POUR OUT YOUR MIND IN ENGLISH

What does an ugly American look like?
By Fred Natividad

Fred Natividad asked me to post this essay for him as he has momentarily forgotten his password to the Forum. It is his reply to the following note from a fellow Filipino-American who, like him, is a based in the United States as a permanent resident:

“We may not agree on how to treat the REAL and UGLY Americans, but we are glad that we know the difference. The REAL Americans are those whose dedication to their God, as believers would, are shown by their good deeds to their neighbors and in doing so work for all interests. The UGLY Americans, like our equally UGLY trapos and their cohorts, work only for their personal interest in the guise of helping everyone...”

Ogie,

What does an ugly American look like? I suppose there are many kinds since we now accept that Americans are becoming a composite of the world’s races and cultures, albeit still hugely dominated by a WASP majority.

I received an e-mail that described an ugly American. The sender requested anonymity. I picked out some tidbits from that e-mail from which I formed a composite picture of a fictional version of an ugly American whom I shall call Mr. Brown. I must emphasize that this Mr. Brown is merely a fictional composite, as there may not be one single person who has all the attributes of an ugly American. In other words he is not a microcosm of his crowd.

When Mr. Brown started his career he patiently worked his tail off to achieve the American dream. In a few years, to his enviable credit, he has a house in the suburbs and he makes it a point among his crowd that his house is in an all-white neighborhood. He has cars as expensive as the others have. He has memberships in a Rotary chapter, belongs to a Masonic lodge, and he takes his family to vacations to Europe... He has begun to play tennis and golf. All the good stuff.

Of course, in America such trappings are not the exclusive preserve of the rich, since they are affordable to Middle Class America and middle class Americans are the major component of the population. But back where Mr. Brown came from, golf and tennis and all the good stuff are a big deal.

With his wife doing double jobs his family is in a high-income tax bracket. So far so good. With some maneuvering he can manage to rub elbows with the big shots of his old hometown. Alas, he has grown to flaunt his nouveau riche status with wild abandon, especially when he visits his old neighborhood. He gives out free drinks and he feels exaggerated euphoria as a hometown hero who made good.

I call him Mr. Brown because his skin is brown. His real first name is anglicized: Harvey. His real last name is Hispanic: Cruz. He has a pug nose, dark eyes, dark hair, and speaks English with a foreign accent that he cannot conceal in spite of his best efforts to imitate the twang of mainstream Americans. The effect may be funny to others but not to him.

He was born in some part of the Philippines and has acquired American citizenship. Arguably it may not be fair to call him an ugly American because he was not ugly when he was still a Filipino. His ugliness is merely acquired. He is simply overwhelmed today with a bank account that is bigger than the budget of the barangay that he visits often and where he enjoys lionization he had never experienced before in his life. 

Livonia, Michigan

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