Hello, I've just been reading throught the recent postings of Patrice and Steve, and found them to be quite interesting, but also painfully obvious (feel free to disagree).
I've been quietly sitting here on my hands for days now, quietly wishing that a small handful of smug, sanctimonious individuals would just fucking TRY to remember once in a while that George W. Bush is not synonymous with "America" and imperialism/colonialism is not synonymous with "America" and McDonald's is not synonymous with "America."
Still, the monolithic view from the outside persists.
I think the last line is utterly false and that most people do infact agree with Steve's first paragraph. This has certainly been my experience in dealing with people from around the world and especially when travelling through Europe, which is what I have done most. And besides that, I think the statistics back it up. What I meet everywhere, is the exact same love-hate relationship that Steve himself seems to have. When asked, the youth in Europe state very claerly that the one country in the world where they would most like to live next to their own is USA. By a long shot. But a the same time, they are intensly skeptical about the same things as Steve are.
But to the next person who wants to flog "us" with 'Fast Food Nation' (a brutally fascinating book, BTW), please try to remind yourself that wherever you are, chances are good that someone near you chose to apply for that McDonald's franchise instead of opening a quaint little local eatery, capice? When I went to Istanbul two years ago, it was a local who insisted on treating me to a Quarter Pounder, not vice versa. And he wasn't being condescending: it was where he wanted to eat.
Gee, why does this discussion always boil down to burgers!? Cheers. _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com