America the Marvelous or America the Braggart (Exhbitionist, Narcissist...)?

from the July 2013 issue of Vanity Fair an article entitled "America the Marvelous" from a book America with Love by A.A. Gill:

"Among the educated, enlightened, expensive middle classes of Europe, this is a received wisdom. A given. Stronger in some countries like France, less so somewhere like Germany, but overall the Old World patronizes America for being a big, dumb, fat, belligerent child. The intellectuals, the movers and the makers and the creators, the dinner-party establishments of people who count, are united in the belief—no, the knowledge—that Americans are stupid, crass, ignorant, soul-less, naïve oafs without attention, irony, or intellect. These same people will use every comforting, clever, and ingenious American invention, will demand America’s medicine, wear its clothes, eat its food, drink its drink, go to its cinema, love its music, thank God for its expertise in a hundred disciplines, and will all adore New York."

And then:

"America has won 338 Nobel Prizes. The U.K., 119. France, 59. America has more Nobel Prizes than Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia combined."

I find the last statement grossly misleading.  The U.S. is five times the size of either the U.K. or France.   Per capita, the U.K. far surpasses the U.S., although France does lag behind considerably.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/07/america-with-love-aa-gill-excerpt#/livefyre

Most Americans definitely would prefer "The Dark Knight" to anything by Eric Rohmer, as would most Europeans, unfortunately.

Dumb?   Not in the sense of I.Q.

Fat?   I do wonder about this:  Somehow I think that a  scrupulously scientific survey would indicate that we are indeed much fatter than our European counterparts.  I see them everyday.

Belligerent?   We did invade Iraq against the advice of half our European allies.  And we did refuse to sign the Kyoto Treaty against global emissions, citing that "it would hurt our economy."   And we have continued, despite near universal condemnation, to support Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

I'm not sure having the music, movies, and hi-tech gadgets that the rest of the world, admittedly, loves (and buys) gets us off that easily.

* * * * *

We have more and we are bigger than everyone else because we are the most conditioned to buy and consume, and buy and consume, and buy and consume, and then throw it all away and start over again, as we twitter and tweet, as the ultra nec plus of existence.  I'm not sure that that is something to be actually proud of, even as we export democracy and our cherished "way of life"--there's always a catch--around the world.

We invent more stuff because we [are encouraged to] want more stuff.  We are a restless people...in search of...the stuff of which [American] dreams are made of.

You know, if it's BIGGER and FASTER (some would add "badder"), it's gotta be better.  Our recipe for happiness.

(And know the Chinese, Indians, Brazilians, Russians, Africans, etc. want to get in on a piece of the 'action').