American Stereotypes

Is North America just like I used to think it is?

I would bet that most of us have seen lots of images of America in newspapers, television, novels, T-shirts,cartoons, and so on, and they have showed us good-looking people, titanic skyscrapers, American football players, fast food, parties, freedom, independence, fashion,etc. This means that we are surrounded by perceptions about this huge metropolis that can be true or not. According to these resources, people tend to feel that Americais a land where poverty does not exit, neither political nor educational problems. Generally, we believe that this is the land where promises and dreams can beachieved and everything will be fine there.
However, in In Search of America, page 5, I found that “The United States is just another country”. It means is that we had amisconception of how this state is. We never assume that America also has as many problems as the rest of the world. As I read in the article mentioned, I could saythat people who are not American citizens are not able to describe it. I find this really interesting and at the same time difficult to explains since they are theonly ones that can give answers to all our questions.
Another useful quote which I totally agree is that “images has affected views of what America actually is” page6, line 37. This restates that the wrong idea about the perfect place we imagine America is. From my point of view, both America and Ecuador (and any other place) haveparticular aspects that make people think we are in one way or another. Sometimes they could be positive or negative. Anyway, they are part of our identity and we