I'm bored so I am going to elaborate some more on the Dutch stereotypes killbert-Robby previously explored and add some Kenyan and Thai ones to add a bit of colour to the proceedings.
I myself believe I am far removed from an affinity to a particular country to observe and enjoy using a lot of stereotypes whilst not falling into any myself, but this appears to be mistaken, because Robin often takes a lot of delight in informing me of when I'm acting too Dutch! (Like when I wear an excessive amount of Orange for example, or eat in a certain way)
I have mixed feeling about stereotypes, whilst all of them are to a larger extent true, sometimes I find the surrounding ignorance exasperatingly infuriating (unless of course they are used
ironically).
Perceived Dutch stereotypes
Blonde haired, blue eyed Wouter is a laid back and quirky individual but always on time. Everyone morning he gets out of bed, puts on his clogs and gets out of his four storey windmill before riding on his bicycle across the dykes for the day's work in Amsterdam, the capital of Denmark. Wouter's parents were farmers but he is a policeman. He is not very religious, openly gay, smokes marijuana on the job and sells drugs whenever he has the time. He's more frugal than a Jew, but less so than a Scot. He drinks coffee during the day, and then Heineken at night, but eats cheese all the time. He spoils children, listens to techno and loves flowers. As an ultra liberal Wouter is very tolerant of all kinds of people and is openly accepting to all. He speaks English, he speaks German, and he speaks French and Dutch as well. And when the day is done, he takes a pleasant stroll by the canals and riverside cafés with a cultured prostitute he intends to audition for the amateur porn movies he makes in his free time.
Whilst most of theses Dutch stereotypes are quaint and positive (apart from the ones from the Belgian perspective where they call us arrogant and stingy - but what do the Belgians know anyway? They're just a glorified Dutch province - apart from the French and German bits - that reeks of mayonnaise and whose only claims to fame were fried potatoes named after another country, a boy reporter and his dog, and the European parliament - the mother of all spoilsports. As far as I'm concerned they can all go eat a waffle) what annoys me about them is that most of them are thoroughly dated.
That drug heaven paradise idea got old in the eighties. A lot of what you'd expect to be legal here that's illegal in your country is surprising illegal here as well! Hard drugs are right out and soft drugs can only be taken in certain private places and most of the people who do bother with them are slacker urban teens, those hippies who moved into Amsterdam during the Free Love revolution and never bothered to leave (So depressing) and artists. As a matter of fact, there is hardly any porn on terrestrial TV these days compared to the pre-watershed banging of 1992 (However I don't blame conservatism for that but cable companies). Nonetheless, Holland is rather conservative. There is no class system but the silent majority are up in arms about immigration and as the Theo Van Gough affair revealed, its tolerance is on a par as with nearly every western European country. However, I am also aware that what I'm describing as conservatism here may just very well be branded as anarchic pinko liberalism in any other country so I guess it's as good as it gets. Just don't confuse it with Denmark.
Perceived Kenyan stereotypes
Kimani is a Maasai Warrior. Every morning he wakes up half suffocated to death by one of the masses of buffalo milling about in his cramped shack bedroom. He adorns his bright red kanga, puts on his slippers and picks up his freshly sharpened spears before pushing his way out of the menagerie of lions, tigers zebras, elephants, giraffes and flamingos crowding his veranda, before starting on the 200 km trek across the Serengeti to work in Africa, the capital of Africa. Kimani has no need for a car. He is going to run, and he is going to win. Kimani's parents were farmers but he is a policeman. He is a devout born again Christian, he drinks a pot of tea (with milk), loves his roast goat, and always votes for the guy in the same tribe as himself. He speaks Swahili and he speaks English which is an essential skill to getting along with the tourists. As a very conservative person Kimani is naturally suspicious about wealthy people like Mr Singh, and is horrified by the very idea of homosexuality. But altogether he a is a very jovial man, and laughingly palms bribes whilst waving on wrongdoers to drive away in their zebra-striped vans as he has every intention of dying a rich man - which is all very well seeing as he has aids.
My biggest grievance is that from the perspective of the international majority, Africa is an entire state in itself, not a continent composed of 53 different countries, each containing multitudes of very different groups of people. What is normally enough to suffice is that they are poor black people. And they're probably hungry as well. However, although a lot of the generalizations are based on a very raw truth, the rest I blame entirely on postcard photographers, Olympic athletes and Weeble.
Perceived Thai stereotypes
Panrit is Thai. Every morning he unsticks himself from his sweaty sleeping mat, switches off her fan, wraps his silk sarong round his thin hips, puts on his gold spiritual necklace and leather sandals, grabs her umbrella and puts on her designer sunglasses before revving up her blue tuktuk to head across the smog encrusted super highway spaghetti junction across the Mekong to work in the Patpong Soi - the hottest nightspot in Bangcock, the capital of Thighland. Panrit's parents were rice farmers but he is a ladyboy and sells his body for sex. He is also a practicing Buddhist, an excellent masseur and an adept Muay Thai kickboxer, but he is plagued by his incurable addiction to gambling. He drinks Singa and copious amounts of Pepsi, and loves fried rice, noodlesoup and chicks on sticks. Panrit is well educated and enjoys spending a lot of his free time singing karaoke and playing videogames in 247 cyber cafés. He owned an ipod before they were released and spends his days off work hanging out in plazas and nightmarkets hawking Esprite jeans, DVDs and copies of Windows Vista to the tourists.
Panrit is well known for her friendliness, hospitality and limitless tolerance and will happily allow anyone who is wealthy enough to dose her with the proportional amount of disrespect verging on the limits of the grotesque - his good humour further embellished by his propensity to laughter and making friends. She speaks Thai and English because he literally loves the farangs, which may not continue for very long – seeing as she has aids.
It's a wonder how difficult it is to think of a positive Thai stereotype considering how modern and high tech the place is. It's easy enough to guess what the main stereotypes are. Normally a joke in comedies, routines or sitcoms is just a mention of Thailand and the connotations write the punchlines themselves. What is more interesting is what the perspective is of Bangkok citizens towards what national stereotypes are seeing as how it is they who have to deal with the dregs of western society baring their all at their place. I also think I should have said something about water buffalos.
Anyway a favourite in my bookmarks is
this site here for identifying how well you exemplify your particular nationality. All I can say is that apart from a few dated facts here and there (especially concerning gay marriage), "It's so true!"
