how is being multi-lingual detrimental? I'm fluent in french and english, and even though french isn't as widely used as english, it's helped me enormously when I've travelled. in fact in africa I only spoke french. seeing all the hispanics in america, it would seem logical to learn some spanish. or, if you like statistics, 1,075,000,000 people speak mandarin chinese, while 514,000,000 speak english. catching up quickly is hindi, at 496,000,000 people.

also, your view of what's "inferior" or "inadequate" seems very sheltered. in many ways hitler could have been considered a genius. and even if lenin, stalin, and hitler were all dumb, you can't apply that to the whole population. now I dont' think criticism of bush is good criticism of the american people, but the same goes for european leaders. "you were inadequate"? so no they're dumb cause they've had wars in the past?

your criticism of europe and its farming techniques goes all the way back "thousands of years." what were americans up to back then? how did their farming techniques compare?

one thing I find weird is that you're responding to examples of present-day america with examples of ancient europe. in fact, your whole post was kind of irrelevant, since the thread doesn't concern history.

what your friend experienced in germany is no different from america. maybe you haven't noticed it yet, since you're still somewhat young. but it's certainly there.

as for new orleans, as fun as it is to blame your problems on others, americans are just as guilty as building on low ground as the french.

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