or is prejudice against America considered OK by most of mumsnet?

[VajazzHands]

Comments about America on mumsnet, really ridiculous comments (basically that all Americans, are fat, stupid, god botherers bent on taking over the world) seem to be largely ignored and accepted as fact in a way that comments about any other country never would.

Blatant sexism, racism, xenophobia, disablism would never be tolerated on MN in any other circumstance. Why do people let it go about Americans?

And here goes another one!

Of course it's not ok. :(

I totally agree with you OP. Anti american sniping is very common on mumsnet - usually saying stuff like 'oh trick or treating/baby showers are so crass, so American.

I think it shows the ignorance of the poster, and must be horribly offensive to the American mumsnetters.

redexpat Thu 05-May-11 15:03:37

AlpinePony - SO true. I love that Americans always join in any group activity, with gusto, especially the expats.

I don't. I'm a miserable fucker who'd rather be at home with a book.

I think, perhaps, that much of it comes from a fear that Americanisms are taking over the UK yoof. Too much American TV --> American slang, pronunciation and even spellings eroding the British way, dontcha know.
So - best form of defence is attack - try and belittle the oppo before they take you over, sort of thing.

That's my take on it, anyway.

It's worse here in Australia, btw - many of the yoof here talk with an almost-American accent! But there's less resistance to it. Australia is halfway between America and the UK in outlook/culture.

The Americans I know will never return to the US because they don't like living there.

Vajazz, why not?

There is good and bad from every country. But isn't it (sometimes) ok though just to have a little dig laugh at perhaps a generalisation about a people?

If not, how can we ever have humour on any subject? Surely it will always offend someone, somewhere unless of course we go round like Christmas cracker jokes - aren't they put together to be purely impartial??

Oh my god what the fucking hell have we got here now.

Chinks and a paragraph later talking about racism.

Next you will be saying the darkies are doing well for themselves in Nigeria .

Americans don't get Irony? Seinfeld, Curb your Enthusiasm, Rich Hall, Woody Allen, Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live, Frasier - I could go on and on.

Puffin I beleive many UK leaders let it be known they "are nice church going people" and footballers are always getting on their kneews to god after scoring goals here too. (because if there were a god he would have nothing else to do besides helping footballers score goals. )

is it the accent?

VaJazzHands - can I add something to your comment about passports? The US is so big and so diverse that it is possible to travel extensively, see different landscapes, eat different food, explore different aspects of history, visit museums/galleries with unique collections - and no passport is needed. Personally I think that there is at least as great a difference between, say, Florida and Alaska, as there is between England and Italy! I also find it strange that Americans are derided for not having passports, but British people who say 'I always holiday in the UK, there's no need to go abroad' would never receive the same treatment!

The chinks comment was not wrt Chinese people but meaning gaps - chinks in their armour type thing. How I read it anyway.

You who are going on about "chinks" - what is the problem?

x-posted with FirstVix - exactly!

America is unpopular for the same reason that any overweeningly powerful state tends to be. It's an Aunt Sally to blame everything on. It's not personal.

I think theres a mahoosive difference between disliking a country's government and disliking a country's people.

I, for example, hate the fact that Scotland is (mostly) run by Westminster, but actually am quite fond of England and people who live there.

Nope. I really don't think they do VajazzHands. The footballers who do that are not British (there will be a few exceptions but a very ,very few) They're Spanish, Portuguese, Italian or from South America. Our politicians don't feel the need to be church going either. No one cares.

'But isn't it (sometimes) ok though just to have a little dig laugh at perhaps a generalisation about a people?'

Sure! Go ahead, try substituting in 'Pakistani' 'Jewish' or 'Africans' and see how funny people find it.

Hell, try substituting in 'The English' right here on this board, and see how funny people find it when you say, 'Oh, it's just a joke. Calm down, dear.'

oh yeah, I've re-read it.

Unfortunate use of word there!

Ratherbe thats a good point. Another is that when you only have 2 weeks you might want to spend time with family and in a country our size that could mean a 5 hour plane journey to see your nan!

I'm a with thumbwitch in that I don't like to see so much of our culture becoming Americanised. American culture isn't bad of course, but I do think sometimes we're all becoming a bit homogenised by American culture.

That said vajazzHands post about Americans never going on holiday because they only have 2 weeks leave a year made me very sad. Americans get accused of riding roughshod over international foreign policy, but I think (based on absolutely no evidence of course) that Americans would be much more understanding of the wider world if they just had more bloody holiday! We are bloody lucky here in the EU to have so much time to spend exploring other countries.

RatherBe, I feel exactly the same about people from the UK who have the money and the opportunity and have chosen never to go abroad. And those who do and spend their time moaning that everything is 'foreign'. The one that amused me the most was the number of Ryder Cup players one year that had to get passports for the first time. These are well paid professionals who, far from needing time off, will have been offered money to play in competitions all over the world.

GetOrf I particularly notice MN's anti-Americanism every time baby showers are brought up, usually with some snide comment about Americans been greedy grasping trolls with no manners.

I do find it hideously offensive, especially because the reason many Americans have things like baby showers is not because they are greedy bastards but because the country is so large that many people can end up having a baby thousands of miles from their families and therefore are less likely to be able to tap into a local community with hand-me-downs or family aid. Certainly that was the reason for many of my cousins' showers - they were too far away from family and had to build their own support network IYSWIM.

And also, about Americans not getting irony - I was introduced to Monty Python at summer camp in the US when I was 11 and have consistently met Americans who can quote large chunks of Holy Grail, Life of Brian etc. (My Cornish DH had never even heard of Monty Python before he met me!)

'that Americans would be much more understanding of the wider world if they just had more bloody holiday! We are bloody lucky here in the EU to have so much time to spend exploring other countries.'

Because everyone in the UK is, of course. My ILs have never been out of the country. I know loads of people who haven't. DH had been to a British part of Ibiza and that was it when I met him.

My parents, native Spanish speakers, have been going to Majorca for years - they're just about to leave for there again next week. They were shocked when I told them loads of Brits go there. My dad said, 'Why don't we see them, then?' Um, because it would appear very few venture out of areas where you might not find anyone who speaks English or sells sausage and chips supper.

headfairy I can understand people not wantng their culture taken over and i also think the world be a better place if we all had more holidays :)