Insular Americans

"I mean, the level of religious fundamentalism in the United States is beyond any country I know."

- quote from Noam Chomsky from interview in the One Arab World blog.

"And yet calling Lee's film a "gay cowboy movie", as I've heard it described, would not exactly be a way into the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of, arguably, the most homophobic nation on earth."

- quote from American writer Rick Moody from article on "Brokeback Mountain" in the Guardian.

Perhaps the kindest thing to say about the aforementioned is that maybe they are among the 64% of Americans who don't have passports?

Footnote: Same-sex intercourse carries the death penalty in seven officially Muslim nations: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland and Yemen. It formerly carried the death penalty in Afghanistan under the Taliban, and in Iraq under a 2001 decree by Saddam Hussein.

Technorati tags: Brokeback Mountain, Chomsky, Rick Moody.