Re: American like Sam Shepard ( was guns and stuff)

Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sun, 16 May 1999 18:14:33 +1000 

OK Robert, here's my take on things. Here's a little survey.

America's president:  Bill Clinton
His political party: Democrat
The other main political party: Republican
His choice of sexual partner: Monica Lewinsky
Number of States in America: 52 (I could be wrong on that, at least I'm
close)
Capital of America: Washington D.C.

Could you possibly take the time to fill out the following survey:

Australia's prime minister: 
His political party: 
The other main political party:
His choice of sexual partner: 
Number of States in Australia:
Capital of Australia.

I have been to America twice. I'm not pretending to have a superior view on
it to anyone else; the goldfish bowl metaphor can only go so far. But I
know this much.

a) I watched so-called World News on American television and it was about
ten minutes of international stories followed by an extensive coverage of 

b) 45% of Americans have stated that they wouldn't bother going overseas
because they could `see it all on television'

c) According to travel writer Bill Bryson, half of American students
surveyed did not know that England was a part of Europe.

All I'm saying is that from the outside your culture seems largely inward
looking. This of course is a generalisation. You may not be - are probably
not - an inward looking person. I'm just providing an alternate vision to
that of a person living inside the goldfish bowl. Not privileged, just
different, and supposedly by definition unachievable by someone in the
goldfish bowl. I certainly would never propose that it is a `better' view
or even better informed. It's just how I have experienced it. Nor am I
`America bashing'. There's probably more rednecks per square acre in
Australia than in America. We all have our cultural bugbears. I just get a
little annoyed that a culture should be so unquestionably unassailable in
countries in which it should really have no relevance - and that's probably
almost as much our problem as yours.

 I'd be interested to know exactly what you have been biting your tongue
over? I wish you'd told me before all this.

Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST http://www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest

Robert Morris wrote:
>      I'll say that this is you copping out.  As I said previously, there
> have been numerous times that I have bitten my tongue over your comments
> concerning America. This is a subject that boggles my mind, how the rest
of
> the world seems to think they have a much better handle on what goes on
in
> American society, than we do. I meet students form all over the world ( I
> live in Boston, we're overrun by them) who tell me all that I don't know
> about my own country. The problem is,  they are usually basing their
> observations on sitcoms and bad propaganda. I couldn't even imagine
voicing
> an opinion about  Austrailian society. Why is that the rest of the world
is
> so prepared to tell me about Americans? ( and I tend to think that
Canadians
> may be the worst of them all at this)
> 
>    When you pull this on a lot of Americans these days, they'll probably
> agree with you, because we are losing our soul as a country. It's like
folks
> are guilty to be American. (But I think these people would be soulless
> wherever they live. ) What you have run into here is someone who is
> unfashionably proud to be American. I'm no right winger either, if you
are
> of the mind to believe that belief in our country is the sole domain of
> Conservatives.
> 
>         I'm just tired of this US bashing and the many forms it takes on.
> The fact that you are making your judgements here based on Friends and
the
> Simpsons should be startling, apparently it's not.
> 
> 
>                    Robert Morris
>                    winboog@gis.net
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