don't know when Americans are going it get it.

As others have said to the original question: media and the fact that people are reluctant to sound negative and say the truth. Two examples, a girl in knew in shanghai seriously thought the USA was like the show friends, that show is how she learned English and had that vision in her head. She wasn't a dumb girl, very smart actually, same as lots of Americans have strange ideas about distant places. Second example when my woman talked to her mom yesterday her mom could not comprehend that I would want to goto Asia to live...the concept that it is not that great here just could not be communicated and instead she assumed I was "taking one for the team" and going to shitty Asia so my woman could be close to family. Ha amazing.

Also if you ask Asian women in the USA how they like it they will always say great! They are used to citizenship interviews and crazy patriots and know saying anything negative could end their stay or put them in danger. After they trust you and you start talking you hear different answers!

[tradcom]

Women tend to find the US amazing because it's a near-paradise for them. So that's already a massive portion of the immigrant population whose views are pretty much set in stone.

[Repatriate]

Women tend to find the US amazing because it's a near-paradise for them. So that's already a massive portion of the immigrant population whose views are pretty much set in stone.

For your average Filipina or asian woman from a destitute background in a developing world country the U.S. really is paradise. Think about it, your average asian female looks are now valued far above market value in the U.S. because there's millions of desperate horny American men (of all ethnicities) with sizable incomes waiting in line. Even the most subpar asian woman is considered quite a catch in the U.S. and I think this has sort of spilled over into how a lot of immigrant women think of the U.S.

For Russian women I imagine it's even crazier..a lot of hot russian women have very "waspy" looks and could totally sleep their way on top. Hearing some mail order bride horror stories it seems some of them do go a bit crazy in the U.S. because of how much opportunity there is.

[tradcom]

For your average Filipina or asian woman from a destitute background in a developing world country the U.S. really is paradise. Think about it, your average asian female looks are now valued far above market value in the U.S. because there's millions of desperate horny American men (of all ethnicities) with sizable incomes waiting in line. Even the most subpar asian woman is considered quite a catch in the U.S. and I think this has sort of spilled over into how a lot of immigrant women think of the U.S.

For Russian women I imagine it's even crazier..a lot of hot russian women have very "waspy" looks and could totally sleep their way on top. Hearing some mail order bride horror stories it seems some of them do go a bit crazy in the U.S. because of how much opportunity there is.

QFE.

[ladislav]

The immigrant females are not complaining and the immigrant males will not be complaining. They will probably be writing home bragging about how many women they have laid in the sexual paradise of the USA. Who wants to appear a loser to folks back home? Not Latinos, not Asians. They write home and tell everyone that they have a Mercedez Benz full of blonds. To fail in the US is a big shame.
The only ones complaining are Europeans. East or West. But these are very few in the US compared to the millions of Asians and Latinos.

[tradcom]

The immigrant females are not complaining and the immigrant males will not be complaining. They will probably be writing home bragging about how many women they have laid in the sexual paradise of the USA. Who wants to appear a loser to folks back home? Not Latinos, not Asians. They write home and tell everyone that they have a Mercedez Benz full of blonds. To fail in the US is a big shame.
The only ones complaining are Europeans. East or West. But these are very few in the US compared to the millions of Asians and Latinos.

Absolutely not. Most cultures are not like the US, where guys brag about how many times they got laid last week (often while lying through their teeth).

Instead, immigrant males will (would have, actually, seeing as the US economy is now in a worse state that those of some "developing" countries) simply enjoy an income that would be difficult to obtain in their home countries.

[E_Irizarry]

The answer is simple- the number of sad people reporting back about America is smaller than the number of TVs in every home and Hollywood sitcoms or movies being beamed into those homes through those TVs. In addition to that, you have DVDs for sale on every corner.

After a Joe Foreigner comes home , he flips on the TV and sees the friendly, happy faces of "Friends", the humorous "Simpsons", etc. That happens more often than a visit from a disgruntled returnee. And most immigrants are in the US to send money back home. Unless these are intellectuals, they do not care. Their social life is not with the Gringos.

Also, you do have to keep in mind that a Filipina nurse makes some $300 a month in the Philippines but some $3500 in the US. She can work hard and send home some $2000 a month.

Loneliness, shmoneliness. To a Filipina nurse, being able to save $2000 a month is a dream come true. And she will have a car, too. Wow!
I just spoke to a Filipina caregiver- she is in the province and is only making $65 a month. She is dying to go to the US to make 25 times that amount. And she will be happy and her family back home will be open and friendly to her as she sends home $1500 a month and who cares about the rest?

When I was in Saudi, I did not care that the Saudis were not open. But the $5000 a month tax free sounded great!

So, people come to the US to make dollars and to earn good salaries to be later sent to the cheap countries where they live. They are not in the USA to socialize. The men bring women from back home or support them there, the women find American BFs- and everyone is happy.

We are a small minority that is complaining. Most people are too busy making money and the Americans they meet at work are pleasant enough.

alot of what you said makes sense.

An armenian friend told me if you are a romantic you will not like america.......

So f***ing true +1

[jamesbond]

Most cultures are not like the US, where guys brag about how many times they got laid last week (often while lying through their teeth).

How true! I have met a lot of guys who say things like, "yeah, last year I slept with 10 women." Then I talk to their roommate and find out the guy slept with 2 women and both of the women were fat!

A lot of guys in the US are trying to make themselves look good, so they lie and say that they have slept with a lot of women. I met a guy a few years ago who said he slept with 100 women so far in his life. Then I asked his roommate if that was true and he said the guy is lying and he is still a virgin! WTF?

Another guy told me he has sex with 2 girls a month. Then I find out he only sleeps with about 2 girls a year and the girls are usually morbidly obese or as ugly as sin!

[ladislav]

I have done over 300 ( most paid and most in SE Asia) but I never brag about it. I also have friends who live in SE Asia and for whom sex is just a weekend foray and normally they do 1-2 girls a week X52 weeks x 5-10-20 years. About 500-1000? We never brag about it just like we never brag about how many Cokes we have drunk.

[S_Parc]

I also have friends who live in SE Asia and for whom sex is just a weekend foray and normally they do 1-2 girls a week X52 weeks x 5-10-20 years.

Would cost a small fortune around here

Actually, that's not true, marriage costs more !

[momopi]

Rather than to think living in the US and making US-level pay vs. going overseas and making less, it's better to think of ways to live abroad and still make US-level salary. Or, get posted abroad at company expense. i.e. investment research analyst posted to emerging markets.

[FreeYourMind]

The image of the U.S. as the land of milk and honey has been carefully created over a period of many decades and sites like this still have little overall impact compared to the power of Hollywood. It will take the collapse or stark undeniable decline of the U.S., more and more a given among a growing number of non-matrix influenced observers, to shock both Americans and those abroad who still view the U.S. with glassy eyed idealism into reality.

[Winston]

Ok here is another related question.

Since TV influences the masses, then why haven't most Americans tried to emulate the open, friendly, expressive characters that they see on TV? How come people in real life aren't like people on TV? Wouldn't they try to emulate them? Why are they so antisocial and exclusive instead, talking to strangers only for business-related reasons?

Also, what about the immigrant opinions that I collected here?

http://www.happierabroad.com/ebook/Page32.htm

Do they represent the feelings of most immigrants? Why or why not?

[ladislav]

The image of the U.S. as the land of milk and honey has been carefully created over a period of many decades and sites like this still have little overall impact compared to the power of Hollywood. It will take the collapse or stark undeniable decline of the U.S., more and more a given among a growing number of non-matrix influenced observers, to shock both Americans and those abroad who still view the U.S. with glassy eyed idealism into reality.

This is a Soviet propaganda film. As millions were starving to death, this is how they showed the reality:

[Repatriate]

Ok here is another related question.

Since TV influences the masses, then why haven't most Americans tried to emulate the open, friendly, expressive characters that they see on TV? How come people in real life aren't like people on TV? Wouldn't they try to emulate them? Why are they so antisocial and exclusive instead, talking to strangers only for business-related reasons?

A lot of Americans _do_ emulate what they see on TV but are complex caricatures of what exists in real life. For example a lot of American males really do buy into the football watching, beer swilling, conservative, bible thumping archetype. A lot of people also emulate scenes like dressing up as hipsters and spouting academic liberal claptrap while not practicing a single bit of it. Or becoming a self professed wiccan or hippie attaching themselves to a clique of likeminded individuals. If you think about it American society is just an extension of high school where people play "pretend" at being functional members of a community.