The global spread of American sport cultural has a negative effect on how the world views the U.S today. Just reading the title of the article, “ Yankee Stay Home” are telling us Americans to stay within the United States, and not travel outside of it. In Vince Vaughn’s quote, he talks about how conversations with Englishmen turn into conversations that “ America is the devil.” When having these conversations he stops them by saying, “ I’m not having this discussion anymore” this shows he believes it happens to many times.
Another example of how the global spread of American sport cultural has a harmful effect on how the world views the United States today is when it was Colleen’s first day in Berlin and she get into a Cab and the English- Speaking driver forced for an explanation of why America believes it is bigger and better. I believe this brings a harmful effect on how the world views the United States because it is showing a lot of people do believe this.
It states in the article that, “ American tourists are being quizzed, grilled and even spat on by people who do not approve of the Bush administration’s drive for war against Saddam Hussein.” I have to disagree with this statement. American tourists are not always being questioned. I know many people who have studied abroad and did not get verbally abused and questioned about this. There has be a decline number of Americans who believe that the United States enjoys a favorable image of studying abroad; however, many Americans mention they fear the unfriendliness of traveling abroad during wartime. This goes to show that not only do foreigners fear things about American people but also Americans are fearful of their unfriendliness.
Not experiencing any of this, this article is surprising me. Laurel Scapicchio and her 13-year-old daughter were waiting for train in Paris, when two men broke up their conversation. They had overheard their accents and shouted, “Pigs.” This shows that America is being bullied because of people’s accents. I believe this is being hostile and people are being verbally abused. This proves that American cultural is having a negative affect on the world; even language is becoming an issue. Scapicchio simply just brushed off what happened, and said, “ It was a little spooky,” but simply did not do anything about it because “It was just because we were Americans.” She should have done something about it because this shows Americans weakness of not standing up for our selves.
Many of these examples can prove why Americans would not want to travel outside the United States, for example, the Olympics, World Cup, and other sporting events. They feel as though they are being treated unfairly, with disrespect from many foreigners. Many foreigners believe that America is all about our sports teams. The citizens in our country are not represented just through sports and movies. We present ourselves through language, communication, clothing, and most importantly our skills.
I think anti-Americanism abroad is not justified because the people of the United States should have the privilege to travel outside of the country with no problems. Where ever you go you are constantly going to have people that do not like American citizens. Based off the article these were situations are based on some people’s views. It was not based on everyone outside the country having problems with Americans. In the article, Patrick Goyet says, “ I am certain that a number of American visitors will be asked about the United States administration’s policy on Iraq. I strongly believe that they are few and far between.” Goyet agrees that anti-Americanism is not justified.
Europeans view of Americans is not important to me. I do not travel much out of the country so I cannot really give my opinion about how badly they treat us. I do in my future want to travel, and study abroad. I have never been put in a situation where I had to fight for my country. Honestly, I feel as though people that look down on America are the people that are jealous of our country. Europe people are amused by the way us, Americans live. I do believe it is important to our country however. I strongly feel those studying abroad or visiting Europe need to stand up for yourself and the country. It is important to show them you are in control, and you have self- perseverance.
Anti- American encounters would not alter my plans to travel abroad. People’s opinion about me does not stop me from going out and doing what I love. However, if I did study abroad and a European came up to me and said something inappropriate about America I would then stand up for my country. I would not travel out of America just because I might run into one person that has something nasty to say. This also relates back to the Olympics. People from America and other countries come together and perform for a huge audience and event in the world. Olympians are not going to stop their dream because they are afraid of verbal abuse. Overall, negotiating differences and ethical decisions is a major concern in the world today.
