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Why are Americans so ignorant about the rest of the world?
Exceptionalism, pure and simple.
There is this belief that American is simply #1 that permeates our society and probably is common through most nations at some level. Like one cheering for your home town football team, you chant... were #1, were #1, but if you ask why or in what areas are we #1, you find that people become defensive to the extreme, as happens when any deeply held belief is challenged.
Are we the worlds #1 in infant survival rates, levels of personal freedoms, income per capita, educational level, or democratic, etc...? Or are we just #1 overall, if in reality or that we choose to simply believe so because we live here.
When you believe you are "king of the hill" or simply superior to all others in whatever fashion, you dismiss others as being irrelevant, after all they aren't on our level so what good can come of listening or understanding of those less than ourselves. We don't take advice on foreign policy from an ant or a mosquito and since we seem to view most countries as something more like an annoying insect than a group of human beings, we needn't bother learning anything from them. Over a generation or two we find ourselves knowing much less about everything and spend more time chanting, were #1.
I couldn't disagree more.
I have come across very few Americans who feel superior about our country, yet I have come across a fair number of western europeans who display this arrogance.
I'm trying to figure out why a person that is either a creationist/or ignorant in the sciences, is so curious about the ignorance of others. Didn't you mention support of Ron Paul earlier?
Why do you think I am a creationist? I am not. I am also not ignorant in the sciences, why do you think that? I do not even think that I have ever mentioned "science" on CD.
Yes, I believe RP would be a better candidate than the usual Dem/Rep candidates (I have nothing against Obama, however).
I looked what RP voted for/against and I liked most of it (not all).
I also liked how he handles himself when interviewed by Fox News. He usually outsmarts the guys from Fox news.
He actually makes sense. Just check out what he thinks about the Patriot Act.
I'd like to ask you why you are not interested in the topics you noted?
Personally, I have a great fascination with other countries, other cultures, other peoples - and have been lucky enough to travel to many different countries.
It's just mere trivia to me, IWonderWhy. I have no intentions of leaving the state I live in--it was bad enough HAVING to do so when I was in the military. I don't have a practical application for the knowledge. Now, give me something with a practical application, and I'm all over it.
I am sure if the US considered another 26 countries as part of our "wealth" we would be #1. The collective GDP per capita of Europe would show it as nearly as low as the poorest American state, Mississippi ($30,500 vs. $26,900), another point for why GDP per capita is not an accurate measure of anything.
10 single european countries outperform the US by their GDP per capita.
So if you look for a Nr.1, you should mention countries like Norway or Ireland before the US. (Not that it matter to me, honestly, I don`t care. I know I live in a very rich country and comparing GDP`s of two rich countries is pretty ridiculous).
Admittedly I have not been to Germany, but I am sure there are areas to be avoided, even if you will not acknowledge them here.
Assumptions. I personally would not visit small villages in the eastern part of Germany, but nobody wants to go there for specific reasons. But big cities don`t have areas like South Central or East L.A. where not even natives go to. (At least thats what I read on CD in the L.A. section).
Which American public schools did you attend that provided you with such insight? You do know Ron Paul opposes federally administered educational system because he acknowledges its failure to provide our students with a solid education?
What "insight" are you talking about? Can you also give me link that proves what you said about RP?
It is ridiculous to assert that all German cities are 'safe'... that is almost laughable.
Take a look at this Wall Street Journal news article about the 2006 World Cup and how athletes were being warned against travel in certain no-go zones of Germany...
On Eve of Cup, Germany Battles Image Problems - WSJ.com (http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB114867390836664496.html - broken link)
I could also send you articles about German crime statistics - from the UN - they are nothing to brag about...
Neo-Nazi's are a growing problem in Germany, as is antisemitism.
To imply that Germany is some crime-free, clean place for all is inviting a lot of ugly facts you may not want to hear...
Without looking at the link, I can tell you something about those No-Go areas. Most, if not all, of them are in east germany, that, unfortunately, is in some places nazi-infested. I would not even recommend a blond german from the west to go live there.
But Germany does not have gangs that possess weapons. I read a lot in the LA section, and there are many posts that people are fed up with gangs and crime.
The big German cities are indeed safe. I would maybe not recommend an african american to visit the far east in Berlin.
There are no "gangs" that control whole district of a city. Germany does not have Ghettos.
Without looking at the link, I can tell you something about those No-Go areas. Most, if not all, of them are in east germany, that, unfortunately, is in some places nazi-infested. I would not even recommend a blond german from the west to go live there.
But Germany does not have gangs that possess weapons. I read a lot in the LA section, and there are many posts that people are fed up with gangs and crime.
The big German cities are indeed safe. I would maybe not recommend an african american to visit the far east in Berlin.
There are no "gangs" that control whole district of a city. Germany does not have Ghettos.
The US does not have a strong neo-nazi movement - but Germany definitely does - and it is NOT confined to the east.
Anti-Semitism is rampant in Germany compared to the U.S.
You like to slam us on gangs - but you ignore the very same racist sentiments brewing in your country today that gave us WWII, the Holocaust and the Nazi party...
I have come across very few Americans who feel superior about our country, yet I have come across a fair number of western europeans who display this arrogance.
Sorry, not a valid inference. You can't legitimately generalize an attitude to an entire population based on conversations you've had with people. In order to draw valid inferences about attitudes held by a given country's population, you have to use polling data that relies on a random sample of the population for which you would like to make inferences. Additionally, that random sample must be of a substantial size in order for your margin of error to be small enough for inferences to be valid (approximately 1500 people or so is often sufficient).
Have you ever seen Jay Leno do his "Jaywalking" bit. He goes out into the street and asks people at random questions like what countries border the U.S.
He gets a lot of blank stares and some very wrong answers. He claims that he never has to interview more than 10-15 people to get some major league stupid answers.
I saw another segment where a man on the street asked several people if they could name a country that starts with the letter U. Well, there is Uganda and Uzebekestan, but these people didn't even guess their own country: the United States.
Why? Discuss.
Well he's only using the ones that couldn't answer the questions correctly and that doesn't mean Americans are ignorant about the rest of the world....it just means those people aren't very smart
Do you feel that people around the world know as much as they think they do about the states?
I cannot speak on behalf of all people around the world, but most people that live in Germany/Europe do think that US Americans are ignorant.
Who can blame them?
I remember when the US planned to attack Iraq many US Americans thought there was a connection between Iraq and 9/11.
I also read a lot of posts here, and while I cannot say that CD is a perfect represenation of the American population, I see a lot of ignorance in the many posts.
E.g. calling Obama a Socialist, without being able to define Socialism. I asked many people on CD if they could explain in their own words, what that means and they never answered.
Also, I read a lot about "the socialist" Europe, as if Europe was one single country with one government. Thats ignorant.
Or stating that Europe always calls the US for help, when indeed, the american president has recently asked Germany to send more troops to Afghanistan.
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