What amazes me is that anybody puts any credence into this crap at all. You ask if five years ago anyone could have imagined this idiocy while ignoring the fact that five years from now most won't remember it either. The issue isn't that this sort of stupidity exists, as it does in EVERY society, it's that our media portrays these tiny, isolated incidents as if they are indicative of society as a whole. Sorry, I'd bet that the vast majority of Americans feel that "Freedom Fries" is a profoundly stupid idea yet, due to our over-zealous media, it somehow has become the definition of the "American Way". Sad.