Survey Says

News reports (e.g., Fox News this week) on recent international public opinion polls seem to suggest the US is slipping in popularity with the entire world. At least that's the slant or sense of the reports.

But were these surveys conducted in large metropolitan areas, where the surveyors work? Yes! Were the people questioned typical of a general cross-section of the populace? No! A survey conducted in Jakarta or New Delhi will not reflect the sentiments of Indonesians in Jayapura or Indians in southern India. Were they conducted in such a way as to cull those who answered the way they did simply because they're currently Bushaphobic? No!

Since Americans have discovered in the last couple of decades that the American media is extremely biased, left-leaning, and generally dishonest (yes, Bernie, you are right); and since surveys (usually designed, funded, conducted, and/or interpreted by the media) have proven to be inaccurate ... why are we concerned about the results of these surveys?

Time and again I've heard reports like these, only to find out later that the general populations of these America hating countries want to leave their nations and emigrate to the good old USA. When I see the flow of foreign nationals decline to unprecedented lows, then, and only then, will I be worried about our popularity.

Concern over world popularity is a form of "peer pressure," and I teach my children not to allow that kind of influence to guide their lives. Rather, I teach them to let values pressure guide their choices. America needs to remember that!