This document poses a series of questions about various social and political issues in American society. Some of the questions addressed include: how European views of obese Americans impact treatment of US tourists; whether shows like South Park encourage drug use or diminish the importance of school/religion; and how Catholic priest abuse scandals have impacted religion's role in America. The document seeks to explore different perspectives and spark discussion on an array of contemporary topics.

1. 1. How does the European image of obese Americans influence how the Europeans treat American visitors and tourists? 2. Has the way that Americans eat fast-food helped change the way that our society views the traditional family?

2. 1.Do the actions of the former child-star, Lindsay Lohan, really influence younger girls in a negative way? 2.Could the American public say that Lindsay Lohan acts the way she does because she is the product of the lifestyle and environment that she grew up in?

3. 1.Because most of the survivors of hurricane Katrina were black survivors, did this affect the way that mainstream American helped with the relief efforts? 2.Does American society consider it unethical to rebuild the city of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina even if the cost of doing so is tremendous?

4. 1.Does the popularity of small, more efficient, Automobiles in America encourage Americans to buy smaller homes and smaller things in small amounts? 2.How did the American opinion of the environment in the 1970’s influence the cars that Americans drove, compared to our opinion of the environment and the cars that we drive today?

5. 1.Because of the American focus on poverty around the world, does this cause American citizens to forget about poverty in their own country? 2.Does Americans view someone as being a bad person if they feel that poverty around the world isn’t as important as some of our domestic problems?

6. 1.Since the cigarettes and the camel riding the motorcycle are shown together, would this really have such a great influence on younger people to encourage them to smoke? 2.Free speech is an American value, however, censorship of cigarette ads are legal so could this mean that Americans value the health of their general population over their rights to free speech?

7. 1.Because of a lot of women were encouraged to take the mans place at home while the men were fighting in WWII, how did this role change affect the social revolution in America that would come years later? 2.Would similar propaganda be needed in today’s American society if the men were needed to fight a war and the women were needed to take the men’s jobs? Or would society already be prepared for such a change?

8. 1. If gay and lesbian couples were allowed to marry in all 50 states, would they share the same ‘marriage troubles’ in their homes as the traditional married couples do? 2. Should gay and lesbian couples be allowed to adopt children?

9. 1.While most would agree that drugs are bad, does ‘South Park’ encourage younger Americans to do drugs because of the way the show portrays the school counselor as being dumb and humorous even though his message is correct? 2.Have shows such as ‘South Park’ taken things like school, religion, and sex and made them seem less important in order to appeal to a younger more immature audience?

10. 1.Has the recent news of Catholic priests and their abusing children sexually destroyed the church’s legitimacy in countries where there aren’t strong catholic roots? 2.How has the negative news of catholic priests contributed to the changing role of religion in American society?