Not only is it eerily reminiscent of current criticism from Europe, it’s also remarkably similar to things many thoughtful Americans might say; fondly yet ruefully.

And it’s underlined by dismissing it as “They hate America.”

Nonsense. America is much-loved on the whole, and justly so. But it’s tempered with an amused perspective on how little self-awareness Americans have, and how very little interest they have in other nations, or understanding that values differ. On the whole, we are viewed, accurately enough, I think as a large-breed puppy, just about growing into it’s feet and almost completely potty-trained. We are admired for our courage, but not our co-ordination. Others have learned that in our eagerness to be noticed and beloved, we are often unaware of where our feet may be placed, or notice that our happy wagging butts are in someone’s face.

We always seem honestly puzzled, and genuinely hurt when such gaffes are pointed out – and we are forgiven because we are adorable, and really do not understand that we are being bad.

The point of our culture being superficial is true enough – and given our history, it’s difficult to see how that could have been avoided. We are indeed “a type.”

Ask any Canadian.

Especially any Canadian border guard, who has to politely remind many Americans that Canada is, in fact, a separate sovereign nation, and does not recognise the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, much less concealed-carry permits.

(Canada politely maintains secure storage lockers for personal weapons at many border crossings, I believe.)

Of course it’s all a matter of relative perspective. Gandhi was once asked about Western Civilization. His response, “It would be a good thing,” was not primarily aimed this way.

There are some interesting points about the ongoing hatred of America, not least by Americans, paralleled by hatred of the Anglosphere, not least by people of the Anglosphere. Andrew Roberts in his “Napoleon and Wellington” has some interesting facts about the Whigs of the day and their worship of Napoleon.

People do, indeed, forget about the “green” aspects of fascism/nazism and their hatred of what they thought of materialistic values, though they saw the advantage of those values to keep the people on their side. Communism, on the other hand, is devoted to materialistic values, which is why anti-American communist propaganda tends to be more confused or nuanced and the response to it has been rather more complex.

There is the additional point that one of the reasons Europeans express contempt for America is because they see it as the land of religion. Confused?