Lonely Planet's Haystack

There is a good Brazilian movie called Cidade de Deus. If you rent the DVD version there is also a very interesting documentary about the gun problems there...

I know, I´m exaggerating. I just tried to wind up a few Americans here. :)

Let´s exaggerate even more to make the point clear.
Most people on earth know far too little about Belgium to be even prejudiced, so the Belgian tourism industry doesn´t have to bother about what tourists think about Belgium: nothing.
The USA are of course the opposite. Nearly everybody on earth has an opinion about America. I remember that poll where most people on earth think the USA are the world´s biggest threat to peace.
This isn´t only about the Bush administration. Bill Clinton, who was basically a cool president, is responsible for forcing down neoliberal "reforms" onto countries like Argentina through the IMF, which lead to the collapse of their economy and impoverishment of the middle classes there. South Americans are well aware of that. Other example: without Kissinger´s help, Pinochet would have never been able to usurp power in Chile. Now Michael Moore shows the world (OK, he exaggerates wildly!) that 50 million Americans have no health insurance whatsoever (unthinkable in Europe) and even those who do would be better off with the health system in... Cuba! All the while the government seems to have plenty money for a pointless and cruel war in Iraq.
Then your crazy televangelists with their huge influence in politics! I mentioned gun crime. I remember those German tourists who were shot dead by a carjacker in Miami because they left the highway at the wrong exit. Germans freaked out when they saw that on TV - it´s very, very bad PR for your tourism industry!

Many Europeans think the USA are a genuinely evil country (OK maybe better than North Korea or Saudi Arabia but unfortunately much more powerful) and also what you call a "failed state". Maybe not as bad as Pakistan or Somalia, but not as "civilized" as Europe either.

Of course all that is only half of the truth, if that. I work with and talk to Americans every day and I don´t have the impression they´re vile characters (on the contrary) and they seem to be quite happy with their home country, too.

Anyway - I think you´ll understand what I mean about your "image problem".

Err... sorry for hijacking this thread. I guess we need an "off-topic" forum here...