Originally Posted by drclockwork

Well that's kind of the point. Most Americans haven't been outside of their own tristate area. Ones that actually are at least semi-well traveled, are going to have a much broader education about the world and aren't going to be the ones we're talk about, because they are the exception to the rule. I'm only speaking to the perception that a lot of the world has about the vast majority of Americans- the ones that aren't well educated or traveled. And that's a very real and surprisingly accurate depiction. I've been to middle-of-nowhere America and have met some of these people- the ones who (true story here) roll up to Waffle House in their pickup trucks with the rebel flag on the back windshield AND the tailgate (because one symbol of hatred and bigotry isn't enough), and gets out open carrying not 1, not 2, but 3 pistols on his belt. Seriously, what does this guy need 3 guns for, to go to breakfast at Waffle House? Is he expecting to get that pissed off at the shitty service that he'll need to use more guns than he has hands? Is he THAT worried about getting mugged at a waffle house in Bowling Green, Kentucky that he needs to go to breakfast more strapped than some of our soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan? Sure it's his "god given right" to do that, and don't get me wrong, I'm all for people exercising their Constitutional Rights, but god damn if that's not a hell of an image to portray that makes Americans look like gun toting lunatics. But what REALLY got me, was that no one around me even blinked about it. This was completely normal to everyone around him. Now what does THAT say about the accuracy of the rest of the world's opinion of Americans? I think it's incredibly sad, but incredibly accurate nonetheless.