Maybe this is a bit US-centric, direct negative feedback is very common in many cultures, e.g. Dutch

smartbit 42 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

IMHO the Dutch are more direct for the same reason they are less sensitive to authority and approach their superiors as equals.

Netherlands effectively being a River Delta, there always was the threat of water, a force greater than anyone. IOW if a flood comes, both the king and the peasant start digging.

This is completely different from neighboring countries UK and Germany, which both traditionally had strong sense of hierarchy and not contradicting the master.

	▲	pibaker 24 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> IOW if a flood comes, both the king and the peasant start digging. By the same reasoning, India, Bangladesh and China — all ancient civilizations threatened by great rivers — should have developed similar egalitarian cultures but the reality is the polar opposite. Maybe something as complex as human civilizations can't be the result of just one geographical feature.

▲

kelnos 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Probably. I'm from the US, and I know a few Dutch people, and I find their approach to direct negative feedback off-putting to the point of feeling rude, even when knowing what to expect from them. (I'm sure they find my communication style long-winded, frustrating, and a waste of their time.)

It's a cultural thing, to be sure, and what you grew up with and are used to tends to dominate how you feel about things.

▲

KingMob 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Definitely sounds like the US.

When I worked a Radboud University in the Netherlands for a summer, they were definitely more direct than I was used to, and kept work more work-focused. But they also combined that with a culture of quitting on time, and going out to socialize a bit before dinner, which I think was vital to sustain interpersonal connections.

I liked that style a lot, but Americans are very bad about quitting on time, which necessitates more socialization at work itself.