Americans are stupid, says American on BBC Radio

DAMN Americans are dumbasses. Just ask Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times:

"Ask an American a question about history, even his own, and you will probably hear - not much.

"Americans can rattle off baseball statistics and pop music lyrics and gear ratios - but start to delve into the facts of the war of 1812 - that is the one the British waged on the Americans, on this side of the Atlantic - or the Watergate scandal or even their own great-grandparents, and you may find yourself delving alone."

"Henry Ford said famously that history is more or less bunk, and I suspect that eight in ten Americans would agree with him - even if not all eight of them could tell you who Henry Ford was.

"If you want to understand Americans, understand that in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the past does not count for much.

"It is the here and now, and the day after tomorrow, that matters.

"Americans like to believe that we are the masters of our fate, the captains of our souls, severed from class and racial and historical distinctions that get obliterated in our common foot race to the only colour that matters - the mottled green of the dollar bill."

Yes, we Americans are greedy, arrogant idiots who can't appreciate art or remember things that happened before two weeks ago. How we poison this fine planet with our repellent personalities, befouling the beautiful sounds of nature and the witty conversation of better folk with what Neal Stephenson called "the sawing twang of bloody-gummed Confederates" in his fine book Cryptonomicon. We're beneath contempt. That's why it's so galling to have to come to us for cash, or help solving problems, or help killing bad guys, or technological advances. Dammit, European elites deserve better.

From It Comes in Pints