Massacres and Spray Cheese

These are two things that my class of 16 year olds called out when I asked them what came to mind when I said "the United States."
I had expected the other responses, which were stereotypical but at least a little more representative. Things like "driving everywhere", "Obama", and "McDonald's." I even understood when two different boys in two different classes yelled, without hesistation, "FAT PEOPLE!"
I tried to dig a little deeper and find out why they viewed massacres and spray cheese (how did they even know that phrase?) as symbols of the US. It wasn't too hard to make the connection between Cheez Whiz and fat people, but massacres required a little more investigating. I started asking the girl who equated my country with the slaughter of many questions.

"Like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre?"

Blank stare.

"More like school shootings?"

Another blank stare, followed by a moment silence.

Finally, she looked up at me and said, "Like when guns stuck out of cars and shot people."

With the help of a few more hit or miss questions I figured out that she was talking about gangsters, bank robbers, etc. in the 20s and 30s. To me gangsters, the mafia, etc. would be a somewhat obscure aspect of American culture, but I learned later in the day that it is not.

In another class, as we were discussing whether or not tanning beds should be outlawed, a boy explained to me that they should not. Doing so, he said, would only lead to underground, speak-easy style tanning salons, and more trouble, just like when they outlawed alcohol in the US and lots of people went blind and the mafia was started.

I've decided that the idea of alcohol being outlawed is such an outrageous and nonsensical idea to Austrians that prohibition and all aspects of history surrounding it are well known over here.

I can't really say that it's moments like these that make me really like being a teaching assistant so far (which I do), but they definitely make for good stories later.