An American journalist’s profile of Australian actor Margot Robbie has sparked outrage, for a number of reasons.

Cohen has written a profile of Australian actor Margot Robbie for Vanity Fair and not everyone is thrilled with it.

The stunningly pervy nature of the piece has been beautifully covered by my colleague Nick Bond (as he puts it, Cohen has “a clear Robbieboner”), but let’s focus for a moment on the fact that the author seems to think that Australia is stuck in some kind of adorable time warp. Presumably he is under the impression we’re all drinking Fosters, throwing another shrimp on the barbie and wrestling crocs in our spare time.

To be fair, Ranger Dan Bamblett does actually work with crocodiles for a living.Source:News Corp Australia

Here are two key quotes from the profile that give some insight into his marvellously patronising view:

• “Australia is America 50 years ago, sunny and slow, a throwback, which is why you go there for throwback people.”

• “They still live and die with the plot turns of soap operas in Melbourne and Perth, still dwell in a single mass market in Adelaide and Sydney.”

As someone who hasn’t watched an episode of Neighbours or Home and Away in the past 20 years, I say to you FAIR SUCK OF THE SAV, COBBER.

Joe Hildebrand has a rich understanding of the way foreigners view Australia — he presented the popular ABC TV series Dumb, Drunk and Racist which examined negative stereotypes about Australia.

Joe Hildebrand, centre, in a promotional image from Dumb, Drunk and Racist.Source:Supplied

He has some strong views on Cohen’s profile:

“To begin with it must be said that any country that is currently running Donald Trump as a presidential candidate is in no position to be calling Australia a throwback.

“It is also possible that the author has misunderstood some perceptions of Australia because of an Anglo-Australian invention called sarcasm, which clearly is not yet available in the US.

“It’s probably no surprise that some Americans see Australia as an inconsequential backwater, given that many Americans remain unaware of the existence of other countries.”

IS THIS REALLY HOW EVERYONE SEES US?

It’s interesting to ponder whether this stereotypical view is widely held (particularly by those in America), or whether it’s just the ignorant keyboard bashings of one man.

Two years ago, a thread kicked off on Reddit titled “How does the rest of the world see Australia.” It makes for some entertaining (and at times confronting) reading.

“I’m not sure where I first heard this, but Australia seems like a country that was invented by a group of 10-year-old boys,” writes one commenter, most likely from his darkened bedroom.

“Like, whatever cool thing popped in their heads, they put it there — it’s got crocodiles, and weird-a** animals like nowhere else, and everything’s venomous, and the people are like cowboys, except they say a lot of nonsense words, and the whole place is surrounded by sharks.”

He’s right. Some of the people are Cowboys.Source:Getty Images

Another commenter describes Australia as “warm Canada” while another says “the people are a strange mix of Texan and European”.

“They work hard and play hard and are more American-ish than most think.

“I kind of imagine a continent full of Steve Irwin’s, even the women, all Steve Irwin”.

“Please, put me down”.Source:AAP

A British Redditor, who “grew up on a diet of Crocodile Dundee, Home and Away, Neighbours and Round the Twist” says:

“On the one hand it’s a place of shining metropolises, modern cities awash with money and opportunities, suburbs full of tanned and attractive kids playing photogenically in backyard pools and busy city centres with a thriving economy.

“The people look not so very different from the people here, but the bogans are a bit more toothless-and-shoeless and the attractive people are more tanned and perfect of teeth.

“As far as I’m aware, absolutely all of the wildlife other than the sheep and marsupials are hopelessly and completely poisonous and, terrifyingly fatal incredibly numerous.

“My experience of Australian people is that they tend to have a lot less bullsh** about them ... much less up tight, generally funnier, but sometimes alcoholic to the point of suicide”.

There’s also a comment where someone describes Vegemite as tasting “like poseidon’s salty butthole,” but that is largely besides the point.

ARE WE GUILTY OF PERPETUATING THESE STEREOTYPES?

It’s bloody likely.

There’s no doubt Paul Hogan’s turn as Australian tourism ambassador (and subsequent role in Crocodile Dundee) planted the seed in many American’s minds that we are all leathery larrikins who absolutely cannot pronounce an “ing” at the end of a word.

(Yes, we know that was an ad made for an Australian audience, but it makes the point).

Lara Bingle’s bikini-clad turn in 2006 and her follow-up ads for the Ashes further solidified a number of popular stereotypes:

You’re not helping.Source:Supplied

Hildebrand floats the idea that on the whole, we’re not that fussed about correcting these misconceptions.

“I think Australians are, if anything, quite smug about how excellent our country is overall and are quite happy to keep it a secret from everybody else,” he says.

“That’s why we get so upset when Chinese people buy our properties and why we tell Americans that our children ride kangaroos to school.

“We’re probably just as racist and just as troubled as any other western country on earth ... but at least we have better weather”.

* Please note that we reached out to journalist Rich Cohen on Twitter to ask whether he’d ever actually been to Australia. We’re still waiting to hear back. He’s possibly in shock to learn that we have Twitter Down Under.