"John D. Giorgis" wrote: <heavy but careful snippage follows>
> Do you truly believe
> that there is "not a lot of reason" for Americans to be arrogant?
>
> Let's see what Americans have in their favor....... For starters, we have
> bailed the rest of the World out of not one, not two, but THREE real big
> one's in the past 100 years.
Lots of countries fought to the best of their ability - losing vastly higher
proportions of their population (I & II) and economy (Cold) in the attempts -
bigger isn't better
> America has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, and a
> great many of the important inventions of the past 200 years were made
> here.
Ah, but so many more more were made outside the US...
> We have one of the most advanced economies in the world, and enjoy
> a very high standard of living. Today, we are leading the way in bringing
> the Internet, and the Information Revolution, to the World.
>
This is America's greatness - not the Internet, or the moon landing, but a
country that will put so much talent and effort and resources into something so
big that it changes mankind. Only America can cultivate these types of
achievements.
You forgot philanthropy... While other countries have enormous government
infrastructures for support of the needy, American society does a tremendous
job at home and abroad.
It's still not the arrogance that assumes someone who doesn't speak english
must be hard of hearing (watch American tourists anywhere in the world - it's a
hoot!), it's not the sort of arrogance that has world series and world
championships of sport only played in North America, it's not the arrogance
that every software package/internet site requires 5digit zip codes or forces
the selection of states from a pick list of 51 when you're filling in the
address ...
In other words it's not pride in what makes America great, but the arrogance
that everyone else must be lesser...
Personally, I love the place - I've been there a couple of times, my wife
worked there for some time, my brother works there now, and I'll go back as
soon as Wall St gives our peso a break, but Americans abroad really paint an
awful picture of their country and culture.
Russell Chapman
Brisbane Australia
