Yanks and students

Ask any student on campus what they like about the USA and they'll generally give you a blank look before saying "The Simpsons". Ask them what they hate and you'll probably get covered in a mixture of rhetoric and spittle as they launch into a raging list of all that is wrong with the USA: Bush, McDonalds, Iraq, fat people, pollution, Guantanamo Bay and Bush (again).

Hating America is definitely in vogue right now - whether it's a beardy terrorist flying a jet plane into a tower, or a beardy leftie holding forth on all that is wrong with our neighbour across the pond, people are queuing up to bash Uncle Sam.

Some may think that this criticism is fair - that it is the consequence of imperialist American behaviour - others may not. It's not a clear issue. What is clear, however, is that criticism of the USA can easily, and often does, deteriorate into xenophobia and borderline racism. Even here at Sheffield, American students are picked on simply because of their nationality.

Sheffield Steel asked Aditya Balachander, vice-president of the American Society, about this problem. "I know British people who say 'I just can't make friends with Americans. I mean they're just so ignorant, small minded and boorish'. I know American kids who stay in their rooms all the time, afraid to leave. They call back home 'Mum, these people hate me, I want to go home.'"

"There is a sort of snobbery: a view that all Americans are uneducated hicks; that somehow they must be civilised. It used to be the white man's burden; now it's the European man's burden to civilise those stupid rednecks in America."

An example of this attitude is provided by a 2004 campaign by The Guardian, whereby the newspaper implored its readers to write to residents of Clark County, Ohio – a crucial swing state in the 2004 US election – urging them not to vote for Bush. The recipients of the letters did not take kindly to this. (Sample response: "KEEP YOUR FUCKIN' LIMEY HANDS OFF OUR ELECTION. HEY, SHITHEADS, REMEMBER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR?")

"You guys don't really understand our country," continued Aditya. "English people think Republican is bad, Democrat is good. But there are far worse leaders [than Bush] around the world, right now, who are making things far worse for the majorities of their populations."

And it's true. People are quick to criticise Bush, calling him a mass-murdering, war-monger, while Kim Jong-Il of North Korea is seen as a harmless joke, despite causing massive famine in his country. Robert Mugabe has managed to starve what was once one of Africa's most prosperous nations to its knees, and yet receives less ire from the student body than Bush. Is this fair? More importantly, is this right?

Along with this double standard, often there is a shocking level of ambivalence amongst students when talking about American tragedies. Aditya pointed out the massacre at Virginia Tech as an example: "One of my friends made a joke that 'Hanging out with Americans would make anyone crazy and want to shoot everyone.'" Some may think the joke in poor taste, but not really offensive. Replace the word "Americans" with "Pakistanis", however, and the joke would rightly be condemned as racist. It seems that we Brits can have a bit of a racial blind spot when it comes to our Atlantic neighbours.

Practically no-one reading this would say that they are racist against Americans, even if many would admit to disliking the USA's politics. To criticise another countries government is not to be racist or xenophobic. Many, however, would admit to thinking that the average American is some Bush-loving-gun-toting-McDonalds-scoffing-redneck. It's time that we realised the extent of this latent racism and tried to remove it from our society.