Notice that they are defined by their willful ignorance, mean-spiritedness, heartless, religious delusions, boorish, crude, vicious interests, and general trashiness.
the ugly American was the title of a book and the title referred to the final chapter where an American with a ugly face actually understood what the villagers needed and came up with a bicycle driven irrigation pump. in the rest of the book the americans were clueless and came up with huge projects that where no help to the people they was trying to help.