For ages now, we’ve acted as though we’re the only show in town. The American public pays little attention to what goes on elsewhere in the world, knows very little about other cultures, and doesn’t take into consideration the impact of America’s actions on the rest of the world. Moreover, we think everybody else needs to come around to our way of doing things, even though we don’t bother to understand their way of doing things. They look at how our overriding emphasis on consumption has bloated us into a shallow, frivolous, short-sighted behemoth, and look on with horror at how we’re trying to export that unsustainable philosophy to their countries. And, as if that weren’t enough, we’ve got the most powerful weapons of destruction in the world and have shown our willingness to use them whenever we feel like it.