also reflects a kindliness and generosity of spirit which are among the country’s most striking characteristics. Dickens remarks that Americans “are, by nature, frank, brave, cordial, hospitable, and affectionate.” He also speaks fondly of their warmth of heart and ardent enthusiasm.
All of these qualities are still present in abundance today. The language of the United States may grate with its gushing superlatives, but it can also simply reflect a wish to be pleasant to others. Many a visitor to America has remarked on the astonishing gap between its politics and its people. The latter are for the most part far more congenial than the former. Republics are supposed to be places in which the people and the government are at one, which is thankfully not the case with the republic of America. That the citizens of the country have managed by and large to preserve their neighbourliness, kindliness and largeness of spirit in one of the most acquisitive, ferociously competitive civilisations on God’s earth is a remarkable tribute to their innate decency. This may be something of a backhanded compliment, like congratulating someone on winning the title of World’s Greatest Bore five times in a row, but it is a compliment nonetheless.
Americans continue to be on the whole an easy, outgoing people. If two of them find themselves together in an elevator, they will usually acknowledge each other’s presence with a friendly word. People who speak to you in British elevators are generally regarded as dangerous lunatics who should not be favoured with a reply, since this will only spur them to further outbursts of insanity. If they persist in their offensive attempts to be friendly, one can always press the emergency bell and have them carted away by security. The British are much taken by what one might call the argument from the floodgates. Once you allow one stranger to murmur a cordial remark to you about how the cricket is going, you are in imminent danger of being besieged by great herds of wild-eyed, shaggy-haired men and women who will try to talk to you about everything from the structure of the atom to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. Strangers who smile at you in public will always end up demanding to live in your spare room. They will try to kidnap your children, or offload a demented elderly relative on you. It is best to keep yourself to yourself.
Keeping yourself to yourself, however, is not the guarantee of a quiet life that it once was. Whenever those suspected of terrorism are arrested these days, their neighbours almost always remark that they struck them as quiet, polite, respectable-looking people who never failed to give them the time of day, but who kept to themselves. People like this should be instantly reported to the police. Men who are completely covered in hair, brandish Kalashnikovs and speak some strange gibberish are entirely harmless.
Is American friendliness genuine or superficial? There is a case for claiming that it is both. There is certainly a good deal of automated pleasantness, compulsive cheeriness and manufactured bonhomie. There are times when you are not really allowed to feel down in the mouth or enjoy being on your own. Solitariness is seen as anti-social. Americans can often strike one as over-socialised, too frenetically eager to please, too anxious to make an impression in a country where impressions count for more than they should. This, however, is far from the whole story. When I stroll across an American campus, I sometimes pass a young man I don’t know, and who doesn’t know me, who murmurs, “How ya doin’, sir?” This would never happen in Europe. It may be something of a conditioned reflex, but it is an undeniably charming one. There is an agreeableness about many Americans which is less obvious in the case of some Europeans. With them, you may have to dig a little to discover it. In Americans it tends to be more readily accessible, like most other things
All of these qualities are still present in abundance today. The language of the United States may grate with its gushing superlatives, but it can also simply reflect a wish to be pleasant to others. Many a visitor to America has remarked on the astonishing gap between its politics and its people. The latter are for the most part far more congenial than the former. Republics are supposed to be places in which the people and the government are at one, which is thankfully not the case with the republic of America. That the citizens of the country have managed by and large to preserve their neighbourliness, kindliness and largeness of spirit in one of the most acquisitive, ferociously competitive civilisations on God’s earth is a remarkable tribute to their innate decency. This may be something of a backhanded compliment, like congratulating someone on winning the title of World’s Greatest Bore five times in a row, but it is a compliment nonetheless.
Americans continue to be on the whole an easy, outgoing people. If two of them find themselves together in an elevator, they will usually acknowledge each other’s presence with a friendly word. People who speak to you in British elevators are generally regarded as dangerous lunatics who should not be favoured with a reply, since this will only spur them to further outbursts of insanity. If they persist in their offensive attempts to be friendly, one can always press the emergency bell and have them carted away by security. The British are much taken by what one might call the argument from the floodgates. Once you allow one stranger to murmur a cordial remark to you about how the cricket is going, you are in imminent danger of being besieged by great herds of wild-eyed, shaggy-haired men and women who will try to talk to you about everything from the structure of the atom to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. Strangers who smile at you in public will always end up demanding to live in your spare room. They will try to kidnap your children, or offload a demented elderly relative on you. It is best to keep yourself to yourself.
Keeping yourself to yourself, however, is not the guarantee of a quiet life that it once was. Whenever those suspected of terrorism are arrested these days, their neighbours almost always remark that they struck them as quiet, polite, respectable-looking people who never failed to give them the time of day, but who kept to themselves. People like this should be instantly reported to the police. Men who are completely covered in hair, brandish Kalashnikovs and speak some strange gibberish are entirely harmless.
Is American friendliness genuine or superficial? There is a case for claiming that it is both. There is certainly a good deal of automated pleasantness, compulsive cheeriness and manufactured bonhomie. There are times when you are not really allowed to feel down in the mouth or enjoy being on your own. Solitariness is seen as anti-social. Americans can often strike one as over-socialised, too frenetically eager to please, too anxious to make an impression in a country where impressions count for more than they should. This, however, is far from the whole story. When I stroll across an American campus, I sometimes pass a young man I don’t know, and who doesn’t know me, who murmurs, “How ya doin’, sir?” This would never happen in Europe. It may be something of a conditioned reflex, but it is an undeniably charming one. There is an agreeableness about many Americans which is less obvious in the case of some Europeans. With them, you may have to dig a little to discover it. In Americans it tends to be more readily accessible, like most other things
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