January 15, 2004
The Atlantic Rift
There's a lot between the USA and Europe.
The first thing that springs to mind is the big fuck-off ocean. Big salty blue wet thing. Tidal. Gets a bit deep.
It used to take weeks on wooden boats, sorry, ships, to cross that ocean, and most of these we never seem to hear about, as they either sank, mysteriously disappeared off the map and then sank, or mysteriously disappeared and ended up in Sri Lanka.
Advancements in technology not-so-soon meant that the journey eventually took only a couple of days in bigger, more metallic, ships. The most famous of which, oh, whoops, yes, that sank too.
There was a big airship that made the trip at one point, and that managed not to sink, by virtue of blowing up instead.
Nowadays it takes 8-9 hours of bad movies and potential deep-vein thrombosis to get to the US. The place isn't getting any closer. (In fact, due to the mid-atlantic ridge on the constructive margin, it's actually getting farther away.)
But as an explanation of the current deficient and deteriorating relations between this shore and that, geographical inconvenience has to be amongst the most pathetic. I don't know why I bothered writing about it. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I have been attempting to widen my blogroll to include some less left-wing blogs. This venture has so far seemed nothing but disastrous, but it seems slightly shameful to allow only opinions from one fairly common angle to influence me. I should be making my mind up myself, and this necessitates reading positions that I may not initially agree with.
Specifically, I was attempting to read some Melanie Phillips. I couldn't do it. It was painful enough to start out with, but after getting to "the British don't grasp the concept of free expression, never have, and never will." I just had to move on. I then felt pathetic, and clicked a couple more times, in a guilt-ridden attempt to force myself to read the debate, but I failed each time. I felt, surely there must be someone that's going to ridicule this view appropriately, but nothing was forthcoming, and shuddering I gave up.
Well, assuming that we do have some sense of free expression, it seems to me that this opinion reflects a growing alienation between two peoples. Like, duh. They see us as fuddy-duddies with our heads in the clouds, happily ignoring sophisticated morals and principles. America seems to think it's better than the rest of the world, and that includes the Brits. Everything's so much more efficient, cheap, and convenient in the US. Everything's bigger. Everything's better.
In return, we see them as a loud-mouthed, harsh-accented, in-your-face lot with about as much subtlety as a 10-tonne truck. We don't share a language with them; we own it, and they mutilate it. More money than sense. Severe lack of anything resembling culture, a healthy diet, or respect for the environment. Isolationist idiots. Can't even count their own votes reliably.
For the record, I went to an American school for a while, and I have, if not a lot, then certainly a few, American friends. I'm not anti-America in general, I just happen to be feeling slightly... defensive. Well, actually, I might be anti-America, I'm not sure yet, and even if the giant does make me feel considerably uneasy, I still don't want to label myself too hastily.
But back to the main idea behind this post. Where does it come from? Why such a rift? It's all to easy to blame the whole American extreme psyche on Sept. 11th at the moment, but surely there's something more fundamental behind the current contempt fashionable on both sides of that ocean I mentioned? It doesn't even feel like it's all that connected with the politics, as it resembles a general attitude far too much for that. Makes it even more alarming. Changing politics is inevitable. Changing entire peoples doesn't even seem possible.
I don't like the idea that they're all a bunch of patriotic snobs, and we're just a bunch of culture-centric versions of the same. It seems like a really pathetic state of affairs, and suddenly blaming it all on geography doesn't seem so awful.
So there. I came up with an excuse for the rambling entry to this post after all.
Posted by Missiedith at January 15, 2004 3:12 AM | TrackBackYou know what's weird? Reading stuff like this, as an American sparks something in me that terrifies me. Everytime I read something like this, written by a non-american, my initial two second first reaction is something along the lines of "no way *covers eyes* who are they to say that?!" and logically this makes no sense becasue I am about as anti-american as they come. But it's been bred into us, to love our country above all others. To put America first no matter what the cost. That's why we slaughtered so many Native Americans during our takeover of the land. That's why we enslaved other peoples to make more money, and it's why we still use child labor in sweatshops now. But we aren't really taught much about that, it's all about Benjamin Franklin and Abe Lincoln and all of our "shining points in history". Essentially we grow up in a society that constantly pats itself on the back in reassurance that we are a truly great nation.
But the truth is that democracy (as we don't have it) is bullshit, and capitalism is destroying the world and a lot of stuff is wrong. But since the average american citizen isn't exposed to the bad stuff on a daily basis most people ignore it. But this is a bit off topic now. I think my original point was about defensiveness. I've been an activist for years now, and I went to all of the anti-war protests and the anti-Bush protest when I was still in England. And really my point is that if my initial reaction to anti-us commentary from outsiders is defensiveness, you can probably imagine that this does not bode well for the average citizen's response. But, for the record, we're not all flag-waving, bible thumping, patriotic fools. There are a whole lot of people who really disgusted with the state of our nation and we're definitely working for change. And we don't all hate you brits :D
and, uh if you dont know who I am, I met you at Collectormania, you guys shared a hotel room with me.
Posted by: Caitlin at January 15, 2004 7:05 AMOf course I remember who you are! If not for you and Megs, Pippa and I would have been out on the street that night!
I know not all Americans have the stereotyped views I described, but I've come across more that do than makes me comfortable. It makes it all too easy to believe that this is the common view for the everyday American, and that most of the Americans I've met that don't share these views are exceptions rather than the norm. All of my American friends I have met on this side of the Atlantic, meaning that they not only have a passport but that they use it in a non-tourist bus style manner. There seems to be some confusion as to exactly how many Americans are in possession of a passport, but when numbers as low as 7% can be suggested, I seriously feel the need to question basing ideas on the handful of Americans I've met and befriended. I think I've come by the impression that they think the views expressed in my post to varying levels of ardor from a more general reading of websites and watching of interviews/documentaries on tv.
From the Brit perspective, I write those opinions as an observation of others, although I dare say I am hardly guiltless. Sometimes it's fairly subtle, people making jokes and daft humourous comments, but it seems to me that this is at times only the briefest manifestation of a thoroughly unhealthy attitude. More overtly, I have had to listen to various neighbours and family talk with perfect seriousness on just how awful American behaviour is, and to be honest I have stood up and walked out the room a couple of times. In their ignorance they say some truly awful things, and yet they are supposed to be Britain's educated and respected citizens. Whether our criticism of the States is responsive in nature or not, it is just as bad, and leaves the relationship just as unhealthy.
Which leaves me just as bewildered as to where it came from, and just as concerned for the future.
Oh, and you can't nearly take all the credit for slaughtering the Native Americans and enslavement of so many. I'm fairly sure we Brits started all that off ourselves. Yay us.
Posted by: Missiedith at January 15, 2004 1:12 PM