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Notes -
I was rather surprised to see how outright hostile the sentiment was towards Americans, while attending a reasonably high profile comedy show in Edinburgh tonight. Even directed at the poor sods who responded when the MC/individual comedians asked if there were Americans in the crowd. Apparently "I didn't vote for him" is no defense.
I ran into a very nice gentleman from Washington state while sheltering from the rain under the alcove of his building, next to the venue. I told him that while the show was nice enough, he's better off pretending to be Canadian. He was a tad bit strange, since, as he explained and then demonstrated, he'd stepped out to get soaked in the rain in lieu of a shower. That is probably whimsy and not pathology, but I opted to stay dry.
To be fair, I was sampling from the most vocally leftist/progressive strata of Scottish society. The average Scot seems to be much less deranged, and outright welcoming of the odd American tourist. Anyone else notice such obvious hostility in other countries?
America is clearly exerting hard and soft power over a large part of the world and have done so for generations. Its not surprise that this generates resentment, even amongst closely aligned and vassal states.
Among Anglo states (think five eyes), America has always been its own thing. They are more individualist and unique compared to the rest of us which are more closely aligned to the (traditional) UK. This cultural difference leads to natural misunderstandings.
I remember traveling to the far corners of the Earth and having much more in common with European travelers than Americans, even though there was more of a language difference.
Not sure on the latter part but I do generally agree foreigners view American in a negative light because we are the hegemon so it’s a bit rebellious to speak badly of Americans even if they can’t really do anything about it. And a second reason Americans get looked down upon is because we dominate media and foreigners have a much about to view the American lower class versus their own.
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