How can it be that American people seem so uniformed or misinformed about history and world events?

Question

even America`s version of world history is different to what other developed countries agree on as facts, some even believe that Europe and particulary England depend on charity and handouts from the US and they`re "forever bailing us out of trouble " i would never have believed it if i didn`t see all these questions and answers on here I`m not saying its the whole population ,or theres not people like that here, but how can there be so many ?

toffeefan yes thats what im talking about but they don`t think it, they say it all the time

HaHa I JUST READ MY QUESTION its not uniformed its uninformed sorry typo

YOUR NOT READING THE QUESTION I SAID I SEE IT ON HERE and yes i have been to America and a lot of oher places too

Answer 1

Every nation writes its own history.
Japan downplays the atrocities of WWII.
England calls our revolution the war of the insurgents.
The war with the south was not over slavery, but over economics. We were in the middle of the little ice age and the north was producing few crops, we wanted to crops from the south, but didn't want to pay the prices they were asking. The slavery issue was snot even brought up until months after the war started.
Our taking of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California was for the same reason.
Custer was helping whites take the Indian land so that they could get access to the gold there.
Our invasion of Cuba was to take control of their sugar production.
Even previous to WWII, we were blockading Japan's access to crude oil that we wanted for ourselves.
We talk currently about the treatment of prisoners of war, but Japanese solders and sailors, who surrendered, were summarily shot rather than put in a POW camp.
Humans are not known for giving an accurate description of the events of history.

Answer 2

Why do so many Europeans have the wrong idea about America ?

I'm an Anglo-American (30 years in England & 14 years in America).

My real question is - how can you make a gross generalisation about 300 million Americans (we past 300 million today!) ?

The reality is there are lots of Americans that have a good understanding of history - and let's be honest...without the USA entering WW2 when it did, England may well have been invaded by the Nazi's.

BUT, one reason for the apparent ignorance that also exists is - this is a GREAT - as in big, A-MA-ZING, etc. country - about the size of Western Europe. I rarely leave the country, because there is so much to see & do within the borders of the USA. So take that, along with the fact that unlike the BBC, American television is NOT intended to educate & entertain - but just to entertain, this does create a sizable group of people that don't know as much.

Answer 3

Miskeny, I am English and I believe that your view of Americans is almost as blinkered, though I can't blame you too strongly as many 'educated' people make such generalisations as well.

There are stupid and intelligent people in every country. It's just a guess but the fact that you may have seen more uninformed American comments is probably to do with the fact that there are more American people who use the internet (the population of the USA is about 5 times that of the UK).

American news has been said to concentrate on home events far more than world events but why shouldn't they? They're a big, diverse country with so much going on.

Answer 4

Americans in general are friendly and welcoming, ( at least to the Brits) and the UK at least shares some values and similarities with mainstream America. Historical experiences and old culture make a country, and America is a baby in terms of worldly experience, and has a shallow culture that often clashes with old European values. Americans do not need to know any more than that which fits between their two shores, why should they, some states are larger than European countries. Americans (not all) are insular, they have no great experience of world affairs, their elected leaders often have difficulty using the English language, and appear as buffoons on television shows. These are the marks of a kind, generous nation, but a slightly "wet behind the ears" one.

Answer 5

Well, I'm married to an American and I lived there for Ten years and I found that as a general rule people in the states were much the same as here in the UK. Good , Bad,Smart,stupid some idiots even make ill informed generalised statements based on a few comments on this web site, why don't you actually go for a visit to the States, I think you will be very surprised

Answer 6

Miskeny, here is a simple test to see how well you do in this subject,
Q1 Anton Nesty won a gold medal for which country?
Q2 The Unita resistance fought in which country during the 80s?
Q3 What was the name of the Pacific atoll where the french last conducted atomic tests?
Q4 Manuel Noriega was leader of which country until overthrown by US forces?
You have 5 minutes to answer. The the Yanks can have a turn. Your time starts now.

Answer 7

Have you been or studied America? If you have then you won't be asking any questions. I as an American spent just recently spent two months and Europe teaching English and I learned so much and it made me questions a lot of things. But the reason I asked you that is because I am coming to terms that American is 200 years behind in terms of culture and politcs. People chose to be ignorant and naive, only a few chose to be open to a world that doesn't involve around the U.S.

Answer 8

on the grounds which you're asking the individuals on Yahoo! solutions. As an American, i've got not met a single individual who isn't attentive to the incontrovertible fact that there have been community individuals here in the previous eu settlers arrived. That being stated, i think of that the thought the land became "empty" while they arrived is very genuine once you talk what the settlers observed. by using their definition of civilization, there became no civilization interior the Americas. You forget it is nice to decide background in it is very own context. you are able to not decide background by using the morality and norms of at present.

Answer 9

I am a citizen of the US. There is no doubt but that we perceive a biased version of history at times here. My favorite is the one about the US stepping in and winning WWI for England and France. A lot of people still believe that one.

Truth is we got there a bit late for that one. We actually were a bit tardy for the second one too.

Answer 10

You are witnessing, first hand, the products of the education system in the US. I get annoyed when I read a question and, because it is so poorly written, I cannot understand what the person is asking.