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Knowing your country is paramount or you end up getting politicians who tell you what you should know. Not for this cowboy. I've travelled through all the States except Pennsylvania, Vermont, Rhode Island and Hawaii. You get a perspective beyond your own little corner of the country. You should try it sometime.
Please so you traveled the USA, so have I. In my 55 years of life I have not once needed to know the capital of any state including my own, to succeed.
Knowing state capitals hardly changes one's view on politics, although I can see how the left might prefer state capitals over knowing math facts.
Life is filled with real needs, real lessons and sobbing someone over not knowing the capital of Indiana is ridiculous. What's next? Grammar nazi time on a chat forum?
I'm an ex-pat now and guess what nothing that you mentioned seems to be an issue with me or the other ex-pats I know. I never voted for a politician based upon state capitals or border states with Canada.
Edit:
You end up getting politicians telling you what you should know when you are a party hardliner instead of a free thinker. If you do your own homework instead of relying upon party talking points you are well served.
To me, the general European attitude is one of rude arrogance.
The English aren't bad. Easy to get along with as are most Italians that I have met. The Scandinavian countries? Sweden is the worst, the Finns are tolerable. Norwegians are the best of the lot.
Our Canadian and Australian cousins are great to hang out with.
Germans are a bit dry. The French I honestly haven't ran into any where I live.
Please so you traveled the USA, so have I. In my 55 years of life I have not once needed to know the capital of any state including my own, to succeed.
Knowing state capitals hardly changes one's view on politics, although I can see how the left might prefer state capitals over knowing math facts.
Life is filled with real needs, real lessons and sobbing someone over not knowing the capital of Indiana is ridiculous. What's next? Grammar nazi time on a chat forum?
I'm an ex-pat now and guess what nothing that you mentioned seems to be an issue with me or the other ex-pats I know. I never voted for a politician based upon state capitals or border states with Canada.
Did you really suggest that the left are the ones that don't value math and science?
As to general knowledge issues, some things are general measures. If you don't know what states border Canada, then you probably don't know where North Korea is. If you don't know where North Korea is, you can't understand the implications of the decisions that are being made with regards to it.
Same goes for the supreme court right now. Everyone has such strong opinions, but I doubt most can name all 9 justices at any given time. I would bet that Trump can't name them all. If you don't know who they are, you probably don't know how they rule and you are probably just buying in to the opinion of the party you identify with. Accepting something so important without examination is not good. An example, in hearing a lot of Trump supporters lamenting global and corporate elites and the screwing of the American worker, you would never expect them to approve of Gorsuch who has ruled against workers and for the corporate elite every chance he has gotten. Kavanaugh will seal the court as anti-worker and pro corporatism. I am not making a judgement about whether that is good or bad, I am just pointing out that being pro worker and anti global/corporate elites does not gel with being enthusiastic about Gorsuch or Kavanaugh being appointed to the supreme court. Since they will be a part of the Citizens United coalition, they will also favor the swamp and all the money that fuels it.
You mean a more liberal misunderstanding of the world. America is about the size of the European continent stretching well into Russia and has about the same number of "states". I bet many Europeans can't name and place every country in Europe off the top of their head.
The English aren't bad. Easy to get along with as are most Italians that I have met. The Scandinavian countries? Sweden is the worst, the Finns are tolerable. Norwegians are the best of the lot.
Our Canadian and Australian cousins are great to hang out with.
Germans are a bit dry. The French I honestly haven't ran into any where I live.
Agree on the Brits, Italians are pretty good I agree, Nordics are dics, Russians are dicks unless you drink vodka with them and give them a complement. No issues with the Canucks or the Aussies.
lol, you worship Trump dude. I can only gather from this statement that you think Europe is the bee's knees
That statement you made is very strange and lacking in logic. Yes, Trump is killin it and he's also an ******* but one that is totally slugging home run after home run after home run. I have yet to find a European country that I enjoy that much but still exploring trying to decide which one to visit for a week in October...right now I'm thinking Hungary or Croatia.
Not rude to me at all, in fact, I was very welcomed by the people I interacted with. They have a much better understanding of the world than most Americans, who don't even know what States capitals are, and what States border Canada.
I have been lucky enough to have traveled to Europe quite a bit in the last 12 years and there were exactly two times that someone made a political remark and/or started a political conversation with me, once was when I was in Amsterdam and my wife and I shared a table with a man and his mother for breakfast at a crowded restaurant. The son called George Bush "King George". I didn't engage with him, I was there to enjoy breakfast in Amsterdam. He was being rude, however he didn't push it any farther and we went on to talk about other things.
The other time was when I was in Florence at the Uffizi Gallery no less! A whacky looking older guy said (in an Italian accent) Ahh you're Americans, I want to punch you for putting Trump into office. I could tell that he was actually trying to joke with me about it, he seemed mildly apologetic about having said something so inflammatory. I smiled and went on my way.
Besides cab drivers mainly complaining about their own countries, we had exactly zero political discussions with anyone while in Europe.
Its incredibly rude to make extremely negative and unrequested political comments to people visiting from overseas. I don't think Europeans are rude which makes me think that you actually requested them by bashing your own county. Judging by your bigoted comment about Americans in this post that I am responding to, I'm pretty sure that I'm correct.
Either that or you are lying about the whole thing.
Oh, I bet you they can. Europeans have long been very, very aware of the outside world. I know my European cousins are far more aware than even I am of international affairs, and I am interested in that kind of stuff.
But then when I try and explain where I live, I have to reference Montana, and many Americans I speak to are not quite sure where that is.
Now, quick, tell me which State has the longest international border.
People in Europe do not have a choice when it comes to this. Their nations are the same size as our states. For example, people in Germany need to know what's going on in Greece and Italy because they they are economically connected to one another. In addition, Germans regularly travel to Greece and Italy for their vacations (sorry, I meant holiday).
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