It is, I think, an indisputable fact that Americans are, as Americans, the most self-conscious people in the world, and the most addicted to the belief that the other nations of the earth are in a conspiracy to under value them.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Americans are uneasy with their possessions, guilty about power, all of which is difficult for Europeans to perceive because they are themselves so truly materialistic, so versed in the uses of power.
In fact that is the struggle that most Americans - As rich as this country is, most Americans are very limited in their interaction with the world, unless the world comes to us in a very shocking way.
We, as Americans, have so much to learn here. We have a shockingly low level of global awareness and familiarity and little idea of how the world sees us. And those disturbing facts keep getting us into a lot of trouble.
The problem with our role is Americans live in a world of illusion.
We Americans typically are more positive about our individual futures, which we have some control over, than we are the nation's or the world's, which we see largely through the media prism.
And I think Americans are phenomenal people.
There's a deep-seated paranoia that Americans have about not being Americans or something.
It's very difficult for the American people to believe that our government, one of the richest on Earth, is also one of the stingiest on Earth.
One thing that is not to be underestimated is American culture's influence on the rest of the world.
Being an American is such a rich environment, because there's so many people from other countries and cultures, and through that you're able to see other people's experiences.