Yale Daily News

"Who wants to be burdened with that kind of reputation?"

Yeah, it's like WAY cooler to be a pretentious in reputation than suffer someone else's misconceptions.

I'm kind of glad she says she's Canadian - I'd hate for anyone to think that all Americans are completely and utterly lame and horribly insecure.

My parents moved to the United States so that their children could have a great life and be proud to declare themselves Americans. Self-loathers should really just move out.

You want to change the perception of Americans in the world? Be a cultured American. Be a good ambassador. Don't be a pretentious asshole.

I've traveled in Europe extensively, as well as a few other countries. I've never been ashamed to call myself an American. I conduct myself appropriately and I don't behave like a stereotypical American. That's enough for the people in whose countries I visit. Why cover who you are? They'll know you're lying... Everyone can detect a cultural fake.

The cultural fakery won't be nearly as obvious as the linguistic fakery. Ms. Banks neglects to add that Western Europeans generally speak far more languages than Americans and have more regular interactions with Western European transnationals, so it seems unlikely that a bastardized Italian or German accent would stand up to even generous internal scrutiny in either opposite country.

I also wonder what kind of cultural sharing happens between people with manufactured nationalities. If a faux-Italian meets a faux-German at the border, and one identifies the other's trickery, is it appropriate to call the other out? If neither recognizes the mutual deceit, was there really any reason to talk to the person in the first place? In my brief Western European travels, I have not hidden my American nationality, and my identity has been accepted most naturally.

I hope that anyone tempted to pull off a cheap imitation of another culture will imagine how a proud foreign national will feel to have his native heritage reduced to a bad accent and unnatural hand gestures.

I'm glad that you feel comfortable associating yourself with two of the countries who fought for a systematic genocide only fifty years ago. It reaffirms my decision to turn down Yale.

Arnold in California, Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, son of a Kenyan goat herder running for president, just some of the more recent stories of immigrants and first gen offspring of immigrants that rose through the power eschelons in the US. Only in the US can something like this happen and be normal and people around the world know it too. Imagine this casually happening anywhere else like Japan, Russia, China, France, Germany, Italy, England....I rest my case.

Europeans and the most of the world like to give lip service to other "cultures" but in their own house, they are as protective as can be. Americans might have an unfair image of being racist / prejudice, but they play fair or fairer than you can get anywhere else. Anyone can rise through the ranks no matter their racial, economic, social, background. Even all these America haters can come to America and be given a chance to have a new life if things get messy in their country.

Everyone in the world probably has some connection to America. Could be their son, daughter, relative, nephew, niece, friends etc....Can any other country say even the same thing?

Nothing but pure, unadulterated hipster trash.

The fact that an Italian is more likely to know about the American presidential election, whereas an American is likely to know nothing about Italian politics whatsoever, is more a reflection of how awesome America is and what an influence we have on the rest of the world rather than an American arrogance. If there were another world superpower instead of the US, you can bet Americans would know a bit about that country's political situation.

It also speaks to American good sense that we have better things to do with our lives than wallow in the mud of politics. We are incredibly wealthy and enjoy many freedoms as part of a stable, liberal democracy. We can enjoy our lives instead of funneling our discontent into politics. Italy has police-enforced mandatory voting, a corrupt government, a stagnating economy with one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe... and it should be no surprise that Italians turn to politicians as an outlet for their frustrations, and it's no surprise that things there never change.

I'll never forget the old man I met in Provence who fought with the French Resistance in World War II, who thanked me and my father profusely for America's liberation of France. I've never been prouder to be an American than I was on that day. Perhaps Ms. Banks would have preferred drinking wine in Rome under the watchful eyes of Signore Mussolini...

Italy doesn't have police enforced mandatory voting....