Pardon the French, but seriously, "foreign countries are demonized by the government and media"????
And my grandmother has traveled the world, the *entire* world, and she has never been met with anything but hospitality. Why is it you think everyone is so full of hate?
He didn't say anyone is full of hate.. he said American government and media demonize other countries and it's true. Especially non-western countries. So, yeah.. your language was uncalled for and your fans who posted after you are idiots.
Anyway...
Why are there less passport holders in the US? Well, let's see.. what countries can I easily visit in the US without paying about $800+ for a ticket.. Canada and Mexico. I can get into Canada without a passport and have done so within the last month but who cares anyway? Canada might as well be Montana. Then there is Mexico but honestly who wants to go to Mexico? Not to mention I'm sure I could go there without a passport as well.
As was already mentioned the North American continent is huge but it's only three countries and the only one that really has any border security is the US. Compare that to any European country and the amount of countries that fit into a landmass the size of the US (or North America) and it's pretty fucking obvious to me why more people have passports over there than here.
Then there is the last issue which is the 10%.. and 7% numbers..
http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_america.php
* 25%: “75% of Americans don't own a passport”
http://www.birminghamrecords.co.uk/maninsf/maninsf11.html
* 22%: “just 22% of Americans own a passport”
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/saturdaysection/story/0,8922,779505,00.html
* <20%: “less than 20% of all Americans own a passport”
http://wwwnew.towson.edu/studyabroad/reasons.htm
* 15%: “85 percent of Americans do not own a passport”
http://www.br.cc.va.us/vcca/bran.html
* 10%: “only 10 percent of US citizens *ever* own a passport”
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/speakers_corner/discussion/attacks_on_america/_comments/311074/
* <10%: “fewer than 10 percent own a passport”
http://www.ocmetro.com/metro062702/business062702.html
* 7%: “only seven percent of Americans own a passport”
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030123/7/33lcu.html
Yeah so obviously those news reports and articles are bullshit and wrong.. or at least some of them are. So, how many people really have US passports?
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2225.html#8
Q. How many U.S. citizens currently hold passports?
Over 70 million U.S. citizens hold valid passports, an estimated quarter of the eligible population. The number of passport applications and issuances continues to grow. In fiscal year 2006, the U.S. Department of State issued over 12.1 million passports.
So, the number is more like 25% coming from the actual U.S. State Department.
So, 25% combined with the fact that you don't even really need a passport to go to Canada/Mexico combined with how fucking huge North America is compared to Europe and....
Wow, what a surprise.. Americans DO travel and this entire notion that we don't is utter bullshit and retarded. Thanks.