alt Hacker NewsI kinda disagree with the general sentiment of the article. IMO the author mistakes a low context social style for imperial tastelessness. I, a Korean, lived in the US for a decade so I do have experience with this "imperialism" the author tries to illustrate.
However, the American behavior the author is describing is more attributed to how American social norms don't force anyone to "read the room" and "know your place". At least, not as much as Italians and Koreans. Americans have simple rules they abide by, like general etiquette and the constitution. And Americans are brought up to neither refrain from nor judge others acting within that boundary.
So I don't agree Americans are "tasteless". I find Americans to be more tolerant and accepting, at least compared to cultures with longer history. And that is the American "taste" in my opinion. This has its cons, one of which is someone from my culture thinking they are oblivious to others around them.
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I feel like in countries which are mostly ethnostates, there is a tension around remnants of tradition and the business world trying to open up the culture to gain some new market opportunities (Unsure how to state this more neutrally). I think this tension is interesting and I think that in the U.S it feels like the market systematically has the upper hand.
I am not sure this holds scrutiny so I'd love to read a counter
As an Italian, I feel the exact same.
This guy just doesn't know how to seriously talk about imperialism, globalization and over-tourism from a geopolitical and economic prospective, so instead he talks about things more at his level: gelato, coffee, and quirkily decorated restaurants. With a bad, paternalistic attitude as well.
BTW we all hate those hipster burger places (which now turned to doing smash burgers), and they've been popping up everywhere even in totally non-touristy places. There are fashions and trends in the food business, and many Italians look at that with disgust and take refuge in tradition, but it is often not the tourists fault, it's Italians spending their money there.
Failure to read the room might explain why the tourists persist in the questioning beyond politeness, but not why they embarked on the quest to interrogate the worker to begin with.
My family does this and I can barely go anywhere with them for the embarrassment. Everything is an interrogation. They actually take delight in the waiter not knowing the answer to where the seafood was caught, and then lecturing them about the importance of knowing such things (this is the most common one they pull). That's not just failing to read the room.