Mike,

At least we're close < s >...

>>That difference is the "media" and specifically its new widespreadedness, with television probably leading the way.
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>I think you make an excellent point about how the Western World is viewed by many, but I disagree that this is new, or that modern media is considerably worse concpetually than pre-modern media like spoken and written language.
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>>This all has to make us look fat and greedy beyond any possible reason.
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>Much in the same way that 500 years ago tales that travled back home by Spice Traders from the Far East amazed the Europeans; and the Far East was amazed with the stories about the accomplishments of Europeans.

Sure those tales were told, but telling and seeing for yourself are two very different things.
Back then it was but a few who actually SAW all this new (then) stuff, and in the relating of it to others those others would also have been comparatively few but, more importantly, the listeners would have to view these "wonders" in the context of what they already know. It would also be in some place far far away which most knew they could never visit and that the far away place couldn't visit them either. These became myths that were shrugged off as they got back quickly to daily life.

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>I'm not positive, but I would imagine that this sort of situation is what motivated human beings for quite a while, going past Napolean, Ghengis Kahn, Alexender the great, and the Egyptian Pharos.

Again these were individuals, and of course they were doing it for their own glory and gain. In addition they were going after "neighbours" and they had significant knowledge of what the neighbour had that they wanted.
The essential difference today is that everyone now sees the real things for themselves, probably nightly. Before television (and the satellite transmitting that made even derelect villages capable of seeing it all) there was movies. But movies were not that widely viewed and it is quite easy to attribute it all to Hollywood fakery. Just as we know that Star Wars vehicles and settings are Hollywood things, so they could believe that everything they saw was a Hollywood creation.
With TV saying "live" in the upper-left corner of the CNNs of this world it doesn't take too long for them to realize that Hollywood has nothing to do with what they see. They realize it's REAL!! Now they get upset.

Jim