Originally Posted by redforever
Well, what I have found, is if you go to places or stay in places where people have a lot of money, manners decline in proportion to how much their income inclines.
Everytime I have stayed in places like that, I see the Americans in a restaurant, at the beach bar, whatever, holding their hands high and clicking their fingers loudly and yapping loudly at the same time to get service. And they don't treat the service people nicely once they arrive either.
Individually, I have found Americans to be very nice. Uneducated about most parts of the world, but nice people. And yes, many have not been more than 100 miles from where they live.
I think the fact that they are not learned about Canada and other countries can be attributed to two things.
1. Their education system.
2. Their news networks.
I just came back from SanFrancisco, spent 10 days there. All that was broadcast about the G20 meetings in London, and I mean ALL, was what Michelle Obama wore, is she the new Jackie O, did she flub when she hugged the queen, should she have removed her sweater and shown her bare arms in the group photo of the wives of the 20 leaders.
And on and on it went about, will they bow or curtsy to the queen? All they were concerned about is if the Obamas would put on a good show and not flub it. And they could easily have put that topic to rest by saying, only the queen's loyal subjects curtsy or bow to her, but apparently it was much more newsworthy not to do so.
Another big issue on the American news networks is the fact that the Obamas used two hands to greet the queen, not a one handed handshake, I mean, come on!!!!
Obama was shown in a few situations, not what he said, just shown in a pic with maybe the queen, maybe his arrival, maybe in his limo or aircraft. Nothing of any substance was mentioned as to what the USA wanted to achieve at the meetings or what they did achieve. Outside of maybe seeing glimpses of the British PM when with Michelle and Barrack, the other leaders or even the other countries represented were not mentioned.
It is totally mind boggling how the American press can take a blip in the local, national or international news of the day and make a 10 day drama out of it.
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