When you talk to an American, find ones that are alternatively dressed. They tend to be the nicest.

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Weiner.

I know what the meaning of the word troll means, but in this situation this is not appropriately used. First of all everyone has experience with Americans because America is such big empire and world power that effects everyone’s life.
Finally everyone has right on his opinion including yourself.

We aren’t insulated at all. As a nation we have the greatest ethnic diversity of any country in the world. I believe (I don’t have statistics for this) that more American’s travel outside their borders every year than any other nation. Furthermore, (again, no reference, just belief) that more people visit the United States than any other nation in the world. This is exactly the opposite of being “insulated”. I challenge you to find a nation that is this porous.

As for the rest of your statements, obviously they are from someone who is very insulated.

Empire? Wrong word, find another.


empire

–noun 1. a group of nations or peoples ruled over by an emperor, empress, or other powerful sovereign or government: usually a territory of greater extent than a kingdom, as the former British Empire, French Empire, Russian Empire, Byzantine Empire, or Roman Empire.
2. a government under an emperor or empress.
3. (often initial capital letter) the historical period during which a nation is under such a government: a history of the second French empire.
4. supreme power in governing; imperial power; sovereignty: Austria's failure of empire in central Europe.

I never said you couldn't state your opinion, just that yours was inflammatory without being enlightening.

Actually, I find that to be not true at all. Alternative dressers speak nicely to other alternative dressers. They have greater disdain for normal dressers than normal dressers have towards alternative dressers.

[quote=MattLarson;823974]Does Fidel control what you watch?


Yes but Cuba does not claim to be the greatest democracy in the world.
It is about hypocritical behaviour or "one way communication" of corrupted USA media that can tell you everything they want but you can not reply, because in such society money talks.

Why do you believe this to be true? Is this a belief from personal experience? Or do you just believe it to be true?

[quote=laca;828803]Technically, we are a Republic (just being picky). However, we have a great deal of freedom, an excellent economy and a generally law-abiding citizenry.

We can respond, by voting or controlling our purchases, or running for office ourselves, or complaining to our leaders (and they respond), or pushing legislation, or any of many other opportunities to respond. Can you say the same of Cuba?

I travelled from Los Angeles to San Francisco to New York City to Florida then up to Arizona and back to Los Angeles, stopping at several points along the way. Nowhere did I find rudeness or hostility.

On the other hand, at Wellington Airport in 1975 an American made himself look a complete fool by his loud-mouthed criticisms of New Zealand.

In 1988 I was in Moscow travelling to Tbilisi in Georgia. There was a group of Cubans on the same plane. Only one person in that group, the Cuban woman sitting next to me, looked at me in a friendly manner.

On the other hand, I have heard people praise the friendliness and courtesy of Cuban people to the skies.

In other words, there are good and bad in all nationalities. To generalise is odious and stupid.

I would hate anyone from another country to judge me by my government. Let us look at what we have in common, not what divides us. An old saying but even more true today!

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

Alternative dressers? What the heck is that all about?

Many Americans are insulated. What does porous have to with it? And I'm not questioning America's ethnic diversity, which is second to none, other than maybe, Canada.

I'm talking about insulated as in caring only about your own interests, or maybe not showing that much curiosity in the outside world, or believing something because that's what's been fed to you your whole life instead of you seeking the knowledge on your own.

This is true (ethnic diversity). However, my feeling as a foreigner / outsider is that an American remains an American first regardless of his/her origin.

Isn't it the very principle of the melting pot ? All the different flavours melt into one new, yet single flavour.

If you don't mind, I will challenge you . To be honest, Europe being such a small continent, the most "porous nations", as you state it, are logically, and without the need of stats, to be found in Europe ...

People in Europe have longer vacation time in the year (five weeks) than in the States, therefore not only are the destinations closer and cheap, but the time allowed for travelling is higher.

A flight between Berlin (capital of Germany) and Paris (capital of France) costs less than 100, - EUR back and forth if you book early and, with EasyJet, it is possible to do the trip during the day. Leave from Paris very early in the morning, spend the day in Berlin and take a late flight back to France.

Just an example.

My second remark would be that, obviously, to leave your country, you need sufficient income. Two-third of the world, if not more, cannot travel because they cannot afford it. If you want to make comparisons, you therefore need to focus on industrialised countries, where people can afford to leave for a short time and come back.

Here are some stats.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sta.../statsbank.stm

Obviously, the share of each country should be put in relation with its population. (The USA : 300 millinon people / Germany : 80 million people) etc. But I leave it to others on this board to do the calculation for me

As regards the number of visitors, France is by far the most visited country in the world and has been for some time. It is expected to be off-set by China by 2020 (I would love to go to China myself ...)

Tourism
France is the most visited country in the ECE region with more than 75 million tourist arrivals in 2000. It is followed by the United States, Spain and Italy, which had 40-50 million tourist visits in 2000 (Table 8.13). Domestic tourism is gaining popularity in many countries. Most notable in this regard are Germany, Italy and France with more than 100 million overnight stays in hotels by domestic tourists (Table 8.13). The United States, Spain, Italy and France were the highest earners from tourism in terms of tourism expenditure in US dollars (Table 8.16). Cyprus had by far the largest tourism receipts per capita in 2000. Along with Malta, Austria and Switzerland, it earned over 1000 US dollars per capita from tourism. In 2000 Icelandic travellers spent the most in per capita terms for tourism and travel (over 1600 USD on average), followed by Austrians (over 1100 USD).

http://www.unece.org/stats/trends2005/transport.htm

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______________________Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”___________________Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Australia is a multi-cultural country too. In fact it is government policy to encourage multi-culturalism.

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

Sucre, although I was treated very kindly and courteously everywhere I went in the US I did have an overall impression that the average person I met knew very little about the rest of the world. This astonished me as I live in a country which does not have a common land border with any other, but still maintains an outward looking ethos.

I even had an American friend who stated that he 'had been all over'. When I challenged him that he hadn't been out of the US, he came back with - 'yes I have, I've been over the border to Mexico!' Not exactly 'all over'!

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

America is very big country and has enough to care about within it's own borders. Foreign stuff is just not so important for most Americans. On a smaller scale you can see that in Europe too. Just ask 10 ordinary Germans about the name of the Austrian President ... you will be surprised ... my guess would be 10 would not know the correct name. (I don't know it either, btw. )

In all honesty Iaca, I think you need to take a good hard look at yourself.

YES there are Americans who show the tendencies you talk about - god knows I've encountered enough of them on this forum. at first I thought they must have been joking, because they fit the caricature of the ignorant, ugly American to a T ... then I began to realise that there really are Americans like that.

You really can't talk with some of the people on this forum - but there are many with whom you can. There are many Americans who are perfectly sane and reasonable, with whom you can have a decent conversation, and with whom you can exchange ideas.

Your mode of posting - which is always to go on the attack, and which often comes across as half baked and ignorant - only gets these Americans off side.... just the same as if I always said Cubans are an ignorant bunch of ... whatever it is that I might find negative to say about Cubans.

Be wary about saying Americans hate you because you are Cuban ... some of your posts look very much as if you hate americans for being American.
you are just being a Cuban form of the Americans who make many of us (including many Americans) shake our heads in dismay.

If you are really interested in participating in discussion and learning about other people YOU need to take a different tack as well.

I suspect you are quite young, and maybe you'll mellow with time ... but in any case ... the stance you take detracts from any good points you raise.

And LOL - THIS post will earn me a lot of nasty comments from some Americans too - but the ones whose opinions count for something will probably not be offended.