The American Image?

While traveling I have always been aware of my status as an American. Being an American has a certain specialness to it. In one way, much of the world is hopelessly captivated by our movies, our music, the political decisions our leaders make. In another way they are vehemently against what we represent... greed, pre-emptive strikes, pollution etc.

Either way, when you tell someone you are from America, it means more than saying that you are from Canada.

I've been lucky. Everyone I have met and spent any amount of time with has been gracious, kind and accepting. They judge me based on who I am and not who/what my country is.

Still, I'm curious about what people think when they think about Americans. While in India, I asked as many people as I had the opportunity to. Surprisingly enough, at least to me, the responses were quite positive.

I found (from the few people I talked to) that India wants to be America. Although large tracts of India are still completely immured in the past, the majority of the urban centers and much of the youth are crying for change. They believe, and I think they are right, that their time is coming. As more and more skilled jobs are coming to India it makes sense that Indians are looking to change, and they want to change into us. They see America as the country to emulate. Again, this is just the impression that I got from the few people that I talked to.

However, my experience in Europe has been a bit different. Like I said, everyone has been very kind and hospitable, but the stereotypes that they have of America are not nearly as rosy as of those held by Indians.

I've heard from several different people that generally when they think of Americans they think of wasteful and overweight people. They think of the Iraq war, they marvel that we are allowed to drive and own guns at the age of 16 but can't drink until we're 21. They think about the Iraq and Afghanistan (Holland has soldiers in Afghanistan) conflicts.

They also know us through music, television and movies. Everywhere I go I here American songs playing on the radio, Hollywood movies on the T.V.

I can't really blame them for the stereotypes that they have of us. Today, I was at a shop eating a sandwhich. The TV was showing an episode from MTV Made. The people depicted on the show were ridiculous. They were stupid and self-centered, and they happened to be American. The truth is that a lot of Dutch people know most of what they know about America via television. And, at least in my opinion, most television shows don't depict the best qualities of America.

So, I guess I would say that most Dutch people have some very strong stereotypes regarding Americans as a whole. However, they seem to be good at looking beyond the stereotype and seeing the individual (me in this case) that just so happens to be an American.