Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
material on a shoestring (like me and public broadcasting in general) have to
ponder: Should we put a digital i g leaf on
David
's full-frontal nudity? Bleep
Bocaccio's bawdy language? Can I i lm
h e h ree Graces
only from the waist
up? Will Raphael's randy cupids be labeled “child pornography” and Bernini's
Rape of Persephone
as “S & M”? For now, my partners in public television and
I will proceed gingerly—not sure if we can show Venus's breasts. Can we risk
the possibility of a $275,000 i ne…and is that per nipple?
You may not want to bring the more casual European approach to sex
and the human body back home with you. And I'm not saying we should
all run around naked. But I suspect that children raised in America, where
sex is often considered “dirty,” are more likely to have an uncomfortable rela-
tionship with sex and their bodies than Europeans do. (I sense that there is
more violence associated with sex here than there; in fact, Americans report
at least double the incidence of rape as citizens of any European country.)
And I have a hunch that the French, who have as many words for a kiss as
Eskimos have for snow, enjoy making love more than we Americans do. I like
a continent where sexual misconduct won't doom a politician with anyone
other than his family and friends, and where the human body is considered
a divine work of art worth admiring openly.
Reviving the “Brand of America”
We've covered a lot of ground about how America perceives Europe. Now
let's l ip things around, to see how Europe perceives America. Sadly, this
changed dramatically in the i rst decade of the 21st century.
OK, I'll admit it: Like two-thirds of Americans—and virtually the entire
rest of the planet—I was no fan of George W. Bush. While my dif erences with
him on various philosophical
and policy points were matters
of personal political opinion,
there's no question that the
Bush Administration's actions
severely blemished the “Brand
of America”—how the US
is perceived overseas. People
in Europe like Americans as
much now as they ever did.
But there's no doubt that,
