Ugly Americans, The

Dad
April 23, 2003

—Get In!—Or Get Out!DO 23499/87

1. IF OUR PEOPLE WOULD JUST SHOW A LITTLE LOVE & CONSIDERATION & GRATITUDE, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE ALL THESE PROBLEMS THAT THEY HAVE HAD IN JAPAN! It's just negligence, thoughtlessness & not really being grateful & thankful as they should be.—Not really being loving & kind & considerate like they ought to be!

2. (MARIA: MANY OF THOSE JAPANESE CUSTOMS ARE FOR SOME GOOD PURPOSE.)—Customs which they consider part of their culture. It shows what a wonderful culture they have, all of those little customs that are so thoughtful & kind & appreciative. (Maria: And clean too!—Like taking off your shoes before you go into the house.) Yes.

3. OUR MISSIONARIES JUST NEED TO BE MORE CHRIST–LIKE, THAT'S ALL! What would Jesus do?—He would do His best not to offend the Japanese, & to show appreciation & gratitude & thanksgiving & thoughtfulness & kindness & consideration. These things should just come naturally to Christians, to those who love the Lord & love others! They shouldn't have to be taught to be kind, taught to be thoughtful or made to be considerate.

4. GOOD, KIND, LOVING BEHAVIOUR SHOULD COME NATURALLY TO A CHRISTIAN! It should be easy. That ought to be their second nature, it ought to be their first nature! (Maria: You mean being kind & considerate?)—Yes, & thoughtful & polite & courteous & grateful & clean & appreciative! (Maria: If they were all those things, it wouldn't be hard to do the things that our Japanese Queen & Family Member pointed out that they need to do to live at peace with the Japanese.)

5. I'LL TELL YOU, AMERICANS ARE JUST SAVAGES COMPARED TO THE JAPANESE! The Japanese are civilised! I don't know where they learned it, but they sure got it. They're all the things that Christians ought to be! (Maria: At least in their outward behaviour.) Goodness, imagine what they must think of the kind of Christianity that has produced such boorish‚ gross, thoughtless, inconsiderate, unkind, impolite, discourteous ingrates as the Americans!

6. IT'S BAD ENOUGH FOR AMERICANS TO TREAT EACH OTHER THAT WAY! But it's even more horrifying that they should treat these other more civilised, more civil, sweeter‚ more appreciative, courteous, polite societies like they do their own!

7. WELL, I MUST SAY, WHEN I WAS A BOY, AMERICANS WERE TAUGHT COURTESY, MANNERS, POLITENESS, GRATITUDE & CONSIDERATION. They wrote books on it, Emily Post & different ones. The whole thing was how to behave politely in consideration for other people, simply being kind & loving & considerate & thoughtful & grateful.

8. (MARIA: IF OUR PEOPLE WERE COURTEOUS & WELL-BEHAVED, EVEN IF THEY DID UNINTENTIONALLY BREAK SOME OF THEIR HOST COUNTRY'S RULES & TRADITIONS, their love & consideration in other areas would more than make up for it, & they'd probably be forgiven for a lot of their mistakes.) Exactly. (Maria: But it seems like so many of them are just so pushy, so impolite.)

9. IT'S SELFISHNESS! THAT'S WHAT IT IS!—IT'S SELFISHNESS! It reminds me of the speech I had to make in college once, my assignment was to give a speech on traffic problems. So I got up & I said that most traffic problems are due to selfishness, & that if people were more thoughtful & considerate, patient, kind, unselfish & loving toward each other, it would eliminate most accidents & traffic problems. They were kind of astonished‚ ha! And yet, it was so true! The teacher was really surprised. He said, "I never thought of that, that's so true!"

10. THE SAME IS TRUE IN TRAFFIC PROBLEMS WITH OTHER CULTURES—clashes with other societies. (Maria: Especially when the visitors are not even making an effort to understand the people of their host country & their different ways of thinking & doing things.)

11. THEY JUST NEED TO HAVE LOVE‚ THAT'S THE WHOLE THING! If they had as much love as they should have, they wouldn't have all these problems. They'd be thoughtful & kind & considerate & courteous & polite & grateful & clean. (Maria: And here they've had experts for years that wanted to teach them all that, a precious King & Queen‚ actual Family Members who wanted to help them in every way‚ but they just almost slapped them in the face, refused their help! They've had wonderful, wonderful people to help them.) Amen, God bless them!

12. GOD BLESS THE DEAR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN WILLING TO PUT UP WITH OUR FAMILY MEMBERS IN JAPAN ALL THESE YEARS! It shows the patience of the Japanese. (Maria: Yes, it's a real miracle!)—The kindness & mercy of the Japanese people. PTL! (Maria: Is there anything else you'd like to say?)

13. WELL‚ I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT THEY HAD BETTER PERK UP AND TOE THE LINE AND STRAIGHTEN OUT‚ OR WE'D BETTER THROW OUT THE ONES THAT DON'T!—Those who think that they are some kind of smart–aleck know-it-alls who don't have to conform to anybody else's culture! It's one thing to be a rebel for Jesus & a revolutionary Christian, but that doesn't mean you have to be discourteous & impolite & inconsiderate & thoughtless & unthankful, & just go bulldozing your way right across other people's culture, contrary & counter to their culture!

14. WE MAY BELONG TO A COUNTER-CULTURE AGAINST THE AMERICAN TYPE OF SOCIETY, but it looks to me like the Japanese type of society is far more ideal‚ so we don't have to be counter-culture to Japan & to the Japanese! And our people in Japan had better snap out of it & straighten up! I gave a talk along these lines once before about some of our Americans in South America. (See "Face Up, Dress Up, Trim Up, Straighten Up! —Or Out You Go!" No.1202.)

15. SOME PEOPLE THERE WERE STILL INSISTING ON WEARING LONG SCRAGGLY HAIR & BEING DIRTY, WEARING SLOPPY CLOTHES & SUPPOSEDLY BEING REVOLUTIONARIES, supposedly big counter-culture hippies! They just made the people there aggravated. These would-be hippie-types went down there from the States & tried to force their sloppiness & their uncut hair & just plain dirtiness & ugliness on the sweet, lovely, cultured Latin Americans!

16. THE LATIN AMERICANS ARE A GREAT DEAL LIKE THE JAPANESE IN THAT WAY. They're very polite & considerate, kind, cultured & courteous, & they have a lot of customs which show their good breeding & good training & manners, which is simply thoughtfulness & consideration & kindness & gratefulness. Whew! I can't do the subject justice! I'm like the old guy who spilled the load of apples. It just makes me want to cuss, but I couldn't cuss enough to do the subject justice!

17. I RAKED THEM OVER THE COALS IN LATIN AMERICA ABOUT THAT A LONG TIME AGO! I told them they'd better clean up, straighten up‚ cut their hair‚ dress well & be polite & thoughtful & considerate & kind, & not be offensive to an entire culture!

18. MY GOD!—CHRISTIANS‚ OF ALL PEOPLE! Those who are real Christians are going to be Christ-like, like Jesus! He never offended anybody except the people that needed to be offended!—Like the Scribes & the Pharisees & the hypocrites & the moneychangers, etc. And He only did that a very few times when they just got Him aggravated beyond degree. Most of the time He was very sweet & meek & quiet‚ thoughtful, considerate, loving, kind & polite, & He fit in with their culture.

19. WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE ROMANS DO, WHEN IN JAPAN, DO AS THE JAPANESE DO! That's a general rule of thumb for all Mankind. When in Latin America do as the Latin Americans do!—Behave yourself! Try to fit in! You don't have to compromise your faith or your belief‚ to fit into a culture & conform to their customs!—Especially when they're good customs & they show thoughtfulness & consideration & courtesy & love! Maybe they've become formalised‚ but at least it's a good form! It's certainly a Heaven of a lot better than the Hellish form of the Americans!—The boorish, clumsy, bulldozing savagery of the Americans!

20. THAT'S WHY GOD HAS BLESSED JAPAN! It's now the best nation on the face of the Earth; the richest, most industrious‚ hardest-working, prosperous. Whereas Americans are becoming savages, becoming poor because they've been so selfish & mistreated other nations, like Japan.

21. IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF THE JAPANESE HAD TAKEN OVER THE WORLD INSTEAD OF THE AMERICANS! It might have taught the Americans a little bit of courtesy & kind customs, politeness, civility!—At least the Japanese are civilised. The Americans have become absolute savages, horrible!—Their music, their youth, their crime, their drugs‚ their cut-throat business practices, everything! They have become absolutely the worst kind of savages in the whole World! Horrible!

22. THEY'D DO WELL TO EVEN IMITATE THE CIVILITY & THE COURTESY & CONSIDERATION & KINDNESS, POLITENESS & THOUGHTFULNESS OF THE ORIENT & LATIN AMERICA & OTHER CULTURES AS WELL. I consider the Latin Americans & the Orientals really some of the most beautiful, wonderful, civilised people on the face of the Earth. They've got marvellous customs, beautiful, & they're beautiful people!

23. NO WONDER THEY'VE TURNED AROUND & CALLED THE AMERICANS THE "UGLY AMERICAN"!—Compared to them, they are ugly! Americans are ugly, boorish & clumsy! I just can't think of enough ugly words for them, the selfish, ugly, inconsiderate, unkind, cruel & savage Americans! Americans even make the Europeans look good! At least the Europeans have a little consideration for culture & old customs, most of which are usually based on kindness & consideration & thoughtfulness & gratitude to others.

24. COMPARED TO THE AMERICANS, OR AT LEAST THE U.S. AMERICANS, EUROPEANS LOOK GOOD!—Much more kind & thoughtful & considerate, polite & courteous & grateful. Alongside the U.S. Americans, even the Canadians look good!—As do the British & the Spanish, the French, the Swiss & even the Italians! Even the blunt Germans look better than most Americans!

25. WHEN WE WERE TRAVELLING ALL AROUND EUROPE & THE NEAR EAST, ALL THE TIME PEOPLE TOOK ME FOR AN ENGLISHMAN because I was so mannerly & polite & courteous & kind & thoughtful & well-spoken. They constantly took me for an Englishman. Why should they take me for an Englishman?—Because they could just hardly believe that any American could be that polite & kind & thoughtful & courteous!—And speak sweetly & show a little consideration.

26. AS MY MOTHER USED TO SAY, I WAS CHESTERFIELDIAN!—A famous Englishman who was known for his good manners. But boy oh boy, Americans are known for their bad manners!—And loud‚ raucous voices! When we were in Europe or the Mideast, we could always tell when there were Americans around. They were so loud & raucous & gaudy, pushy‚ aggressive & yuck‚ downright ugly! (Maria: Thinking everybody else is worse than they are!) Yes, thinking everybody ought to grovel in front of them.—"We are the rulers of the World! We are the great Americans!"

27. WELL, AT LAST THE RUSSIANS ARE FINALLY TEACHING THEM A FEW THINGS. Even the Russians look good alongside the Americans! They have a little culture & a little bit of courtesy & thoughtfulness‚ trying to make peace. But everything they do to try to make peace‚ the Americans insist on misinterpreting them, accusing them of having some selfish motive‚ some evil, ulterior incentive.

28. COMPARED TO THE AMERICANS‚ ALMOST EVERYBODY ELSE IN THE WHOLE WORLD LOOKS BETTER!—Except perhaps some of the most savage tribes that are full of cruelty. My God, the Americans have caused the World the awfulest wars they've ever had!—Killed more millions of people! I just can hardly think of anybody worse than most Americans!

29. TO THINK THAT THEY'D GO TO THE BEAUTIFUL, LOVELY, ARTISTIC, WONDERFUL, CIVILISED CULTURE OF THE JAPANESE & THROW THEIR WEIGHT AROUND & act as ugly as they do at home is just horrifying!—Absolutely horrifying! I shudder to think of it! I'll tell you, they'd better straighten out & behave, & learn something from the Japanese for a change, look up to them & admire them & want to emulate & be like them!—Or get out!

30. (MARIA: IF WE HEAR OF ANY MORE CASES OF OFFENDING THE JAPANESE, WE'LL HAVE TO THROW THEM OUT.) Right! Absolutely! Any of these ugly Americans that are caught misbehaving there any more ought to be absolutely excommunicated!—Especially people who are so ungrateful to people who have been so good to them!—The Japanese & the Latin Americans & God knows, everywhere! These so-called "foreigners" have been very good to those who, to them‚ really are foreigners, the Americans mostly!

31. I DON'T SEE HOW IN THE WORLD THE JAPANESE COULD STAND TO BE SO GOOD TO THEM WHEN THE AMERICANS ARE SO BAD TO THEM! The Americans are so bad to others. How could these lovely, delightful, sweet, courteous, polite, beautiful cultures be so good to the Americans? They act more like Christians than the Americans do! Their culture is more Christian as far as love & consideration, politeness & thoughtfulness & gratitude are concerned. They're more Christian in those respects than the so-called Christian Americans!

32. I LEFT AMERICA BECAUSE I COULDN'T STAND IT! I hated their violence & their crudeness & boorishness & ugliness! I consider them just about the worst nation on the face of the Earth today! You can take almost any culture anywhere, & it would seem better than the Americans! Well, God is going to teach them a few things now, to show them how much smarter some of these other cultures are than they are.—How much better they are, how much more civilised they are than the Americans. The Americans have had their chance & had their day & they're on their way down, & they had better behave & mind their manners or they're going to get thrown out of this World!

33. AND ANY MEMBERS OF OUR FAMILY WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO TOE THE MARK & TOE THE LINE & STRAIGHTEN UP & STRAIGHTEN OUT & BEHAVE LIKE CIVILISED PEOPLE DO, in places like Japan & Latin America & the Orient, out they go! We'll have no more of that kind of behaviour again! We're not going to tolerate it, we're just not going to stand for it, that's all! Now you just tell them!: Straighten up or get out!

34. I'M JUST AMAZED THAT THOSE LEADERS HAVE LET THEM GET AWAY WITH WHAT THEY'VE GOTTEN AWAY WITH! It shows the low quality of their leadership! (Maria: They rarely get places on time. They don't take care of their vehicles, they let them sit & rot. They provision thousands of Dollars of goods & let them spoil. They live in the homes of their kings & let them fall into a state of disrepair. They "borrow" things from their kings & don't return them. They offend their neighbours because they refuse to conform to local custom. The list is endless‚ it goes on & on & on!)

35. THEY'RE ACTING LIKE THOSE AMERICAN HIPPIES!—That's the way they used to act‚ like little savages! Inconsiderate of others! Thieves! Criminals! My God‚ I'd take almost any culture in the World over the Americans! They're the World's worst examples of Christians! Think what those lovely cultures of the Orient & Latin America must think of a religion like the Americans have‚ when it has so few, if any, signs of decency, consideration‚ thoughtfulness or love! We're supposed to be preaching Love, & they're acting just the opposite!

36. WELL, WE'RE GOING TO GET JAPAN CLEANED UP, I'LL TELL YOU! I'd rather have half as many people, but decent, well-behaved people, thoughtful, consideratelovingkind, grateful people, than a bunch of those boors!—And I'm not talking about the Boers!—My God, the Boers of South Africa are better behaved than these boors of America! I'm just fed up with them & we're not going to put up with them any more! That's it!

37. JUST TRIM DOWN THE POPULATION! Get rid of those boorish Americans & ill-behaved savages! (Maria: Send them back to the States or Europe or Australia where they belong!) Yes, send'm back where they came from! Kick'm out! We're not going to have people that offend every culture they visit, every culture they go to! They're certainly not going to win any souls that way!

38. NO WONDER THEY'VE HAD SUCH POOR FRUIT IN SOME PLACES, SUCH WEAK DISCIPLES! That's the kind they produce. Thank God for some good fruit! Thank God for some good people & some good leaders!—And some good disciples! But I'll tell you‚ they seem to be few & far between. We're going to purge the ranks!—If we have to have a pogrom & just get rid of these ill-behaved, misbehaving little savages, juvenile delinquents! I'd rather have Gideon's 300 than some of these places' 3,000!

39. YOU JUST TELL THOSE SUPERVISORS WHO ARE GOING AROUND VISITING, TO JUST SIMPLY GET RID OF THE LEADERS WHO WON'T STRAIGHTEN OUT, BEHAVE & TEACH THEIR PEOPLE RIGHT! I'd rather have a lot fewer people! We've always had that principle. I'd always rather trim them down & boot'm out & get rid of the troublemakers & the people who set a bad example & are ill-behaved & offensive! I'd rather get rid of them any day! We're not for numbers!—We're for quality! Numbers mean nothing if you don't have quality!

40. WE'RE FOR REAL CHRISTIANS WHO ACT & BEHAVE LIKE CHRISTIANS & TREAT OTHERS LIKE CHRISTIANS SHOULD!—Not just a bunch of hippie communes where they live like Hell!—Dirty, impolite, discourteous, inconsiderate, just ignoring & flouting the sweet & beautiful customs of superior cultures!

41. THE AMERICANS HAVE BEEN TOLD FOR SO MANY YEARS THAT THEY ARE THE BEST & they're the greatest & they're the tops, they've actually gotten to believe it! But the truth is just the opposite!—They're the worst! The bottom! And they're soon going to find it out. They're beginning to find it out now, as the rest of the World is beating them in every way.—In manufacturing, in trade, & they would have beat them in warfare too if it hadn't been for the Americans ganging up on the little guys.—Great big bullies who ganged up on the little fellows with the God-damned ACs leading them! Ooh!

42. THEY ACT & BEHAVE LIKE THE ACs THEY ARE! It's only recently that the ACs have gotten up in the eyes of the World. When I was a kid the ACs were considered the most horrible, dirty, loud, violent & anti-Christ people on the face of the Earth! They were at the bottom of the heap, horrible! But Satanically, fiendishly, they have now worked their way up to the top by their crookedness & criminality & dirtiness & cutthroat policies! It's just the Devil who has prospered them!

43. AND NOW THEY LEAD THE AMERICANS! They're the ones that have turned the American culture from the sweet, Christian, beautiful people that they once were when I was a kid, into the most horrible monsters on the face of the Earth!—Kicked God out of the schools, & got the Bible, prayer & Christianity completely out of the American culture!—Where now it's as anti–Christ, atheistic‚ materialistic & secular a culture as any on Earth! I would say even Russia shows more signs of its former Christian culture than the U.S.A. does!

44. LOOK HOW THOSE RUSSIAN LEADERS STILL KISS EACH OTHER! That's an old Christian custom. Think of that! (1Thes.5:26) The Americans wouldn't be caught dead kissing each other! They laugh at it, they think it's funny, they think it's a weakness, they think it's sissy! Well, they're going to find out who is weak!—It's the God–damned‚ crooked, ugly Americans who are going to be found to be weak!

45. AND OUR KIDS HAD BETTER STRAIGHTEN OUT & NOT BE UGLY AMERICANS ANY MORE OR THEY'RE GOING TO BE OUT! I'm just furious about it! I want you to get Japan cleaned up & cleaned out of all those ugly people who can't conform to a beautiful, cultured, courteous & polite society that is built on consideration & thoughtfulness & gratitude! (Maria: Yes‚ & industry & diligence & faithfulness in the little things.) And cleanliness, frugality, being saving & not wasteful! Boy oh boy oh boy! If they don't get straightened out quick, they're going to be sorry they ever went there to be such pitiful, horrible examples of Christianity!

46. THERE MUST BE SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT THESE ORIENTAL RELIGIONS OR THEY WOULDN'T BE SUCH WONDERFUL PEOPLE! That's how the World looks at it: When they look & see that they've got a better culture & a more decent society, cleaner, more courteous, more thoughtful & more kind than the Americans, well‚ what do they think of the American religion? It must be the worst on Earth! That's how they must look at it!—"Why should I want Christianity?—Look at the Americans! Look how horrible they are! How ugly they are! How awful they are!" My God! Whew!

47. THERE WAS A DAY WHEN THE AMERICANS‚ ESPECIALLY THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH & ON THE FARMS, LOVELY PEOPLE LIKE THAT, HAD A BEAUTIFUL CULTURE & beautiful society, Christian & kind & thoughtful & courteous & mannerly & gentlemanly & lady-like. Now all those terms are anathema to Americans! They think it's ridiculous to be nice & kind, courteous & mannerly.

48. WELL, I'LL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW‚ IF THEY DON'T STRAIGHTEN OUT, JAPAN WILL BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT THEM!—And the Family will certainly be better off without them! So they'd better get out or get in!—Or get in or get out, one or the other! They'd better melt in & fit in & get in or get out! (Maria: Yes, & treat our Japanese disciples with a little respect & a little love & not as second-class citizens!)

49. THE AMERICANS HAD BETTER WAKE UP TO THE FACT THAT THE JAPANESE ARE TODAY THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD! They're outwitting & outdoing the Americans on every hand in every way! The ugly Americans ought to be ashamed of themselves, look up to the Japanese & learn something from them. They need to! I think that would be a good title for this, "Get In!—Or Get Out!" Praise the Lord! So get in or get out!—Amen?

Copyright (c) 1997 by The Family