Firestorms erupt around me when I hardly try

I couldn’t not post a link to this thread that has erupted around a single comment I harmlessly (I thought) posted on a completely unrelated site (well, not completely — it’s the site of the creator of the new forum script I’ve recently added to the Anvil): Yellow Swordfish � The Comedy And The Tragedy Of The USA. Here’s a taste:

I posted an item entitled The Americans And The Vagina a couple of weeks back following which the comments wandered off topic a bit and I said some things about Las Vegas and the image the USA �exports� of itself through Hollywood and TV shows. It was in response to just such a remark that someone calling themselves Foehammer sent the following:

The answer is simple really � the USA is practically a continent unto itself. The scope of the people, dialects, geography, languages and cultures is comparable to the rest of the world as a whole. It is not possible to sum up the USA or its people in the context of what you see overseas on television, what you believe you know of us from movies or even books. I�ve been to almost every state in this country and still can�t hope to ever see everything in my lifetime.

Let�s be honest, it�s almost impossible to let a statement like that go unchallenged. I have no intention here of insulting Foehammer or of getting into his personal politics and attitudes. He is not alone in the USA to think and truly believe the words he wrote. I bet I can add some more things he truly believes and will happily quote - secure in that ironclad knowledge that seems reserved especially for the American. They are, surely, unique in the world in that while other nations and people may believe they are superior to everyone else, the American knows it for a fact - reinforced daily by their appalling media outpourings of sickly patriotism and the world stage that their politicians seem to believe is theirs to strut by birthright.

Now, I simply do not have the desire or energy today to address all the statements in this particular editorial, but I know that many Americans, and indeed quite a few of my European, Indian and other Earthly compatriots that read here, may have a few things to say or contribute on that thread. Please be polite though, that’s all I ask.

I really do have a talent for controversy, I have to admit. Wasn’t even looking for it. Makes me want to run up a flag outside my bunker now and I just might do it!

Damn Yankees!