Feature
Ryan Mays: Americanism And Stereotypes
About this feature
In this Community Chest interview, Dominik speaks with philosophy teacher Ryan Mays about Americanism and national stereotypes. Mays discusses the use of anti-American sentiment as a social signal, the perceived lack of irony among Americans, and the pressure to reduce his Kentucky accent to avoid being judged by the intelligentsia.
In this interview from the programme Community Chest, Dominik speaks with Ryan Mays, a philosophy teacher at UEA who studies Wittgensteinian philosophy. Originally from Kentucky, Mays discusses anti-Americanism, national stereotypes, and the relationship between accent and perceived intelligence, noting his own conscious decision to reduce his Kentucky accent to be more acceptable to the intelligentsia. The conversation covers the use of anti-American sentiment as a social signal for political consciousness and the inaccuracy of the 'Bourbon Trail' image. Dominik also mentions a radio station colleague's surprise that Americans understand the irony in The Simpsons.
Topics
- Anti-Americanism and national stereotypes
- The relationship between accent and perceived intelligence
- The use of anti-American sentiment as a social signal for political consciousness
Participants
- Dominik
- Ryan Mays
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You kind of get sick of hearing criticisms that even you agree with. Yeah, I've I've had that interesting experience as well. I heard from a Brit who said was very critical about the Blairite government and everything, and then he was talking with a French guy and he's and who was saying exactly the same things. He said.
Abuse they hurled towards the Bush administration, but oh, we like American people, and I think that's that's perfectly fine. I think it's actually a very good thing to draw a distinction. But sometimes I wonder if it can hold up because you know, why not hate American people too? I mean, I think that could that could also be the case. I mean, if you think about.
I'm somewhat politically conscious. I do not align myself with the clearly horrific foreign policy of the United States, but I don't go much deeper than that. You know, you can just say that, and that's enough. It doesn't even really matter if it's true. The criticisms are true. It's just that you're making them at all sort of puts you in a certain camp, and that's all. It's really.