Columbia calling
If you were to go out onto the streets of this fine nation, find yourself an average British citizen at random and ask them for their perception of Americans, I can guarantee that their answer would be, on the whole, derogatory. As far as I can make out, the common British perception of the American people is that they are crass, patronising and, above all, stupid. And yet in spite of this, BBC America is crass, patronising and stupid enough to sell the poor buggers tea.
Of course, the vast majority of Americans do not fit this stereotype: you’ll find an even distribution of the crass, patronising and stupid minority the world over. It would seem that what the British really object to is the Americanisation of British culture (as the spell-checker attempts to correct my spelling to ’Americanization’). True, Britain has lost its identity to a degree, but for this we can blame nobody but ourselves.