I think it would smooth things over if you were more specific about what you meant by "modern values," Franklin. Most Americans probably wouldn't like having their fairly harmless, if somewhat vacuous, celebrity-obsessed culture compared to North Korea's militaristic personality cults.
I would challenge the point of the average American being harmless; we commit, through acts of passive-aggression, treason on this world that is comparable to considerable evil. If I could entertain you on a few points that may stand to exemplify my sentiments...
Most chocolate is produced using cocoa from the Ivory Coast - it is not difficult to find video evidence and journalistic reports of children being stolen from their homes, trafficked and forced to work on plantations for no pay or medical aid, despite what you may read on the front page of the Nestle website concerning it's association with Fair Trade... We have an entire holiday that emphasizes the consumption of chocolate. A lot of these facts are staring us right in the eyes: deforestation for the American dream, for example, or the harvesting of palm oil that is used in beauty products, which is leveling forests and destroying the homes of natives and wildlife... The consumer culture that we've created, where a large portion of our jobs are white-collar, combined with our lack of ability to provide for ourselves is causing a demand that is destroying the ecology all around the world and marginalizing the value of other countries that are going out of their way to appeal to our dollar...
I could keep talking about all of the pollution that we cause and all of the energy that we waste in our failure to compromise as a culture and take responsibility upon ourselves, but I honestly don't expect the significance of this message to find its way to a hearken ear. You must have heard it all before - that we are appealing to the mindlessly indulgent corporations that are ruling our lives - but your hesitancy makes me question whether or not you truly understand the impact of our combined choices... but I personally don't believe that the destruction of nature and slavery in the name of our own apathy and vanity are harmless deeds...