Day 79 - Americans & the world
It's more than just my perception that people here think Americans don't know very much about the rest of the world. Many do think that, and have told me directly, including a few tonight. There might be some truth to it, but this time I'm gonna say why I think it's unfair.Yes, it's true that British people know more about America than we know about them. But there are a lot of reasons for that which don't have anything to do with "American arrogance". Most of the movies here are American. Much (probably most) of the music here is American. Many of the popular TV shows here are American. None of these can be said the other way around. America is the world's only superpower. It has nearly 300 million people, roughly 5x more than the UK. And it was a British colony. So why shouldn't they know more about us than we do about them? Likewise, Welsh people know a lot more about England than the English know about Wales. And Idahoans know a lot more about California than Californians know about Idaho (and not just because half the people in Idaho are from California!).
They say Americans don't know what's going on in the world. Could it be because "the world" to them mainly consists of Europe and their former colonies (especially India)? Of course Americans don't know as much about Europe. We're thousands of miles farther away, in a huge country where a lot of news takes place. We're not as affected by what happens in Europe. Our states are as big and diverse as European countries. British people knowing what's happening in France is like Oklahomans knowing what's happening in Texas - and trust me, they do!! The British aren't exactly sharp on what's going on in Mexico and Latin America. It's unlikely that I'll hear any debates about CAFTA around here, or whether maquiladoras are good or bad for Mexico.
On to geography. Let's make a more fair comparison: U.S. states to European countries. Most Americans (but not all) can point to the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain (the major European countries) on a blank map, just as most people (but not all) around here can point to California, New York, Texas, and Florida. Sure, most Americans probably don't know where Belgium is. But most people here don't know where Oklahoma is. 9 out of 10 people (with the exception of meteorology majors) ask me "Where's that?" when I mention Oklahoma. Some don't know it's a state.
Even with their own country... when I'm in a group of people and one person tells us what town in England they're from, sometimes I find myself explaining to the other 3 or 4 (English) people where that town is. So I find it very ironic when people tell me (as one did tonight) that Americans don't know geography.
7 Comments:
I can show you the states of Germany. :-)
Oh, and this is my favorite post of yours by far :-)
And don't you mean the US has three Billion people....not Million????
or 300 million?
you're big but 3 billion is about 60% of the world's population isn't it!
Matt your posts continue to be so insightful. Keep them coming.
most of the music and tv in the country is not american. That's rubbish. Film yes is more american but I think the #1 film in the states at the moment is british.
i think it's also wrong to say that you do know a lot about the rest of the world. Look at an american paper (apart from say the NYT or the WP). There is hardly any news on anything outside the borders. It's often hard to find news outside the town or state.
Notice I said "much" and "many" regarding music and TV shows, not "most".
No, the U.S. has 300 million, not 3 billion. China doesn't even have close to 3 billion.
And of course our news is mostly within our borders. Most of the major news that happens in our hemisphere happens within our borders. Most of the news I see in Britain is within Europe's borders. That's a better comparison. You can't compare our borders to yours, because much less happens here than in the US.
You know, this makes a lot of sense. We have so much goign on here, but the EU and US are in completely different contexts. I agree that it's unfair to compare the two. A friend once said that an uneducated European could put an educated American to shame any day. But you know my thoughts on knowledge.
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