Fine, my apologies to some of the Americans. I too have some good friends here from the US, and even they will admit there are some real shwanks here. Yes there are a few odd individuals from everywhere, but the percentage is very low I think.
I just have this fear that we are about to be inundated with more of these individuals as EK strives to put bums in the seats. Just imagine a couple more Capt Americas or Eds, etc. These are people who must know in their hearts that they have lost all credibility, yet in spite of their best efforts to garner support, continue to demonstrate their lack of integrity.
I feel genuinely sorry for these individuals as they walk into the room and try to work it like a politician. I see in the eyes of everyone they slap on the back, address as SIR, and generally try to shmooze, that they all are thinking ''this guy is a phoney''. The sad thing is that I see this tendency in many of our american colleagues. It has to be cultural, I just don't see it very often in others.
I am sure there is some deep-seated psychology issue that drives Ed to meet for lunch with those people he know will be inclined to listen to his rhetoric without fear of them contradicting him.
I suppose if you surround yourself with people who reinforce your self-image, it allows you to sleep at night. My suspicion is that we will now begin to receive more and more of these individuals, and eventually we might have to deal with them on a daily basis when we go to work. It's bad enough listening to them on the radios (although it does provide a certain amount of entertainment), but imagine spending 10% of your flights next to one of these people for 8 hours. Ouch!
Mark my words, if we do receive a larger proportion in the near future, I won't be the only one with this viewpoint. It has happened before when there has been an influx of a particular nationality, but for the most part it has been with relatively benign peculiarities and everyone has melded together quite well. I just don't see this happening if the attributes of a new group are shmoozing, ass-kissing, ladder-climbing, 'perception vs reality ideals', all of which is under an umbrella of ego and a distorted view of the rest of the world.