Yeah, those are stupid, unnecessary examples of diplomatic buffoonery. Unfortunately, being physically isolated and culturally insular, with a politicized gang of semi-pro diplomats, we have that kind of thing embedded deep in our national character.
Not that we're alone in that. I'm sure that France has changed since I was a student in Europe, but when I was there I thought they were worse at it than we were -- in terms of regular people, anyway. Their diplomatic corps, on the other hand, is very professional and cosmopolitan. Ours is always a political pick-up team.
I was the token Army NCO who accompanied the Batallion officers on social functions with the Germans, and the only one who spoke Deutsch. Sometimes I had to do a little damage control......
I can easily imagine Americans being clueless. I'm remembering an American interpreter who used the wrong term, and told a bunch of Saudis that his American diplomat "lusted after" the Saudi camel drivers.
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I was the token Army NCO who accompanied the Batallion officers on social functions with the Germans, and the only one who spoke Deutsch. Sometimes I had to do a little damage control......
I suspect they were at least as used to foreigners' bad German grammar as we are to visitors' and immigrants' mistakes in English. Deutsch is a difficult language. We retain quite a few of their words from the Saxon invasion of England, but our grammar is closer to the Normans' Latin-based French.
I'd say your associate was wrong, because when it comes to certain royal families, specifically the British and that of Monaco, many Americans have an inordinate fascination with them. I don't think the other European monarchies hold much interest for most Americans, though, although the Vatican is technically a monarchy (obviously not hereditary) and too many people show all too much respect for it.
That's OK. You're not the head of the most powerful country in the world and bowing to some turd world bigwig while apologizing for "our" sins, like your fearful leader, Obama, is.
-- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
Charles Murray, in his book "Coming Apart: The State of White America
1960-2010", list four "founding virtues" of America. The wording below is mine, but I hope I have properly summarized Murray's concepts:
1) Industriousness, the feeling that having a vocation was critcal not only to success but to happiness as well.
2) Honesty, the sense that integrity was an essential component of self-respect as well as the respect of others.
3) Marriage, that is, a formal relationship recognized by society, one with responsibilities defined by that society, such as proper behavior towards one's spouse and the transmission of society's principles to one's children.
4) "Religiosity", the belief in something greater than a single individual and an acceptance of a shared morla code of conduct.
These four have this in common: they are principles which promote trust between human beings, which help create what is now referred to as "social capital".
Murray's feeling is that the decline of these qualities does much to explain the fragmenting of society and the attitude of "let someone else" (often the government) "do it".
Here's a Charlie Rose interview for the curious:
Charles Murray on his book "Coming Apart: The State of White America From 1960-2012" Friday, February 10, 2012
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