> The Japanese might make the best cars, the Germans the best beers, the French the best perfumes, the Italians the best pizza, but Americans make the best dreams.
> American TV, film, and music dominate the world's mass markets. While American-made computers, cars, steel and tools struggle against foreign competition, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Mickey Mouse are cleaning up. American pop culture is just about the biggest export the U.S. produces. For better or worse, it's literally everywhere. Every backroads world traveler has a favorite story about being lost, hungry, and hundreds of miles off the edge of any map when a friendly native suddenly appears to lead him to a hut. Crawling inside, the traveler finds himself staring at a rerun of Dynasty on the generator-powered TV and a poster of Michael Jordan on the wall.
> It's scary.
The passage is dated, incorrect (even when it was written), and oddly chauvinistic to our ears. But it contains a nugget of truth: practically all of humanity has consumed at least some American media.
> The Japanese might make the best cars, the Germans the best beers, the French the best perfumes, the Italians the best pizza, but Americans make the best dreams.
> American TV, film, and music dominate the world's mass markets. While American-made computers, cars, steel and tools struggle against foreign competition, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Mickey Mouse are cleaning up. American pop culture is just about the biggest export the U.S. produces. For better or worse, it's literally everywhere. Every backroads world traveler has a favorite story about being lost, hungry, and hundreds of miles off the edge of any map when a friendly native suddenly appears to lead him to a hut. Crawling inside, the traveler finds himself staring at a rerun of Dynasty on the generator-powered TV and a poster of Michael Jordan on the wall.
> It's scary.
The passage is dated, incorrect (even when it was written), and oddly chauvinistic to our ears. But it contains a nugget of truth: practically all of humanity has consumed at least some American media.
1. http://www.amazon.com/Earthsearch-John-Cassidy/dp/1878257749 by John Cassidy, author of Explorabook.