The Introduction to 'Dude' is quite interesting in the UK edition. (It may be different in other countries.) Basically he sets the British reader up for an excellent 'sting' by a couple of paragraphs playing up the sneering-stereotype of Americans as not very interested in life outside the US, fairly ignorant of politics, over-trusting and so on, and then "This, I suppose, explains why we have been behaving the way we have. But here's my question: What is your excuse? You know better. You are well-read. Your news reports stories beyond the cliffs of Dover or the Opera House in your harbor. You travel. ... So what happened?"