This can't be the TFP's only meta-thread, can it?
I don't see Americans as arrogant in person, though I haven't known that many. The ones I've known were decent people who liked being in Canada even though not all of them stayed.
I agree with Charlatan in that Matthew, as a Kansan, doesn't necessarily need to know other languages. Fewer than 1 in 10 Kansans speak a language other than English. However, with air travel, the Internet, and globalization, I would at least expect a certain level of cultural literacy. I suppose the exemptions would be those Kansans who do not partake in or are affected by any of these things. A completely and locally isolated farmer, however Medieval that may seem, would be totally exempt from my expectation.