There's an interesting meta phenomenon here I think. A lot of the language in this letter by Douglas Adams implies that it's Americans that are the problem. Whether or not he actually believes that is, I think, beside the point. What seems more likely is that the profit chasing publishers have created the problem by placing too much emphasis on the results of surveys and focus groups. In other words, Americans aren't really that stupid, it's just that big business executives think they are. And then they run their business accordingly in such a way that makes the whole world think Americans are stupid. Which is annoying because I'm an American and I know I'm not stupid. And I also feel weirdly inclined to give the average American the benefit of the doubt here. Sometimes, giving people a choice creates a dilemma out of thin air. They might choose one thing even if they would have been just as happy with the other.

Update: Actually, upon reading Adams's letter again more carefully, I'm seeing that he's probably making this very point! So I'll just leave my original comment as a more general one about where I think the issue originates.