Maciamo. Putting aside the fact that you appeared to be losing your cool during that last comment, and started to turn it into some kind of mindless rant, let's look at what you've said:

1. Putting people into a large social/geographic grouping (all foreigners), and judging their behaviour based on it is wrong.

2. Putting people into a large social/geographic grouping (country, class, religion) and judging their behaviour based on it is ok.

Justify the difference between the above and explain why one is better than the other. All discrimination, whether it is on ethnicity, gender, religion, social status or any other criteria you care to choose is wrong. Period.

Having a discriminatory attitude, regardless of what it's based on, or how you came to arrive at it, is wrong. Discriminating between two social classes, two countries or any two criteria is exactly the same demonstration of prejudice as the 'us and them' or 'Japanese and foreigners' attitude which you so abhore.

Or perhaps it's ok, for me to say that all Americans are loud, fat and rude, just so long as I don't lump them in with 'other foreigners'? Because that's what your argument boils down to.

I think we have two issues here. One is that we think your argument is wrong. The other is your inability to be introspective and examine your own ideas. Everyone who disagrees with you is either simple minded, can't read, or just isn't smart enough to understand you. You have such a blinding belief in your own ability, that the comments of others don't even seem to register as plausible. I clearly remember the last time I locked horns with you. You made a statement which I fundamentally disagreed with and I said so. You then went to the reputation system and marked me down a few points because of it. For you to genuinely think that if someone has the audacity to disagree with you, then their reputation should actually suffer as a result is arrogance that beggars belief.