Many Brits exhibit a well-practiced disdain for America, as in, "America is just filled with places like Wal-Mart and McDonalds" or, "It's so big!" or, on occasion, "Do you know anyone who actually voted for Bush? Did you vote for Bush?"
But the truth is that the British culture, as a whole, loves America. At the moment House is playing on the telly (at least star Hugh Laurie is a Brit, though he does a darn-good American accent). Just before that was Friends and Scrubs. At a Shrove Tuesday pancake party, a friend asked me if I was following the American presidential campaign. "Of course," I told him, and he then unleashed a surprising knowledge of the American political process. When I told Joel I was impressed, he got a sheepish grin on his face.
"I wouldn't know anything, except I'm really into The West Wing," he said. "I just finished watching all of the seasons on DVD."
