The Never-ending Privacy Battle
This brings me back to the Hundredpercent American. To some extent he is a pet of mine. I have always rather liked him, because he has some promising qualities. For instance, he has enormous hospitality. I used to feel personally complimented by the amazing warm-hearted hospitality showered on me by Americans.
[…]
When I realized it, I began to say to myself, “This is not a recognition of my own particular merits. Nor is it quite a mania. There is something bigger behind it. An enormous social instinct must be seeking satisfaction through it.”
Then I considered your rage for publicity. An American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country.
George Bernard Shaw
The future of political science in America
Metropolitan Opera House, NYC
11 April 1933