First let me state that we are here dealing necessarily with the language of generality, which can be accurate but also very insulting to those not confined within the boundaries of the norm. I will say that starting a debate on this subject by making this comment is unsound :
it has been commonly accepted by many, that Americans in general are the biggest ignorant fools residing almost anywhere on the planet, yet they still do their damndest to have everyone believe what a great nation they are.
Commonly accepted? Well, not by me, speak for yourself Mark.
I will not get embroiled in a long debate about this. I just wish to state that I have lived in the US and the UK for long periods of time over the past thirty years and have found the 'average' American to be hospitable, generous, open-hearted and accepting of the vast multitude of nations that make up its people. The US, despite its financial and social problems is still the focus of many immigrants dreams, for the reason that is still offers opportunity rather than oppression to them. I remember that Ireland, which has 78 million of its descendants living just on the East Coast of the US and is also well renown for 'America bashing', was offered extra immigration visas one particular year from the US. Fifty-eight per cent of the population under the age of 25 applied to live among the ignorant fools.
The US has blood on its hands for the way that it dismantled its First Nations population, often by slaughter. The UK, Australia, Spain, New Zealand and if you want to go back far enough Norway.lol have nothing to be proud of in this issue either.
As a nation the US is not beyond criticism, but it does get more criticism than is fair, and I often think that this is born out of a traditional and contemporary jealousy.
Just a small example of this is the military experience. Since WWI, the US soldier was always better paid and better equipped than his European counterpart from which animosity developed that became part of its culture. Remember in WWI, the UK soldiers would regularly finish-off a mortally wounded US soldier just to get his foot-wear! The Overpaid, over-sexed, and over here mentality was ingrained in many of us by our parents. The US is still the land of plenty compared to many of its critics. Immigrants still have an opportunity to rise from the gutters into the sky. After all, how many people opt to emigrate to China, or Russia, or France, or Ireland each year? A sprinkling I suspect, whereas the US is deluged each year with millions of 'visa' hopefuls from most countries around the world.
Any country that produced Miles Davis has to be respected.....lol
HS
