So what is the true america?

[Tricky]

While im off work recovering from my op,ive flicked through a lot of daytime TV which i wouldnt normally watch,and on the one hand theres all these US dramas like the OC,one tree hill,friends,etc where everybody seems to be slim,good looking & live dream lives,and on the other hand theres the people on shows like ricki lake,montel,judge judy,jerry springer,dog the bounty hunter etc who all weigh in at around 25 - 40 stone,are uber religious,wear awful clothes & have really bad haircuts!Having never been to america i was wondering which is more representative of the population at large,or does it just depend where you go as to the type of people you get?in the UK our chat shows are full of council estate chav scum,and would hope people abroad dont think they represent what the whole UK is like im not trying to have a dig at america,im just observing the very different impressions we get of people through what is shown on TV! I cant wait to go back to work so i dont have to suffer this daytime TV anymore

[bassman]

I would say that the day time talk show guests would be the people you find outside of major cities. Particularly in the south where I am. It's friggin Fat Redneck Paradise down here. Then the Tween TV and Sitcom yuppie people live in the major cities.

[AcesandEights]

It's a big country with regions and states that are cultures unto themselves. Don't look to sum it up all neat and simple and don't look to tv sitcoms (peddling idealized bullshit) and reality tv horror shows (peddling freakishness) to get at what the 'real' or 'true' America is. Getting a handle on things is never that simple. Yes, we can cut the country up into parts and make very vague, sweeping statements (the Bible Belt, after all, is known as such for damn good reasons), but that will only leave us with approximations of trends, at best and haphazard, stilted views based on ignorance and assumption at the worst.

[Tricky]

i think the best thing for me would be to visit myself its definitely a part of the world i want to see!

[capncnut]

TV dogshit like Maury and Springer would like to have people believe that all Americans weigh 300lbs, wear shorts, pray to 'Gawd', hate blacks, drink Budweiser, and play the harmonica on their porches, but it ain't nothing like that from the people I talk to. Most countries are the same barring language/accent and cuisine differences.

[Skippy911sc]

What you have described is all of America...both the the fat and the skinny, the poor (alot more now) and the rich, all colors and races...The sample you have viewed is a small sample of all of us. It seems what ever is on TV and being talked about is what you see most. The more you hear about swine flu the more you see people coughing and sneezing... So the more you watch the Jerry and Judge Judy the more likely you are to notice those type of people.

[DawnGirl27]

Yeah, what they all said... Here in North Dakota (if you don't believe there are still Native Americans hunting buffalo), there's a broad range of races (we have a lot of Lost Boys coming in, for example), income brackets, weight variations, religious views and political stances. To us, we're pretty run-of-the-mill, although it does take a few months for us to catch up on the "fashion" trends from New York, which I don't really care about anyway, being a jeans and tee kind of girl.

[MoonSylver]

The "reality" as portrayed in those type of shows is the extreme ends of the spectrum (though it might a little more representative at the latter end rather than the former...). The "average" American (if there IS such a thing?) is, well, average. It's a big country with regions and states that are cultures unto themselves. Don't look to sum it up all neat and simple and don't look to tv sitcoms (peddling idealized bullshit) and reality tv horror shows (peddling freakishness) to get at what the 'real' or 'true' America is. Getting a handle on things is never that simple. Spot on perfect.