Wonderfully put, John McK.

Bill, I was not of course being entirely serious about the prospect of the US bombing Scotland (as people of the east-Atlantic cultures would have recognised at once). But it is surely beyond argument that since WW2 you lot have bombd more than 40 countries, if not actually 50?

I am not completely blind to your arguments, but in the context of this thread I am more interested in whether differences exist than in which culture is "right." From my own encounters with the American psyche (and admittedly it's a sweeping generalisation) I think Joe's assessment of it is much more realistic than yours. To me it differs markely from that in the UK and indeed in western and central Europe more generally, and the cardinal's perceptions are unarguable. You yourself may not conform to the cardinal's stereotype but this would not mean his generalisation was unfair.