I wonder how many times in American television/movies, there's an in-story reaction of "you can't do that!" and the non-American audience is going, wtf why not? Heh.
Mostly, it's things to do with politics or with lawsuits. In Germany, we tend to view the US as a very, very sue-happy place -- some of the things that win lawsuits overseas probably would just be dismissed over here (famous example is that guy who sued McD's because he'd scalded himself on his take-out coffee -- with the result that all paper mugs now have to be marked "caution, liquids contained may be hot" or somesuch). Then there's the whole "different approach" thing -- one example that comes to mind is how the US uses anti-discrimination laws to do much of the job that strict workforce protection laws (lay-off protection, regulated notice periods, etc etc) do here.
As for "they can't do that" -- a Japanese friend of mine started to work at a large sales company earlier this year. A few weeks ago, her she commented on how sexual harrassment (a la "You're a girl, you shouldn't be a sales rep for a business company-- you should be nurse or a clerk!" or "Why don't you grow your hair out, you look way too masculine to find a boyfriend") was a close to everyday thing at her workplace, but she couldn't very well talk back to her bosses or clients. Comments could be roughly devided into three groups: "wtf, file a complaint!", "that's just the way it is in Japan, this place is so slow to change ..." and "just hang in there and earn enough to get out (of the company/Japan) ASAP."
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Date: 5 Nov 2010 10:16 am (UTC)Mostly, it's things to do with politics or with lawsuits. In Germany, we tend to view the US as a very, very sue-happy place -- some of the things that win lawsuits overseas probably would just be dismissed over here (famous example is that guy who sued McD's because he'd scalded himself on his take-out coffee -- with the result that all paper mugs now have to be marked "caution, liquids contained may be hot" or somesuch). Then there's the whole "different approach" thing -- one example that comes to mind is how the US uses anti-discrimination laws to do much of the job that strict workforce protection laws (lay-off protection, regulated notice periods, etc etc) do here.
As for "they can't do that" -- a Japanese friend of mine started to work at a large sales company earlier this year. A few weeks ago, her she commented on how sexual harrassment (a la "You're a girl, you shouldn't be a sales rep for a business company-- you should be nurse or a clerk!" or "Why don't you grow your hair out, you look way too masculine to find a boyfriend") was a close to everyday thing at her workplace, but she couldn't very well talk back to her bosses or clients.
Comments could be roughly devided into three groups: "wtf, file a complaint!", "that's just the way it is in Japan, this place is so slow to change ..." and "just hang in there and earn enough to get out (of the company/Japan) ASAP."
Guesses as to which group said what? ;)