Robin: Well, I have to say that I agree with the details of what you say but not the generalizations that stem from them. Indeed, most people in the world, and not just Americans, use a mental shorthand to describe those people that they are not familiar with, whether they be their own fellow citizens or those in other countries. This is universal. I recall reading the ASAHI in the 1970s and 1980s and if you read it you would think that there was nothing but crime and violence in the daily life of all Americans. I have found that whether Japanese or Italians or British or Cambodians that when I have traveled there are stereotypes of Americans that are incredibly simplistic, not at all universal, and while sometimes true of a minority are not by any means true of most of the people I know. It seems that when you don't really get involved in another society, and the more distant you are from it (especially if you have never experienced it except through media or traveled on some group tour or superficially to it) the more stereotyped your images of it are. This is universal, it is not the particular characteristic of Americans except those Americans who haven't traveled, who are less educated, and are more parochial, just as this is true of the citizens of all countries.

I also have to say that my own feelings are totally the opposite of yours--having grown up in Brooklyn NYC, I venture to say that I feel more comfortable and familiar with NY, SF, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Rome than I would with the small town Southern places you are familiar with. We are all prisoners of our own backgrounds.

But what bothers me about both your and Earl's and Ron's assertions is that I find that American, British, and foreign academics, while so quick to condemn the stereotyping of Americans in language or thought often in the process are engaging in exactly the same stereotyping when it comes to the U.S.!! In fact, I think the U.S. is so diverse and so complicated compared to other societies that it is the country paradoxically that you can least generalize about or stereotype. Yet it is the country that often is the most stereotyped by others and even by some Americans.

Best regards,
Ellis