This is the text of a talk given by Susan
Nulsen on 26th September 2013 following Timothy Patrick McCarthy on the same topic.
Bio:
Susan was born and educated in Australia. Shortly after she married
she went to England where she stayed for about nine years from the
late 70s to the mid 80s and then also spent another year there in two
different stretches during the 90s. She has now spent a similar
length of time in the US.
Talk:
I
always look forward to hearing Tim McCarthy speak. He has such
insightful things to say. But I quite had the wind taken out of my
sails when I heard he needed to leave early and I had to speak after
him. He is a very hard act to follow!
As
you can see from my bio, I have no qualifications to speak on how
Americans see themselves. Almost every one of you is better
qualified than me!
So
I will start by describing my earliest interactions with Americans,
and then tell you some of the myths I learned about America and how
my experiences have led me to judge these.
 |
| My mother and an Australian friend |
The
first people I could identify as American were a couple of young
women my mother was friends with when we lived in Mount Isa, a small
remote copper mining town in Queensland. As a ten year old I had
very little interaction with them. However they stood out because
they dressed strangely; to my mind they seemed very elegant but very
old-fashioned. They wore dresses that stood out stiffly over big
petticoats. My mother and her other friends often went around in
shorts which were much more suited to the tropical climate.
 |
| Some stockmen |
Around this time, although there was no television in the town, my family would gather around the radio on Tuesday evenings to listen to a couple of radio shows which often included American westerns. Since Mt Isa was in the middle of cattle country the westerns seemed very appropriate. (I should say that we didn't have “cowboys” or six-shooters; instead the people who strode around in high-heeled riding boots and rounded up the cattle were known as “stockmen”.) So I was already getting a dose of American culture.
 |
| The Pine Gap Facility |
The
first time I met Americans of my own age was when we moved to Alice
Springs. These were the children of people working at the “secret”
American communications base at Pine Gap. It wasn't very secret, in
that everyone in the town knew of its existence, but not even the
Australian government knew what information was gathered or relayed
from there. The most notable thing about these children was their
contagious American accents. It was impossible to talk to them for
very long without starting to sound like them yourself.
Also
when we lived in Alice Springs my family spent a lot of time going
bush on camping trips. On these adventures we seemed to meet a lot
of retired Americans travelling around the country in camper vans.
Many of these described themselves as “rock hounds” – they
collected interesting, often semi-precious, stones. My sister and I
were told we could be “pebble pups”. On one of our camping trips
we took Bea, an American journalist from Cleveland, with us to see
some of the spectacular scenery in the ranges out of Alice Springs.
I have no idea how she got in touch with my family – maybe my
father had given his contact details to some of the American tourists
we had met previously. So it is very possible that my family, through
Bea's writing, influenced how some Americans saw Australia.
When
I was fourteen I used to wait at the school bus stop with a girl who
was absolutely furious with her parents because they had refused to
allow a couple of these American tourists to adopt her and take her
back home with them! I still don't understand how she couldn't see
her parents point of view. Around this time I also made friends with
an American girl who lived in a fantasy world. Both her parents
worked, which was unusual at that time, and each afternoon she was
responsible for caring for her younger siblings. Her thirteen year
old sister did nothing to help take care of the two little boys who
ran wild! Janice told me all about the exciting life she led on the
French Riviera where she had her own speed boat.
I
met a few more Americans in high school and at university. As you
can see, I had had contact with only a handful of Americans. However
I was still exposed to American culture through films, books,
cartoons and comic books.
It
was when we went to Cambridge in the UK for my husband, Paul, to do
his PhD that we met a large number of Americans and became good
friends with some. Because of our common language I would also
often end up spending time with the American wives at conferences at
various places in Europe.
My
first visit to the US was when Paul was visiting the Goddard Space
Flight Center in Maryland as a student. We stayed with an
exceedingly generous American couple who put us up for a whole six
weeks. During that time I remember being at a barbecue where one
person was describing loudly, in graphic detail and at great length
his bout of amoebic dysentery. I had never experienced the like.
Australians or British would not air their medical problems so
publicly.
And
the first time I lived in the US was for six months when Paul came
for the launch of the Chandra satellite in 1999. We spent six weeks
living right in Harvard Square, above the Harvard Book Store and the
rest of the time in Newton where my daughter Alix went to high school
and my son Luke to the middle school. Girls she met told Alix that
she spoke “very good English.”
Finally
after I came here in December 2003 I met a large array of Americans,
including all of you. I have learnt that the only thing I can say
with certainty about Americans is that they are a widely varied group
of people and it is impossible to make any generalizations.
Now
here are half a dozen myths that I have encountered.
Myth
1: Britain
was NOT democratic at the time of the Declaration of Independence.
(1776) The UK had been a constitutional monarchy since the Glorious
Revolution of 1688 – when James II was replaced by William and Mary
– around a hundred years before. It was ruled by an elected
Parliament with roots stretching back to the Magna Carta in 1215. At
the time of the Revolution, the trouble from the American point of
view was that the Americans did not have a vote. Yet I continually
hear Americans talking as if Britain had been an absolute monarchy.
Myth
2: America
is the most democratic country in the world. Now
America certainly set an example to the world with its constitution
in the 18th
century. However constitutions written since then have been able to
draw on others experience. I would like to point out two features of
the Australian electoral system that promote a more democratic
government. You may have heard me say this before. Preferential
voting, which is the equivalent of running multiple run-off
elections, eliminating the candidates one by one, provides a much
fairer way of voting. Secondly making voting, and registering to
vote, compulsory ensures that the outcome of an election is more
fair. Just think of all the work that goes into getting out the vote
here, and in Britain too.
Furthermore,
far from upholding democracy around the world, the US has a history
of overthrowing, or working against other countries' democratically
elected governments with which it doesn't agree. Think of the
Allende government in Chile.
Myth
3: One
man, one vote.
It is now not “one man, one vote” but “one dollar, one vote”.
I know that many of you will agree whole-heartedly with me here.
The electoral system has been distorted by the inordinate amounts of
money needed to win an election. Politicians are chosen by their
ability to raise money and spend too much of their time fund raising.
Also
the control of media by wealthy media barons deprives the ordinary
person of the tools to make informed choices. This is no better in
Australia. Rupert Murdoch is openly boasting that he put Tony
Abbot, the new Liberal (what you would call conservative) prime
minister into power.
Myth
4: America
is God's Own Country.
I don't think I need to say anything about this!
But
I would like to throw in
Myth
5: Atheists
are immoral.
As a non-religious person I find this statement very insulting. I
have heard this or something which implies this many times –
statements such as “I couldn't believe he could do something so
evil, he regularly attended church.” If he hadn't attended church
then it would have been believable that he could have been evil!
Myth
6: America
is the land of opportunity.
Anyone by their own hard work can make it rich. Anyone born a
citizen can aspire to be president. This is a very dangerous myth.
In fact everyone is dependent on the society they have been bought up
in, their families, schools the local infrastructure. Many poor
people cling to this myth as hope for their own future. If you are
poor it can only be because you are lazy or made bad choices. People
at the top are being rewarded for merit. Luck plays no part in your
fate. If you vote for anything which penalizes the wealthy you might
be penalizing yourself in the future. This myth pacifies an
underclass and persuades the poor to vote against their own best
interests.
I
was incredibly shocked the first time I came to Boston to see beggars
on the street! In the richest country in the world! It was
additionally amazing to see that the numbers of them are military
veterans.
Until
I left Australia I never dreamt of tipping a waiter at a restaurant.
I had been one myself and knew that waiters earned a reasonable wage
and the price of the food covered that. I would love it if some
restaurants here banned tipping and paid their staff appropriately!
Businesses
feel it is in their interests to have a large pool of cheap labor
with poor working conditions. So-called “illegal” immigrants
provide even cheaper labor. It seems that this whole economy is
dependent on these underclasses of people for cheap food, cheap goods
and cheap services. A business that depends on a labor force earning
less than a living wage should not be a viable business. Government
support of low paid people is just another way the government is
subsidizing business.
It
is a very sad fact that America is an extremely unequal society and
it is only becoming more unequal, despite the efforts of many good
people.
The
final myth I just have to mention is
Myth
7: Americans
don't have an accent.
Of course the only people who don't have accents are those whose who
don't speak! Yet this is something I constantly hear Americans say.
I
also find it strange that the accents spoken by the locals along the
east coast, the areas that have been longest settled, are looked down
upon by speakers of standard American. Recently a Belgian friend and
her husband, who have only been here about a year, were asked for
directions by an American tourist. After they had told him the way
the tourist commented on their “rough Boston accents”!
I
should end by saying that although I have tried to point out the
fallacies in these myths there is an element of truth in many of
them. America is
a great country with many resources. Unfortunately it is not fully
utilizing its greatest resource, its people. It has an opportunity
to set a shining example to the rest of the world and I think it
would be a wonderful thing if it did.
—Susan Nulsen
