A Visitor’s View of the U.S.

I am a visitor from Chile, and this is my first trip to your country. I find many things to admire and have developed a respect for the business-like atmosphere of the United States. However, I am more than puzzled by the incredibly low intellectual and cultural standards of the American people, which, in many ways, translate themselves into a kind of television programming that frankly is not in keeping with the tastes and requirements of an educated nation.

The Aug. 25 Emmy show seemed to define for me the extreme lack of “class” of this industry. If you called it “raunchy,” it is in no way descriptive enough to describe the type of toilet humor that was expressed by men and women alike in this program.

It is regrettable that artists who tend to become role models for youth behave in such a fashion. I do not say that this type of humor does not exist in my country, but it is restricted to the privacy of homes where good friends can resort to a few minutes of obscenity and off-color jokes. However, we would never dream of exposing our children to it.

I do not believe that I surprise you when I tell you that our continental concept of your country is that of a brash, powerful but totally wild and uncouth nation. In the 200-odd years of its short life, there has never been enough time for the niceties of education, and, now, with the rather strong impact of recent immigrations, this progress has been put on hold--perhaps indefinitely.

That also explains a poor quality of television programming that features vulgar and superficial shows that are immensely popular and then a few good ones--which only please a relatively small portion of your people.

From the quality of the “presenters” and their questionable taste in clothes, it can be easily understood that most of these people are not in the position to make a worthwhile contribution to the cultural level of their industry.

Thank God for the “Masterpiece Theatre” and the very few foreign movies shown on your TV channels--otherwise we would have to watch Roseanne all day long. . . .

CLAUDIO LETELIER

Santiago de Chile