The LA Times' Gregory Rodriguez is relieved that the "ugly American" abroad is vanishing. [Op-Ed: From ugly to just plain American |Diversity stateside, the weak dollar and the rise of other global powers have changed how U.S. visitors act overseas and how Europeans see them. By Gregory Rodriguez, January 10, 2011]

But what he really means is that he's glad Americans abroad—like Americans in general—are no longer white.

(A helpful list of Rodriguez's code words for "white": brutish, ethnocentric, bumbling, wide-eyed, middle class, culturally entitled. Imagine those adjectives being attached to anyone else.)

And if they do happen to be white, they're used to dealing with non-English speakers behind counters.

Hey— I'm annoyed by that ever-present throng of Japanese tourists with their cameras, shuffling shoulder-to-shoulder and robotically taking pictures of every world destination—and never appearing to actually enjoy or appreciate any of it—but Rodriguez would never call them "ugly Japanese", I'm sure.

Says Rodriguez, "Far from projecting an image of narrow-minded superiority, Americans abroad today are more reflective of the country's expanding diversity and cultural sophistication. They come from a broader array of backgrounds and traditions. Many still have strong ties to homelands around the globe."

In other words, they're simply less American. "Cultural sophistication", you see, simply means having a language other than English and a race other than white. "We" new Americans are poorer, darker, and stripped of our buoyancy.

This is something to celebrate? That's like celebrating illegal aliens returning to Mexico... because America is turning into the same crappy barrio. Now that's ugly.