I see Donald Trump wants us to tax other countries, including much of Europe and South Korea (for hosting U.S. troops on their soil); and China, which holds a double handful of U.S. debt. His hair-brained logic doesn’t really merit elaboration, but the “audacity of (this) dope” begs the question: how has the Ugly American evolved since 1958, when the bestselling novel which coined the purjorative was first released? A character in the book explains it this way:
“For some reason, the [American] people I meet in my country are not the same as the ones I knew in the United States. A mysterious change seems to come over Americans when they go to a foreign land. They isolate themselves socially. They live pretentiously. They’re loud and ostentatious.” Burdick and Lederer, “The Ugly American.”
Apparently, in 1958, global opinion was that we were, on the whole, a nation of “nice” if rather gauche people, who just got a little out of hand when abroad, lapsing into cultural/social ineptitude and adopting a political tin-ear. The comedy take-away from this was heavy on waiters rolling their eyes and uttering “Mon dieu,” and clumsy diplomatic receptions where the loud American makes an inappropriate speech which sends the locals into gales of laughter. Hilarious!
We got the joke; and, for a while, especially in the shame-faced aftermath of Vietnam, it seemed like we Americans were making a genuine effort to put the lie to this arrogant image abroad. The idea of American exceptionalism remained a staple at home, but we were learning to tone it down in mixed company.
Along came Ronald Reagan who enterprisingly claimed responsibility for the fall of the Soviet Union, and we were off to the races again. Adventures in the desert with George H.W. Bush had us strutting and preening just like old times. And, after a few attempts to do some decent stuff like healthcare reform, Clinton gave up and jumped on the exceptionalism bandwagon to further corporatize American swagger abroad with NAFTA and CAFTA.
George Junior proceeded to squander the global-hug that America’s image initially benefitted from following 9/11. The “Ugly American” transformed into the “Thugly American,” a juggernaut of conspicuous poor judgement, menace and corruption. “Weapons of Mass Destruction,” Guantanimo, Abu Graib, rendition, Halliburton; with every news cycle, it seemed that more evidence of a different kind of American “exceptionalism” was telegraphed around the world.
Many of us recoiled from the waste, greed and human suffering…but not all. There was a growing anger on the far right; not so much with Bush and his folly for invading Iraq. This anger turned back on the very people who opposed the war domestically, and on the overwhelming majority of our traditional allies who shared in this opposition. The far right dug in their heels and ratcheted-up the pseudo-patriotic rhetoric, adding a healthy dose of “Christian” self-righteousness for good measure.
The candidacy and then election of the first “black” president, with all of his cross-cultural chops, showed every promise of turning around America’s tarnished reputation, but it only served to inflame the defensive anger on the far right for whom all pretense of tolerance and engagement was cast aside as a new wave of xenophobia swept the land. Now, after several decades of Republican excess and obstructionism, our financial system is in ruins, our children are falling behind in education, our jobs have been off-shored, and our governance is in danger of being reduced to corporate colonialism with a dash of tribal lunacy thrown in, just to keep us guessing. We have one of the highest levels of income inequity in the industrialized world. Notwithstanding all evidence to the contrary, characters like Sara Palin and Michel Bachman prattle on about American exceptionalism, without a touch of irony. This sort of mindless nationalism looks uncomfortably familiar to the rest of the world.
American exceptionalism once had some validity, when it was supported by educational, economic and social evidence. Now it’s propped-up on paranoia and intolerance, guns and ignorance. Civil rights and civility are the first things to go when a nation takes that sharp right down the hill. Texas and Arizona are virtual island fortresses, having institutionalized intolerance and corruption…and some of the other states aren’t far behind, as Wisconsin made surprisingly clear this week.
Can the outside world be blamed for regarding us with some apprehension…us, with our nuclear capabilities and a sizable voting population of trigger-happy paranoid-schizophrenics?
If, in 2012, we were to revert to type (god forbid), electing the guy with the most name-recognition, lowest I.Q., and biggest pair of clown-shoes; that Bush might well be Trump. I can just see the Donald extending an open palm to China, demanding taxes. Having a smorgasbord of emerging economies with which to do business, China to Trump might well reply with a smile, “You’re foreclosed.”
Good one, Sue. (‘You’re foreclosed.”)
Perhaps Americans’ outrage (including The New Yorker’s) over The Quiet American in ’55-’56 helped create The Ugly American in ’58.
And perhaps we need a smug Brit like Fowler In the Greene book to arrange for the fate of The Donald ala Alden Pyle. Lots of bridges in New York:
“Whadya got, Sarge?”
“Body washed up in the mud under the bridge. Looks like some big bigshot way he’s dressed.”
“Well, he ain’t a bigshot no more. Where’s the coffee and doughnuts?”
Fade out…………Donald
in Italy in 2006 we had a strategy to avoid our fellow ‘Mericans abroad:
Find hole in the wall places to eat. Stand outside the door. If there was any American English audible, move on. (American English to our ear was distinctly different from general English that seems to be spoken nearly everywhere)
When on a shuttle bus, train, or cab with those exceptional Americans (especially the ones from Texas who complained LOUDLY about the food and the prices for ‘art’ that they were shipping home) – react to questions in my limited capacity to speak German (dragging up high school!).
When queried we were Vermonters first, Canadians second, and if we had to – finally admit that we were from the states.
It worked pretty well. Aside from a Canadian couple who saw through our act – the times where we were sitting side by side at lunch or dinner with local Florentines we had good conversation in mixed Italian and English about Vermont, the mountains, local food, and laughter regarding how poorly I pronounced any Italian I mustered.
It would be nice if we could join the rest of the human community on this dot that is zipping through space…
The gap hasn’t been this bad since the ‘roaring’ 20s.
http://www.businessinsider.com…
are generally the ones that never ever leave the country.
Merely having a passport is strongly correlated with voting Democratic. Fear-based people don’t like leaving their hometowns, let alone their country.
Oh boy, what we don’t have to look forward to, eh?!
MBP
I think that that’s the best two-line summary of the situation I’ve seen.
On the subject of the traditional “Ugly American,” it has been my experience that the problem is not with so much with Americans generally as it is with the particular Americans who tend to travel as tourists frequently. Brits can be dreadful, too – maybe even worse than Americans.