I think it's largely the same everywhere in the world (it's not "American anti-intellectualism") - as an example, people in rural Syria haven't neccesarily hea

I think it's largely the same everywhere in the world (it's not "American anti-intellectualism") - as an example, people in rural Syria haven't neccesarily heard about my country (Poland), but they've heard about our best footballer (Lewandowski). These fields serve as entertainment for the masses - no wonder people get more excited about it than about other stuff they don't necessarily understand or care about. Watching people sing or perform extraordinary physical feats have always (since the ancient times) moved us on a deep level.