Another crooner speaks

TONY BENNETT - TONY BENNETT: 'AMERICA IS CULTURALLY VOID':
"Bennett says, 'I have travelled around the world to Asia and Europe. They show you what they have contributed to the world. The British show you theatre, the Italians show you music and art, the French show you cooking and painting, and the Germans show you science. The only thing that the United States, which is still a young country, has contributed culturally to the world is jazz - elongated improvisation.'"

I happen to enjoy very much Mr. Bennett's singing, but this little offering in cultural criticism ought to be laughed out of the house just on internal evidence. For starters, how does travel in Asia and Europe, as well as the US, make one an expert on world culture? What about Africa, the Island nations of the Pacific, and Latin America? And, don't forget Canada! Oh, Canada - land of Alex Trebek, Celine Dione and Anne Murray.

For example, the Brits, Bennett says, are prominent in theater. Certainly the West End has a fine tradition of legitimate theater, but is it an order of magnitude greater than that of Broadway and the lesser theatrical venues of New York City?

Or, for another example, he says the Germans have bragging rights in science. That is a point that might have been well made in the 19th century, but not since. Juxtapose the lists of Nobel laureates in Medicine, Chemistry and Physics from the US and Germany - you will find the American list far longer.

I suppose that ritual denunciations of one's own country are the price one pays for recognition as a good American by the snobs of France and the other exemplars of all true and valuable culture.