fossil, you seem keen to shut this thread down just when it's getting interesting and when people have posted well thought out and logical comments. Also, I can assure you I only have the one logon here and would not hide behind another identity.

berto and Mrkim,I agree with your comments completely, and in my defence wish to point out that I did talk about the general population, not America as a whole. I know that American tertiary institutions are world class, and so is their primary curriculum. I would also like to point out that I did not call Americans unintelligent or even uneducated (except for my first comment which was fishing for a bite), simply that the general population was ignorant of the world outside of their own borders.

I also want to say that I am not anti-American. If it wasn't for the US of A fighting in the South Pacific during WWII I might be speaking Japanese about now. There are plenty of good things to come out of the US. I have not been to the USA (except for a few days in Hawaii) but have met lots of Americans in my travels. I have met the stereotypical loud, obnoxious ones, but I have also met some very pleasant, well spoken Americans too. The USA is such a large and diverse country that you will be able to find somebody to fit any personal profile you can think of. It's also so large that you need to make some generalisations to understand it, you just have to make sure you do not assume an individual is the same as the generalisation.