You're absolutely right! And it goes for our elected officials that ignore the will of their constituency They feel entitlement to their elected power..even when they twist and manipulate the original obligation We are the very ugly Americans!

As a foreign born American living here, there is not a day going by that I do not wish I was back in my home country. A good wife and a lovely grand daughter make it bare;y livable. Day after day I have to listen to the way Americans are always right.
Oh well, let's smile at the grand daughter.

I'm an American and I can easlily see that the average US citizen is the most self absorbed, stupid, boorish, person on the face of the planet. Sports, American Idol, etc. consumes them while they pay no attention at all to what their government is doing in other countries. They are extremely ignorant... and very proud of it! Turning off the non-stop 24 hour-everywhere-you-go propaganda machines (that's a "TV" to you stupid Americans) would go a long way towards everyone re-claiming their sanity. They are being blatantly brainwashed... and unfortunately most Americans only need a light rinse! THE WHOLE WORLD WILL HAVE TO UNITE TO BEAT BACK THE FASCIST AMERICANS... just like they had to beat back Hitler. What the hell is everyone waiting for?
GO WIKILEAKS!!!

Thank you for this article. I have been struggling with my fellow American's behavior for some time now and I'm glad to see there are many of us out here who actually recognize how far over the line of human decency we've stepped. I am continually appalled at the hubris, lack of compassion and ugly self-aggrandizement that is so prevalent in every part of US society. We've become like spoiled little children and we need a good smack across the head and a little lecture on how to behave.

"roughshod individualism is the new American ethos."
To William Astore:

There's nothing "new" about roughshod individualism in America, cowboy.

"Take a close look at many of the State Department cables and tell me how you would feel to be on the receiving end of roughshod American imperiousness."

Hell, just ask the Native Americans and the African Americans.

We've been [global douche] bags for a long, long time.
GAFG

Well... keep in mind the real definition of 'diplomacy'... saying "nice doggy' while you look for a sharp rock.

It would appear that (topic of their tirades aside for the moment) that the Westboro Baptist Church and Fred Phelps are just your basic run of the mill Americans.

Politeness and contemplation before acting are seen as weakness. The only thing some Americans respect seems to be blind arrogance and shooting from the hip. Explains a lot how Shrub and his little Dick got re-elected after stealing the 2000 US Presidential election, doesn't it?

Currently Obama is seen as a milquetoast with a rubber spine and no testicles. I cannot really say I disagree with that description of him at this point. He promised mountains and we are still waiting for the merest molehill to be delivered.

Ah well...

What offends me as much as the rudeness around me is the amoral government creeps, from the highest to the lowest, that lie and deceive and then attempt to prosecute, or at least shame us if we question their bilge.

This disgusting philosophy out-does Nietzsche, Machiavelli,or Adam Weishaupt.

Prof. Astore, I could not agree more. What you experienced, the term for that behavior is “disconnected.”  There are people that run around all over our society, hiding behind computer screens, in incredibly abusive jobs (feeling Junk, running jails, flying Predator Drones, spying on anyone for some made up reason) or in your face, that don't get the damage and devastation that they cause and create.  None. The disconnect is an arrogance and insouciance - and it tends to come with wealth and power.  Then there is the heartless man, Dick Cheney, who shows us the stuff of which he is made.  Oh to waterboard the crap out of him for the "actionable Intel he might have?"  I am all for the Warrant for his arrest.  Hopefully, the torture will be thrown in for free.  What's a little torture among friends?
 

Notably, there is a mindset of Corporatism, aka Fascism, where these very same behaviors were crapped on all of us years ago....back in the 30's.  They were the heyday of the Fascists, National Socialists.  The communists by that time had already been completely subjugated.  For the Communists, that kind of behavior would be an opener for disappearance or worse, summary silence (execution).  Unless of course it was Party Members.  Do as I say, not as I do.  Largely a Republican motto.
 
There is a large portion of the Public that is now openly hostile to the poor, the intellectuals, the educated, working class that is barely surviving...in other words anyone  that is not them.  They are those that have been and are largely rewarded for the Depression.  They are the ones that did business with the elite or were the elite...the bankers, the brokers, the government civil servants, the cops, the firemen, the spies, the necessary infrastructure individuals that were needed to keep "the trains and planes moving."  The Wall Streeters (not the Main Streeters) sat back and laughed.  But, the pigs at the trough are still laughing.  And that is the tragedy.  It is every man, woman and child for themselves.
 
If you have a problem with greedy bankers, fees, policies, rapacious Credit Cards, Identity Theft or you have the Plague....or Cancer...it is obviously YOUR problem and there cannot possibly be tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people experiencing these problems.  This is the separation of individual from common cause.  And yes, Professor, you profoundly experienced a common event in the now special reward or treat of even being able to go out for a meal. Can we find a happy median?...not likely.  It is imbued from the top.  The WikiLeaks just Prove it.  The span of the insults and destruction of our country are largely the Culture of this corruption....that from the disconnected, the torturers, the kidnappers, jailers, the corrupt politicians, the druggies, the gangs, and the government thugs, the remote controlled Predators, never ending surveillance and spying:  this requires anyone with a brain or is remotely aware to scream about the outrage and just shutdown.
 
But who will listen?  Certainly not THOSE partiers.   Who will listen?  Certainly not THOSE politicians.  And listening, but continuing to do the same old, same old is just insanity.  The more people remain disconnected from family, friends, community, and social responsibility, the less we will see as hope for change and accountability for progress.

Prehistoric Jim - You should get out a little bit - lots and lots of ignorance in this world - the US does not have the corner on ignorance or apathy or greed or corruption - it is worldwide. Watch what you wish for in your 'the whole world should beat up America' fantasy - the world would be a lot better place if all of the consolidation and centralization of power that has occurred were to reverse and we returned to a lot of small countries not controlled by banks and international organizations/ alliances. I'll take the continuing hostilities of squabbling nations over a tyrannical world government, or being ruled by say, China/Russia any day. Some other world dominating force 'teaching America a lesson' will likely be much closer to the Hitlerian horror you reminded us of.

Somehow I doubt dispatches from our diplomats abroad are any ruder that those of our foes and allies where we are concerned. Ever wonder how the Israelis and and Arabs refer to us? Stupid goyim and perfidious infidels is probably the kindest you will hear. After all, the job of our diplomats abroad is to give an honest assessment of those our govt must deal with. This whole affair is just a tempest in a teapot. And, no, I am not and never have been in the foreign service, just a realist. However, I do agree that American social behavior is for the most part, boorish.