Turbo America, The One Thousand Year American Empire, One Billion USians etc.
Funnily enough, a lot of the Americans I’ve met while travelling seem to have an inbuilt self loathing or shame of introducing themselves as American. And often follow up with an apology for being from where they’re from
I think most of the world views American culture as a product to be consumed rather than a way of life belonging to an actual group of people. This product influences many cultures but is not really considered a culture in its own right, which is why so many people are happy to add it to their own (proper) culture and also why Americans are often thought of as shallow - they don't have a proper (deep) culture, all they have is a product which passes as a culture but which most people understand to be just smoke and mirrors (i.e. movies, fast food and music).
I would agree Deb. The culture industry has been churning out homogenized aspirational ephemera for mass consumption for decades. Should we be happy over the universality of consuming such "content" or should we be disconcerted over the loss of the particulars that make up local cultures? Either way I WANT MTV🙂↔️
This is excellent. Similarly they seem to start to grasp that the American Economy, at the very least the FIRE sector, is smoke and mirrors. In real life the equivalent of the cast of "Friends" would be living in a single 8' x 8' studio. It's a fantasy, fun to consume for entertainment value, but over consumption is not healthy.
Let me just say: white privilege I get. Male privilege I get. But ANGLO privilege. I'm terrible at learning languages but I've been to 35 countries and never had a serious problem communicating. If I'd grown up speaking something weird like Basque or Hungarian I'd be totally screwed.
I'm glad you said that about Bruno Macaes. I read one his books because he was talked up by the professional chattering class and I wasnt very impressed by his outlook, opinions and thoughts. That was a few years back and since then he hasnt said much to change my view of him.
Please let me know when you are in Fukuoka! My daughter was on the team that created the app for gaging the flow of customer traffic at the city’s outdoor yatai/portable food stalls
I'm Australian, and have spent a bit of time living in the US. I'd say the view in Australia, and other rich countries, of the US is (what used to be) the view of the rest of the US on New York. "A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there", except that the visit is now mainly via video and music. American entertainment and IT is overwhelmingly dominant, but American culture more generally is viewed with a mixture of horror and pity, particularly since the rise of Trump. This doesn't translate into hostility to Americans individually, just to wonder at how you can tolerate things like gun violence, massive inequality and so on.
One way to see this is to look at migration between the US and other rich countries, which is minimal in either direction even though, as you observe, the universality of English means that the language barrier is no longer a problem.
In a sense you're underscoring the post's point. A certain type of person (usually someone hailing from a rich country) loves to focus on the things that fill them with "horror and pity" about our country, despite the fact that such maladies are not exactly exclusive to us...the rise of Trump, for instance - as if much of the western world wasn't dealing with their own ascendant rightwing populist movements. And though you didn't bring it up, the one that usually comes up as another factor that prompts "horror and pity" from foreigners is American race relations, which always leaves me scratching my head as a non-white American who has lived abroad - for instance, the marginalization of racial minorities in Western European countries is not something you see in the US, yet for many *educated* folks in those same countries, we are an irredeemably racist country.
And of course there's going to be little immigration between rich countries. Why wouldn't there be?
Trump is worse (or, from the viewpoint of his supporters, better) than any European far-rightist with the exception of Putin and arguably Orban, both of whom he admires greatly. Meloni, LePen, Wilders etc are moderates by comparison.
I agree that racism is a problem everywhere, including Australia, which is why I focused on points where, from the outside perspective, the US looks far worse. Of course, as we in Australia know, American gun advocates view us living under the heel of dictatorship because we don't let people on semi-automatic weapons or carry guns around in public.
The bottom line though is that not many people from other rich countries want to live in the US, or copy US policies and institutions, and vice versa. This is not what the OP said.
"How can you spot the Canadian tourists? They have a Canadian flag sewn on their backpacks. How can you spot the American tourists? They have TWO Canadian flags sewn on their backpacks."
At my daughter’s German wedding reception in 2019, I asked the groom’s brother when was the German music going to start. He told me they only play American music at weddings! I did meet one German climate scientist there who hated America, as she danced to the music.
This 💯 tracks with our experience. On a train in the Czech Republic I listened to five young people from different countries all talk to each other in English. On a rafting trip in Bosnia, the Dutch family, the Albanian man, the German man, and the French Canadian couple all spoke to each other in English.
The closest thing to anti-American attitude I encountered was a policewoman in Serbia still bitter over American and NATO intervention in the Balkan War.
I did meet one Syrian man in Oslo who says he liked Americans but blamed our government for his having become a refugee.
As for pop culture, American 80s music is EVERYWHERE. Which is fine by me!
That’s what I grew up feeling was the point of this country (I’m home in America after traveling) - and what everyone would still like to feel. Here’s hoping that that spirit regenerates and persists. Ideally everywhere.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!
https://themjkxn.substack.com/p/the-world-doesnt-hate-us
Delightful
Turbo America, The One Thousand Year American Empire, One Billion USians etc.
Funnily enough, a lot of the Americans I’ve met while travelling seem to have an inbuilt self loathing or shame of introducing themselves as American. And often follow up with an apology for being from where they’re from
"Only by wandering over the face of the earth can we understand how small the world is, and how very much alike everywhere" - Guy de Maupassant
"So many countries, so many foreign lands, so many corners of the globe, and in every one of them, it's '80s Night" - me
Shout-out to the Ugandan who loves two Georgia/metro ATL musicians. Alan Jackson from Newnan, and Travis Tritt from Marietta.
We have more.
Man I wish I had your optimism. They do. Nor necessarily the people, but the structure. How could they not? History bears witness against them.
I think most of the world views American culture as a product to be consumed rather than a way of life belonging to an actual group of people. This product influences many cultures but is not really considered a culture in its own right, which is why so many people are happy to add it to their own (proper) culture and also why Americans are often thought of as shallow - they don't have a proper (deep) culture, all they have is a product which passes as a culture but which most people understand to be just smoke and mirrors (i.e. movies, fast food and music).
This is just a hypothesis. Any thoughts?
totally disagree with this. American culture is deep, powerful, and distinctive.
I would agree Deb. The culture industry has been churning out homogenized aspirational ephemera for mass consumption for decades. Should we be happy over the universality of consuming such "content" or should we be disconcerted over the loss of the particulars that make up local cultures? Either way I WANT MTV🙂↔️
This is excellent. Similarly they seem to start to grasp that the American Economy, at the very least the FIRE sector, is smoke and mirrors. In real life the equivalent of the cast of "Friends" would be living in a single 8' x 8' studio. It's a fantasy, fun to consume for entertainment value, but over consumption is not healthy.
That's a really interesting way to think about it -- At first blush I kind of agree, but want to give it some more thought
Let me just say: white privilege I get. Male privilege I get. But ANGLO privilege. I'm terrible at learning languages but I've been to 35 countries and never had a serious problem communicating. If I'd grown up speaking something weird like Basque or Hungarian I'd be totally screwed.
Being a native English speaker is a helluva privilege. On a global scale, I'd call that #1.
I'm glad you said that about Bruno Macaes. I read one his books because he was talked up by the professional chattering class and I wasnt very impressed by his outlook, opinions and thoughts. That was a few years back and since then he hasnt said much to change my view of him.
Please let me know when you are in Fukuoka! My daughter was on the team that created the app for gaging the flow of customer traffic at the city’s outdoor yatai/portable food stalls
I'm Australian, and have spent a bit of time living in the US. I'd say the view in Australia, and other rich countries, of the US is (what used to be) the view of the rest of the US on New York. "A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there", except that the visit is now mainly via video and music. American entertainment and IT is overwhelmingly dominant, but American culture more generally is viewed with a mixture of horror and pity, particularly since the rise of Trump. This doesn't translate into hostility to Americans individually, just to wonder at how you can tolerate things like gun violence, massive inequality and so on.
One way to see this is to look at migration between the US and other rich countries, which is minimal in either direction even though, as you observe, the universality of English means that the language barrier is no longer a problem.
In a sense you're underscoring the post's point. A certain type of person (usually someone hailing from a rich country) loves to focus on the things that fill them with "horror and pity" about our country, despite the fact that such maladies are not exactly exclusive to us...the rise of Trump, for instance - as if much of the western world wasn't dealing with their own ascendant rightwing populist movements. And though you didn't bring it up, the one that usually comes up as another factor that prompts "horror and pity" from foreigners is American race relations, which always leaves me scratching my head as a non-white American who has lived abroad - for instance, the marginalization of racial minorities in Western European countries is not something you see in the US, yet for many *educated* folks in those same countries, we are an irredeemably racist country.
And of course there's going to be little immigration between rich countries. Why wouldn't there be?
Trump is worse (or, from the viewpoint of his supporters, better) than any European far-rightist with the exception of Putin and arguably Orban, both of whom he admires greatly. Meloni, LePen, Wilders etc are moderates by comparison.
I agree that racism is a problem everywhere, including Australia, which is why I focused on points where, from the outside perspective, the US looks far worse. Of course, as we in Australia know, American gun advocates view us living under the heel of dictatorship because we don't let people on semi-automatic weapons or carry guns around in public.
The bottom line though is that not many people from other rich countries want to live in the US, or copy US policies and institutions, and vice versa. This is not what the OP said.
I had a coworker in Poland who thought American gun rights were fantastic.
YMMV.
You know he's Australian?
Slightly disturbing.....
There's an old saying:
"How can you spot the Canadian tourists? They have a Canadian flag sewn on their backpacks. How can you spot the American tourists? They have TWO Canadian flags sewn on their backpacks."
I guess it needn't be like this!
Dunno, when we were in Italy the locals kept thinking we were Irish.
Maybe it's that Southern US politeness when you're visiting someone else's home ;-)
And despite Euro trains, Milan has traffic that rivals the ATL. Just the cars are smaller and all the tractor-trailers are cabovers.
At my daughter’s German wedding reception in 2019, I asked the groom’s brother when was the German music going to start. He told me they only play American music at weddings! I did meet one German climate scientist there who hated America, as she danced to the music.
This 💯 tracks with our experience. On a train in the Czech Republic I listened to five young people from different countries all talk to each other in English. On a rafting trip in Bosnia, the Dutch family, the Albanian man, the German man, and the French Canadian couple all spoke to each other in English.
The closest thing to anti-American attitude I encountered was a policewoman in Serbia still bitter over American and NATO intervention in the Balkan War.
I did meet one Syrian man in Oslo who says he liked Americans but blamed our government for his having become a refugee.
As for pop culture, American 80s music is EVERYWHERE. Which is fine by me!
Everyone’s story matters. BINGO!
That’s what I grew up feeling was the point of this country (I’m home in America after traveling) - and what everyone would still like to feel. Here’s hoping that that spirit regenerates and persists. Ideally everywhere.