Does 'The Ugly American' still characterize American people visiting foreign

Does 'The Ugly American' still characterize American people visiting foreign countries?

Remember 'The Ugly American' of 1950s fame? At that time, much of the world, particularly Europeans, saw Americans as brash, demanding, rude and arrogant people. Naturally, in the post World War II era, the only Americans in evidence tended to be rich Americans who could afford luxury trips abroad. Perhaps these Americans were, for the most part, all of these things.

Fast forward to the later part of the 20th century. The old stigma had faded over the years, with fewer such individuals. As the middle class grew, American people who traveled to foreign countries represented a more diverse cross section, from curious college students eager to explore new cultures, to average American families anxious to learn more about the rest of the world. Such travelers found that, by making an effort to learn enough of the native language to engage in brief, polite conversation, they were treated as welcome guests. These 'new' types of American people were also far more adventurous, participating in local customs and desiring to immerse themselves in the culture while there.

The language aspect was of particular importance in raising European's opinions of Americans in general. Why? In almost every European country, students not only master their native language, but can also speak English quite well. The European attitude remains, Why do these Americans not bother to educate themselves in our languages? A traveler who can only converse in English conveys a lack of respect and thus, a degree of arrogance.

During the prosperous 90s, American people were generally admired, having shed their former attitudes of superiority which had earlier earned them the moniker of 'Ugly American'.

American people were once again admired for their technological advances, both in Information Technology, as well as all of the techy gadgets, such as cell phones, iPods and digital cameras everyone, everywhere, wanted to own.

However, come 2000, we Americans elected a President who, over a period of eight years, imposed policies which began to downgrade the newly restored take on the American people in foreign countries. This President succeeded in starting and waging unpopular wars, now viewed as being based on false information, downgrading our rights and frittering away the large surplus regained in the previous administration. On top of this, he was not an effective or articulate leader. Some might say that he even became the butt of jokes among other heads of state around the world.

Being the richest country in the world, foreigners saw the global economic downturn being in large part due to this bumbling of the management of American wealth. Now everyone would be paying the price. Naturally, this caused many people to wonder at the intelligence of the American people in putting such a politically and economically destructive person in the office of President, not once, but twice.

Fortunately, many other ordinary people have not been so quick to blame the American people, instead laying blame to this reckless group of American politicians. Unfortunately, not many Americans are able now to visit other countries, so it becomes a moot point.

The American people have always been seen as inventive and innovative people who 'think outside the box'. I can see that maybe it's time to make a pen pal on the net. It's perhaps, time to take things back in hand and reestablish the good reputation of the average American.

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