Americans Do Irony Now

It was 4th of July yesterday, and what struck me most was the banter on Twitter between Anglos and Americans. Good spirited stuff. Mainly tongue-in-cheek, but sometimes descending into genuine debate about who was really to blame for the War of Independence. I think this is one of the biggest changes in America over the last few decades. At least looking at things as an outsider. Americans do irony now. It's like they've rejoined the commonwealth banter family. We can have a bit of craic with them the same way we do with the Irish or the Australians.

I'm guessing it's mainly down to the Internet. That cross-fertilisation that comes from all the instant communication it allows. The Trump election seemed like the first American election where humour played a huge role. Though again, as an outsider, that might just be a perception thing. Satire has always been a part of politics of course, but it does seem that meme war is a whole 'nother level.

A similar thing worth mentioning is perhaps the cultural shift that followed 9/11. It seemed like America, this time in TV and pop culture, opened up to Britain much more following the 9/11 attacks. It felt like all of a sunder Americans were watching British TV shows. Whether it was borrowing British formats like Pop Idol, or actually watching outright British TV like the Office. We even started seeing standard TV personalities such as Gordon Ramsey become famous on that side of the Atlantic. Something truly unthinkable when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s. When all British television just seemed lame in comparison to the glamour and excitement of America.

Even in music, the one realm where Britain perhaps had the edge on America, it was still difficult for UK bands to break the US market.

So I wonder if 9/11 shook American self-confidence, which in turn then led to some unconscious reach for the comfort of the mother culture. Saying that, I was going to mention the show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire as a similar example. However, having looked this reached America pre-9/11. So perhaps it's all just purely coincidental, and I'm just confounding things needlessly. Maybe things were just heading that way in general.

Either way I think it's great to see a re-synthesis of of these divergent cultures.

Happy Traitors' Day ..belatedly.