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What the British Think of America
Andrew Marr,
the BBC's political editor, presented a unique BBC-led global
television debate about the USA's place in the world.
Here he explores the links,
and divisions, between the UK and America.
Once
upon a time the Americans were the British, lost on the narrow lip
of a distant continent, clutching their faith, songs, customs and
memories; they were 17th Century space travelers, cut off from
Planet Europe with its corruptions and tyrannies. Today, the
British sometimes seem more like strayed Americans, islanders who
speak American, watch American, eat American and increasingly
think American too. Looking at us, a visiting anthropologist from
Mars might conclude that we must be a tribe of migrants from
Pennsylvania who ended up, for obscure reasons, squatting off
France. Almost all countries in the world are touched, in some
way, by American power - Hollywood reaches deep into Asia and
Russians eat Big Macs - but the British are more intensely soaked
in US culture than anyone else, except the CanadiansThis is about
language, first and foremost; though France, for instance, is
heavily Americanised, French acts as a formidable buffer, as does
German.
The
second reason for the similarity is that Britain, like the US, is
a fully multi-ethnic country. British multi-ethnicity is different
in history and tempo. It is not about a fresh slate but an old
empire. As British Asians sometimes put it: "We are only over here
because you were over there." But the effect is to make the UK as
open to cultural mingling and change as coastal America - London
has more language communities and international business
headquarters than New York; Manchester has even more Sikh
taxi-drivers than Boston. Third, of course, there is history. The
US constitution is an idealised and codified reworking of British
constitutional thinking. American business practice grew from the
commercial laws, property rights and trading customs of 18th
Century London and Bristol.
Class divide
For all these reasons, and lesser
ones, modern Britain has been more open, more porous, to
contemporary American power than rivals. Modern Britain is the
Simpsons, 24, Friends, Starbucks, Amazon, Gap, the White Stripes
and Michael Moore, along with the Commons, the Queen and Martin
Amis. There are class elements to this, since the posher British
are likelier to feel themselves European with their Italian
holiday homes and raggedly idiomatic French, while the poorer,
because they watch more telly, absorb much more American
programming and American food.
Where
are the evangelical churches gaining ground in Britain? Among the
poorer blacks and whites of the inner cities. But
British-Americanism transcends class too. The high-income
political obsessives of Westminster hoover up the latest books on
Clinton and Bush, watch The West Wing and speculate about Ari
Fleischer's future. Writers I know, who cross the Atlantic like
frantic petrels, wryly describe themselves as "Nylons" (New
Yorker-Londoners) or, more poetically, Atlanticans. Dig below the
surface similarities, and you find deeper ones - the shared
interest in global policing, the more-similar-than-not business
cultures, the high level of internet usage, the populations that
will continue to grow as those of France, Germany and Italy fall.
Vive
la difference?
But
if British-Americanism is intense, it also offers an interesting
lesson for the rest of the world: for the corollary seems to be an
equally intense desire to assert a different identity too. You
find it in humour, in sport, in the monarchy (far stronger than
most people would have predicted a decade ago), in Britain's
newspaper culture, in the soap operas and the tone of British
television news. It is in the mere existence of Radio 4, which is
perhaps the most un-American act carried out daily in English, and
in the generally far less religious atmosphere of modern Britain,
a secular, indeed Godless place by American standards. When
British culture stands up to, or against, American culture, it is
persistent and dogged. Baseball has made no inroads. President
Bush's born-again Methodism is met with blank disbelief, or amazed
distaste.
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In Britain, there is no issue deader
than the death penalty. And what patriotism is to middle America,
knowing self-deprecation is to middle Britain. It is as if there is a
complex, winding internal border in the mind of every British adult.
On the one side a shared American culture which enriches our lives.
When, after September 11, the "Star-Spangled Banner" was played
outside Buckingham Palace, or at the last night of the Proms, it was a
family tribute. But on the other side of that mental border is an
untouched other, a way of feeling that is beyond the reach of Drs.
Kissinger or Seuss. For the British it is impossible not to be
American and intolerable to be only American. It is a condition of
self-division that may become universal. This double-ness can be held
in any head without pain, and indeed with great pleasure. The trick is
understanding that, in a world which has America, any form of local
purity is an impossible mirage.
World BBC News Wire
WHAT THE WORLD CITIZENS THINK OF AMERICA?
Land of the free, home of junk food, or global policeman: What do you
think of America?
The USA's role in the world was discussed in a unique global television debate hosted by the BBC.
The debate revealed the
results of a ground-breaking, international survey of attitudes that
will capture popular prejudices and convictions about America. Under
discussion was America's relations with other countries
post-September 11, the country's cultural legacy and what the future
holds for the world's only superpower. The program also revealed
that News Online readers voted Homer Simpson as the Greatest
American in history.
What do you
think of America? Who is the greatest American? What is the USA's
best, and worst,
contribution to the world?
This debate
is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.
The following
comments reflect the balance of opinions we have received:
Most American's long for the days of
isolationism. If we thought that the world would leave us alone, we'd
go inside, shut the door, and lock it tightly.
If we compare the actions of the US (especially
foreign policy) with the historical actions of the European
imperialists, we cannot say they are any worse. But, when we compare
their actions and policies with the ideals they preach, they are their
own enemy. David C, London, UK
America, we are told, is a country that was
founded on freedom yet it was founded on mass slavery. America is a
country where we are told free speech is valued yet when people speak
out against the recent war they are vivified, fired or even attacked.
America is thought of as rich yet many millions of its citizens live
way below the poverty line, and we simply don't care. America is a
country where racism is alive and well. America is a country of
basically decent people who allow themselves to believe in a fantasy
worthy of Disney rather than change things for the better. Mike
Peterson, Spain (Ex-USA)
America is still the leader of the western world
and the champion of democracy, which could have perished if not for
the sacrifices made by the US. My regret is that the American people
needed and deserved a more ethical administration to lead them in the
aftermath of 9/11. Ken UK, England
I suppose that since America is such a young
country, we shouldn't be surprised that they're now so gung-ho about
making the kind of foreign policy mistakes that we in "Old Europe"
were making 250 years ago. Stuart W, UK
I have been to the US and it is beautiful but
the people are self-centred, highly opinionated, morally limited and
with Christian righteous, pro-Jewish values. It is scary how the
country can become a dangerous weapon under a president with such a
limited and narrow bandwidth. James, India
I'd like to see more comments from residents of
Iraq, Libya, Afganistan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Panama, Croatia, Laos, Indonesia, and the other 30 or so
countries the US has bombed since the end of the World War II. Any
country the US cannot exploit or control it bombs back to the Stone
Age. Mark, Ireland
I came to the USA three years ago from
the Philippines. It was not an easy transition. I found Americans to
be too direct and rude. At first I associated with only other Filipino
immigrants but eventually I met a wonderful American man and recently
married him. I was also able to get a great job doing the same thing I
was doing in the Philippines but making unbelievable money
($100,000/yr). Since I have married and began working with Americans,
I have begun to see the admirable traits. Americans are ambitious,
funny, sympathetic, and smart. People here are also opinionated. My
husband is well-educated and we have well-educated friends. The view
that Americans are ignorant is puzzling to me.
Maria C, USA (Ex-Philippines)
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