I'm Canadian, and I will admit that I am guilty of stereotyping Americans at times. Not specifically YOU guys (I love you guys!), but Americans n general. I'm sorry.

A few malcontents do that, yeah, but I'm more urinated off at George Bush than them.

I'm from the UK and I know that I've seen non-Americans use the stereotypes you speak of when referring to Americans. However, I've also seen Americans reciprocate and people of all nationalities lump others into categories and make ridiculous assumptions based on individuals' countries of origin. Generalisations of this nature should be seen as unacceptable. It's ignorant to assume that just because someone is from a particular country they'll behave in a certain way. All Answerbag users should work together to eliminate these generalisations and stereotypes (not limited to the ones based on nationality but also gender, ethnicity, religion, sexuality etc). We need to educate the individuals who think it's OK to lump people together in this manner so that they realise there are massive variations in human beings no matter their background and hopefully this will prevent such individuals making such assumptions in future.

Stereotyping is an art form, don't knock it. It's not just political going-ons (AB misconception of the century), it's a reaction to broader economic and social forces as well. Aside from Japan, America has most of the world's multinationals, including the companies (Texaco) which are destroying the Ecudorian Amazon, funding wars in Sub-Saharan Africa and just generally screwing up the planet. Also, most of what is on television or on at the cinemas here in Australia is American - and very commercial in nature. How do you think we feel about that? It's easy to dismiss us by assuming we're only anti-American because of GWB, but there's so much more to it than that.

I never get offended. People talk but these people also do not bother to get to know who they put down. For me we are the human race, nothing more and nothing less. We all share hopes and dreams and a life worry and stress free. I don't believe people in general keep the boarders that divide us but the governments that keep them strong which is another way to maintain their control.

Nope, doesn't offend me. Stereotypes are both true and false -- often there IS significant commonality based on nationality (or race, or religion, ... whatever) to give some validity to a broad generalization. At the same time, the absolute truth is always nothing but exactly all of the minute details about each and every person in the country. Of course, that amount of detail would completely overwhelm the mind... there would be no way to speak intelligently about America as a whole, if one were obliged to indicate an awareness of every single tiny variation... especially when you consider that human beings are constantly changing! So what to do then? It really doesn't work to just throw out generalizations (stereotypes)... nor does it work to treat those broad ideas as absolute truth. The answer lies in learning how to HOLD generalizations appropriately -- that is, to treat them as potentially useful but dangerous. That's it. There isn't some absolute answer which allows us to either get rid of them or "fix" them. We just have to maintain awareness of their limitations and be responsible when using them to think or speak about others.

I've never run across a non-U.S. ABer to talk down to me or lump me into a bucket. If anything, I've had polite and interesting exchanges. Maybe you should check yourself?