Wanna know what's interesting though? It's Americans that helped popularize issues like global warming and anti-consumerism. There are more folks who dislike the things that America is stereotypically accused of within America than there are abroad.
I think Dennis Miller said it best, and I'm paraphrasing here: America is the best and the worst, the smartest and dumbest, and even the most economically powerful and economically unstable nation in the world--depdending upon whom you talk to; but one thing is for certain, everyone is talking about America--for better or for worse.
Americans see roughly the same media that everyone else in the world does, when it comes to representations of the US. The stuff we see in sitcoms here in the US is equally foreign to us. I can imagine, accordingly, "Are You Being Served?" isn't an accurate depiction of the UK either. But because we produce the most media, we've got nothing but image abroad--and everyone in the world is looking at us, constantly.
I've heard that we're arrogant, but at each turn I hear people abroad talking about what our nation is doing and introducing conversations with "You know what sucks about the US?" I never cease to be amazed at how we're simultaneously self-centered and have people trying to strike up conversation about us.
Also, wedgie: Your friend probably had a thick accent. If he'd gone to a place in the South where accents are quite divergent, you'd probably be saying "These guys can't even speak freakin' English!" It's a double standard, I imagine.
But I digress. This topic isn't for me. I yield the floor.