I recently became involved in a lively and somewhat alcohol-fuelled dispute with a friend (let's call him Barry) over his distaste for the American owners of his UK-based company. I won't repeat the names Barry called them, but they were not complimentary. The attitude of his bosses, for him, summed up everything he hated about the United States - profit at any human cost, unflinching optimism and incessant 'blue sky thinking', and a total lack of understanding of accepted working practices in the UK (or indeed of any country except their own).
I sympathised with his frustrations. Culture clashes and miscommunications are inevitable when workers in one country are managed by senior staff in another. I work for an international organisation and know this all too well. However, this was more than just pet peeves, he went on to explain. Working with Americans day in, day out, had utterly soured his already slightly off opinion of them, primarily because, and I quote, "they're all just so goddamn racist".
At this juncture I felt compelled to speak up for the many entirely non-racist and perfectly decent Americans I know, and make the obvious points that a) ingrained racism is undoubtedly a problem but attitudes towards ethnic minorities in the States are still very varied, and b) those minorities are technically American too, so are THEY racist? The discussion then became a bit heated. I implied that tarring an entire country's population with the same brush could itself be considered a bit racist. He took umbrage at the implication (and my drunken sanctimonious tone no doubt) and suggested that the individuals he worked with were simply cogs in the machine of a "dominant power specialising in cultural imperialism". Attacking them was therefore not racism. It was resistance. I said I wasn't quite sure that they consciously had such ulterior motives, but conceded his point that a culture (and indeed a stereotype) is ultimately created by many individuals discussing and reproducing ideas collectively. Holding all citizens equally responsible for the sins of their most powerful countrymen was nonetheless problematic. Barry harrumphed, I harrumphed, we drank more wine, ate some cheese and moved on to discussing the despotic owner of our local greengrocers.
The problem is, I do get where he's coming from, and I do share many of his objections about the USA. Most people with vaguely liberal views in Britain (and many other European countries) do too. America is rich, powerful and influential and thus incredibly conspicuous. Yet Americans do not seem particularly bothered by what we, non-Americans, actually see when we fix our gaze upon them. We interpret this as arrogance: that they are essentially saying, "here, have our films, TV shows and culture; have our political interference; have our capitalist purism, our money and the strings attached to it; have our oil and burgers and phones and coffee. We know they're not great for you but they make us rich so we don't really care!"
This attitude was recently exemplified by the UK's House of Commons Select Committee grilling of US tech companies over the impact of Fake News on the Brexit outcome. As The Times' Hugo Rifkind put it, "The land of the First Amendment... is the only land about which these companies really care." The USA is always going to be these firms' biggest market, and its politicians are essentially the only ones who can impose regulations that will make any meaningful difference to tech company profits and practices, so, for them, worrying about anyone outside the US is a bit pointless. This philosophy is shared by most industries, institutions and even individuals in the States. The size and affluence of the US means it simply doesn't NEED to think beyond its own borders most of the time. No wonder they hold themselves in such high regard.
And it is perhaps this, the self-love, that us cynical, reserved Brits find most enduringly distasteful. Like a friend who constantly adulates their partner, we wonder if perhaps Americans are just a little insecure; that all the vigorous flag waving and patriotism is actually compensating for (or maybe diverting attention away from) the fact that for all its wealth and laudable freedoms, life in the USA sucks for a big chunk of the populace. For a start, income inequality in the States is massive. However you measure it, it repeatedly comes out as the most unequal major developed country in the world. Around one in eight Americans live in poverty, with an inability to pay for healthcare the leading cause of bankruptcy in the country. Twenty million Americans (6% of the population) are classified as having a substance abuse problem. Guns kill over 33,000 people per year, with mass shootings, like the one last week in Florida, a shockingly regular occurrence. Paid maternity leave is not federally mandated (so is mostly non-existent). Nor is paid vacation time from work. Spray-on cheese is a genuine thing...
Corporations in America OWN their employees in a way that feels frankly Victorian to us in Britain. They often work them to the bone for a pittance just because they can, and with decent healthcare contingent on the generosity of the company, they may very well have the power of life and death over their staff too. America is so entrenched in the capitalist ideal, and it's politicians so dependent on big business for campaign funding, that the situation feels frankly hopeless.
I am only highlighting the negatives of course, but I do so because, as outsiders looking in, many of us find it hard to reconcile these facts with the USA's unwavering belief in the American Dream - that hard work necessarily leads to a good life in the land of the free. Clearly it doesn't, and yet still it is held up as the prime reason that God allegedly blesses their great and wonderful nation. This grates no end.
Then there is the narcissistic orange elephant in the room that they call Mr President. Unfortunately for the US, Donald Trump is the embodiment of every negative trait that we (rightly or wrongly) associate with Americans. Loud, ostentatious, opinionated, arrogant, ignorant, insular, overweight, vain, crass, prejudiced, misogynistic and materialistic; its hard to imagine a worse ambassador when it comes to challenging national stereotypes. He has trampled into dust any respect America gained globally under Obama, and made George W Bush look like a thoroughly decent chap in comparison. The unofficial American religions of celebrity and capitalism have come up trumps with Trump, and it is difficult to see how the international reputational damage he is inflicting is ever to be undone.
Yet here's the thing. While we know Trump is BAD, we also know that technically, more voters picked Hilary Clinton in the polls. We know that half the country dislikes him and is desperately resisting him. In the more liberal, costal cities of the States, it's considerably more than half. So to dismiss a whole country based on limited examples of unpleasant Americans - be that Trump and his supporters or the band of morons who manage you at work - is dangerous. It's understandable, given how few genuine, reasoned, non-Hollywood polished Americans most of us get to encounter, but it is not founded on any kind of truth. In fact, it is dangerous to make any generalisations about this massive country. America is not homogenous. It is exceptionally diverse in its people, landscapes, beliefs, State laws, traditions and cultures. Old, white conservative men may run the USA but they do not speak for everyone - there are some truly good, honest, kind Americans out there too. Even those whose views we disagree with can be good people. It's an argument, as liberals, we make all the time about other groups (e.g. Muslims) but seem to ignore when it comes to "the American bad guys". Furthermore, we all benefit from US innovation and enterprise on a daily basis, without necessarily ever appreciating how much they have changed our lives. The USA is a complex place, a troubled place yes, but having lived there for a time, also a pretty interesting, even beautiful one. I wouldn't chose to move there permanently but I can completely see how those who do - who are able to embrace the quality of life and ignore the craziness on Capitol Hill - are seduced.
Is it OK to hate the USA therefore? If you proclaim yourself a decent, open-minded person, the answer is probably, "Well what do you mean by 'The USA'?" The government? The US people? The culture? The land? The bargain bucket of chicken you just guiltily chowed your way through? I think it's acceptable - in fact vital - to object to state-sanctioned policies that have global repercussions; climate change denial for example is ultimately going to contribute to a global disaster that affects us all. It is understandable to feel uncomfortable with and/or baffled by a culture that is at odds with your own ideals too (not to mention common sense - FFS ban guns America!), provided you don't dismiss it without recognising the context or the flipside benefits. It's also fine to dislike individual Americans - be they Donald Trump or your boss - if you have legitimate reason to do so. But however socially acceptable it might seem to be, falling back on lazy stereotypes to write off a whole nation of people you've never met is always going to be problematic, however much it may feel like legitimate resistance of a dominant, neo-collonial superpower...
I speak from experience. At work, I once impersonated a couple of "typical" American tourists who had been on the train with me that morning (uttering classics such as "Oh my GOSH, look at that Bob! Is that a sports stadium?" - about Battersea Power Station) forgetting there were two young American interns sitting three desks away. They heard everything, stared daggers at me and shunned all attempts at tea-making reparation for the full six weeks of their internships, making me regularly wish the ground could swallow my allegedly unprejudiced self whole. I'm just thankful they didn't report me.
So yes, Barry, I love you dearly, and I get your point, but please think about what you say about our US cousins. It may just come back to bite you on the arse / ass.