God Save The Queen. - Comments

I know the feeling. Whenever I say something to my parents about England they basically say "That's the problem with today's youth, they want to be more like Britain!" It's so ridiculous!!

I can understand their dislike. A lot of the things here are just so ridiculous and absurd, it makes me worry... Other things are just so dumb, you wonder why they are even popular. That doesn't mean all of it is bad. It just means you have to pick and choose.

There's a lot of nonsensical dislike for America and 'Americanism', but to be honest, as the british (and europe in general) will portray, in the media, the 'dumb, blonde american' it's not like the British haven't been given an equally vile stereotype.
It's tit for tat.
#1. Apparently the british can't look after their teeth
#2. All British people are stuck up and rich
#3. We all speak with a plum in the mouth
#4. We -idiotic- posh toffs, that are generally annoying
etc. etc. The stereotype for British people can be rather unfair, like how Americans are picked on
I'm not saying that I can't take a certain amount in good humour, but there's a point when it gets downright annoying.
The older generations will probably unjustly criticise America for the shift in world power, while the younger generations are influenced by America's massive influence over just about eveything, and felt they are lacking an identity as a person of Europe.

I think I stopped making sense after the first word D:

I dont dislike americainism at all. Im proud to be americain :)

"It's just so American" is a phrase you hear plenty on the continent. It is, in fact, a mentality. Continental Europe (generally speaking) dislikes America a lot more than the UK. Perhaps you Brits are being affected by us...finally...

My dad absolutely HATES Americans, he believes 'British born and bred' blahblahblahhhhh.
I love America and aspire to live there, so I can totally relate to your experience.

If so many Brits don't like it, why are American bands in your magazines and American shows playing on your TVs? Obviously enough people like it or else ratings for shows and profits for magazines would go down.
I don't see why it's so bad to like things from other countries. TV shows and magazines in the States have a lot of foreign shows and bands and I really don't see anyone against it.
I honestly don't see much of a difference between American and British music - look or sound. But then again, I mainly listen to the older stuff (and I tend to lean more towards the British stuff. Haha. It's like the opposite with me. I'm American and I like more British things). And the only real difference is the accent if you can hear it - which is usually the case with the punk bands.

Maybe people are just bored. When you're bored and want to complain you pick the easiest topic. Obviously American shows and music must be the easiest over there.

Mabye its because of the past. As in the american revolution, mabye the brits hate them because that( but i think its virtually impossible to hold a grudge for so long)...mabye its because of the recent things that have been occuring these past 30 years? look im danish, i have lived in america for four years, europeans despise the americans and vice-versa. You see my friends from america called me europen slut. so mabye its just in our blood to hate the americans....or mabye its in our blood to change the whole concept and relationshipt between us and the americans.

*Sigh* life is too short to go about hating things in spare time.
I can't say I dislike a whole country. Just certain people.
By the way, I'm @_@ American.

I don't like America, and I [I]live[/I] here. =P

This all really has to do with globalization. As the industrial age ended, America ended up being a huge contributor to technology, even though Britain started it off in the first place. But, the thing is, with all the new technologies and such after the industrial age, America was able to broadcast itself to other countries. This became even easier when TV and other mediums were created. Americanism became super popular in the 50s and such because the War was seemingly 'won' by the Americans (which is some kind of bull, if you ask me), which then led to people trying to copy the lifestyle.

Anyway, as the 60s came and went, America tried to adopt a more European attitude toward life (actually being able to say the F-word without getting arrested). Somewhere along the line, America became the World's Number 1 Super Power, giving way to people copying the culture to try and develop a stronger country.

Honestly, everything goes in cycles.

America now has a super bad reputation because of the last President. Former (you have no idea how much of a relief it is to say that) President Bush, is a pompous idiot, we all know it. However, the thing is, once he decided to go with the 'big stick' policy and invade Iraq, everything American became stupid, pointless, and basically mainstream idiocy - which it is. We had a lot of sympathy after the Twin Tower attack and we were just like, “We want F-ing revenge!” This is what basically fueled Bush’s statements and wild accusations, allowing him to gain America’s confidence and invade Iraq.

Now, because this was an undeniably unpopular move, many Americans decided to jump ship, deciding to hunker down across the pond in Britain, mainly because of the common language. Like what happened when America was still a colony, Britain has influenced us (just look at John Locke), now when so many Americans have invaded Britain they brought their culture with them, reversing the age old influence stream. But the funny thing is that American expats still identify with being American, and thanks to Bush, America has a very bad rep, seemingly to be a country of idiots, since we were the ones who voted him into power in the first place.

Nonetheless, America’s influence is huge, but many Americans look upon their country with disdain, even while embracing the culture. This ‘anti-Americanism’ kind of started in America after Bush’s ultimate form of idiocy, and then spread to other countries (I was living in Singapore four years ago and experienced it myself, which was funny to me because I’m a total leftist), therefore making it sort of fashionable to be anti-American, while still conforming to American cultural bandwagons. The American lifestyle has been the stereotypical dreamland for so long that it’s hard to refocus and change the spyglass to some other utopia.

At the same time, a lot of foreign artists are super popular here in America.

The Script, an Irish band, for example. They sound exactly like any other band in their genre, but they're Irish. Which makes them better I guess?

I dunno. This is an interesting view point. But if I lived in another country, I'd hate America too. Actually, I do hate America, even though I live here.