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Originally posted by Kitschy: Don't you think that's works both ways? I mean, if the Arab media and their education system wasn't ingraining their people (from baby to adult) with anti-American sentiment, maybe THEY would have a better understanding of how the world (and America) works. I would go so far as to say that more people know more about how the world works in America than in Arab countries. As far as other countries having knowledge about the rest of the world, I don't see any reason why Americans are any "dumber" in international knowledge than any other (relatively) equally developed countries. |
I'm not saying that the practice of teaching anti-ANYCOUNTRY sentament isn't wrong...
My point is that Americans as a whole don't know a thing about the rest of the world.... Yet we continue to back politicians who also know nothing... and have the power to do damage.
Bad diplomacy got us this far. Remember who gave Saddam a lot of his weapons, and cash (US)... Remember what we did in Afganistan the last time we were there (hurting the Solviets)... These are just two of the thousands of blunders made. And they were obvious mistakes when they happened. Both, among all the others were done despite worldwide protest.
If the US knew what it was doing, 9/11 would never have happened. The situation would never have existed.
The problem is that the US thinks it knows more than all about foreign issues... when in fact, it's the most backwards and isolated country in this regard.
Commerical marketing has nothing to do with this topic. Euro Disney didn't further the coalition and get France on board now did it? It's a stupid arguement to say Coca Cola is our ambasador to the world, and is proof of our integration with the world.
Slimy... I agree with you that people should know about their own country... But that's a given. That shouldn't even be questioned.
Problem is the US is a very isolated country in many respects. Look at our media. How many countries today have all the major media outlets based in their country? Answer: Only the US. Europe has widespread unification in this manner, so does Asia, South America, and even Africa.
So the average American, knows little (in most cases nearly nothing) about geography, foreign politics, different cultures, religions....
Yet we really behind, and protest politicians... as if the general public has an understanding of the consequences of these actions.
Hence you may notice in the past few months, my extremism, towards pro/anti-war. Depending on my mood, I can go either way.. just on whim..... just for kicks, just to make a point that it's rediculus how people rally in extremes.... It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. It's bad either way. And it goes far beyond American casualties. It can in a sense bring stability, and tear apart the region, even at the same time.
Americans needs to seriously learn up on their own country... and focus on the global community, which has become far more important in the past 50 years as the US moves to a more global economic philosophy.
We have a media that isolates us from the rest of the world, an educational system which doesn't teach some rather important information.
As we move towards a more global economy, it is more important for the average individual to know more about the world. No matter what occupation you choose, you will be dealing with foreign policy in some sense... It might be as simple as the best place to open a factory, to hosting foreign business partners... both of which require some knowledge... (sidenote: I know someone whose father had to entertain clients from I think it was Sri Lanka... obviously not knowing where it is... and enguaged in some rather embarassing conversation, which really didn't help the company.... in fact demanded an apology.)