Ugly American

Craig Dunkin's letter last Saturday regarding the World Cup had a nice ring to it, but it is inescapable that the game will never catch on in the U.S. as a spectator sport. Germany beat us with two shots on goal! I don't need an electrifying slam dunk from Kobe or another dinger from Shawn Green. I'll take Derek Fisher drawing a charge, or a David Eckstein sacrifice bunt (of course another grand slam would be even better) over "the world's game." Ken Feldman Granada Hills I constantly see complaints, here and elsewhere, about soccer styles, particularly the German and Italian styles.

It is a question that makes Venus Williams weary. Her eyes drop, her shoulders tighten. She is here at the U.S. Open, which begins Monday, a 30-year-old with the major accomplishment of having won seven Grand Slam tournaments, and she does not want to talk about the starkness of this bit of information: Williams is the only American woman among the 32 seeded players. Melanie Oudin, the bubbly teenager who giggled as she ran through the 2009 U.S. Open, shoving aside higher-ranked, harder-hitting players with no evidence of nerves until she was halted in the quarterfinals by eventual runner-up Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, has won only a single match at the three previous major tournaments this year and comes to the Open unseeded, with a ranking of 43 and a dangerous first-round match at 8 a.m. PDT Monday against a tricky veteran, Olga Savchuk.

If you're weighing the pleasure of tourism against the discomfort of going abroad at a time when our country and culture seem widely abhorred, you might consider traveling incognito. After all, no one wants to be hated. "Carry the Koran," humorist Mark Russell once advised American travelers. "Paint a red dot on your forehead; wear sandals; never ask how the Mets are doing." I did think of hiding my national identity on a visit to Libya last spring.

It's not enough to be illustrated and funny anymore: These days, animation is a place for subversion and hidden meaning. It's also the place for overt political posturing: Since "The West Wing" went off the air, liberalism and conservatism have been largely absent from television as prominent story lines or attributes. Live action television starring humans, that is. When the characters are drawn, partisan knives come out, even if the results often fizzle like ABC's "The Goode Family." And yet this climate comes with its own oppressions: Shows begin as clever by default rather than by design.

McDonald's in France has faced the ire of ransacking peasants and the scorn of a president known for relishing calves' heads more than cheeseburgers. This week, the attacks on the U.S. fast-food giant crossed a threshold when a bombing killed one of its employees. Denis Hennequin, president and CEO of McDonald's France, begged his countrymen Friday to stop thinking of his chain as anything other than restaurants staffed by industrious employees.

A Pew Research Center study on how the U.S. is viewed around the world is sobering, reflecting a deep erosion of our nation's image abroad. According to the study, released last June: * Approval for the U.S. has tanked throughout the Muslim world, not surprising given the war in Iraq. Even among our closest allies, ratings have plummeted. In 1999, 71% of Canadians and 83% of Britons had a generally positive view of the U.S. Last year those figures fell to 59% in Canada and 55% in Britain.

It's no secret that the animated television series "The Simpsons" has fans around the world; last weekend's chart-topping overseas ticket sales for its spinoff movie only underscored the point. What's puzzling is why. How did an ignorant, doughnut-scarfing "Ugly American" father and his mustard-tinged brood win fans in Auckland, Argenteuil and Argentina?

Re "A Hollywood Iconoclast Who Transformed the Art of Acting," July 3: Readers might be interested to know that Marlon Brando was a strong critic of U.S. foreign policy. After reading my March 3, 1999, Op-Ed article in The Times criticizing U.S. actions in Guatemala, Brando contacted me and initiated an hourlong discussion about the history of U.S. operations there. Outraged at U.S. military training and CIA manuals on killing in Central America, he wanted to understand how it was possible to turn normal American boys into killers and torturers abroad.

It was my understanding that NBC was going to televise the Olympic Games, an international event. All I have seen to date are the USA Games. In all fairness to NBC, they did manage to show the flag-raising when the swimmer from Spain won his event. Of course, the fact that the winner was an American (too) had nothing to do with it. To any foreigner watching NBC's shabby presentation, it reaffirmed his impression of the Ugly American. SEYMOUR TOPOR Huntington Beach

How truly sad when the best that America can provide for glasnost at the Moscow Peace Festival is the correct pronunciation of the F-word by the Motley Crue rock group ("Moscow Marathon," by Robert Hilburn, Aug. 11). One would have hoped that this tasteless collection of morons would have followed the lead of Jon Bon Jovi in politely learning a few words of Russian. Instead we in the United States must witness how certain bands fit very well into the "Ugly American" mold.

The summer I was 21 and my sister was 20, we hitchhiked through Quebec. Striking sisterly poses by the side of the highway, we oozed naivete. We wore short shorts. We smiled. People stopping for us assumed hitchhiking "these days" was hard, but we found the opposite to be true: It was too easy. Successfully fending off the advances we received, however, was not. We needed a particularly brutish encounter to teach us when to respect social etiquette and when to throw it out the window.

It's no secret that the animated television series "The Simpsons" has fans around the world; last weekend's chart-topping overseas ticket sales for its spinoff movie only underscored the point. What's puzzling is why. How did an ignorant, doughnut-scarfing "Ugly American" father and his mustard-tinged brood win fans in Auckland, Argenteuil and Argentina?

A Pew Research Center study on how the U.S. is viewed around the world is sobering, reflecting a deep erosion of our nation's image abroad. According to the study, released last June: * Approval for the U.S. has tanked throughout the Muslim world, not surprising given the war in Iraq. Even among our closest allies, ratings have plummeted. In 1999, 71% of Canadians and 83% of Britons had a generally positive view of the U.S. Last year those figures fell to 59% in Canada and 55% in Britain.

My heart goes out to poor Shani Davis. It must have been very difficult to stand on the podium to receive his gold medal and be forced to watch the U.S. flag raised, and have to listen to our national anthem. I'm sure he would have preferred to see them raise a flag with his picture on it while he chanted, "Hurray for me!" Maybe next Olympics he can enter as his own country, and pay his own expenses. That way the U.S. team won't have anything to be upset about. GEORGE NEWBERRY San Pedro In J.A. Adande's Wednesday column about feuding skaters Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis, he neglected to mention the most embarrassing moment of these Olympics: Davis' "interview" with NBC after he won the gold medal.

After reading "Sensitivity, Respect and the Ugly American" [Her World, Nov. 21], I could imagine the volume of negative mail. Spano has a gift for saying the right thing in the worst possible way. Although I agree with her message, my plans don't include visits where it is best to deny being an American. There are too many great destinations left. Travelers spend hard-earned money and endure inconvenience with the expectation of a great experience. What's wrong with letting the locals know how much you are enjoying it?

If you're weighing the pleasure of tourism against the discomfort of going abroad at a time when our country and culture seem widely abhorred, you might consider traveling incognito. After all, no one wants to be hated. "Carry the Koran," humorist Mark Russell once advised American travelers. "Paint a red dot on your forehead; wear sandals; never ask how the Mets are doing." I did think of hiding my national identity on a visit to Libya last spring.

As one who used to sail in the Caribbean waters and has visited the Windward Islands, I found your article "Paradise Lost" (May 9) both interesting and saddening. Jim and Penny Fletcher are caught up in the Napoleonic laws of Bequia. I see where the "Ugly American" symptoms are still alive and well in the Caribbean. Every American who visits must be a millionaire, so the natives think. I hope that the Fletchers get a pardon and that our State Department will help in this matter.

If the item in the media column by Kevin Brass ("San Diego Spotlight," Feb. 4) on KFMB-TV (Channel 8) reporter John Culea's conduct while on assignment in Saudi Arabia is a true account, Mr. Culea should never be allowed to cover any significant news stories again. John Culea's actions of slipping pages of the Bible into the copy of the Koran, and altering the position of the decal showing the direction of Mecca in his hotel room displayed immature, crude, senseless, callow and totally unprofessional conduct.

Re "A Hollywood Iconoclast Who Transformed the Art of Acting," July 3: Readers might be interested to know that Marlon Brando was a strong critic of U.S. foreign policy. After reading my March 3, 1999, Op-Ed article in The Times criticizing U.S. actions in Guatemala, Brando contacted me and initiated an hourlong discussion about the history of U.S. operations there. Outraged at U.S. military training and CIA manuals on killing in Central America, he wanted to understand how it was possible to turn normal American boys into killers and torturers abroad.

It is three months until the Olympics, and the main topic of discussion has little to do with games. Talk centers on whether we will get bombed and whether we will get booed. We, of course, are the United States, the 800-pound gorilla of the Olympic movement. Actually, the 800-pound gorilla, period. With the opening ceremony in Athens set for Aug. 13, the gorilla is struggling to figure out just how to approach this big party.