I'm reading the Rapaille interview with "Frontline" and I'm outraged. How can he make a blanket statement about a culture or country, telling us " The ideal life for a German person is when they just have to obey; the administration is in charge of everything and controls everything, and you don't have to worry about anything," and "American culture is a very basic instinct." How narrow and absurd. If Germans and French are controlled, why are the sections of the country heavily populated by them not controlled in the same way- do they all of the sudden change when the arrive in America? American culture is so diverse, with all sorts of people, some newly arrived, some going back to the Mayflower and beyond. Is a New Englander like a Georgian or Californian? I understand that people share common characteristics, but it smacks of bigotry, racism, to make the type of blanket statements he is making. I think of Lincoln's comment about fooling some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time. You can replace 'fool' with manipulated. He uses the Hummer and PT Cruiser as examples to prove his point because he is caught up in his own perception that short term cultural popularity equates to success. How many of these cars were actually sold relative to the market. They made the news, a short term flash and profit, but they don't prove that his theory is correct. Maybe a small Cadillac won't sell because it is overpriced, underpowered, ugly and poorly built, not "off code." I am teaching archetypal literary theory to my classes at this time, so I believe there are primordial and universal codes in our DNA. However, I am having trouble with the way in which he is using these ideas.