You've hit the nail on the head: it is all built around a fiction of all-round superiority to which large swathes from the middle class upwards subscribe. It' s a kind of mass hysteria fueled by money.

You can't be me, I'm taken

When you read something like that, there are only two conclusions it seems to me one can draw. The first is that Romney's people are idiots and he's got no chance to win the election (which seems to me a sound proposition.)

The second is that if this is the sort of drivel that consultants tell candidates to base their campaigns on ("HIllary = France ...") , there's no point in holding the election either (which also seems to me a sound proposition). If this is the best that these high-paid republican consultants can come up with, then maybe she really is going to win the election. Would you pay for advice like that, or simply fire the guy who wrote that?

This guy Romney makes Sarkozy look like a deep-thinking statesman.

I do like the map though which looks like it was taken from a Third Republic schoolbook.

Europeans want to "drag America down to Europe's standards," says Romney.

Sorry guys, but Mitt Romney is FAR from the only person who believes such nonsense.

The opinion that "the EU wants to drag us down to their etandards" seems to be quite widespread in Eurosceptic European countries, both out of and within the EU.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

Funny, I don't recall learning that for either of my degrees, but I do recall learning a fucking Hell of a lot more at the Number 1 Party School in America than I did at a Top-Five Academic School in England.

I could've agreed with the entire post if not for that ridiculous swipe.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

After they start a nuclear war in Europe while you're trying to figure out whether headscarfs are evil and destabilizing to your civilization, they will be there, and maybe you won't.

In the long run, if you measure success in megatons of human meat, America is on to something, neatly laid out in the PNAC, which I assume you're all familiar with.

And they did it all by grounding in it post-Machiavellian deconstructed Platonism.

Ah, how have the mighty fallen. Archimedes and his stick, as the soldiers arrive...

Align culture with our nature. Ot else!

"Retail politician"?

Wha...?

I had no idea he did his "proselytizing" in France. Ah, the Mor(m)ons.

Funny perso story, back in a smallish industrial town between Toulon and Marseille where most of the family lives, my belote coinchée buddies played a joke on me. I used to hang out in a buddy Yvon's bar and play belote all the time with him and some other buddies, there was alway a game going. You may picture the type of bar, it was also a tabac and pmu, about half the place spoke languages different from french (maghrebi and gitane spanish mostly) and it was a mess, turkish wc and the whole bit. Not the place to go with a lady mind you.

Anyway, everyone's got a nick in the Var. I was obviously le ricain, my best friend olive was le tunisien (he was pied noir from Tunisia, uncle still lived down there), Salvatore was toto, Jean-yves somehow was le grecque even though his family had been there for like eight generations, and Momo and Dédé and ainsi de suite. Somehow Yvon escaped the nick phenomenon, but then, he was hard to place, coming from Kourou of all places.

As very few people really spoke English of their own admission (at least in my circles, this is a pretty post-industrial part of the coast, La Seyne s/Mer if you know the area) they had me set up to meet these two Americans who had arrived, seemingly out of nowhere, to La Seyne. Yvon had met them and they were interested to meet a fellow American in a pretty unlikely spot (La Seyne is, despite being on the coast, not exactly an international tourist destination, though we do get our fair share of Parigo who actually work for a living.)  

So, in front of the church in downtown, at 4PM on a Sunday, I was to go meet them. I figured I'd go get them and bring them back to Yvon's so I could play more cards and maybe teach them something useful that way. Now, I'd been playing cards since before lunchtime and my breath probably stunk of casanis from a block away, so I turned up from resto La Forge, hit the square and what do I see? Two teenagers sitting there, peacefully, black pants, white shirt and black tie.

I walked past as if I hadn't seen them. No interest in learning about Jesus, not from a latter-day teenager anyhow, no sir. And I'm sure they had no interest in learning how to play cards, either.

Turns out they had gone into my friend's den of inequity earlier in the week to fulfill their mission quota, but had somehow failed, though Yvon had held out the promise that they actually knoew someone (me) who might understand their gibberish.  (Would've helped if they spoke a little french. Or maybe Maghrebi or Spanish. Ugly Americans, but at least their mission was peaceful. Unlike certain.)

They all had a good laugh at my minor expense, and the inevitable joking about polygamy came up, which no doubt hit momo and dédé a bit differently than the rest of us, though maybe not.

Romney's not just an ugly American, of course.  But it is telling that such ignorami can reach the summits of power in a country which takes itself as seriously as America does.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

You mean like John Mc Cain?

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

LOL.  You don't like bumbling idiot?  How about ...intellectual midget campaign?  Democratically deficient?  Logic handicapped?  I can imagine the speech: "I want to run this great country because France caused my PTSD"?

Maybe the Utah corruption cases about the 2002 Olympics did not stick to him, but it´s close enough.  Too bad that we are used to such low standards that a campaign memo leak with this crap does not ruin a nomination.


Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

I think we can discount McCain.  He is bleeding support to Gulliani among the brain-celled and the wingers don't trust him.  

The GOP's chickens are coming home.  They need to nominate someone who can be protrayed as a Centerist but a Centerist won't garner support from the Conservatives and Christian Right who comprise a significant percentage of the GOP primary voter; certainly those two groups provide the margin-of-victory in an election.  

As we say, "Break-out the Popcorn."  This is going to be better than a Marx Brothers movie.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

it's just weak cultural sniping. I expect nothing less from figures representing either government. We all have a good round of cheap insults then get back to business as usual.

you are the media you consume.

If this is what the French embassy does with its time, -- complaining about stupid comments from some half-pint who's polling behind Newt Gingrich

You missed the bit about the diary being sourced from the Boston Globe.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

I can't resist my politically incorrect urges any longer. Why do you live in a country you despise so much?

you are the media you consume.

Irrespective of the points you may have, you might want to consider making them less brashly, and, when appropriate, without any unecessary nasty overgeneralisations. It won't take away anything on the substance of what you have to say, but it might help take away some of the belligerance in the threads you participate to. Pas besoin de mettre les deux pieds dans le plat à chaque fois!

Even if true (and I won't comment here on what is and isn't), it's just not effective at getting the point across. Just sayin'.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

Yes, I am half-american. And that's how I was using the term.


The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

It means arrogant pushy american going abroad and forcing others to adapt to him or her rather than the contrary. Expecting them to speak english, have hamburgers and fries, be religious like you are and the rest.

But the problem with the stereotype is that it rests on both a selective, skewed vision of visiting Americans - most don't expect that and either make an effort to speak the language, or if they don't they politely ask if you do, and certainly aren't looking for hamburgers or fries, let alone have any expectations whatsoever about religion; and furthermore by virtue of being automatically identifiable as 'others' obnoxious behaviour stands out more than it would otherwise. And it's those that stick in people's memories, not the unremarkable majority. It's like the stereotype of obnoxious, arrogant French behaviour to tourists - most aren't, but it's the assholes that stand out, especially if they're conforming to a pre-existing stereotype.

I'm going to wade in, too, and probably regret it, as I've just gotten home from a damned tiring week of work living out of a hotel room and drunk a LARGE glass of wine (not French, alas, but I was looking for a buzz, not romance), so here goes.

I use the term "ugly American" all the time, at least in my head, as I am a self-conscious traveler and feel responsible for all the ills of the world and of my country in particular.  I've always been drawn to Europe, even married a European (German master baker... might as well enjoy good bread and pastries 'til I die) and I've grown more and more discouraged with my country as I've aged and things have changed... or maybe I've just noticed more.  We plan to retire in France or somewhere in Europe.

But Romney was totally wrong when he said "drag America down to Europe's standards" since we've been below Europe's standards for a long time.  I don't need to explain it to YOU guys, re: health care, education, hell, just mandatory vacation time alone.  Quality of life is better in Europe, because the things that matter in general are paid more heed in Europe (personal time, time with family, things that get only lip service but no legislation in the USA.) But I also must add, as a former attorney who has traveled the USA quite extensively, that I've never thought of Romney as anything but a minor player, and he doesn't stand a chance in hell in current endeavors.

In defense of second languages and education, though, I have to say that it's a bit tougher to maintain a second language when you NEVER hear it spoken.  I took many years of French from grammar to secondary school through college, but when you're only in France one week every two years for 16 years, you forget a lot of French.  And there are boors in every country and from every social class, so I really hate to categorize people by stereotypes, though it's sometimes hard not to do, and I cringe when I hear Americans talking really loud (especially about wanting more ice) when I'm abroad.  

But like many Americans with whom I am lucky to be associated, I admire Europeans and their lifestyles and want to know more about them.  I'm reading a wonderful book right now entitled "Au Contraire - Figuring Out the French" by Gilles Asselin and Ruth Mastron, and it's quite fascinating, even a bit humbling.  But I've also just completed "Suite Francaise" (thanks to whoever on Eurotrip recommended it) which reminds me that no group of humans has cornered the market on being civilized.  And of course there's Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge" to show that a desire for a meaningful life can be harbored even by an American.

So I hope this post hasn't been too defensive, or too apologetic, either; just a plea for us to all take each other as individuals.  I've taken to identifying myself as an earthling... is that too narrow?

Regards to you all.
Karen in Austin

'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher

If it makes everybody feel any better, I'm told that I'm an Ugly American for expecting the English to speak English.

Who'da thought?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Apologies to techno, who is not included...

because some seem to think that the proper response is to imitate rather than condemn and mock. The behaviour that the diary describes doesn't become any more appealing when it is practiced by non-Americans talking about Americans.

This and my comment above have been rendered incomprehensible by vandalism on the thread.

I blame myself.

<hangs head in shame>

If I promise to wave the flag a few times and sing the national anthem better than Hillary, will you let me back in the country?

<narrows eyes>

Assuming I actually want to get back into the country....

There now, does everyone hate me yet?

Well, I for one think Antarctica's been getting a free ride for far too long! What do you say, Americans and Europeans? Let's stick it to those penguin-huggers!

(although, those territorial claims might be a can of worms we don't wanna open...oh well, at least I tried.)

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

You're thinking of baseball, not the internet, MillMan.

And, come on, poemless.  You're a good Illinois gal, so break out the whippin' stick.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Quite agree.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Well I've stayed out of this but I'm afraid I have to react to this one.  

that you chose to interpret redstar's use of the term "ugly American" as meaning that all Americans are ugly Americans, rather than applying to those that are ugly.

Your comment may be true for Redstar, but you don't have to look very far on ET to find those who assume first that an American is an ugly American--here is one comment from this thread that makes the point::

But it isn't just the ignorance that makes me cringe whenever I discover I am going to have to share the stage with a fellow American, it is the notion that I am going to meet one more Yank who probably "knows" that the "furriners" will have nothing to teach him.

This comment is far an American hating American, but is all too common from Europeans as well.  It's like saying in America that blacks sure can jump, but they're not smart enough to win a super bowl,,,,(but wait, one just did).  Oh well, it's ignorant prejudice, and I normally try to ignore it.

Don't get me started with the Jehovah's Witnesses! You say they're not a threat to you, but to me they are: they woke me up last Sunday in the middle of a nice sleep-in! Bloody early proselytizers!

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

Goodie! JW stories!

I was living in New York on the top floor of a 6 floor walk-up.  All 4 of the apartments were rented by friends - male - and we never got drop-in vistors so the general ambience was Animal House.  

One Saturday morning we were planning to go out for breakfast, or something, so we were getting ready.

'Bob' - let me call him - was taking a bath when came a knock-knock-knock upon his door.  He ignored it and continued his hygenic activities.  Knock-knock-knock.  Ignore.  Knock-knock-knock.  Now slightly irked he climbed from the tub, and dripping wet stormed to the door, and swung it open.  Only to behold two (female) JW's who started in on their pitch for about 3 nanoseconds before they cognized what stood before them but not before Bob realized who, and what, they were.

"It's Jehovah's Witnesses!" he cried in tones of total delight.

Sharing the apartment was longshoreman - call him Bjorn - who stood approximately 6'8" tall, blond hair down to his butt, and built like a tank.  This guy was HUGE.  Wondering what the noise was about, Bjorn wandered into the room.

"Bjorn!" Bob shouted with glee.  "It's JEHOVAH WITNESSES!"

Bjorn immediately dived back into his room.

Meanwhile the two JW's are starting to back down the hall mumbling something about coming back later.  Bob follows them into the hall and immediately starts posing philosophical questions at them, "How do you KNOW there is a God? What PROOF can give?" & etc, etc, etc.

As the two JW's start backing away a mite quicker Bjorn leaps into the hall wearing his viking helmet, hair flying everywhere, carrying his shield, naked to the waist, waving his battle axe over head, and screaming at the top of his lungs, "ODIN!  ODIN!"

Attracted by the commotion, I open my door and see:

(1)  two female JW's running down the stairs,

following by ...

(2) one (1) naked-as-a-jaybird Bob running down the stairs after them talking Ontology and Epistemology at them

with ...

(3) Bjorn in full regalia close behind, waving this 3' battle axe over his head in full voice beserker mode "ODIN!  ODIN!"

Until they all disappeared down the stairs.

******************

They never came back.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

Er... how come she's been complaining for a while that she can't be a front-pager any longer? If she retained admin privileges, what was she complaining about?

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

Poemless has actually left ET: her account has been renamed.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."