I’m far from a patriotic person, but the longer I’m here, the more annoyed I get at the gross generalisations about America.
When I first moved here, just after the start of the Iraq war, I felt like I had to be a bit of an apologist for my country, always ready to disavow the war, the re-election of bush, the downward diplomatic spiral the u.s. government has seemed hellbent on accelerating for the past 4 years.
And so perhaps i also felt in many ways that america deserved the slagging off it was getting in the media and public opinion. i occasionally even joined in, because it felt good to talk about politics i knew, to reach common ground with people. they didn’t understand me, and i didn’t understand them, but we both understood that the u.s. sucked.
but as the years crawl on, my eyes have been opened to just how widespread and virulent anti-american sentiment really is. it’s not just about the war, or george bush. most news about the states is cast in a disparaging light, with inferred eye rolling and a tinge of smug superiority. anything brits adopt which originated in the u.s. is scornfully derided as the “americanisation of britain”, often with a sense of alarm. the stereotypes about loud, fat, dumb, insular americans run rampant.
Don’t get me wrong, Americans can generalise as well, and America has more than its ample share of faults and foibles. But often it seems to be open season on America, as if it’s the sole symbol of all that’s excessive and brash about the west. As if we somehow have a patent on being rude or crass or excessive.
believe me when i tell you that america has not got the market cornered on being overweight, borish, consumerist or even (need i point out) imperialist. we’re in good company with our “special relationship” friends. to sling trite insults or facile prejudices around simply because it’s fashionable to do so says much more about the slinger than the slingee. it’s a diversionary tactic which enables them to avoid having to look too closely at the growing problems here in their own country. the sedentary, high-fat lifestyle is alive and well here – americans may have invented mcdonald’s but no one is forcing it down the brits throats at gunpoint. the dumbing-down of society and the media which feeds it is also hardly a uniquely american phenomenon – xenophobic, right-wing, sensationalist rags posing as newspapers are, i would argue comparable to anything fox news churns out in the u.s. and british tourists may spend more time in other european countries than their american counterparts, but from my experience are more obnoxious, unadventurous and inebriated – hardly ambassadors of culture.
i could go on, but it’s almost tangential to the point. which is simply that, while we may have deservingly brought some well-earned criticism upon ourselves, brits too often set america up as a straw man. and it’s easy to take potshots, because we are a big target, and there’s almost no one on this side of the pond willing to offer a different perspective, let alone wade through the morass of factual inaccuracies.
i ain’t defending america – but i’m sick of ill-informed people shooting their mouths off, and passing it off as erudite political commentary, or even news.
so it’s refreshing to run across this, even if it is a bit pollyanna-ish and errs too far on the side of the hollywood image that’s so often portrayed (and just as incorrect in its stereotyping as the knee-jerk critics). still, it’s nice to read something, hell *anything* complementary. as she says, “disdaining Americans has become a national sport, regardless of the fact that it requires the skill of all sports involving fish, guns and barrels.”
i’ll take it where i can get it.
(if you want to get a gander at some of the less savoury elements of anti-americanism that exist here, read the comments – utterly depressing.)
no doubt – hateful (clash cover)
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