It's a European thing...
Don't pick on poor Raoul. He's a product of his environment. I lived as a European for three long years. It never ceased to amaze me how parochial they were. Most Europeans are multilingual, well travelled and often live in or near buildings over 500 years old. One would think they'd have a highly refined political sense. My experience was that most of them were clueless. Their level of education was largely decoupled from their level of common sense. My guess is this was the consequence of years of exposure to Soviet Agit-Prop. Dumbing the western Europeans down into passive sheep made them easier targets. Too bad the Soviets lost the Cold War.
Gary