[Chase]

Quote: (Originally Posted by RalphyS)

I gave one example, this does not mean there was only one comment and sure there are intelligent, well read, Americans and there are stupid and ignorant Europeans and maybe my view is even coloured by the fact that more than half of the US electorate voted for Dubya, but I remain with my original statement that most Europeans know more about American politics, history and geography than Americans know about European politics, history and geography.

Well, then if you're going to base the intelligence of a nation on who they vote for... then it looks I can say the same thing about the French, the Italians, and the Spanish.

Another thing... American politics and history is MUCH easier to understand than the politics of Europe. For one, the history of Europe is hundreds and hundreds of years longer than that of America (I'm referring to the United States, not North America). Secondly, America is one nation... and Europe is full of MANY nations. One would assume that knowing about the politics of one nation is less difficult than understand the politics of many. If you're referring to the European Union... they are a lot of Europeans that don't even know (or care to know, for that matter) about what's going on in Brussels. Not many Europeans understand or know about the politics of American states either.

I mean... if you want to get into the topic of stupid questions... here is a bit of what I have gotten thus far in Europe: "Have you ever seen snow?" -(They ask this because I'm from California), "Do you surf and know movie stars?", I met a Swede named Carolina and once she told me her name I said "Oh, as in North Carolina?" She responded by saying "There's a place with my name?!" Then I said... "Well, actually there are two states with your name in it."

I get questions based on California stereotypes on a daily basis, c'mon now...