The answer to that question is in the elipsis. Go back and re-read *all* of the earlier email.
> That most Chinese and Americans do not spend a whole lot of time travelling? They don't.
New claim? First it was that most... did not travel widely - which you defined as traveling outside of the country. My objection centered on time and distance issues, it's easier to travel outside of the country when your country can be fitted inside of a US state with room to spare, than it is to travel outside of that state (let alone the USA). Now it's that they do not spend a lot of time at it? Outside of the idle rich and the business traveler set traveling on an expense account, does anyone? But suddenly it is necessary for the rank and file (aka "most") to spend a whole lot of time at it, to be widely traveled in your view. Do they lose that status if after seeing the world, they settle down? What complete and utter poppycock.
> You said, " Most Americans (and Chinese) were held to be backwards provincials, farmers with no outside ken..." (despite most Americans obviously not being farmers)
Yes, but there were 16 more words in that sentence that I elided in the reply, not to mention the rest of the paragraph. Go back and re-read the whole thing, don't base your objections on the most recent (and purposely abbreviated) reply. You made a claim pertaining to the worldliness of Chinese that were called "farmers," ignoring how they might be influenced by tv and other particulars mentioned by dredmond. Then you lumped "most" Americans in with those Chinese. Life is simplest when painted with broad strokes, isn't it?
@Matt: Doss may be in Russia and he may be an American as he points out but for the trifecta, point out our ability as Americans to read about the travel habits of Russians outside of biased russomedia sources. If you can. The US State Department probably keeps statistics on how many Russians visit the USA every year and they may even publish them, but what about the other 190 countries recognized by the UN? Roll those numbers out, then I'll put some credence in the claim that Russian media (even if not Doss himself) has information about the other-190-country travel habits of Americans that goes unreported in anglophone media sources.
@Alan Rudy: Translate your students two or three hours travel time to other vacation points in Michigan, to what two or three hours travel time means in international border region and other non-international border parts of the USA, and the rest of the world. Don't leave western Europe out of your analysis.
That completes my 5th and last post for today. We can continue this tomorrow, unless you convince me that your minds are made up and that real world considerations (aka "facts") are irrelevant to your conclusions.