Why so many americans know nothing about the rest of the world?

Question

It intrigues me.

Answer 1

#1 America unlike Europe, unlike Asia and Unlike Africa sits almost alone on the globe. America is the most isolated country I believe, even moreso than Australia. Besides Mexico and Canada (which is very similar to America) America has almost no neighbors with major political differences - America shapes the politics of every country in the region, either directly or indirectly.

#2 Americans don't travel much. How many americans travel to Europe, Asia or Africa? Currently there are students in the International Consoritum but mostly you only see celebs travelling to these far off places. Americans not travelling is basically a consequence of its relative isolation from the rest of the world.

#3 Our Public Education system doesn't have the funds to teach American students about the rest of the world.
In China for example children in school are forced to learn English. How many children in America are forced to learn Chinese? In Africa, many students must learn French, English, Spanish and their own cultural language. How many Americans can handle just "proper English"?

America is the largest consumer in the world, consuming over 50% of the world's goods yet, America produces over 75% of the world's services. Americans are PIGS, but, we are EFFICIENT PIGS!

Answer 2

Some can be chalked up to cultural or educational ignorance, this is true.

However, I think a large part of it has to do with our geographic isolation and the enormity of our country. There is so much going on in the cities of the United States, the average person doesn't hear or care to hear about anything else.

In the United states, unless you live in the far North or Southwest, you are not near any other country. It is more feasible to travel or spend vacation in a nearby state.

This occurs with many large countries.

Europeans are fortunate, because they have an abundance of different language groups and cultures in a relatively close sphere. Travelling from London to Paris and then to Madrid, would perhaps be similar to travelling from New Orleans to Dallas and then to let's say, Kansas City.

It's very easy to think you are in the center of the world when you live in a large country like that, that also happens to be the global super power.

In addition, this vast knowledge that Europeans and others have about the rest of the world, is somewhat of an exaggeration. I lived in Germany for two years, Spain for three months, and I spend two months a year outside the U.S., I know many Europeans who have a vast knowledge of the world outside Europe, but I have also met many who know very little about Brazil other than they're great at football, or little about U.S. They know nothing about the cultural and regional intricacies of the U.S. They know New York, Chicago and "Hollywood".

I almost forgot, also we are workaholics. And we get workaholic tunnelvision. In such a fast paced, capitalist, consumption oriented society, between the media blitz and work, keeping up with news just does not seem that important to the average Joe.

As the Native American saying says, "Walk a mile in a man's moccasins, before you judge him."

And I would add, nobody likes presumptious, judgemental assholes, no matter where they are from either.

Answer 3

As an American, I have a few ideas on the subject. First, the country is relatively young--it's only 230 years old. Second, there are almost 300 million people in the United States, the overwhelming majority of whom were immigrants from different countries with vastly different cultures. When you have a population that large, it's unlikely that the country is going to be homogenous to begin with and, therefore, it's difficult enough to focus them on their own history let alone world history. And, third, there is an underbelly culture in the United States of poor blacks and whites which have a strong influence in the low end of pop culture.

The reason why the United States is a superpower, however, is because its SMARTEST people are smarter than the SMARTEST people from any other country. That's why, for instance, I'm going to go over to Austrailia at some point and take Aussieblond away from the guys there.

Answer 4

As an American, I'd like to add my thoughts. I have also heard that we, as a nation, know very little about other parts of the world. How do we know this is a fair assessment? Do those who are in other parts of the world know all about other places besides the United States and their own country? People all over the world are evidently fascinated by the United States, and they have a very skewed idea of what it's like to live here. They seem to believe that either the streets are paved with gold, or that we are all cowboys or gangsters. If you watch American television shows, very little of what you see is realistic. Few of us are rich, and most of us are very good people.

If it is true that we don't know much about other countries, then it is because we are not taught about them in school. Personally, I love to watch travel shows, and would travel the world if I could. I would also like to travel all over the USA, since there is so much to see right here at home. I have been lucky enough to live in parts of the US where there are many different cultures represented, and have met people from all over the world. I just can't help wondering if the idea that Americans know nothing of other countries is just another stereotype perpetuated by our enemies. I can't help wondering also, if we are so ignorant and violent, as some believe, why are so many people clamoring to come here and live among us?

Answer 5

its not their fault alot of ppl in the states dont know because the education system supresses stuff the government doesnt like or doesnt care about and education funding is losing because Bush is an idiot and putting funding into a battle that will never be won. Kill one terrorist 2 more will take his place. Also TV in the states is very inaccurate about most of information shown.

eg. i live in canada and a friend has a gift shop just across the border on the canadian side and americans have asked where igloos are and a few have bought batteries and asked if they will keep working when the cross the border.
in alot of the schools the dont even teach the part of history when americans tried to invade canada and we burnt down the government building(i believe we did it again a little farther down the road too) thats when they rebuilt and painted it white(renamed whitehouse)

A comedian i saw said that in america the smart bombs are getting smarter and the children are getting dumber.
I would also like to say F uck Bush and our leader Harper for being pro-Bush.

Answer 6

I agree with this. Its simply because they dont have the willingness or the motivation to do so. A recent poll showed that most Americans didnt know where each of the states were! And they couldnt even point where their own state was on the map!
To most Americans, the "world" is America, and they dont realise that there are so many countries and culture out there.
On the other hand there are so many well informed, educated Americans out there too.

Answer 7

Our nation, as great as some of its practices may be, STILL has not placed a high enough value upon the education of its people. Most are taught to achieve only the minimum amount of education needed to preform the job of their choice, meaning: you don't have to know ANYTHING about the rest of the world to live and get a half-decent job in America. From early childhood, we are conditioned to believe that our country is "indivisible", righteous, and "under God".

I wish that Americans could get together and agree on something that would improve the nation, and its international affairs, but we're too damn "busy" waging internal wars (aka: shitting around) about abortion issues, religion, and marriage rights to notice there's a whole other world around us...

To be honest, I'd like to get the f**** out of here. America is blinded by its ego.

Answer 8

Because if we have knowledge, then we have to take accountability and possibly responsibility for things that we have come to avoid by our being too "busy" to worry over what is going on - we have no longer taken to heart the admonition the Lord has given us to love our neighbors - because we have deluded ourselves to think that our neighbors are those we can choose and that may or may not include the whole world. We've also lost the ideation that knowledge is power and it is without this ideation that we will find ourselves become a third world country because we will have lost the edge that our immediate 2nd and 3rd generation back forefathers considered to be only inferior to their faith in God.

Answer 9

The infamous 'Center of the Universe' Complex. Because many Americans believe the US is the be-all and end-all of all countries, they don't bother to learn about the outside world unless it involves them personally or the politics deems it so or something goes horribly wrong. Alas, this attitude can't be countered overnight and the present administration is doing nothing about it. So...we're stuck with it until something really bad happens.

Answer 10

Because they are very insular, very few have ever traveled, so they tend to think only in terms of themselves. It is not that I'm putting Americans down, it's just that the rest of the world seems far away when you think in terms of distance, and not having experienced global hopping from one country to another in a short time, they don't realize how small our world has become, and how Small our population actually is,