The collective ignorance of Americans about other parts of the world

[KlatooBNikto]

is more deadly than the ignorance of any other people. The impact American policies have is so great, the world constantly is at the receiving end of our ignorance and given their inability to put up any resistance find that their lives are shattered and whatever little gains they make by going about their lives all come to nothing if they fall out of bed with American imperialist demands.And we have a servile Press which continues to brand poor people from Venezuela to Brazil to Vietnam to Iraq as our enemies, terrorists or worse.

[H2O Man]

1. Recommended.

"Americans" don't have an understanding of Indians, much less other peoples of the world.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Make no mistake. It is by design.

An informed electorate is troublesome. Moving massive quantities of public wealth to one's cronies becomes much more difficult. And we can't have that.

[libhill]

4. That's about right -

keep the dumb asses they hurt the worst, ignorant and uninformed. Cuz them commie demoncrats are gonna get my guns, an make my woman get an A-bortion. But them thar Repugs are gonna take good care o' me, an' send my sons to Iraq, so's I can pay 3.00 a gallon fer gas to go to work. If I have work to go to. Gawd bless Amurka. Praise Jaysus. An if'n I get sick, I ain't got no medical insurance, but that's OK, cuz I know Bush an' them Republican fellers ain't gonna let them funny boys done get married.

[bribri16]

3. is the reason why people like Bush, Cheney, Condi, Rummy can ascend

to positions of power using fear, intolerance, and hate to do anything they damn well please with our lives and the lives of our children.

[Oversea Visitor]

5. Its the I am the greatest culture

Anyway US think so much of themself that they feel they dont need friends.
Thats a long and lonely road to walk.

[babylonsister]

7. Please don't lump ME in that calculation;

I very much think we need friends bud sadly, it's the BFEE who think they're all powerful and apparently prefer to go it alone.

[Oversea Visitor]

8. Ooops

Me sorry, was a generalisation, But I think the majority of Americans are cool.Just a bunch of bad apples making the Big Apple look bad

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. True; but how to fix it?

The obvious answer: less trash and more substance in the content of popular media.

But what about public education? Less what and more what? Kids must be learning something in *school* but they are sure ain't learning much about history in "History" and they're not learning much about the world in "global studies".

Too much emphasis on math and/or science? This is a possibility. Who uses trigonometery... or even algebra... after high school?


Or maybe it's the WAY kids are being taught?

[skooooo]

9. I think we need foreign "missionaries"....

...to come over and educate Americans about the fact that cultures really are DIFFERENT than our own. We need more exchange programs or something for all of these people who otherwise would never even give the rest of the world thought.

It's only by going abroad that you're better able to really see things about your own culture.

[La Coliniere]

10. A posting about Aruba that's not about the missing girl.

When I visited Aruba last year I was amazed to learn that Arubans are fluent in 4 languages: Dutch, English, Spanish, and Papimiento. Many are also pretty good at French and German as well. All this is a result of their public education system. Instruction in those four languages is mandatory and is taught in a very sequential and logical fashion throughout the 12 years Arubans attend school. The standard of living is quite good in Aruba compared to much of the Caribbean. Most of its citizens are employed in the tourist trade and can converse quite easily with most tourists who visit.
How many US citizens are fluent in a second language? You know the answer. We Americans are, for the most part, insular and not very aware of the world outside of our spurious consumer culture. Quite a pity.