On Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:44:50 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 27/09/2011 9:54 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Absolutely.  It's one of the things I dislike about the American
>> 'persona'.  We're not a homogenous people in any way, but I think
>> especially in our level of conceit.  Some here are*far*  more conceited
>> than others, and they aren't afraid to tell the whole world that
>> they're wrong.
>>
>>
> My experience agrees with this. Most Americans that I have met are
> polite and courteous and when they say “have a good day”. I feel that
> they mean it.

I find something similar - we have our lunatics, of course, and the news 
media elevates the lunatics.  Most people aren't like the lunatics.

>> They forget that our democracy is only about 200 years old, and there
>> are far, far older civilizations in the world that have much more
>> experience.  We're collectively like the teenager at the stage of "I
>> know everything and my parents no NOTHING".  But individually, we're
>> not.
> 
> I’ve also noticed that a lot of Americans, and Australians too, develop
> an inferiority complex when confronted with something more than 400
> years old.

I'm reminded of a bit from one of Eddie Izzard's routines - about how in 
the US we're "proud" to restore something to what it was *50 years ago* - 
"No, that's impossible, nobody was ALIVE back then!" ;)

Jim

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