Seeing as this has turned into the usual "is America good or eveil" debate, I might as well weigh in seeing as I live there (or indeed, here).
I came over here not knowing what to expect, but I was a pretty dedicated anti-American cynic so I feared for the worst. However I have to confess, they've won me over.
There are lots of obvious, easy negative things to say about Americans. They can be loud and brash, cocky and arrogant. They can be stupid, insular, borish. Of course they can. So can British people. I can!
Americans can also be quiet, humble, kind, funny, intelligent and caring. I know a lot of them.
One thing I've learnt since I've been here is the ridiculous way news from the US is shown in the UK, and vice versa. We all know how lazy journalism has become, so why expect it to be accurate or representative when they're reporting from over here? I watch and listen to various British news programs and it strikes me that you only get two types of news from the States - what the President is doing and anything that panders to the stereotype of "only in America" stupidity. It's no different the other way round - the only news you'll hear from Britain in the US is going to be something quirky and quaint, fulfilling the stereotype.
I don't like a lot of things that happen over here. I don't like a lot of things America does overseas (or any of it, really). But then I thought the same about Britain when I lived there, and still do. There really is very little difference.
Politically I've pretty much stopped thinking about the US as one entity anyway. It's so massive and diverse - Alaskans are more different to Arizonans than, say, the Scottish are from the Italians. The way it works here in southeast Arizona, at least, is more locally driven. You'd do better comparing Britain to individual states. Or comparing the US to Europe, with its lovely new President.
Take immigration. In Britain you'll maybe hear how the US/Mexico border is patrolled by armed agents and how they're building bigger fences to keep those goddam Mexicans out. In reality this is just a sop to the right wing. There's no way in the world to police a border like that with hundreds of miles of inaccessible desert and mountains, and everyone knows it. What's more, everyone knows the US economy basically runs on immigration. All the Border Patrol guys and the fence do is keep the right wingers quiet, meanwhile it's business as usual. But that part would never get reported in Britain. Nor would the huge number of volunteers who go out into the mountains and desert all along the border every day, to fill up watering stations for immigrants. That wouldn't fit either.
The truth is, America is easier to get into than Britain, easier to stay in, easier to become legal in and way more leanient when it comes to kicking people back out. And yet America is portayed as racist while Britain "upholds its long traditions of fair play and tolerance".
Anyway, to sum up, this place isn't anything like I thought it would be when I arrived. I didn't recognise it as the America I'd seen on TV and grown to hate.
And now I really like it.
If, like I used to be, you're an American cynic who's never actually been to the States, then come over - not to New York or Disneyland, find a bit of the real world - and see for yourself. I doubt you'll leave with the same impression you arrived with.
