Are we really all that dumb

[Don Corleone]

Those on both sides who are over 50 can do all that higher education or not. I find you eurpoeans arrogance uterly amazing here. You claim to know more about the world but in reality all you know more about is europe. Yes you know about more countries because their in your backyard. You think you know about the US but in reality most of you are clueless on the matter.

Hey, hey, hey. No need to get defensive. Regardless of whether they're correct or not, there's a perception we're trying to deal with here, and getting sore over it isn't going to do anything to alleviate that. I don't think they're being snobs. I think they think they have a handle on truth. They may even be right. At the very least, they're being honest, and we're trying to encourage that.

For all I know the average unwashed mass in Germany might be more informed than the average unwashed mass in Oklahoma. Again, I do want to point out that my poll question was about total acquired knowledge, not knowledge of other cultures. The point is, either 1) Europeans really are more informed (on a variety of issues) than Americans or 2) they're ignorant themselves in terms of their relative level of information.

Again, my point with this thread & poll was to start a dialogue, and to highlight a few of the Us vs. Them undercurrents that go on around here. Until you can see them, it's very hard to understand them. I think Americans in the Backroom view the Europeans as smug (very broad brush here) and the Europeans tend to view the Americans as thin skinned and uninformed (on a variety of issues) (and again, painting with a very broad brush).

Getting sore and saying 'Aha! you're all a bunch of arrogant curs' isn't going to change anything.