Representation

[tinyjo]

Listening to the news over the last few weeks and months I've been musing about how different America and Americans seem in the news than it does from meeting and talking to actual Americans. Not just a little bit more laid back, a little bit more accepting but hugely fundamentally different. From it's government, it's public face, America seems to me to be smug and self-satisfied. Insualar. Selfish. Puritianical. Greedy. And yet from meeting and talking to Americans, I know that that's not the only story. Still it's hard not to come away with an impression of the States as a schitzophrenic nation, torn between two very different personalities.

It certainly helps me to understand why many people in the world dislike America - I have had the opportunity to dilute the public face with the private through my access to the net and the fact that we speak a common language but not many do get that opportunity. I think that if I only saw the public face I too would heartily dislike and distrust America. It also makes me wonder what the public face of Britain is like these days. I find it hard to imagine that we come out well to an outsider watching.

When I think about it, I worry about my tendancy (and I'm sure it's not just me) to treat a whole society in this way. It seems to be somehow inbuilt, a short cut based on the fact that they do act together and it does seem that you can know what to expect from a government as a personality but it's dangerous because the temptation is to let it colour interactions with individuals, which unless they are members of the government is rather unreasonable. After all, I live in a representative democracy but I'd hate people to think that David Blunkett represented me. And yet, I do have to watch myself. The instinct, not helped by the language used in the media all the time is to say not "I dislike the American government" but "I dislike America". Luckily I have my friends list to remind me that you're not all like George Bush (or in fact, any of you - I obviously only ever meet one half of the split personality).

Comments

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately American elections have among the lowest turnout in the democratic world.

I'll be interested to see what effect the very close result of last time has on voter turnout, especially in Florida. Hopefully it will encourage increased turnout because people will feel that their vote really does have the potential to make a difference, although I suspect that the electoral college thing will mean that for many people it still won't.

[eudaimonia-nz.livejournal.com]

Dare I say it but your suspicion could well be right. As for voting making a difference, Kerry could be his own worst enemy there. He wants to send more troops to Iraq, and he apparently supports the latest criminal policies of Sharon.

The current system of college voting makes the US a 'weak' unrepresentative democracy. Its really a plutocracy. I would personally would like the US left (Nader, Kusmitch) to say to Kerry they will only support him if he undertakes electral reform, even moderate changes would be good, such as evening up the college votes that create a instituional conservative bias (big rural states with more college votes than their population should allow).

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

*neil pauses to try & work out how Joe knows Jo and whether it's all part of some terrifying small-world conspiracy*

[eudaimonia-nz.livejournal.com]

hehe. friends of friends must be good friends and all that. I was luckly to come accross tinyjo's journal via badasstronaut friends list. badasstronaut was in the same geek/goth/roleplayer social group I was in (in christchurch, nz). Small world indeed!

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

friends of friends must be good friends

very true! & cool (I was at uni with tinyjo)

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

You know eudamonia_nz? How? We just met more or less randomly (although, I now realise from the preceding comment, not as randomly as I had thought).

[satyrica.livejournal.com]

he went out with a girl I know through a friend from school amongst a bunch of people I've made friends with in Egham (before he disappeared back off half-way round the world, of course)