Come on America!

Lecture with Jesper Steinmetz 07.05.12 

It’a Monday evening and I sit in Middelfart with my English class and a lot of other people.  We are ready to welcome Jesper Steinmetz, a journalist from the Danish channel TV2. All people are excited to hear, what Jesper is going to tell us about how it is to be in America and the political election campaign which soon will take place. Even though it is Jespers birthday today, he still wants to make a lecture for us. Hi begins by commenting the beautiful view we have next to us; the view of the two bridges over the Little Belt, the sea and the sunset.  Afterwards he begins to talk about how it is to come to America, and how his life is as an American reporter from TV2. 

Jesper lives in Washington, and he thinks, that settle in America is very different from just being a tourist in America. As a reporter he is using more time of thinking which stories he has to void, than which stories he want to tell Denmark. – There is always something to tell and always something interesting. Jespers job is not just a job for him, it is his lifestyle. He cannot make plans in his life, because he has to be disposal all the time. He mentions that he once was on a holiday with his family in Africa when his boss called him and said that he had to come to New York immediately, because Obama’s health reform had to be presented. It would look very bad, if TV2 could not show the event, and DR1 their competitors could. Then he was standing on a roof, because he could not be in New York for the 19 News, and the health reform had to be presented in the 19 news. 

He tells us about the American society and the American people, one of the main themes is the American identity, “the state shall not interfere in my life it is my own business”. - He compares this identity with the Danish identity. In Denmark we are used to get help from the state, if we are in trouble. The American people are doing accurate what they want to do with their own lives. He mentions that the American people are spontaneous, enthusiastic and kind, and he loves it! But even though he likes them, he looks at their society as very ineffective. No one in America wants to make the unpopular decisions about reductions, and he thinks that America is going to have bigger differences between poor and rich people in the future. They are behind Europe in developing their country. 

He talks about the American dream. “It is easier to come from the bottom of the society, and end up being something big in Denmark than in America”. – This statement really contradicts the understanding of ‘the American dream’, as we look at the idea in Europe. But that is what he means. 

Jesper continues by telling about the presidential election this year. He tells that Obama is very unpopular in many places in USA because of his many empty promises. The society want results, because they are in a big debt and they got many unemployed people. Jesper continues by showing a clip from a place few kilometres out of Las Vegas, where 85% of the people are living under the poverty limit, which is a good example of the bad situation in America.  He thinks when Obama was chosen as president it was a reaction of the bad work that Georg W Bush made, and if a republican president will be chosen this time the same reaction will come.  

Even though Jesper loves his job; he cannot imagine himself living there for the rest of his life. He ends the lecture by saying: “Actually I have become more impressed by Denmark after moving to USA”. With this statement people are clapping their hands and leaving the room with a smile on their lips. 

- Written by Sara Vest, 2.d.