It's interesting the responses we get when we tell people we've been living in middle America for 3 months, apparently starved of culture, of liberal political discourse, of civilized company, and stuck in the darkest backwater of American bigotry. What a change, from living in cosmopolitan glamorous London.
In our 3 months in Kansas City, we went to one of the best fine arts museums in the world, sampled great cuisine at reasonable prices, lived through the most magnificent fall foliage colours, experienced the art of one of the finest baristas in America, were welcomed into the social circle of the local gay community. Like most people in the world, they were mostly interested in just getting about the business of daily life, and generally had much fewer opinions (and as a result more well disposed and open-minded) about the rest of the world.
Within a week of leaving the US, I have been re-introduced to the world of America-bashing. This has not generally been a pleasant experience. I get the feeling that if the rest of world wants to make gross generalizations about people they've never interacted with and places they have never been, they at least shouldnt complain if Americans also hold the same opinions about them (which they dont).
Go Chiefs!
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The problem is that a lot of people (including me) tend to lump the American people together with the American administration. I learnt how wrong that is during my own 1-month trip in July.
Recent events don't especially help.
I think the Brits are very relaxed about their Imperialist past - the American government is having trouble getting used to its Imperial present
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