I'm not the type of person to discriminate against anyone, and I can only recall my experiences of the minority of American people I have met in the country; they're friendly, polite, talkative, and love the English accent! They also eat a lot.
But, saying they're stupid is a different matter. Surely we all know stupid people in England?
Regardless.....at the minute, I'm sat at a friend's house in Dallas, Texas; the deep south of the United States; home to George Bush and a highly Republican state (don't prejudice on that alone!).
As a journalism student I'm carefully studying the newspapers and watching the news over here with a degree of interest that others probably wouldn't care about. I like to see what NBC5 are using as their lead story in the 11.00pm news, and I'm reading the newspapers to see how they are written.
On Sunday I was watching the news on NBC5; the news channel for the Dallas and Fort Worth area of Texas. I had been to the University of North Texas (UNT) that day to help my friend move into her room; it didn't seem that big a deal. Every September, people move into their University rooms in England....I did it two years ago, nerve racking yes. Newsworthy; not a chance.
That night, one of the stories on an American news channel was about students moving into their rooms at UNT. Come on! I know BBC Look North and ITV Calender like human interest stories, but this seemed crazy. This isn't news!
Unbelievably however, the next story was even worse. NBC5 had decided to produce a TV news package on someone throwing an "Olympic Party" at their house which involved eating food from all over the world and watching the Olympics. It was just ridiculous.
I think it would have been better if the anchor had just said there was no news. Because, unfortunately for the United States, that probably would have been better.
As I said, I'm not one to prejudice. But I'm not impressed with what I've seen of American journalism.
