Speaking

Exercise 7. Choose a region / county / city / town in the US / UK and speak on its economic and political background and cultural significance (3–5 min.) (For this assignment multi-media support is available).

Exercise 8. Go through the extract on Territory and Environment (1) in the Supplementary Materials and speak about how the territorial and environmental differences between the English and Russians affect cross-cultural communication between the nations in question.

Exercise 9. Use your outside reading, personal experiences, TV and video-watching, etc. to support, expand on or question the points and observations made in the chapter.

WRITING

Exercise10. Write a 350–400 word essay on 1) whether regionalism is an issue in your country; 2) the emotional impact of place-names.

UNIT 9. PATRIOTISM
(Multi-media support available)

AMERI-THINK:

PATRIOTISM =prime example of the Ameri-adage that anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Another word for ‘team spirit’, best and most satisfyingly demonstrated at dazzling half-time intervals during pro-football games, at the opening ceremony of the LA Olympics, or by singing the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ before the first pitch at the World Series.

Patriotism is slick, flamboyant, gushing and sentimental as a Diana Ross concert ... which explains why it’s inextricably linked in the Ameri-mind with Show-Biz and Hollywood. And no wonder, in the country where movie stars become Presidents, and – in Jerry Ford’s case – vice versa. There’s also some confusion about Robert Redford and Jimmy Stewart.

Hollywood-style production is applied to State occasions, Presidential campaigns, inaugural ceremonies, and ticker-tape parades for astronauts. National sports fixtures and the Miss America Pageant have a quasi-patriotic status. TV celebrations of historic events (for example, the 2000 Millenium) are marked by ‘spectaculars’ which turn out hundreds of veteran stars, who aren’t sure if they’re celebrating the greatness of Hollywood, the greatness of America, or the greatness of having ‘made it’ in America. Most Americans believe that the annual Oscar Ceremony is a patriotic event.

Yank stomachs are strong enough for the most banal public displays. When it comes to patriotism, they seem able to tolerate anything – however contrived or mawkish: an emotional ‘phone call from the President to the mother of a dead hero – her tears, his ‘God bless you’ is networked coast-to-coast; so is a ‘mercy flight’, where the First Lady escorts charming third-world children to America for vital medical care. U.S.-style patriotism is elaborately stage-managed, and everyone knows it ... politicians, Press, even the dimmest voters. Strangely, few protest. Even the sharpest commentators seem loathe to blow the gaffe – perhaps because Americans enjoy the show, and they’re all on the same side anyway. So, they allow themselves a spasm or two of patriotic rapture. Haute-schmaltz re-kindles the national sense of optimism, and there are no penalty-points for wallowing. JFK used to telephone Judy Garland, just so she could sing ‘Over The Rainbow’ down the wires to him. It kept him happy.

Yanks remain unselfconscious about Euro-impressions of such displays. They consider that – for the richest and most powerful nation on earth – they are models of restraint ... (like Brits, they see themselves as a well-behaved nation). They speak softly, and carry a big stick. They don’t flaunt their superiority, but act with tact and care internationally. They don’t flex their muscles or rough people up for the hell of it. Unless you count Grenadans. No: when you’ve got it, they reason, you don’t have to flaunt it.

Problem is that they expect others – especially their NATO allies – to share their good opinion of themselves. When ‘friends’ fail to do so, they are deeply hurt, and feel betrayed. It follows that Yanks spend a lot of time feeling hurt and betrayed, since the further they get from the Marshall Plan and the closer they get to Star Wars, the more grudging is Euro-admiration.

BRIT-THINK: Brits feel that patriotism (other people’s) is a cheap emotion. The last refuge of a scoundrel. Vulgar, and intellectually third-rate. All of which makes them proud to be British. Brits manage, they feel, a better class of patriotism. It is a restrained and formalized ritual, which only hints at the swelling breast beneath. A demonstration of natural superiority in judgement, taste and style ... high-quality stuff.

In truth, they conduct celebrations of self-love in much the same way as Yanks. There’s not a great deal of distance between the red, white and blue parachutes at a half-time display, and the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace. Few rituals can be as extravagant as a royal wedding, complete with horse-drawn coaches, fanfare of trumpets and diamonds glinting in the sun. But Brits are convinced that such pomp and circumstance is somehow ‘different’ – allowable. Stately rather than self-indulgent. Anyway: ‘we do it so well!’ there is somewhat fundamentally tasteful about dressing your Queen in riding clothes, making her perch side-saddle on a skittish horse reviewing her troops for hours. In the rain. On her birthday.