To point out the anti-Americanism on Mumsnet?

[PitilessYank]

To My Fellow Mumsnetters,

This topic arose on my recent thread about Bernie Sanders, so I decided to start a thread centered around it.

I really enjoy Mumsnet; there is nothing else like it. However, even as a mellow person, and someone whose hackles rarely get raised, I find myself increasingly pissed off by the anti-American schtick around here.

Enough about our mammoth American refrigerators! (Yes, I own one.) It is not our fault that you have imported over-the-top baby showers or bachelorette parties ("hen-dos"). (I didn't have one, for the record, I think that they are dumb.)

Our educational system is very decent, thank you very much. (For one, unless you are talking about NYC, children here are guaranteed a spot in a local school in the town in which they reside. No muss, no fuss.

Also, did you know that the majority of US physicians, of whom I am one, currently support the implementation of a single-payer health care system that provides guaranteed coverage to all? We are working on it, European onlookers!!

The US is like a collection of 50 different small countries horribly lumped together, and change can be slow.

But we got it together on gay marriage! That was pretty impressive. And Bernie Sanders is very popular! That is a good sign. We make good tv shows?? (Yours are great as well, and much more artful, imho.)

And I think we are so nice to you-always gushing about your lovely accents, assuming that you are smarter than we are because of how you talk, even, appreciating your amazing architecture, art, lusting after your sexy princes, etc...

Well, that concludes my rant for now. Thank you for reading it. I feel better. Commence telling me IABU.

With Love,
Pitiless Yank.

[MitzyLeFrouf]

There's lots of great American TV but Criminal Minds?!

[AngharadTheSplendid]

I used to be rude about America too, sniggering at your giant plates of food and your 'have a great day!' enthusiasm.

Then I moved here. And had a little American baby. And in those two years no one has ever been rude to me, not once. Everyone is friendly and polite and complimentary and interested in the uk.

I still don't like your guns, but America has truly won me over with its charm!

[PitilessYank]

Gleam:

BBC Radio 4 is awesome, and bonus, people here think you are smart if you listen to British radio.
I am currently watching London Spy-what an opus!
Are You Being Served-best sitcom ever!
I love British tv and movies.

[MitzyLeFrouf]

Are You Being Served-best sitcom ever!

[AngharadTheSplendid]

Ps now I have a giant fridge and say 'have a great day!' too. And I love it.

[MitzyLeFrouf]

Are you sure you didn't mean 'worst' sitcom ever??

[AlexPKeaton]

I like the honestly on MN because it's the only way I can find out what people are really thinking.

Before we moved to the UK, everyone I knew who had lived or spent time here warned me that the Brits would be extremely polite but that it would be hard to actually become friends with them. So when two people I met started making overtures to hang out with me, I thought they were just being polite. It took a while to realize that they were both actually interested in being friends with me. It's just so stupid and silly to make these sweeping generalizations.

I'm sure there are British people who meet me and assume I'm a gun-toting, Trump-loving Evangelical Christian, when in fact I am a New York Jew, passionately against guns, and I can't even dignify Trump with an opinion. --In fact I love Bernie but I'm also realistic about who has a shot at getting elected. If someone doesn't want to get to know me because of their preconceived notions or what they gleaned from their 7-day trip to Florida WHY do so many of you love Florida?-- it's safe to say we probably don't have much in common anyway.

I do miss my big-ass fridge, though. I will never apologize for that.

[PitilessYank]

Well, best ever is hyperbole on my part, but I did think it was funny.

MAY I TAKE AN INSIDE LEG??

[AlexPKeaton]

Oh God, do people roll their eyes when I say "Have a great day!"

[GreatFuckability]

yank you should go read the post about Welsh language education and see how the UK feels about its own, let alone you guys!

me, i think you're awesome. but twot is a not a word

[EnthusiasmDisturbed]

one thing I can't understand

food can be great lots of choice

but cheese why is it so hard to get nice cheese

apart from that I love California if ds wasn't so settled I would move there

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

I have a number of friends in the U.S.. Some native and some who have moved there. Obviously I love them :) There are lovely Americans and not so lovely Americans. Like the relationships board we hear a lot more about the not so lovely.

[PitilessYank]

VocationalGoat-how long has it been seen you have visited the Midwest?

I live in the Midwest, and the Midwest has gotten pretty interesting over the past 20 years...

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

You can get nice cheese in NYC!

[AngharadTheSplendid]

Alex - in the uk? Potentially. But don't stop - you do you! It's endearing.

[HelpfulChap]

And it has Las Vegas for which I am eternally grateful.
I know the place like the back of my hand which is a bit embarrassing. I am the go-to man when any family/friends/colleagues are paying a visit.
Sometimes I pretend I don't have all the answers so I don't look like such an addict.

[Twistmyarm]

I have some sympathy for you Op.
But remember us Brits are rude about everyone, including ourselves.
Plus, you do offer spray cheese

[AngharadTheSplendid]

You can get great English cheese at Trader Joes and Costco!

[DaggerEyes]

Americans are so lovely! THE most welcoming people I ever met while traveling.....they pretty much grabbed me and the other Brits and forcibly stuffed us under their wing.

[AlexPKeaton]

VocationalGoat, Maine is one of the poorest states in the union. The educational system is deplorable, and there is little economic opportunity outside of the short tourist season. And have you ever been to Maine between October and April? I have, and it is freezing and depressing. I absolutely love spending summers in Maine, but for year-round residents it can be a very difficult place.

But that's the whole point of all of this, isn't it? Sweeping generalizations about a country or even a state are just silly. Haven't we come far enough to stop painting with such a broad brush?

[PitilessYank]

Spray cheese is an abomination. You will get no argument from me, especially as I have a mouth full of spray cheese atm.

[AngharadTheSplendid]

Tillamook is undeniably horrific though.

[WhoWants314]

I've never understood how Americans mock our teeth!! 60 million of them don't have health care, never mind good teeth! I guess their celebrities started to have perfect teeth a decade before our celebrities and that's what the stereotype is hung upon.

I was chased off babycenter.com for mocking those headbands that go around bald babies' heads.