It has been my experience that there are good and bad engineers from all origins; Americans do not have a monopoly on it in either direction, nor does anyone else.
OP is pointing at differences in cultures, they do exist.
If you blindly follow others' generalizations without question, you can't think.
You can dramatically increase your computing power if you're not constantly deriving everything from the fundamental physics and instead rely on some stereotypes.
This ranges from "objects that look like that are chairs" to "I can sit on chairs" to "Americans can/can't do X"
I'll leave it as an exercise to you to find that direct quote, as it'll be sure you actually read the comment :)
But the culture starts at the top. Everything within the U.S. spiritual ecosystem is geared towards a superficial approach to all things. One example in the vein of engineering is Ford vs. Toyota. Anyone who has owned both of these can attest to the difference. There is a craftsmanship culture within Japan that I'm sure we're all acquainted with, but there are also much more subtle values at play (f.e. duty, sacrifice, etc.) that color everything an individual, and the society he makes up, touches. The individuals of America do not have strong values or sensibilities. I want to say this is because of its quality of being a "cultural melting pot." But this aspect of it doesn't turn it into a stone soup, where all the different and varied ingredients work together to make something unique, with surprisingly complimentary flavors. Instead, I think it turns into an actual crucible, where people of all different mettle are melted down; and all of the extraneous spiritual slag is scooped off the top, before being poured out as a completely uniform metal, without a noticeable difference batch-to-batch.
Instead of refining and building upon a culture, as 99% of other nations do, America specializes in annihilating it, and integrating the stray quality here and there that it finds useful towards its ends. And its ends is something I cannot even begin to know.
This is hyperbole, I don't think there will be any way to convince you.
I disagree that it is hyperbole. The main motive of this country seems to be exerting power over others. Whether that be through military, monetary, or quasi-cultural means: onto other nations and onto its own citizens. It’s very Prussian in its pursuit; and nothing that requires sensitivity can flourish here.
what does this mean?
I’ll try though: the collection of intangible qualities that interact with the human spirit, that are found within a certain environment. The qualities themselves interact with one another to create a sort of “bubble”/“soul”/“vibe”/“mood”/etc. For example, if you go into a loud open office with harsh fluorescent lights, no windows, and stagnant air you could say the environment drains the spirit. From there it will have an effect on your psyche, and cascade into you acting a certain way that reinforces that draining quality and adds a certain extra “flavor.” E.g. if the environment drains you, you might become short-tempered, unaltruistic, or mean-spirited. In that case your actions will reinforce the overall displeasing atmosphere of the office, but now you’ve also added the aforementioned knock-on qualities. If we take this further, then perhaps this would lead to a work environment where no great work is done. People go in, do the bare minimum and tolerate it, but the possibility of any higher qualities like craftsmanship, care, and conscientiousness have been rendered null — due to the collection of qualities just mentioned. And from there it continues to cascade.