Running with Americans. Boring conversations due to lack of knowledge

PEDs.

Bring up some of these topics: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Ask them about their vlog, their cool shirt collection, GOT, and where the best craft beer/coffee is in town.

I’ve noticed this myself. The average American has a very shallow knowledge of history, culture, art, music, politics, comedy, and film. As an American, it can be isolating never really being able to have a real conversation with someone who doesn’t badger you with, “how do you know that?” type comments. I went hiking with some Aussies a few months back and found their better breadth of knowledge invigorating, especially insofar as the quality of the conversation was concerned.

Alright, then what should us Americans be reading up on? Give me some specific things to research, not broad topics like art, music, comedy, etc.

NotAnAnglophileBut... wrote:

I’ve noticed this myself. The average American has a very shallow knowledge of history, culture, art, music, politics, comedy, and film. As an American, it can be isolating never really being able to have a real conversation with someone who doesn’t badger you with, “how do you know that?” type comments. I went hiking with some Aussies a few months back and found their better breadth of knowledge invigorating, especially insofar as the quality of the conversation was concerned.

Here’s the thing: what America does matters a lot to other countries. What Australia does matters a lot to Australia and not at all to the US. That’s why we don’t know about them: it’s irrelevant.

And I assure you the average person anywhere doesn’t know much about art, music, film etc because it’s meaningless in the context of most people’s lives. We have work and family. Who has time to dive deep into mediums that don’t pay any bills and are not fun?

You are truly ignorant. What Australia does matters to the U.S.

Educate yourself.

You are trying to discuss geography with people during a run, and then blaming other people for the conversation being boring?

From my experience on these boards, you should bring up Trump, abortion and men's rights activism (aka bemoan American men's sad persecuted lives).

hellonerth wrote:

Outback Jack Mack wrote:

Here’s the thing: what America does matters a lot to other countries. What Australia does matters a lot to Australia and not at all to the US. That’s why we don’t know about them: it’s irrelevant.

And I assure you the average person anywhere doesn’t know much about art, music, film etc because it’s meaningless in the context of most people’s lives. We have work and family. Who has time to dive deep into mediums that don’t pay any bills and are not fun?

You are truly ignorant. What Australia does matters to the U.S.

Educate yourself.

It does not. I lived there for 7 years.

Americans, in my experience, know plenty. They just tend to be absolute sh*t conversationalists and don't know how to listen or ask leading questions. If you need to fill the silence, keep 'em talking. Otherwise...just run.

Outback Jack Mack wrote:

hellonerth wrote:

You are truly ignorant. What Australia does matters to the U.S.

Educate yourself.

It does not. I lived there for 7 years.

If Australia decided to put an export tax on alcohol, there are dozens of bars across the US that would have to rethink their Tuesday specials.

Australia has gun control. That's a good example for the USA to follow.

Fi wrote:

I have been training with Americans at training camps, but the conversations stagnate at some point, so it is hard to get to know them. They don’t know much about geography or political institutions outside their own country. Is there any topics that I should bring up?

What if we talked about puttin' on our sh1t kickin' boots and kick your azz? That'd be great conversation!

Ever heard of Fosters? Yellow Tail? wrote:

Outback Jack Mack wrote:

It does not. I lived there for 7 years.

If Australia decided to put an export tax on alcohol, there are dozens of bars across the US that would have to rethink their Tuesday specials.

This reminds me of the old Australia saying “that’s not a knife this is a knife “

Fi wrote:

I have been training with Americans at training camps, but the conversations stagnate at some point, so it is hard to get to know them. They don’t know much about geography or political institutions outside their own country. Is there any topics that I should bring up?

Spectrums

Ever heard of Fosters? Yellow Tail? wrote:

Outback Jack Mack wrote:

It does not. I lived there for 7 years.

If Australia decided to put an export tax on alcohol, there are dozens of bars across the US that would have to rethink their Tuesday specials.

That’s a good joke.

But Fosters in brewed in Texas.

Australia is the US’s 23rd largest trading partner.

The US is Australia’s 4th largest export market.

Do the math bozos.

You don't consider music, art, and film fun?

Also, as an American, the richest country on earth, shouldn't you have to spend LESS time worrying about paying the bills than the average person? Americans as a whole seem to grind their lives away paying for an extra bedroom on their house and miss out on some of the very best parts of life.

I think art, film and literature might be considered meaningless in America because of the focus of education as mainly a job prep program rather than preparing people for life.

I think part of the draw of good film and art is that it is meaningful in the context of most people's lives. Struggle and questions about relationships, family, aging and dying, our place in the universe and how we should spend our limited time here is relevant to everyone. Michael Bay movies not so much.

Not everyone has the luxury of time to enjoy art, but if you have time to post on LRC then time isn't the limiting factor.

Saying you are too busy with your life to worry about these things is a bit like saying you are too busy running to read about training theory. Sure, it might work for some people, but it doesn't seem like the best mindset to have.

Fi wrote:

I have been training with Americans at training camps, but the conversations stagnate at some point, so it is hard to get to know them. They don’t know much about geography or political institutions outside their own country. Is there any topics that I should bring up?

I bet they do a lot of talking about you when your not around