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The United States of Hysteria?
Brits seem to derive some kind of perverse pleasure in moving to America for a few years and then returning to Britain to tell everyone how horrible it was.
The latest example of this comes from Anne Dixey, who moved to Washington, D.C., in August 2001 with her two children and partner, Roland Watson, the London Times Washington correspondent.
In today’s Times, she writes how she had expected to find a buzzing social scene when she moved to Washington but instead she found a closed society torn apart by violence and fear.
She said that, after 9/11, Americans around her were hysterical and that “there was none of that calm British getting on with it.”
Dixey, who has just written a book “The United States of Hysteria, said that she was shocked by the American people’s conservatism with a small “c.”
“There was so much emphasis by parents on re-creating the ‘perfect’ childhood they’d had,” she said. “I’d expected it to be more civilized and cultured, but there was limited conversation, politics, and the War on Terror.”
Dixey said she was stuck at home, faced with the “supermoms” of Chevy Chase, Maryland.
“Flexible or part-time working just didn’t seem possible. It was all or nothing, there was no slack so these very intelligent, highly educated women approached motherhood as though it was a career,” she said. “In Washington you are what you do. When you stop doing something, you become your partner’s accessory.”
Dixey said she was amazed by this in the country that first embraced feminism. All in all, Dixey is happy to be back in West London.
I’m sure the people of Maryland don’t mind either.
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