I thought that I heard a rumour once upon a time that Americans are "ugly" and evil. When I was walking through the crowded Salt Lake City airport, I noticed a disproportionately high frequency of beautiful women. I don't know if that has anything to do with the SLC having the single largest concentration of Mormons in the world, and that perhaps Mormon women are more attractive on average than non-Mormons. I just have not seen any of these alleged "ugly Americans". What I have seen are a whole lot of "sexy Americans". But I suppose that ugly label came from that book about how Americans are ugly on the inside, are evil, rape the world, wantonly destroying less developed nations, etc. I'm trying to make some sense of it all, because of the hundreds of Americans that I have met in my life, 90% of them were really nice people. I know that there are some bad apples in the lot; but those people (most of them on the far left) who paint all Americans with the same broad brush are irrationally ignorant.
I like Americans. I think Robin Williams put it best when he was talking about France.
"But I suppose that ugly label came from that book about how Americans are ugly on the inside, are evil, rape the world, wantonly destroying less developed nations, etc."
ReplyDeleteI think that this caricature of Americans is a belief attributed to people who are also, caricatured. Straw men.
I assume you are referring to the book: "The Ugly American"
I thought it wasn't so much an attack on the moral character of individual Americans as a criticism of American Foreign Policy in S.E. Asia after WWII. And quite frankly, I think there was much that could be justly criticized.
But the hero of the book, the ugly American, is just that: an American who is, physically, ugly. But he sees the problems with the policies generated by the elite, and cares about the common people. And he is interested in helping them because it would help fight communism...