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When will Europeans understand that America is of and for the average person? Europe is for--but not of--the outliers, who in their paucity and superciliousness constitute a market as irrelevant as it is negligible. Long live the average Joe and Jane!

The thing about Americans is - the poorer and more uneducated your parents were - the more you boast about them. We are awed by their hard work and and rcelebrate their achievements. We enjoy a certain shadenfreude as we watch our elitist class - Hollywood and politicians fall. I enjoyed Mr. Daisley's view, but I know few over there will agree with him - just as I know that thousands of Americans and a few brave Brits are all that stand between Muslims, Chinese or Russian versions of world order. I like ours better, but then again, I'm a free woman in America.

Such British television programs as make it to PBS in America are mostly quite good, though I have suspected they might not be a representative sample of British television. As for anti-Americanism, I find it tiresome. We're told we should try to make the rest of the world like us. From what I see of what much of the rest of the world says, that's a fool's errand. I'm willing to settle for our enemies fearing us.

Anti Americanism is a disease. The sufferers include nazis, communists, thugs, pirates, terrorists, and overly self important artistes. I am satisfied that America has the right enemies.

British vs American is just a matter of degree. America is chock full of elitist nanny staters without an original thought. They fill our government and education system. America is headed down the same "camera everywhere" road paved with good intentions. We fiddle while our southern border is in tatters, you fiddle while Muslim "culture" crumbles your infrastructure.

Anti-Ameriocanism used to bother me but now the more the merrier. It's indulgence cripples the left in so many ways and has shown the futility of the desire to want people to like you. As a cranky European once said, "Nations don't have friends, they have interests." The more anti-Americanism makes the Stateside press the viewer votes for pro-European politicians in fly-over country.

The good or bad of any country can be judged by compairing the number of prople trying to get in to it, to the number trying to get out of it. A lot of those Hollywood types Said they would leave if Presedent Bush was reelected - They are all still HERE.[italic]italic[/italic]

Wow-so many great comments. Lisa in San Juan Capistrano and Max-amen! I'm an Anglophile, but it's for the Britain that used to be. Such a shame.

Anti Americanism is nothing new. It has been going on since the early 1700's. Europeans were fond of mocking their brethren who decided to roll the dice and try for a different life along with the criminals and religious groups who were thrown out along with them. The result of those brave millions, with millions more dying in passage, is the U.S. When Ms. Drabble laments she is crying for her twin sister who left and has apparently a better life or shall we say a better chance at one.

What about Harry Potter?! Not bad, huh? Well, the first four books anyway.

Mr. Daisley is correct, there is a dearth of quality culture coming out of Britain today. Sadly, Britain has become a nation of whiners, begrudgers and critics. How can such a mentality produce a culture of substance like Britain once had? In place of cultural imagination and verve, the British have substituted an unhealty and negative obsession with America. They poke fun at fat Americans as their nation becomes obese. They snicker at crass Americans as they export drunken hooligans to soccer matches and snide intellectuals to college campuses. The contrived persona of British superiority is attached to the fact that they need a royalty to construct a sense of self-importance. When they're not slagging the Yanks, the British pick on old stand-bys - the French and the Germans and occasionally the Aussies. They seem like sore losers on the world stage, always downing someone else. And yet the best and brightest in Britain today are not the English or Scots, but rather emigrants from the former colonies. To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, British culture is disappearing, not with a bang, but with a whine. Gabriel Jonquin Pittsburgh

It's not the British who hate us, it's the leftists, British, Canadian, French or domestic. The USA's destruction of the socialist fantasy will never be forgiven. But as to culture: Prime Suspect ( ah Helen bring your wicked aging self closer), Rumpole, Claudius and about a hundred others. There was also that rock and roll thing. I'd include Pat Barker and a few dozen other writers, poets and cinartistes. Then there's the Scotch Whisky all and any of it.

I don't worry so much about anti-Americanism, what are going to do about it? People filled with so much hate are a waste of time. I see most European America-haters at least have a semblance of rational basis for their bile. It's the Islamic craziness that bothers me, such a herd mentality, such irrationality. The really stupid thing about all this hatred is that we are all way more alike than we are different. My immigrant friends here are all pretty decent normal people just like my native born friends - can't we all just get along?

American TV is BETTER? Are you JOKING? I moved here from Falkirk two years ago, and American TV is nothing more than a sexually repressed (you will never see a breast on primetime telly unless it is having enlargement surgery done on it - it's okay to slash a breast up, but not show it in a sexual fashion; and there are no expletives on telly either, and the word 'God' is bleeped out of 'Goddam') parade of sexy forensic psychologists solving melodramatic crimes or Republican Pravda-type bleatings on Fox or Godbotherer ramblings or vapid Oprah-type chattering class programmes or mind-numbing reality TV shows about former child stars or...ah...why go on? It's a deadbrain parade of glitzy stupidity, and mainstream Hollywood gets more and more stupid by the day, as does indie film as well. Not trying to say that British cinema is any better, cos all the films made over in the UK (especially Scotland, what few films are made there) are dreary socialist junkie-filled Ken Loach crap...but to hear somebody singing the praises of the worthless American telly like it's actually good is utterly ridiculous. Cable does produce the odd good show, but those select few are drowned out by other cable-produced garbage like The Two Coreys (a worthless reality show about two of the stars of the Lost Boys) and whatnot. American telly is swill. Yank literature is another thing altogether, and it's pretty damned good. People don't hate AMERICA, they hate its LEADERS. And in its current moribund sinking-ship sink-estate state, the UK has a cheek to be slagging off ANYBODY. G.

Forgot to mention the EXTREMELY annoying fact that there are genuinely TWICE as many ads (for fast food and cars and cars and cars and weight loss and health-pills to pop) on American telly (with many of them violent or sexist or just plain stupid) as there are on UK telly. It could drive you mental - you get five minutes of programme, then five minutes of ads; total padding; pure bombastic deadbrain garbage. Intolerable. You may have guessed I don't watch much American telly. Was sick of it within a week of arriving here. G.

American films are planet-polluting, toxic rubbish, and writers like Wolfe and Mailer are just station bookstall novelists (Mailer hasn 't witten anything worth reading since "The Armies of the Night" 40 years ago)[bold]bold[/bold] . Meanwhile American television is cranked out by formula to fill an ever-increasing number of channels - another gift from America. However, more means worse. The British Press is still infinitely superior to the American. But Stephen is doubtless writing just what his proprietors - the American Newsquest - want to hear. Well done, Stephen. Could promotion be on the way?_

Oh, and another thing. Contemporary American culture means Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, rendition, Blackwater - and all the rest of that[bold]bold[/bold] dreadful lexicon. The other stuff is all just window-dressing, I'm afraid.

The Pom Frits are just jealous that the Ham Shanks are now making better Imperialists than themselves and the Very British left Brit Nats are just as guilty of anti American racism. Heard aboot he the Sassunach wi' an inferiority complex? He thocht he was equal to everybody else.

[quote][bold]David Govett[/bold] wrote: When will Europeans understand that America is of and for the average person? Europe is for--but not of--the outliers, who in their paucity and superciliousness constitute a market as irrelevant as it is negligible. Long live the average Joe and Jane![/quote] DAVID G What a totally bizarre contribution !! Five lines to cover the attitudes of both US and Euro-citizens....... ...quite amazingly bizarre !! ........(Only in America , Eh !!)

And Billy Graham is their Protestant Pope.

Okay Brits, judging by the comments and the rising hatred of America and Americans across the Pond..perhaps your energies should be directly to your own problems...take a look at your country...a downward spiral. It is a toss up who will become the first Muslim country... France or Britain. But Farsi is easy to learn....you'll pick it up in no time.....and to Graham in Chicago - no one is stopping you from returning to Britain....where you soon wont have to worry about seeing breasts on T.V. because it wont be long when the women are covered head to toe and instead of you worrying about the quality of American t.v. you'll be spending your time in a Mosque with your BUTT up in the air. Most of the Americans I know have JOBS. We need to support the tax base for the welfare recipients who generally generally dont get up before 10am ..and by the way Graham how much was your British T.V. LICENSE you had to pay just to have a t.v. in a British Home....a couple of hundred dollars??...just to support BBC??....the British Broadcasting of Communism....oh right...no commercials so they can brainwash you more..but I understand your license is free WHEN YOU TURN 70...so stay healthy when you return to Britain..that is quite a savings. Instead of a chicken in every pot in America ..it is now a 2 cars, 2 T.V.s & a cell phone in every pocket & of course the FREE CHICKEN .... Only in America...no wonder you hate us....

[quote][bold]HELEN W[/bold] wrote: Okay Brits, judging by the comments and the rising hatred of America and Americans across the Pond..perhaps your energies should be directly to your own problems...take a look at your country...a downward spiral. It is a toss up who will become the first Muslim country... France or Britain. But Farsi is easy to learn....you'll pick it up in no time.....and to Graham in Chicago - no one is stopping you from returning to Britain....where you soon wont have to worry about seeing breasts on T.V. because it wont be long when the women are covered head to toe and instead of you worrying about the quality of American t.v. you'll be spending your time in a Mosque with your BUTT up in the air. Most of the Americans I know have JOBS. We need to support the tax base for the welfare recipients who generally generally dont get up before 10am ..and by the way Graham how much was your British T.V. LICENSE you had to pay just to have a t.v. in a British Home....a couple of hundred dollars??...just to support BBC??....the British Broadcasting of Communism....oh right...no commercials so they can brainwash you more..but I understand your license is free WHEN YOU TURN 70...so stay healthy when you return to Britain..that is quite a savings. Instead of a chicken in every pot in America ..it is now a 2 cars, 2 T.V.s & a cell phone in every pocket & of course the FREE CHICKEN .... Only in America...no wonder you hate us....[/quote] I once went to Sacramento. It was closed. Shut it, Helen

Helen W's upper case use of the neologism "BUTT" reminds me of the strange and worrying fascination the Americans have with their (and each others') "****". Even more worrying is their habit of calling one's bottom "a fanny", which has an entirely different connotation over here. I don't think it's America which people hate but the empire of greed, vulgarity and waste which its vile political class fosters so assiduously; at its puerile prating about democracy and freedom when it cannot even extend a hand of support to its own stricken citizens in New Orleans and, most of all, for its witless and spectacularly unsuccessful attempts to colonise the Mid-East in pursuit of the oil it needs to fuel its ignorant greed. Big, vulgar, stupid, aggressive, hideously obese - isolated from the world but present like a stain across much of it. There's another America, of course, and its leading lights include people like George Clooney, Sean Penn, Donlevy - who see the distintegration and look ahead to some sort of new dawn when the Bush's, Rumsfelds and Cheneys are finally consigned to the dustbin of history. There's some hope for California, which will one day, hopefully soon, be a Hispanic independent state - none whatever for the dustbowl wastelands of the thick-as-mince bible belt, where the citizens like to fantasise that they won WW2 (and the various wars the US has managed to lose since then). Please stay on your own side of the pond until you grow up ... which could be quite some time.

The censored word, above, is the plural of the neighbour's animal the Bible tells you not to covet, ie along with his ox - not exactly a swearword, then. The fact that the Herald is perfectly relaxed about "fanny" is particularly worrying - I wonder if it's a Gannet filtration system they use? I think we should be told. Actually I think Tony Blair is a fanny, seeing as how it's apparently ok to use this word.

[quote][bold]Myrmillo[/bold] wrote: The censored word, above, is the plural of the neighbour's animal the Bible tells you not to covet, ie along with his ox - not exactly a swearword, then. The fact that the Herald is perfectly relaxed about "fanny" is particularly worrying - I wonder if it's a Gannet filtration system they use? I think we should be told. Actually I think Tony Blair is a fanny, seeing as how it's apparently ok to use this word.[/quote] You are not wrong, Myrmillo. And Helen W is a fanny an' aw

American's are idiots, a tiny percentage produce something entertaining and engaging but the vast majority are as productive as pond slime, Britons are also idiots and getting more so, there used to be a culture of wanting to emulate the creative people behind the Vicky Pollards now there is aculture of emulating the creation itself. Years of American aspiration and catllefeed culture have number the minds of the british to bovine suplication, take the good parts and reject the rest. As for any Anglophiles who miss the Britain that was I think you'll find you miss the Britain that never existed, as my man Jeeves would have it, "We're no real,".

Ohhh I see I struck a nerve...now your all fixated on another part of the anatomy/Issues .Butt/Fanny ..Sacramento closed..?.California a Hispanic State? ...Clooney, Penn, Donlevy . Guiding Lights?? Your all watching way too much BBC...New Orleans..?? " taking care of our own."..? are you kidding ..."extend a hand"...Billions on Billions are still going into Louisiana....how many hands do you want the taxpayer to extend...Perhaps you can share how Britain extends a hand to your poor..teach us how you did it......Oh...I guess you dont have any poor ...only in America.....you all must be watching another BBC docu-drama about the poor in America...Eh..and how is Brixton doing?....been torn down yet. FYI the New Orleans residents like it the way it is...best to keep complaining and get more FED $...& .socialist propaganda spewed on the BBC, the aforemention 3 stooges & enabled by he 3 major liberal US networks. Some of you might try switching off the Telly & getting some facts. By the way....How come no one mentioned the British TV License cost....now hopefully you Brits are "taking care of your own" in that area..we would not want them to be without a Telly so they can soak up that socialism.

Ohhh I see I struck a nerve...now your all fixated on another part of the anatomy/Issues .Butt/Fanny ..Sacramento closed..?.California a Hispanic State? ...Clooney, Penn, Donlevy . Guiding Lights?? Your all watching way too much BBC...New Orleans..?? " taking care of our own."..? are you kidding ..."extend a hand"...Billions on Billions are still going into Louisiana....how many hands do you want the taxpayer to extend...Perhaps you can share how Britain extends a hand to your poor..teach us how you did it......Oh...I guess you dont have any poor ...only in America.....you all must be watching another BBC docu-drama about the poor in America...Eh..and how is Brixton doing?....been torn down yet. FYI the New Orleans residents like it the way it is...best to keep complaining and get more FED $...& .socialist propaganda spewed on the BBC, the aforemention 3 stooges & enabled by he 3 major liberal US networks. Some of you might try switching off the Telly & getting some facts. By the way....How come no one mentioned the British TV License cost....now hopefully you Brits are "taking care of your own" in that area..we would not want them to be without a Telly so they can soak up that socialism.

Ohhh I see I struck a nerve...now your all fixated on another part of the anatomy/Issues .Butt/Fanny ..Sacramento closed..?.California a Hispanic State? ...Clooney, Penn, Donlevy . Guiding Lights?? Your all watching way too much BBC...New Orleans..?? " taking care of our own."..? are you kidding ..."extend a hand"...Billions on Billions are still going into Louisiana....how many hands do you want the taxpayer to extend...Perhaps you can share how Britain extends a hand to your poor..teach us how you did it......Oh...I guess you dont have any poor ...only in America.....you all must be watching another BBC docu-drama about the poor in America...Eh..and how is Brixton doing?....been torn down yet. FYI the New Orleans residents like it the way it is...best to keep complaining and get more FED $...& .socialist propaganda spewed on the BBC, the aforemention 3 stooges & enabled by he 3 major liberal US networks. Some of you might try switching off the Telly & getting some facts. By the way....How come no one mentioned the British TV License cost....now hopefully you Brits are "taking care of your own" in that area..we would not want them to be without a Telly so they can soak up that socialism.

American's are idiots, a tiny percentage produce something entertaining and engaging but the vast majority are as productive as pond slime, Britons are also idiots and getting more so, there used to be a culture of wanting to emulate the creative people behind the Vicky Pollards now there is aculture of emulating the creation itself. Years of American aspiration and catllefeed culture have number the minds of the british to bovine suplication, take the good parts and reject the rest. As for any Anglophiles who miss the Britain that was I think you'll find you miss the Britain that never existed, as my man Jeeves would have it, "We're no real,".

Thanks Helen. You just made your own case worse. You seem weirdly pathologically obsessed with hating the BBC, and if you think that Scotland/the UK is a socialist nation...you are laughably out of touch with the place (and why are you here on this site anyway?). Just ask Capitalist Fuhrer Blair how much he or New Labour cares about the proles. American telly is rubbish. I'm not totally insulting the country; can't you see that? You are probably a conservative, judging by your rantings about 'liberal' media; just tell that to Rupert Murdoch on Fox Pravda. The whole 'evil liberal media' myth is propagated by the right wing in America when it's clear that the media is mostly owned by rich white men. You clearly know NOTHING about the UK or its media, as your bleatings have proved. I have genuine experience of the American media. The person above who said that most shows are fillers for an ever-expanding number of channels was exactly right. The American media isn't garbage? Right now behind me the telly is OBSESSING over Britney Spears and her custody case. Pablum for the idiot masses to distract from REAL news like Iraq. Grow up. Get a clue. G.

"You may have guessed I don't watch much American telly" Graham Rae doesn't watch much American telly? He's already written three emails on the subject!! Poor guy. He moves all the way from tiny Falkirk to the city of Chicago then apparently sits in his room for two years watching the telly? Get a life Laddie. As to Britney Spears, google her today and you'll see that every media outlet in England, Scotland and Ireland has covered her ongoing antics as a major story in their web and print publications. How is that any different than American coverage? Most Americans I know simply ignore the celebrity-drivel and go about their business. You should try it yourself. As to Iraq, the Brits jump feet first into every world conflict they can get into, they've been at it for over three centuries! But rather than deal with REAL news like Iraq as it pertains to Britain, poor Graham is talking about Britney and the telly. Go out and meet some people rather than watching tv caricatures. J

" (and why are you here on this site anyway?). Graham your a typical socialist...cant accept any other point of view...how dare you tell me where to go or not go on the internet....you actually believe your own rantings....that you are all superior...more like a bunch of American hatemongers. But you have learned a lot about the liberal media in America in a short time.....automatical ly hate anyone who does not think like you do. Let me clue you in...I am Sottish. .Glaswegian..rais ed in a socialist/union household but what a shocker I actually learned to read and think for myself ...2 years in America??...give yourself some years before you go telling people where they belong. I have lived in America 40+ years I know a lot more about it than you do. The capitalist system is where it is at.. earn your money, pay your taxes and try to keep as much of it as possible....so that puts me in the Fuhrer category...what an idiot... Hitler, Fuhrer...those are all liberal democratic lunatic talking points & rantings...your catching on really good.....all hateful rhetoric...your right about Britney though...but judging America by that is laughable....what are the Royals up to lately..I am too busy working to keep up with them....No obsession there right.?..wake up and smell the coffee. Now you all have a good day now...its been FUN...I will check in when I have more time to pull your chains..

Gabriel...yes your correct...and now anybody who works for a living is with Hitler according to Graham.....a real THINKER that Graham is...I heard there is a terrible British brain drain - how did Graham make it out...just kidding Graham...we can always use another liberal/socialist.

Helenw, you are so right on,.God bless you for being so correct in all of the points you made.

Howdy fowks, I can't work out what's funnier - Stephen's stirring but tongue in cheek article, or the outpouring of vitriolic and nonsensical stereotyping which has followed in its wake! So, Britain is a socialist sinkhole, casting leering and envious glances across the pond, while the US is a rootin', tootin fun-filled cultural juggernaut, too busy riding roughshod over the rest of the world to care. I'm glad that's sorted then. It makes life so much simpler. Anyone for tennis?

Helen is a loudmouth, to be sure, but is she also a "lardass"? I ask this purely to explore the parameters of the Gannet filtration system. Actually there are some very nice Americans, and perhaps particularly Californians. Touching, too, to think Helen keeps in touch with the auld countrie via the web. I suspect that beneath her surely synthetic redneck, boorish, ignorant exterior she is a lovely warm human being. However I'm prepared to take this on trust: the fact that she comes over as the mad general in The Billion Dollar Brain is a tad disconcerting - that and her curious reluctance to join up sentences. New Jersey - I bet you'd get a good conversation with somebody there, if only you looked long and hard enough ...

So that's the plight of expatriate Scots like Helen - to get thoroughly slagged by the locals who never had the wherewithall to get up and out themselves. A sad commentary on Scotland. And yet you come to New York City on tourism jaunts with your kilts and bagpipes and think Americans will want to visit your country? What Yeats said about Ireland surely applies to Scotland: great hatred, little room, maimed us from the start.

Stephen Daisley indicts the US with his reference to "Jerry Springer" as culture. "I divorced my sister to sleep with my pet Alsatian" may amount to culture in the Daisley household, but there are many where Jerry Springer is viewed as contrived, and often acted, trash. Perhaps Daisley will tell us that Burger King and Wendy's represent the world high point in culinary excellence as well? Interestingly, intelligent informed criticism is name-called "whining", in the same way as the US Government call any criticism of them as "un-American". It is clear that Daisley has never watched any significant amount of US news, frequently provincial, and biased in line with the prejudices of the channel owner. No wonder so many US citizens watch the BBC to find out what is really happening in the world. He tells us that there is no class system. Try telling that to those working class citizens in New Orleans, who were ignored because of their colour and class after Hurricane Katrina. In fact the current tide of wrongly-called "Anti-Americanism", which is in fact anti-US'ism (Brazil or Canada don't feature, but are part of America) has increased, not because of the predictable nonsense that comes from Hollywood- or anything else referred to, but as a result of Iraq and Afghanistan. The killing of innocents in the name of so called democracy ( remember Bush bought his first election victory- democracy??), the theft of oil, the lies, the rank arrogance, these matters, ignored by Daisley, are at the heart of it all. The real US culture? Oil, the arms industry, killing abroad, High School shootings, greed for money. Obesity. Torturing by civilian contractors? CACI? Blackwater? Halliburton? You can keep it all.

Thank you Jock- I needn't have posted- you condemn yourself with you're wonderful, if anatomically inaccurate, comments. You are indeed a true and fitting representative of your Empire.

Sorry Justin, but I haven't seen much "intelligent informed criticism" so far. Jerry Springer (born in England) is surely contrived, and fast food is not cuisine. Let's agree on that. Re: TV, with a population of 300 million (versus 60 million for Gr. Britain), American television stations by necessity need to be provincial. What happens in Boston is not necessarily of interest to someone living in Butte. Just as what happens in Bath is not going to matter much in Berlin. Americans listen to the imperfect and nationalistic BBC simply because they're not closed-minded, but American network news programs (CBS, NBC, ABC) are worthwhile when it comes to watching national and international news. The bungling of New Orleans lies at the feet of the Bush Administration, not on classism. Regarding anti-Americanism, you really need to brush up on British history before you condemn others - theft of oil, lies, arrogance - these are all hallmarks of the British government over the decades. Torture, killing abroad, the killing of innocents - I have two words for you: Northern Ireland. As to obesity, please google the subject and take note that England and Scotland (second in the world after the US) are quickly catching up to the USA on obesity and may surpass the USA, given that America has a head-start on finding a solution. The problem is endemic to the western world, where fast food production and changing lifestyle are the culprits. I can tell you one thing: when England and Scotland become as fat, which is inevitable, most Americans will refrain from ridicule because it's considered bad manners.

What a bunch of diarhhea of the mouth and constipation of the brain blowhards....40 years and still preaching socialism yet you have worse problerms than the U.S. I just got back and what I saw was not a pretty picture.... you all need to sober up...your brains must be full of mush....the writing is on the wall..Sharia law, .umpteen wives, 10 - 20 kids fathered by the same man and all working your socialist system and that is going on right now yet you bozos refused to see the light......I bet most of you jerks have never left your livinjg room other than to go to the Pub, the betting shop or for fish and chips. While your all still obsessed and arguing Catholic/Protestant your country is being taken over without firing a shot.. Keep the anti-U.S. rhetoric up - it makes it easier to be anti-Brit...hell we are actually starting to like the French betterr anyway. This capitalist is signing off now...I need to check my stock portfolio...am losing money talking to you socialist bums but I will check in once in a when I can stomach the socialist rantings. [quote]quote[/quote]

There is indeed much to admire about the U.S., but I always held up my end when comparing TV programs. I always had ammunition like Upstairs Downstairs, Forsyte Saga, Prime Suspect, etc. I have now abandoned the quest with the advent of Footballers' Wives and Hollyoaks. And BBC America decided we couldn't have the East Enders? Mind you, the interminable Run for Office now dominating the US airways may change my opinion.

We are all fools. La Belle Helene isn't a person at all, but an automatically-genera ted computer programme - nothing else would explain such gutteral incoherence: the proverbial chimpanzee with a typewriter. Gabriel is a different bag of bagels altogether, at least attempting to use elementary reason to inspire his anti-British vitriol: the British Empire was indeed a deeply unpleasant institution - the great pity is that the Yanks, weaned on video games and John Wayne, were under the delusion that they could replicate it. When a country can allow a cretin like "von" Rumsfeld to run its war machine it is clear there is something sadly amiss. Advertised as Sergeant York (remember Mission Accomplished?) we've instead been treated to the embarrassing spectacle of latter-day George Armstrong Custer - garnished with revolting atrocities of the sort the Iraq adventure was supposed to suppress. The story of America since 1945 is a sickening legacy of greed, failure, vacuity and ignorance - its current president a shabby, spineless, lying moron. It's at the bottom of the barrel - but instead of castigating the deluded six-packs (personified by the Helen computer programme) we should be lending succour to its sentient, forward-looking, rational and humane intelligentsia. There's still hope for democracy.

Leaving aside whether Homer Simpson is an archetypal American (personally I prefer Foghorn Leghorn and Elmer Fudd), the USA's cultural contribution to the world, both good and bad, has clearly been immense. Musically: jazz, Tin Pan Alley, Gershwin, Crosby, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Elvis......... Literary: Poe, Melville, Mark Twain, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Mailer, Philip K Dick, Ray Bradbury......... TV and cinema: Walt Disney, the Marx Brothers, Westerns, MGM musicals, M*A*S*H, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends.......... And of course, gastronomically: fast food......... Apart from the slightly flippant thought that US cultural and commercial success is largely based on the wonderful, vibrant and flexible ENGLISH language, there are obvious downsides to US dominance, however it arose. The world becomes a duller place when a single culture overwhelms the rest, as is happening today. Take the example of TV and movies, arguably America's most influential and pervasive export. Massive economies of scale in the US domestic market enable US TV and movies to undercut and eliminate domestic production in Britain and elsewhere. According to Helen W and others, Hollywood is a left-wing hotbed but the real ideology is, of course, profit. TV and movies are tailored to US domestic audiences (huge in every sense), with their sometimes bizarre moral priorities (nicely detailed by Graham Rae), not to mention their sometimes vague understanding of world history. Consequently, non-US viewers gain a reasonable insight into the American mindset, whereas US citizens learn next to nothing about the rest of humanity. That isn't a healthy situation in an increasingly interdependent and dangerous world. Stephen Daisley says that a commercially-oriente d system produces the best culture. On the contrary - as far as TV and movies are concerned, it mostly churns out dross. The fact that he singles out "Sex and the City" as a worthwhile televisual experience suggests that the dross has tainted his critical faculties! What is so admirable or fascinating about four pampered, selfish and shallow women who never seem to do anything but go to lunch, get into contrived, mildly risque and unfunny predicaments and wear ludicrously expensive and uncomfortable designer shoes?! Of course there is great, non-designer-shoe-ba sed culture in the USA but most Americans aren't reading Tom Wolfe, watching Frasier or listening to Aaron Copland; they're glued to MTV or Fox News. And the same sorry situation prevails in the UK. Having copied the market-driven, choice-obsessed US model, Britain now has hundreds of TV channels but most are extremely low-quality and indistinguishable because there is a financial imperative to maximise ratings by chasing the lowest common denominator. That may sound elitist but most British readers of 35+ will know what I mean about the rapid decline in TV standards. Even worse, the few homegrown programmes commissioned by UK TV executives are dire, eg nasty, mean-spirited efforts like Little Britain and The X-Factor, cheap-and-cheerful lifestyle shows etc. There is also the small matter of US-style mass marketing, which has the deliberate and insidious effect of exacerbating the divisions between different generations, with obvious effects on family life and social cohesion. Another downside of commercialisation is the drastic reduction (through mergers and "consolidation") in the number of news sources. The same non-stories (eg poor, daft Britney Spears' public humiliation) get recycled internationally because it's cheaper to buy content from a big media outlet than to fund genuine, investigative journalism. It also goes without saying that the reduction in news providers leads to a uniformity of viewpoint and outlook that would have made Stalin green with envy. Ownership of big US media organisations by large corporations reduces the independence and impartiality of news reporting and analysis - most noticeably and disastrously in the US media's uncritical response to the US government's propaganda build-up to war in Iraq. At least the BBC tried, before it was slapped down by the Hutton Report. And don't even get me started on the political role of TV as "bread and circuses" ! Finally, I wonder whether, when Stephen Daisley talks about US culture's "British counterpart", he really means "English"? There are four nations in the UK and there were still cultural differences the last time I checked. He mentions class-based comedy but class is an English obsession. And to be fair on dear old England, there are other types of English comedy, eg satirical, absurdist, "beating the system" etc. This is a HUGE subject and I hope that The Herald returns to it frequently.