An Irishman's view of the USA

Not really. Maybe three or four might be interesting points. But he is just as guilty of stereotyping as he is complaining about stereotyping. And he seems to be pretty intolerant of many things. It is blog or web site and he is interested in stirring the pot as hard as he can to be responses. To him a negative or positive response is of equal value.

Entertaining blog. I work with people from all over the place and their biggest issue dealing with Americans seems to fall in line with this guy, especially the hyper sensitivity. I don't know of any other place where people care what other people like/dislike/believe/feel more than here. I still can't get my head around that one. It's a shock to the system for us Americans to hear somebody tell it like it is. I can see why it would be even more difficult to move to the states and have hyper sensitivity the new norm. Thanks for the link!

Americans overseas often point out aspects of the local culture that seem dysfunctional or less-than, and it's only fair that visitors do the same to us. I suppose every positive quality in a culture has corresponding negative aspects-- e.g., America's strong entrepreneurship, ambition, and social mobility contribute to crass commercialism and materialism. Other cultures in which family ties seem to be stronger operate with rampant nepotism, etc...

Freedom of speech. He's in his 20's. Ho hum.

As long as you first acknowledge that he's just a person with an opinion, not perfect, and that as a "rant" it is inherently a bit over-reaching and doesn't apply to everyone (what on earth does, after all); I thought it was pretty spot-on. I couldn't find much to argue with. It was fun to read and he seemed like a guy I would like to sit and have an OJ with (you would have to read it to get that).

Though his idea that more Americans are lonely because we don't go around criticizing each other is pretty laughable.

He made quite a few over-generalizations, and on a few points he was down right wrong (ie, restaurant tips not being taxed)... but over all, I thought he made some good points. Particularly the dichotomy between the excess positivity and the over all sadness of the population. And the comments about the ubiquity of commercial advertising in the US I also found rather poignant. I never noticed this until I started to spend a large amount of time outside of the US, but when you return, it immediately strikes you as crass, unnecessary and intrusive. Of course, advertising exists over here, but it's much easier to avoid and tune out.

Oh look...the Irish equivalent of the Ugly American. How precious.

I found most of his criticisms to be quite accurate, but it's our culture and it's the way things are. His child like rant was bit difficult to take. His issues that resonated with me are, Americans are too sensitive, in your face marketing, stereotypes of other countries (however he is good at do that to our culture), a country designed for cars, not humans (our suburban culture has aided this), and always in a hurry. The "always in a hurry" trait is one I would like our culture to shake but it seems the rest of the world is taking this one on just as much as we are. The best vacation we have had recently was a trip to the Virgin Islands and I left the smartphone at home, and just vegged out on the beach for a week.

The truth sometimes hurts but at least it was done in a humorous way. ONE Irishman's view of America.......most of the ones I've met drink too much or not at all!

Eh, I've been living in Germany for over 10 months now after living in the U.S. all my life. I think a lot of his complaints are accurate, but really hypocritical since his blog tells people to roll with other cultures and not complain - and then he complains about uniquely American aspects of culture, like good, friendly service and tipping for said service. I don't particularly like customer service in Europe and in Germany in particular compared to the U.S. but I understand they're operating on a different framework than us (and that framework is NOT "the customer is always right" or an understanding you might be trying to catch a movie or a train or whatever) and I deal with it instead of getting huffy, I change my expectations. He seems unwilling to do this in regards to U.S. culture, which makes him a shitty traveler/expat IMO. Also I too used to lament the fact that the US is so car-centric but you know, after living here, I get why: THE US IS FREAKING HUGE. I don't like the car culture but expecting the US to have trains and public transit like Europe is not realistic. And many of our major cities do have adequate public transportation anyway - the cities he was supposedly visiting. His rant makes it sounds like he was staying in the midwest and suburbs the entire time. I'm guessing he's going off preconceived notions of America and let that color his view of things here. He stayed in some of my favorite cities in the US and I think with a more open mind he would've enjoyed himself more: the same advice I'd give to American travelers visiting Europe, BTW.