One of my favorite EU sites to visit is Media Critic from Germany; Davids Medienkritik is a veritable fountain of EU information, including how the people of EU think of America (maybe just Germany, but I think it's universal in EU, don't you?).  These perceptions are a combination of media manipulation, myths from Hollyweird, and even a little bit of truth sprinkled into the mix.  I decided it might be fun to tackle these points with some points of my own.  Want to jump in?  Help yourself...it has to be lighter fare than we've been getting here and here!  I love "deep" discussions, but it's the weekend, and I'm hoping for some lighter fare.

*  Perceived American religiosity.

So what, y'all don't believe in God anymore?  At least that's what I've heard about some of you folks.  Yep, some of us hicks (90+%) in America believe in a Higher Power that is not connected to New York Slime.

*  Perceived American obsession with guns and violence.

Hollyweird got to you, did they?  Well, I do carry a pistol, but the fact that we're allowed to carry weapons in most states in the US insures that there is less violence than there would be otherwise, considering our illegal immigration problem.  The bad guys with half a brain say to themselves, "hmmmm...he/she might be armed".  Talk about a deterent.  We get a bit of a chuckle out of the rest of the world who think the only folks who should be armed are their government employees.  Why do y'all think we're still walking free?

*  The death penalty.

You know, we've never understood how y'all can overlook death squads and torture teams from UN nations members, but somehow America is "bad" for putting murderers out of our collective misery by shooting them up with a needle in their arm with a deadly concoction.  Do you know how silly you folks sound when you ignore people who use large knives to cut peoples heads off, but castigate our population for our humane death penalties?

*  The perceived excess and superficiality of American capitalism and (non)culture (i.e. fat people, the super rich, SUVs, fast-food, M-TV/hip-hop culture, Hollywood, corporate scandals, buy-outs and "excessive" profits.)

We're of the mind, "If you've got it, flaunt it!"  (Thank you, Hollyweirdos).  Methinks thou art just a tiny bit jealous!  What was your unemployment rate again?  Oh, right; 10.5%  Countrywide, ours is under 5%.

*  Perceived social inequality in the United States (i.e. amerikanische Verhaeltnisse, poor Americans are starving and freezing to death or at least struggling with 2-3 jobs and no health insurance while the rich live it up. Perception that America has no social safety net or a woefully inadequate social safety net.)

Now this one is really a chuckle!  Ask where Oprah Winfrey came from, then ask yourselves how many people in YOUR country achieved what she has achieved.  Gimme a break! That one was a no-brainer!  What other country in the world allows you to go from nothing to super SOMETHING if you have the drive for success?  Have y'all noticed how our "poor" have a car, TV, etc.?  Do your homework people, and stop listening to your media.

*  Perceived American unilateralism/exceptionalism (i.e. Iraq, Kyoto, ICC, Guantanamo)

Unilateralism; as in we're going to take care of ourselves?  Yep.  That's why Kyoto was/is a bad idea for America.  It's a scheme to level the proverbial playing field by taking America's money to subsidize the Third World countries who are doing the lion's share of polluting.  Hey. people!  We've cleaned up OUR act, clean up your own messes.  After all, it's an entrepreneurial bonanza!  Think of all the start-up companies with ideas to clean up the environment!  WOW!  Oh...wait....is that sort of thing possible in Germany?  In EU?  As for Guantanamo, which we affectionately call "Gitmo", these people have never had it so good!  What is wrong with you people?   Are you just sheep?  Don't you do your own research?

*  Perceived American "hurrah" patriotism or "hyper" patriotism (i.e. flag-waving).

Y'all have a problem with that?  Why?  After all, isn't this the reason that we have an illegal immigrant problem?  We DO have the best place in the world to live!  Why the hell wouldn't we want to wave our flag and puff out our chests?  (Someone on the left is going to read that, and cringe...go ahead, moron.  Be ashamed of our country and continue to lose elections and continue to be stupid!)

*  Perceived American paranoia/overreaction about terror and obsession with security and the "war" on terror and the perceived willingness of Americans to sacrifice key civil liberties (the Patriot Act has become a favored target) and take extrajudicial actions involving torture, renditions, etc.

Now this one is really puzzling.  America had not been attacked on her home shores since the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor until 9/11/2001.  In WWII, we couldn't write a letter that was not censored.  Now the left in America, in cooperation (apparently) with the EU media, thinks that because our President thinks it is a good idea to monitor calls that come in from known al Qaeda members, we're willing to give up our rights.  HELLLLLLOOOOOOOOO!  Ask Japanese Americans how they liked being taken to internment camps in WWII? 

How can we "overreact" to terrorism when we've been ignoring the threat since 1978?  Germans ignored the threat when Islamofacists attacked the Munich Olympics, was America supposed to adopt the same ostrich behavior forever?  Thank God we have a President who refused to continue to ignore it! 

*The perception that the Bush administration controls (or at least dominates) the media and can somehow intimidate media into following the party line. The perceived view that there is a lack of diversity of opinion in US media and that FoxNews, talk radio and blogs are the menacing conservative vanguard of what all US media are becoming or have already become. (i.e. US media are "gleichgeschaltet" or in lock-step.)

This one really makes me roll on the floor laughing!  Sure enough, folks.  President Bush has total control of a media....what media?  Would that be the New York Times that leaks all of the methods he's using to keep America safe?  Give me a frikking break!  This man has been lambasted by the media ten times more than Clinton EVER was!  This point is nothing if not moronic!  As for Fox News, talk radio and blogs (this one included), the reason for their popularity is because the majority of Americans say "Hey!  WOW! This guy-girl talk show host/cable station/blogger is saying what I believe!  This is my understanding of thingsf!  How cool is that?" 

*  Anything that casts a negative light on the US military (i.e. Abu Ghraib, trials of US troops, bombings or killings of civilians real or imagined).

Imagine that!  Gosh, sounds just like our media.  Go figure.  (yawn)

*  Anything that casts a negative light on the Bush administration.

Ditto on the yawn...so what else is new?  This is where our media feeds your media; so how can Bush have control of our media?

*  Iraq is a disaster-quagmire-catastrophe-debacle perhaps unparalleled in human history. Iraq = Vietnam = defeat and humiliation for America, the US military and Bush.

Apparently the Kurdish Iraqi commercial is not being shown in Germany.  Oh, right.  It's a commercial (advertisement, divertisment, etc.) to thank America for saving them.  Guess it would not be shown in EU, let alone Germany, right?  Does anyone there read Iraqi blogs?  Things are not great yet, but are they sorry we're there?  NO WAY! 

*  The perception of the US as an imperial hegemon out to expand its global power and military-industrial complex while using democracy as a convenient (yet false) excuse to do so. Oil = blood = Halliburton = war.

Why is it that everyone has ignored the rest of the "no bid" companies besides Halliburton?  For instance, Nancy Pelosi's husband's company getting a no bid contract?   This is another one that really makes me laugh!  Hegemony?  For those who are not familiar with the term, here is the Wikipedia explanation;

"Hegemony (pronounced he'jem.ə.ni or hə'dʒɛ.mə.ni) (greek:ηγεμονία) is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. The cultural control that hegemony asserts affects commonplace patterns of thought: hegemony controls the way new ideas are rejected or become naturalized in a process that subtly alters notions of common sense in a given society."

Let's start with "one group having dominance over another".  There are two parts of this potential "dominance" I want to address; 1)  Do y'all watch American movies?  Is that our fault?  2)  That America can dictate terms of trade can only be due to the success and health of our economy.  That's why so many of Germany's companies are here, right?  As for "patterns of thought", if the foregoing is true, this is a product of media in both Germany and America....and NO, President Bush is NOT in control of it, or you folks would not hate him so much!  He's quite a charming man.  Too bad about your media poison.  Most Americans agree they'd enjoy having a beer with such a normal and down to earth man.  Y'all like beer, right? 

Anyone have something add?  Help yourself!