Why is it that when americans come to Africa, they think the whole continent is a wild jungle??

Question

I was in New York on holidays a few weeks ago, and one of the first things people(especially kids and teens) would ask me, when I told them I'm from Africa, was if wild animals like lions and hippos and elephants roamed the streets freely! I mean...COME ON!
Other things were:
Do you live in a tree house?
What are the cities like?
Can you have a pet cheetah in your flat(apartment in american english!)?
Do you bath in the rivers?
Do you people have campfires like everynight?
Bla bla bla....

The worst is when they ask you if you know a so-and-so who lives in senegal!!! Or another so-and-so who lives in a brick house in egypt!
What do american kids learn at school about Africa?? I honestly wonder...

Answer 1

US education has gone so far downhill that geography is out of the question so no, kids don't learn anything significant about Africa.

Please tell them that wild animals used to roam all the continents, and that, thanks to mindless exploitation, these wonderful beasts are extinct except for remote areas in some African countries and a few other places.

Answer 2

I don't know if this will make you feel better, but at least you are not alone. There was a question posted on Y!A last week from someone who thought that Canadians had polar bears roaming the streets of the cities, as if all of Canada is a frozen wasteland.
Similarly, I am from Tennessee and worked at an amusement park when I was a teen, and we got remarks from people all the time about how surprised they were that we were wearing shoes and they wanted to know if we just did that for work.
There are uneducated people everywhere!

Answer 3

Well, that's people for you. When people learned I was in the US Navy, a force of hundreds of thousands spread out over the entire globe, they would ask me if I knew their cousin Joe or their friend Bob....

And people only remember images they see, usually on TV. Most of these images are related to the wildlife of Africa, or are of the disasters there like famine, drought, civil wars, or the social problems such as poverty. One never sees the prosperous people or their homes and hangouts shown on TV or magazines.

That's how it is with any country - people at a distance only "know" what they have seen images of, what they remember of what they read in the news, etc.

And there is a kind of handicap here in the US. It is an extremely large country, where almost everybody is next to people exactly like themselves. We have only two countries bordering us, Canada [which shares a lot with us, culturally and geographically], and Mexico. And most Americans do not live anywhere near these countries. Many, if not most, US states are larger than many independent countries. With so much room and so little contact with the world, Americans tend to be restricted in their view of the world. It's not like Europe, where there are a lot of different countries with different languages and customs in a smaller space.

That and the lousy educational system that emphasizes math and science, and other things are treated as fillers and fluff.

Answer 4

First problem is they think of the continent as an entire country. People don't seem to realize that Egypt, also in Africa is very very different from Zimbabwe which in turn is different from South Africa and so on.

There's very little in the media about Africa and her countries. You get pretty much what's on Animal Planet...and of course they'll show the savannah and forests etc. There's not much by way of political or social reporting. Not enough obviously.

Answer 5

i will inform you that the black human beings indexed right here are extra vocal approximately issues and that's what helped them. they don't discriminate if one in basic terms has a million/4 or much less blood in them... all of them stand together. Now this remark gets me thumbs down, by using fact some experience there is no stress between tribes anymore. yet right here that's... I somewhat have pronounced interior the previous that if close by American tribes can drop the mindset that some have against others, by using fact... they're of a distinctive tribe or has below 0.5 or quarter blood in them and all stand together, talk up... our voices would be heard. Then possibly, in simple terms possibly ameliorations might come that many could like. I somewhat have pronounced this, by using fact... I somewhat have encountered ones who do in comparison to me, by using fact i'm 0.5 and 0.5 of two distinctive tribes. So i know there continues to be stress between some tribes. Edit: Forgot you may get some answerers announcing that close by human beings do get the help of the government, by using fact some have a pretend theory that we close by human beings get a month-to-month examine from the government.

Answer 6

When I mention I am from Canada people wonder how I can put up with the cold and snow all year round.
They seem shocked to find out we do have temperatures well over 90 degrees in the summer and with the humidex over 100 degrees.
Americans have actually come up here to Canada in the summer planning on going snow skiing, actually had skis etc on the car. Were shocked at the border when they were told we don't have any snow.
Americans need to be better educated about their planet.l

Answer 7

well its kinda funny you know if you think about it
i am from malaysia ok
we got the tallest twin tower, a F1 racing circuit and a world renowed international airport KLIA.
i used to lived in the US and i have friends living there, and they be like, so do you live in a treehouse? do you walk barefoot all the time? do you eat in a coconut dish, do you live in a jungle?????

its just a bunch of ignorant americans who are so self centred in their universe and that they really don't know what going on in the world. all they do is just watch the TV and then based their judgement on that

like the song
"dont wanna be an american idiot, a country ruled by the media"

just because they accidently turned on an episode in the discovery channel they think that is how the world

just look at them and just smile. poor kids are just really ignorant...cough.. stupid... cough

Answer 8

This is because of the false ego of Americans.
Not only Africa, they think similar things for India too.
Most of the Americans thinks everything is America only. Outside their country all others are useless.
Just like the frog in the well, don't know what a ocean is look like, they even don't know there's something called ocean exists.

Answer 9

In school all we learn about Africa is how poor it is not about it having any cities. We learn about the animals and tribes but never that people live anything close to what we live. My friends boyfriend has the same problem.

Answer 10

I went to Africa on a mission trip. People asked me some of those same dumb questions. we have a road race and usually its the men and women from Africa that win it. Somebody turned to me at one race and said " they must run fast because they have to chase their food". I am usually not the type of person to make a comment to such a dummy, but i looked at this person and said "are you for real? what a dumbass comment"