I ‘ve received an email titled American As They Are. It contained a link to a Web site from the Ukraine that shows a video with number of improv interviews taken on the streets of American cities sampling stupid answers to simple questions. We also see such videos here in America, often titled American Funniest Videos.

Obviously, there are uneducated Americans, that ‘s for sure. But the comments to this post are more important as they shows that Ukrainian people are happy to see this and believe that this make them superior. These are translations of some of the comments to this video (I ‘m omiting the curses) :

2. I still do not understand why this counrty of Americoses did not fall apart yet.

5. Americoses…way to go…We love you, you are the best !!!

9. Oh man, they are so dumb, that I want to die…but ‘m sure that not all.

10. I am sure you can find the same people in our country, but this syndrom is not as wide spread as there.

15. Much better than Zadornov [ Russian stand-up comedian who hate America]. Fell of the chair. LOL.

26. Yes, American is a nation of retarded people, everyone knows this. I ‘m not sure that there is any other country with so many uneducated people…may be in Africa. Do not worry about their quality of life – they came to this in their own way, and not because of their outstanding brain power. And my answer to those who try to advocate them – you have to make fun of them, which will stop our country from falling into the same hole of illiteracy and short sightness.

But some of the comments were more down to Earth:

13. So what? this does not prevent them from living better than us, smarts

19. Each country has retarded people, even yours

31. WTF, something is not fair in this world – we are so smart and so poor, but these…

36. A country that starts with U…Ukraine!!! But the Berlin wall was really something…No, Americans are not dumb, they just have ketchup and mustard instead of brain!

Not knowing that a triangle has more than one side (btw, how many?), is nothing else but the lack of elementary education, but not knowing what the Berlin Wall is or the names of the countries that start with U, is a result of cultural specifics – an average American is mostly concerned about what ‘s happening inside his/her country. This is obviously not the case in Ukraine, where people pay more attention to what ‘s happening “behind the fence ” than to what ‘s going on in their own backyard.

The Ukraine is a country populated with a large percentage of alcoholiks that is run by a bunch of criminals. Most of the regular people there know that laws are not working and you have to give bribes in every step you make. But the ugly realities of their own lives fade away when they see a video of these “stupid Americans “… I ‘m sure their big brother Russia and some other countries would have the same reaction to this video. There is no doubt in my mind that one can easily shoot a similar video in Ukraine. But do not bother, just make fun of Americans, it ‘s a lot easier than building a better country at home. In many cases people hate someone because they can ‘t become this someone.