Lately, I’ve been getting feedback from international types from many different lands who dig my personal attacks on the United States. I’ve also had an associate or two accuse me of being un-American. I disagree. I think I am a very American boy, Senator McCarthy.

I’ve covered this aspect of college life in the past when I’ve talked about my various European and Asian roommates. I’ve also talked about it with folks I’ve met socially in skanky bars.

I have never felt the need to clarify my positions more than I already do; I like to freestyle rant. Of course, when you get jiggy wit’ it as often as I do, you are bound to derail, so today I want to talk about America some more.

We take a lot of crap in this country, and as a hard-core leftie I understand it. But I don’t like to give the impression to foreign guests, especially Europeans, that I really think they have their crap sewn up any tighter than we do.

I may appreciate the open attitude toward hash and hookers in Amsterdam, and I would dearly love to vacation in that city, but I probably would hate living there for more than three or four months out of the year.

I may like the educational standards set in England, but the food sucks, the TV is like PBS ALL the time, and their hatred of Americans is pure jealousy .

Indictments of the American obsession with sex come from countries more uptight than ours, while we get labeled as too Puritan by countries that make our love of PG-rated T ‘n’ A seem like porno.

The fact of the matter is that no matter where you go, people are basically the same. They look and talk different, but they all want to live well. They all love their kids. They all want their basic needs taken care of and a few luxury items to enjoy in their leisure time no matter how much they believe is proper.

Americans are the modern Romans. Sure, we are decadent. We live off the fat of the land, and like everyone else on the planet, we want to continually improve our lives.

We like to experiment. We will try anything once. This has worked out well when we have been called on to fight wars on foreign soil. We used warfare tactics in World War II that we honed on our own soil during the Civil War and against Mexico and Spain.

Are we lazy? Sure, but no more than the average human being. We are primates, for Pete’s sake. We gotta play. And when it comes down to crunch time, we manage to get the job done.

Are we ignorant? Sure, but who isn’t? You take a trip around the globe and meet the people, the real people of every country, and you are going to meet some parochial folks.

No one gets to know people they don’t come into contact with.

Is it such a stirring indictment that most Americans couldn’t point out Kosovo on a map before we got involved in the region?

How many Kosovars do you think could find Iowa on a map? You think it’s tough to point to the United States? Hardly.

We stick out on a map, baby! But try finding Delaware, or the Ohio River, or the Blue Ridge Mountains. Then let’s talk about whose knowledge of geography is lame.

Sorry to say it, but let’s not compare apples and oranges. If I can’t find Yorkshire on a map in less than 15 seconds, it’s because Yorkshire is a fly speck. Try finding Pottawattamie County, bub, then we’ll talk.

I complain about America and take potshots because when all is said and done, I am a disappointed citizen.

We have a great potential that we don’t live up to. That is unfortunate because when we try, we really push the envelope.

That doesn’t mean I want to take any more crap from citizens of the world than they want to take from me about their countries. How many of them have reached the moon or invented world-changing technologies?

We may be pushy, but our culture is as legitimate as that of any other country.

Political commentary is one thing. If you get in people’s faces you should expect to be ridiculed. But slanderous comments about other people’s cultures gets old real quick.

If Americans spend their leisure time watching TV, who is to say that is any worse than hanging out in a pub all night?

This country is only 223 years old, and by most standards, that is pretty young. But in that time, we have managed to rake up some pretty impressive stats.

If the barbarians are at the gates of this modern Roman Empire, we could have had a lot less to show for ourselves than we do and still be pretty proud.

The trick is to not let pride get in the way of self-improvement.

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is opinion editor of the Daily. Give him your effenheimer and no one gets hurt.