This type of thinking is all too common, I'm afraid. I experienced it in Ireland also. My parents and grandparents rail against it too. The thinking that modernisation equals 'North Americanisation' (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Here in Canada (and I think I can speak for my American brothers and sisters as well) we have people either from, or descended from, every nation on this planet. To favour or promote the trappings of one culture over another would be foolish at best, and dangerous at the worst.

The Diaspora often has more enthusiasm for the culture of the Mother Country than the modern-day residents of those regions. While promoting a homogenised 'modern' culture, these same residents often perpetuate a contradiction: some of them continue to mock the very same society they are seeking to emulate. (?)

Think of some of the people who have come to this forum every now and then (I won't say who they are), telling us what 'real' Scots do, or what 'Celtic culture' really is, and how everyone else knows nothing. The reality is that most of these people don't engage in anything more 'cultural' than pubbin' an' clubbin'.

As for many North Americans not knowing where or what certain countries are, that is all too true as well. When I tell people I am from Ireland originally, they ask if we still hate being in the British Empire. When I tell them that Ireland is an independent country, that Northern Ireland is still part of the UK, they seem surprised.

"Oh, when did that happen?"
"Um, before you were born, likely."