5 ms·

For many US citizens, the country is their 'world.' They may never leave the country in their lifetime. On the other hand, it's much more difficult to call your

by pyre 13y ago

For many US citizens, the country is their 'world.' They may never leave the country in their lifetime. On the other hand, it's much more difficult to call your own country 'the world' when you border three other countries in such a way that you can live in one, go our clubbing all night in the other, and then have breakfast the next morning in the third...

typicalrunt 13y ago
Exactly. Looking at it from both worlds, I don't think a European adequately understands how large a country like the US (or Canada for that matter) is. Likewise an American would never understand the smallness of being, say, a Luxembourg citizen and travelling to France within a day. Totally different worlds. I always tell people to travel outside their comfort zones purely for this insight. One you experience how another culture lives it is hard to be close minded again.
- aylons 13y ago
  I live in Brazil, a continent-sized country just like the US and I don't see this phenomenon here. I don't think this is the problem.
  - Hannan 13y ago
    The phenomenon only presents at 9 million km^2 and above. ;)
  - seestheday 13y ago
    I live in Canada. A significantly bigger country than the US. I don't think of Canada as being the world, nor does anyone I know. I think it actually has to do with the American media. It used to be worse. I remember seeing US news programs (we get them here in Canada) reporting on the weather, and they only showed the US. It was kind of funny, it was like weather patterns were dropping in from a void "up north".
- tripzilch 13y ago
  > Likewise an American would never understand the smallness of being, say, a Luxembourg citizen and travelling to France within a day. Luxembourg even borders France, so you could "travel to France" in five minutes by just stepping over the border. Just like you could "travel to Mexico" .. or maybe that's a bit harder than five minutes because of border controls, maybe Canada? No? And, Luxembourg is so tiny, if you'd spend a day travelling "from Luxembourg to France", I'd argue you actually spent max half an hour travelling "from Luxembourg to France", and the most part of your day travelling "in France" ;-) Your point stands, of course.
gutnor 13y ago
For US citizens (the kind you describe, that will never go out) the world contains also lot of "evil countries", China, Mexico, ... Those countries are constantly on TV, so even if he cannot point at them on a map, they exist as part of "the world" Making it a world issue may dilute the problem in their eyes and make it look like a world affair instead of a purely local policy. The US is at war against drug, terror, ... The US is under the threats of the axis of evil. The US citizen live in a world (not-US) where he is denied flying, where his mails are spied, ... That's the common TV language. Seeing how little it takes to influence people thinking (eg: global warming is mocked because its name suggest temperature will be rising globally), this constant bashing must have an effect in the apathy of the US citizen against the slow erosion of their rights.
danudey 13y ago
It's more than that though. Even if you never leave your country, be it the UK, Brasil, Canada, South Africa, Israel, or Japan, you're going to experience foreign media; American TV shows, movies, music, books, video games are everywhere. If you're in the US, however, you generally only experience US media; in several cases, US remakes of popular foreign shows (House of Cards, The Office, etc.). A lot of foreign media you don't necessarily notice is foreign, and books, movie posters, and video game covers are modified for US audiences (some would claim 'dumbed down'). Americans only see America through the eyes of America, and the rest of the world through the eyes of America; for example, in Taken, Armenians are shown as kidnapping slave-trading murderers, after all our poor innocent white girls, and the French police chief is shown as a corrupt, indifferent traitor. Meanwhile, the rest of the world sees the US and the rest of the world through American eyes, but they also see both through the eyes of their own media, which provides them with more of a balanced view, and lets (forces?) them to make at least some of their own decisions.

by pyre 13y ago

typicalrunt 13y ago

Exactly. Looking at it from both worlds, I don't think a European adequately understands how large a country like the US (or Canada for that matter) is. Likewise an American would never understand the smallness of being, say, a Luxembourg citizen and travelling to France within a day. Totally different worlds. I always tell people to travel outside their comfort zones purely for this insight. One you experience how another culture lives it is hard to be close minded again.

aylons 13y ago
I live in Brazil, a continent-sized country just like the US and I don't see this phenomenon here. I don't think this is the problem.
- Hannan 13y ago
  The phenomenon only presents at 9 million km^2 and above. ;)
- seestheday 13y ago
  I live in Canada. A significantly bigger country than the US. I don't think of Canada as being the world, nor does anyone I know. I think it actually has to do with the American media. It used to be worse. I remember seeing US news programs (we get them here in Canada) reporting on the weather, and they only showed the US. It was kind of funny, it was like weather patterns were dropping in from a void "up north".
tripzilch 13y ago
> Likewise an American would never understand the smallness of being, say, a Luxembourg citizen and travelling to France within a day. Luxembourg even borders France, so you could "travel to France" in five minutes by just stepping over the border. Just like you could "travel to Mexico" .. or maybe that's a bit harder than five minutes because of border controls, maybe Canada? No? And, Luxembourg is so tiny, if you'd spend a day travelling "from Luxembourg to France", I'd argue you actually spent max half an hour travelling "from Luxembourg to France", and the most part of your day travelling "in France" ;-) Your point stands, of course.

gutnor 13y ago

For US citizens (the kind you describe, that will never go out) the world contains also lot of "evil countries", China, Mexico, ... Those countries are constantly on TV, so even if he cannot point at them on a map, they exist as part of "the world" Making it a world issue may dilute the problem in their eyes and make it look like a world affair instead of a purely local policy. The US is at war against drug, terror, ... The US is under the threats of the axis of evil. The US citizen live in a world (not-US) where he is denied flying, where his mails are spied, ... That's the common TV language. Seeing how little it takes to influence people thinking (eg: global warming is mocked because its name suggest temperature will be rising globally), this constant bashing must have an effect in the apathy of the US citizen against the slow erosion of their rights.

danudey 13y ago

It's more than that though. Even if you never leave your country, be it the UK, Brasil, Canada, South Africa, Israel, or Japan, you're going to experience foreign media; American TV shows, movies, music, books, video games are everywhere. If you're in the US, however, you generally only experience US media; in several cases, US remakes of popular foreign shows (House of Cards, The Office, etc.). A lot of foreign media you don't necessarily notice is foreign, and books, movie posters, and video game covers are modified for US audiences (some would claim 'dumbed down'). Americans only see America through the eyes of America, and the rest of the world through the eyes of America; for example, in Taken, Armenians are shown as kidnapping slave-trading murderers, after all our poor innocent white girls, and the French police chief is shown as a corrupt, indifferent traitor. Meanwhile, the rest of the world sees the US and the rest of the world through American eyes, but they also see both through the eyes of their own media, which provides them with more of a balanced view, and lets (forces?) them to make at least some of their own decisions.