I know many Europeans think Americans are ignorant of the rest of the world.
But when I conducted a scientific experiment by asking a cross representive sample of Europeans...
To point to Burkina Faso on the map, name it's captiol and it's president.. And who is the senator for Ohio..
Not one European could answer any of my questions of the top of their head.
2007-05-03 08:51:39 · 18 answers · asked by Better things to do 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
@sloan et al..
I 'm not American but European... So I do know what I'm talkng about.
My point is that just as Americans don't think that knowing the geography of Europe doesn't matter because of the distance..
So Europeans (as proved by the answers to this question) think not knowing about Africa or the USA doesn't matter because of the distance.
So Europeans opr just as Insular as American.. and to say otherwise is dishonest
2007-05-03 09:10:06 · update #1
Oh.. and plently of Europeans are pretty flakly on their knowledge of Europe too.
I have heard many times Europeans confuse Serbia with Siberia!!!!!!!!!!
2007-05-03 09:14:01 · update #2
It's bigotry. And it's acceptable bigotry, so they get a free pass, even from most Americans. They've see the bigoted things Commonwealths/Europe say about Americans and they don't blast them. Makes them hypocrites as well. They don't make the world a better place by showing their immigrants this attitude.
2007-05-03 09:46:38 · answer #1 · answered by tttplttttt 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Knowing one of the 2 Senators from Ohio means about as much to someone not from the US as knowing the Chancellor of Germany does to an American.
Europeans do have a bit of a superiority thing going on, but look at history. They've got hundreds of years on us. Age-wise, we're like little kids compared to Europe. Also, with the exception of Native Americans, where did Americans come from?? Why do we speak English???
Simple answer: the US started off as a British colony, and while we may not always be congnizant of that, you better believe the Brits are. I dare you to find one caucasian person in the US who doesn't trace their family heritage back to a European immigrant at *some* point.
Also... I dare to ask-- how many Americans did you ask about Burkina Faso??? If you're going to conduct an experiment and call it scientific, you need both an experimental group and a control group. You experiment was biased from the start.
2007-05-03 16:10:05 · answer #2 · answered by porschefraulein 3 · 4⤊ 2⤋
Snobbery is a shame no matter what the reason, and we are all guilty of it to a certain degree, even within our own countries. I have many friends from several different countries and they all wonder why almost the entire world speaks English, but comparatively very few Americans are multilingual. That fact does sort of create the impression that we Americans are in our own little bubble. I think the attitude of "if you're here, you better speak English" makes more of a difference in other countries' perception of us than geographical knowlege. Or I hope so, anyways, because I can't even name an Ohio senator. =)
2007-05-04 14:53:06 · answer #3 · answered by girl. 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Asking about a country anywhere in the world is a fair test, but why would anyone outside the USA know anyrthing about a senator for Ohio? For that matter, how many people from USA would know this? Or care? So not very scientific.
I think the answer to your point lies in the fact that so many people from the USA seem to know very little about the rest of the world, mainly because US news largely ignores world events.
2007-05-03 16:02:03 · answer #4 · answered by Ranteater 3 · 4⤊ 3⤋
I believe Europeans has a better understanding of the rest of the world. Your questions are two specific and not related to general knowlege.
If you ask 10 Europeans and 10 Americans to locate "Sri Lanka" or "Thailand" on the map probably Europeans will answer better.
Rather than asking who is the senator of Ohiyo you should ask about a leader of a specific country or at least about defense minister...................
No one can remeber all the senators of US, all the cabinet ministers of India, all the members of paliment of UK.
I believe its better to ask more general questions before the conclusions.
2007-05-03 16:06:37 · answer #5 · answered by Sudewa 2 · 2⤊ 4⤋
How many Americans (or more accurately, citizens of the United States) did you ask?
2007-05-03 16:00:56 · answer #6 · answered by Her 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Judging people solely on the basis of nationality is incredibly mindless. But nationalism is the thin edge of a big racist wedge anyway. People should be judged soley by what the do. That is who they really are. I am sick of the dolts who continually show their ignorance on this issue. They betray humankind.
2007-05-03 16:02:30 · answer #7 · answered by The Oak 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I lived in Europe for 2 years and I never found that to be true.
2007-05-03 15:57:15 · answer #8 · answered by jim h 6 · 4⤊ 2⤋
Those who feel superior is doing what God says is wrong. Their dialect is probably a little on the intimidating side. However I love the way they speak.
Your survey is saying-they're not any smarter than Americans to which I agree.
2007-05-03 16:06:02 · answer #9 · answered by mary 4 · 2⤊ 3⤋
And how many Europeans did you ask in this "scientific experiment"?
A friend of a friend working in the US showed a blank world map to 23 American work colleagues (all university educated to at least batchelor level) - not one could point to Iraq, yet all supported the invasion.
How many Americans could point to Burkino Faso? I have met Americans who think Africa is a country.
UPDATE: again, how many Europeans did you ask in this "scientific experiment"? 1,000? 1,500? 3?
.
2007-05-03 15:58:33 · answer #10 · answered by abetterfate 7 · 8⤊ 4⤋