Maybe you are right. OP's post seems to be flame bait, but raises some interesting questions. As I said, these are loong discussions, better to be left for a me

Maybe you are right. OP's post seems to be flame bait, but raises some interesting questions. As I said, these are loong discussions, better to be left for a meeting on a rainy day in a small Viennaise cafe, over pastries and hot tea. However, let me say this much: Every European country has prejudices about the other ones, and, of course, about the US. These are not well-known in the US, who tend to lump Europeans together (was IKEA from Sweden or Norway?) except for some simplistic stereotypes, i.e. Paris is the city of love, Germans make great cars, you can smoke pot in Netherlands, etc. etc. It's like the Chinese denoting all Europe as "Westerners". My favorite stereotype quote comes from Shibumi by Trevenian: "But even I am forced to admit that they [the French] are a ridiculous people, just as one must confess that the British are bungling, the Italians incompetent, the American neurotic, the Germans romantically savage, the Arabs vicious, the Russians barbaric, and the Dutch make cheese." The interesting thing is that there's always some truth in stereotypes. The thinking man's job is to find the percentage of truth. P.S. Kieslowski's *White" is a movie that I like, that addresses some of the issues of living in France (and being married to a French woman)