Because of my dad's past contract jobs I've had the privilage of living in 5 different countries prior to the US - my personal experience is that Americans are absolutely more open minded than the average European.

Often they're reserved and suspicious but they're always curious and interested. Once they don't feel threatened by you they'll accept you as "one of the guys."

Europeans might appear open-minded and knowledgable but very often have made up their mind about the "foreigner" before he or she even had a chance to speak up.

I know I'm generalizing here and there are numerous exceptions to the rule but you asked my opinion so there you have it...

How about we agree to disagree and move on to the comparisons of pilots' conditions here versus Norway and other countries?