Rehabbing America’s image abroad

I wonder if using an arm of Wall Street like DDB Worldwide to front the rehabilitation of the American image abroad isn’t just another example of what many foreigners find disturbing about the American character in the first place [“Ugly Americans’ Makeover Team,” Her World, May 21].

Writer Susan Spano herself readily acknowledges having one-on-one encounters with French people who apparently understand the difference between individual Americans and U.S. foreign policy. I don’t think it’s as explainable as a loudmouth in jeans and a blue blazer.

Even the most wide-eyed youth I’ve met on my travels would not be won over by such transparent tactics as name dropping a country’s soccer hero or a bestselling pop singer.

And a little paper guide tucked into our passports suggesting that we don’t talk of substantive matters such as politics is not going to help. If anything, it will further the joke of a politically ambivalent, SUV-crazed citizenry.

PAUL MCCONNELL

Los Angeles

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SUSAN SPANO is always a must-read. She makes it look easy. However, in “Ugly Americans’ Makeover Team,” she writes: “Advice offered in the guide is cheerful and succinct .... Show your pride but respect theirs.”

Unfortunately, the publishers of the guide are on thin ice from the outset, because you cannot publish a book in America that does not cater to American preconceptions, which is exactly what gets Americans into trouble in the first place.

Only an American would fail to recognize that the above two items are mutually exclusive.

The advice is absolutely guaranteed to get the traveler in trouble. The correct advice would be: When tempted to show your pride, swallow it. Shut up. Pretend you are there to learn, not just for your own entertainment and self-aggrandizement.

DAVID MORGAN

El Segundo