We listened to the radio en route to Austin. Given it is Christmas there were a lot of schmaltzy christmas songs played. I was surprised at just how many though - christmas songs on every station - even the metal stations beloved of my son (Silent Night gets to be very ironic played by a thrash band). And in New Orleans nearly every house had a) an American flag flying, and b) gigawatts of fairy lights twinkling away, showing a joyously anarchic mix of snowmen, reindeer, Joseph and assorted wise men. Every house!
I was musing and bopping gaily to the christian songs that spaced out the christmas songs and wondered if there was a link between all these things in the American cultural programme.
Americans are way more polite than the people of any other nation whose hospitality we have sampled. Perhaps the golden rule is imprinted so deeply that when combined with faith and hope eternal it overflows into gushy sentiment and a non-ironic worldview (I nearly said naive). Americans love to celebrate - God, the USA, love, holidays - and they do it unselfconsciously and publicly.
It's catchy though. Have a nice day, y'all.
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