Sweetheart, I'm gonna give you more than just the tip. Rather you cook dinner, or not.

I can add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions quite well and easily convert back into decimals for compensation....To Insure Prompt Service, that is.

The Premise:

There is a comical scene in the animated movie The King and I in which Anna the British teacher is trying to give a geography lesson to the children of the King of Siam.

Anna presents a map of the world that shows the nation of Siam (now Thailand) as being one small nation among many other larger nations.

Upon seeing Anna's map, the children laugh and tell her that her map is wrong. Then they produce a map that shows Siam as one giant nation surrounded by numerous smaller nations.

Through the use of the Siamese "map", the children had been taught to believe that the Siam was the center of the universe, and, thus, Siamese standards were the standards for the entire world.

Just as those children naively believed that the entire world conformed to Siamese standards, some Americans act as if the entire world conforms to (or should conform to) American standards. Yet, the Americans who engage in such ethnocentric thinking aren't necessarily aware of what they are doing.

* * * * *

The Challenge:

I would like for non-American members of this website to tell about times when they encountered American ethnocentrism while participating on an international website.

Yeah, could trace that back to English ancestry. And besides, it's really not too much different now, the British, the French and the Americans, war everywhere.

Technically, all websites are international, because the Internet has no borders.
Yet, not all websites are meant to cater to an international audience.

So, what about a website that is meant to cater to an international audience?

Should American members of that site's audience just assume that non-American members have the same standards that Americans do?

***

For the record, I have read ethnocentric writings on this particular website.

as you said, even if its 'meant to be international' if its not created . maintained, or paid for by 'international' parties,, it is safe to figure it will be BASED in the culture of those who are maintaining, paying for, and creating the site,,,


and those from OTHER nations, should presume that the standards represented will be that of the nation of creation, maintenance, and funding,,,

I remember a case on this particular site in which an American member criticized a British member for spelling a certain word the way that the word is spelled in the UK.

Now, does this website have a rule which says that only American spellings are allowed?
No, it does not. The creators of this website created no such rule.

I remember another case in which an English-speaking member questioned the use of a language other than English on this website. A moderator responded by saying that the use of English wasn't required on this site, despite the fact that this site has its origin in the USA.

The fact that a website has its origin in the USA doesn't necessarily mean that the conversations on that website are expected to follow American rules and customs.

In my opinion, the claim that participants of such a site are expected to follow American rules and customs when posting comments is a claim born from American ethnocentrism.

* * * * * * * *

Keep in mind that ethnocentrism isn't necessarily something that is intentional, and it isn't necessarily harmful.
However, it is troublesome when, on an international site with no borders, citizens of one nation expect citizens of other nations to conform to the ways of the former nation.

whats expected is not the same as whats mandated


I can walk into mcdonalds in a formal gown and they will serve me, but I am EXPECTED to dress a bit more casual

That isn't necessarily true. What one is expected to wear depends on one's geographic location.

In cyberspace, there are no geographic boundaries dictating what we are expected to say.

There is a scene in the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn that addresses this particular debate. In the scene, Spock says about Khan, "He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking."

Two-dimensional thinking is what causes ethnocentrism to show up in cyberspace.
The Internet isn't limited by a two-dimensional place such as a particular nation.
So, people who use the Internet are not bound by the rules and customs of a particular nation, even when participating on a website that originates in a particular nation ... unless the owners of that website mandate that the rules and customs of a particular nation be used.

there are always expectations

if I have a website that is meant to be 'international' for instance, where I sell things, one can expect the TIME to be native to the place wehre I have CREATED the website

the same is true of websites and culture,, one can EXPECT that wherever the website is created and maintained,, it will mostly be connected to THAT CULTURE,,,THAT LANGUAGE, and THOSE CUSTOMS

having nothing to do with whether its WELCOME to the whole world,, there is a base.foundation,, that can be predicted by WHOM and WHERE the website is from,,,,

I don't need to MANDATE something, and I can welcome all things, but still have a BASE that is something more specific,,,,

. . . and those expectations can be unnecessarily ethnocentric.

but not on the web,, the site has a country of origin,, that is expected to be the 'central' culture upon which the site was developed and is maintained,,

there is no need for rudeness, whether it is because of a different 'ethnic' culture or a different religion or anything else,,,,but that is separate from the cultural basis of a website,,,

Well...the most common Americentric assertion I see at a variety of site forums is the stoic belief the domestic policies of the US represent a high average standard of living and that most people in other nations throughout the world would either like to move to the US or would prefer to move to the US.

Where I'd say the opposite is true, firstly the US doesn't rank particularly high in average standard of living compared to other developed nations (including not just cost of living versus demographic income but also violent crime rates and mental disturbance pro rata). You'd have to go to an extremist muslim nation to get a more punitive criminal justice system, a third world nation to find more political corruption, and the old world monarchies of europe to seek out greater cultural ethnocentricity (the belief of being the centre of the civilised world and judging all foreign cultures by your own standards).

But that said the sheer population weight of the US means you've got social departure to these memes on the scale of small nations within your nation. So it doesn't circumstantially hold.

Where it does tend to get displayed however is in foreign policy. But it's the politicians in charge of that.

On a one to one basis, there's good and bad people relative to anyone in every country. And most nations use flagrant propaganda as part of their standard education curriculums, which by definition is ethnocentric. French are taught they invented democracy, Greeks are taught they did, Americans are taught they did, India teaches kids they invented civilisation itself, and all of them paint their own selection of other nations, cultures and national/cultural histories with white and black hats, with different versions of what good and bad, right and wrong consist of.
Intelligent individuals self educate and decide for themselves, and that can happen anywhere...moreso with modern social media technologies.

For a simple example of Americentricity by cultivation,

I purviewed military history masters degrees at various universities internationally, interested in obtaining this for authorship purposes.
Unfortunately Prussia no longer exists so most of the most dedicated and therefore widely recognized courses are in US military universities. More expensive than British or local ones, but Commonwealth universities don't have a big industry in military history degrees, it's not a particularly usable qualification since Parliamentary advisors must be more manipulable than qualified for the job, it's actually in the job description, I read it when I worked at local Parliament. Primary requisite is a willingness to "answer directly to the office of the MP and subject all conclusions for review" and that "any associated tertiary degree is acceptable", reading between the lines: you don't need to have any subject specific qualification for position of military advisor to Parliament, just a degree that sounds okay on paper but mostly you have to write down what the MP tells you to write on reports and put your signature on it.
So a masters in an internationally recognized military history qualification is virtually meaningless for employment here, so there are very few universities that even offer that course. You might be too independent in your ideas to fall in line with national policies if you were too qualified. One of our only famous independent military speculators is definitely the subject of terrific defamation for suggesting RAAF purchasing of Flankers rather than SuperHornets and F35s, even though some notable high ranked RAAF officers publicly agreed with him.

So I looked elsewhere to do a course online with a reputable university offering an internationally recognized qualification in the field. The US is one of the only places there's much of it.
A lot actually, hitting US universities goes from a barren wasteland of hard to find this course, to suddenly everyone offers a masters degree in this field. Must have a lot of military universities, we've got like one nationwide and it's exclusive to military personnel.

Anyhoo, to cut a long story short, I had a look over the curriculum, done in blocks of course. For each semester you submit a paper with majority contribution to overall marks. Each one of these papers is terribly Americentric.
To get your qualification in military history with an American university, you must submit papers with foregone conclusions, ie. "Show how the United States has the most superior military tactics in the world."
"Give a historical example of how the United States military helped evolve military cultures throughout the world."

etc.

I'm just not sure I can do that. I wanted a degree because I function objectively in academia and a qualification gives weight.
I don't function particularly well when I have to lie about being objective and render subjective or ethnocentric papers. I stand out academically with a free hand, I really don't towing somebody else's boat.
I won't score well trying on that basis, and I'll fail the course if I actually level my academic mind.
If I'm forced to write a paper on US military forces in the last half century, I'll objectively show its mistakes and how it got schooled big time by German military culture, not the other way around. I'm guessing that won't get me a pass.

There's an example of American ethnocentricity. I suggest it's in much of education curriculums.

It is ethnocentric to expect one's particular nationality to be the central culture on an international website that is designed to cater to an international audience.

and all sites are ETHNOCENTRIC,, someone who creates an 'internatinal' site in Switzerland, is going to incorporate into it what is familiar to THEM, and THEIR CULTURE, and make it OPEN and ACCESSIBLE To all nations,,,

and all sites are ETHNOCENTRIC,, someone who creates an 'internatinal' site in Switzerland, is going to incorporate into it what is familiar to THEM, and THEIR CULTURE, and make it OPEN and ACCESSIBLE To all nations,,,

LOL, I guess a little history plays into this, no matter what America, Canada or Britian does vice versa they will always support ea other because historically they are sister and brother countries operating for the world as separate but in reality all connected. So don't get lost in the propaganda to truly see the underlying current that is at work here pulling the strings of all parties involved.

ethnocentric...

bias toward the self inclinations or traditions of one's own heritage and culture as the domineering guide and judge of good and acceptable human speech and hence behavior...

such is a fundamental inclination of the self pride and belief in individuality present within all human species and all of life even in nature, ingrained and perpetuated within the human psyche, as perpetuated by all life preserving systems of global management that exist upon planet earth...

but such is added to and perpetuated induced totally based upon the separation of peoples due to the self created language of humans them selves...

then each has their own self defined feelings and emotions about each word in language unto them self...

hence...

there is no un bias that exist, be the only true unbiased perception...

and until bias is addressed at it's root, it exist everywhere in root form, at all times...

it is a misnomer and misleading to try to speculate and define which circumstances qualify in them self as ethnocentric...

as this create and ever more narrow definition, rather than a broader one...

as the broadest definition possible bring the most together, the more narrow anything is, the more it separates, or creates disunity, or create ethnocentric in it's very first existence...

it is far better to see such as only including bias toward the self...

which can then be applied to a larger segment of human behavior and speech patterns...

of course, that is if the goal is to eradicate or reduce such menacing practices of human beings to create more unity and common purpose...

but that cannot exist, until a new global language is created and adopted by all nations of earth, and until then, it shall continue to be fomented and incubated in the hearts and minds of mankind, regardless of any philosophical or intellectual debate over when and where it may occur...

for in the most reality possible, and not the narrowest definition possible, there is no human speech pattern or voice that does not fit the quantifier of being ethnocentric in nature and root, each human it self ethnocentric in it's individual self.

you can only join that site if you eat a pound of Emmentaler Cheese per day!