Comments on: Inspirations http://blog.janehaddam.com/2009/09/19/inspirations/ Jane Haddam’s WordPress weblog Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:25:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: mab http://blog.janehaddam.com/2009/09/19/inspirations/comment-page-1/#comment-1345 mab Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:19:29 +0000 http://blog.janehaddam.com/?p=837#comment-1345 This made me laugh out loud: they come here, look around, interview a black ghetto gospel choir,. an unemployed factory worker, and the kind of hillbilly who keeps a statue of Jesus glued to his rifle scope to help h im kill the deer, and then declares that he’s “discovered” the “real America.” As did the piece you linked to. In the interests of fairness, I'm also driven mad by the foreign journalists who come to Russia -- having never been here before so that their impressions will be "fresher" and somehow "more real" -- go to a church, interview a priest, and either produce the "Russia's spiritual revival" piece or, if the guy is a raving nationalist, the "Russian going down the road of chauvinism" piece. I also hate it when we get a new NYT reporter and have to go through his or her "discovery of Russia" process. I place bets on which month will give birth to the "I took my child to the playground and the old ladies made me put a hat on my free little American child" piece. The difference is -- I think -- that when Americans come to Russia, they seem determined to discover Russia's complexity (even if they miss it). But when Europeans come to the US, they seem determined to prove that we are simpletons. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but...Bernard Levy might have been well-disposed to America and determined to prove French stereotypes wrong, but he still spent half of his time in prisons and being amazed that cops had heard of Tocqueville. Bleah. This made me laugh out loud:
they come here, look around, interview a black ghetto gospel choir,. an unemployed factory worker, and the kind of hillbilly who keeps a statue of Jesus glued to his rifle scope to help h im kill the deer, and then declares that he’s “discovered” the “real America.” As did the piece you linked to. In the interests of fairness, I’m also driven mad by the foreign journalists who come to Russia — having never been here before so that their impressions will be “fresher” and somehow “more real” — go to a church, interview a priest, and either produce the “Russia’s spiritual revival” piece or, if the guy is a raving nationalist, the “Russian going down the road of chauvinism” piece. I also hate it when we get a new NYT reporter and have to go through his or her “discovery of Russia” process. I place bets on which month will give birth to the “I took my child to the playground and the old ladies made me put a hat on my free little American child” piece.

The difference is — I think — that when Americans come to Russia, they seem determined to discover Russia’s complexity (even if they miss it). But when Europeans come to the US, they seem determined to prove that we are simpletons. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but…Bernard Levy might have been well-disposed to America and determined to prove French stereotypes wrong, but he still spent half of his time in prisons and being amazed that cops had heard of Tocqueville. Bleah.

]]> By: CAFiorello http://blog.janehaddam.com/2009/09/19/inspirations/comment-page-1/#comment-1344 CAFiorello Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:30:12 +0000 http://blog.janehaddam.com/?p=837#comment-1344 Everything I can find quickly says Schama was born in London. Everything I can find quickly says Schama was born in London.

]]> By: MaryF http://blog.janehaddam.com/2009/09/19/inspirations/comment-page-1/#comment-1343 MaryF Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:15:38 +0000 http://blog.janehaddam.com/?p=837#comment-1343 Simon Schama is American? Well, well. I've read quite a lot of his work (and have at least one sitting on the shelf waiting for me) but always assumed, like you, that he was British. I believe he taught at Oxford or Cambridge for a while, maybe that's why. Simon Schama is American? Well, well. I’ve read quite a lot of his work (and have at least one sitting on the shelf waiting for me) but always assumed, like you, that he was British. I believe he taught at Oxford or Cambridge for a while, maybe that’s why.

]]>