American Invasion

Every time I travel abroad one unnerving observation continually rubs me the wrong way: United States culture is taking over. When I studied abroad in Spain, I remember entering shops and clubs hearing “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus and “Tonight’s Gonna Be a Good Night” by The Black Eyed Peas on repeat. I wanted to experience Spanish culture, but instead I experienced American culture narrated in Spanish. 

This time overseas was no different. Scotland and Ireland were laced with KFC restaurants and TGIFridays on every corner. The only authentic Scottish music I heard was bagpipes on the streets for the sake of appealing to the tourists. But inside bars all the locals were jamming to American tunes, and the locals knew the lyrics better than I did. 

Pub Quiz in Belfast, Ireland

Local bagpipers in Glasgow, Scotland 

(note the TGIFridays in the background)

The most bizarre encounter I had with this phenomenon was when Wendy, Derek, and I partook in a pub quiz with three Irish natives. Our team was split evenly between Americans and Irishmen and so were the quiz questions. Just about every other question on the quiz was about American pop culture, or an American song was played to be identified, or our history & current politics were questioned. The worst part is they know our stuff just as well--if not better--than we do. One of the questions was “How long is the Mississippi?” Our new Irish friends looked at us expectantly. We looked at each other dumbfounded. We had nothing. (Btw the answer is 2,320 miles or 3,734 km). 

It drives me nuts that not only do Americans generally not know much about their own country, but everyone else knows our history, culture, and politics as if it’s their own. As I lamented this to a Canadian, he responded with the argument that they sort of have to know about the US because we’re such a world power. Basically, we’re all up in everyone else’s business and in turn they get sucked into ours.