What Foreigners Really Think Of Us

All I hear any more from liberals and whiners is how our image abroad has been so tarnished by this administration and that we are hated and ridiculed around the world. Personally, I don't believe it's true and quite frankly don't care even if it is. An article I read today on CNN.com though has me considering this more seriously.

According to the article, a 29-year-old man was travelling with his mother to Turkey and was questioned by airport security over an item in his luggage that looked like a grenade. As it turns out, it was actually a component of a penis pump. [Insert Austin Powers joke here]

The article continues:

When officers asked him to identify it, Amin said it was a bomb, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto.

He later told officials he'd lied about the item because his mother was nearby and he didn't want her to hear that it was part of a penis pump.

After being charged with felony disorderly conduct, the man's lawyers now claim that he merely whispered that it was a "pump" and the security guard misheard it as "bomb."

Now, as amuzing as this article is I'm sure you're wondering what this really has to do with the image people in foreign countries have of us. Well, in trying to explain himself the man said he would never claim it was a bomb because he "does not consider a penis pump an unusual object to own."

And his next words will echo in my ears for a long time....

"It's normal," he said. "Half of America they use it."