why are americans soooo ingnorant towards other cultures?

Question

I have traveled alot and met ppl form everywhere and the ones who know least about the world are americans. Why is that? You belive you are the richest, you are in trillions of dollars worth of debt! You act condescendingly to other cultures. I have noticed this trend my whole life and even with sons of immigrants do thier best to seperate themselves from thire cultures. What is wrong with you ( not all of you but alot , well most) ! I mean according to studies Americans are less educated than french, Japanese , English , Belge, german and many others because schools here are pretty bad.

I actually have no choice in the are where i live. and that whole thing about i am not american i thank god everyday because ican travel and not be hated by everyone. I am just sick of being treated badly by americans not all of them but alot of them.

for the last time i never said all i said alot living in many places here and meeting so many ppl i would not say all!and to say other cultures have irrelevence is stupid because no american ancestors are actually from america accept native americans. So that is like saying i do not want to know about where i come from.

Answer 1

finally someone else understands how I feel. As an American, being raised in a Greek family environment, attending college with multiple nationalities and dating and Indian, I am ashamed at the ignorance of the American people. I have no idea why a lot of us act the way that we do. The more that we act that way, the worse off we seem. And because of our actions, everyone else hates us. I am mildly surprised that anyone wants to even immigrate to this country any more. We act very rude toward other cultures, when some of our culture should only be grown in a petri dish, we are very loud mouthed and obnoxious, we have a false sense of patriotism and pride. Look at India. Most of them have a huge sense of national pride due to the times that they had to overcome, their astounding victories, the most notable being that they won their independence from Britian and most of them are still alvie to tell about it. Winning independence with nonviolence? That is just incredible. Look at Most of Europe. With all of the innovations that they have made in all aspects of life, they have a reason to be proud. But what have we done? We won our independence from Britain and it seems like we have done nothing else since that is outstanding and spectacular.

Answer 2

America is a capitalist society where image is everything and survival of the fittest is the way of life. Somebody has to be on the bottom for the people on top to stay on top. There will never be a point where all Americans are well educated. Improving education will increase competition and threaten the status quo.

You can't do better unless you know better. Many Americans don't know better, and that's the bottom line. People from low to working-class socio-economic backgrounds get minimal funding to support public education, due to their lower tax bracket. If you're rich/wealthy and ignorant, it's because you choose to be.

All Americans are not condescending and ignorant. Sorry you met a bad batch. As an African American, I feel as if many immigrants behave condescendingly towards black people, matter of fact, I've experienced it first hand in the United States and Europe. All immigrants are not welcoming and friendly. Some are and some are not. There are people on both sides of the fence.

If you are really concerned, don't talk about it, be about it. Talk is cheap. What are YOU doing to change these issues? If all you are doing is talking about it on Yahoo Questions, how do you expect things to change? If you really care, become actively involved in your community, educate young people, share your knowledge and experiences with others, fight for equal access to education for all American citizens, increase tolerance and culture awareness, etc. Every little bit helps. If you're not part of the solution, consider yourself part of the problem.

Answer 3

I can't speak for anyone else but my problem is I don't care about the rest of the world. Frankly I don't care whats going on in the next county. I like to mind my own business I don't bother no body and I don't want no body bothering me.

But also there's the fact that all cultures are not equal. Very few cultures in the world have a mind your own business attitude. I think our culture is one of the best because it gives you the best chance to make the most of your life. Even if you start out with a poor education. That's why the average poor person in the U.S. has a better standard of living than a middle class person in Europe.

If education was the only factor to prosperity India would have the highest standard of living in the world.

Answer 4

Too many generalizations:

About debt, honestly at this size it's not good however the US national debt is very close to what we have given to other countries, maybe we are to generous. (In fact the US has given away more money per person than any other country in the world by far) If you investigate global economics you will find that the US debt actually serves a purpose in stabilizing the global economy though I think it's out of hand.

In the last 100 years more Americans have died defending other countries than defending their own country including the French, English, etc that are allegedly more educated. That's excluding Iraq that I personaly consider an invasion, not good.

It is highly dubious to say "you act condescendingly to other cultures" because the "American culture" is composed of all other cultures. In fact there really is no "American" culture. Each individual has a portion of their heritage mixed with all the other cultures from all over the world. Only the Native Americans could claim to have an "American culture". But theirs has been manipulated by all of the "foreign" cultures influence.

On to education. The "studies" may show a disturbing trend but when it comes to practical application Americans regularly exceed the above listed. Follow the education trend in to college and then compare how the different nationalities do, you may be very surprised, why do you think so many other nationalities come here for their continuing eduaction?.

And to answer the opening statement. It is very easy for every person other countries to learn about the "richest" country. But it would be very difficult for every person in the "richest" country to have the same level of knowledge about every other country in the world. They only have to know about 1, where we would have to have the same level of knowledge of hundreds. Secondly the US only boarders 2 countries over thousands of miles then there is thousands of miles of Ocean on both sides. In Europe you could hit 20 countries in the amount of time it takes just to cross the US. You need to think in a sheer physical scale. I suspect the WWW will help with this greatly in the next 25 years.

Answer 5

Not all americans are clueless. I'm an american and i'm trying to get others to see it from another perspective, because i know exactly what you're saying and i think it's CRAZY! I think americans are TOO proud, sure we should all be proud about whe we are but it's kind of going overboard. I think they also like the sense of power that comes with being an american because the states are what they call the "power house" they feel like they own the world with an overdose of confidence. They obviously haven't looked at the condition of the states in a while...come on we're at war with half of the world right now! I also agree that the schools are not up to standards but we really are working on that one!

Answer 6

Many Americans don't travel overseas, I guess they don't have the chance for the most part. Most of them travel around the United States, and this is quite a feat too! They just don't know about the other countries, most can't afford to go. I got a chance to go to Europe 4-5 times because I knew someone there, otherwise I don't know if I would have ever gone, I really never thought about it.
The reason Americans don't know all these languages, is because we don't need them. We don't live around people who speak them, and would hardly ever use them. In other countries they live closer to one another and need to learn the languages of people close to them. Our schools teach us what we need to know here, don't be so hard on them or Americans. Your attitude sounds like that of the countries outside of the U.S. I always had to defend us when I went.

Answer 7

Americans are like that because :
1. they don't bother to research or travel.
2. because we are constantly told that Americans are the best.
3. because most of us want to believe it.
4. its not fair to say that Americans aren't educated. more than75 percent of the adult population has at least a bachelors degree.

also the part about the debt. yes the GOVERNMENT is in trillions of dollars of debt. but the American economy is very important to the the global economy. we have more buying power than any other country. that's changing though. anyways. most American don't understand complex economics, so they just think that America is really rich. well that's true.....sort of, but its definitely not that simple.

Answer 8

Are you serious!? I love people from other countries I think they're awsome. So I would get to know Americans a lot more better before you talk crap about them. It's not the people's fault that the schools are bad, which they're not. as in yale, nyu, harvard, ect. Hun, you're just asking for trouble.

Answer 9

Because some of us just don't care about anything but ourselves. Which is REALLY sad, when you think about it!
I hope the "you" your talking about is a general you & not a specific you, because I LOVE to learn about different cultures!

Answer 10

Actually, assuming that all americans are ignorant to other cultures is ignorance in itself. Done a study have you? And who are you to judge others on their level of education or to determine if there is "something wrong" with Americans. Who are you to accuse Americans of ignorance?

Regarding that, though, really, what application does french or german or japanese culture have in my every day life? None for now. If in the future I have business partners from overseas, then I will learn, but in the immediate, culural studies is, for the most part, irrelevant to my every day life.