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Post Info TOPIC: How Much Do Americans Know About Australia?
Grandad5


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How Much Do Americans Know About Australia?
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Santa wrote:
Grandad5 wrote:


  I believe its fair to say that general knowledge of the world as a whole is far less in the USA than in any other part of the developed world.

Cheers
Jim

 Crikey! that's a pretty long bow to draw, can you give us a little insight as to how you came to this conclusion?smile

 

Glad to Santa. Personal observation over several decades from conversations with literally 1000+ different residents and/or citizens of the USA while travelling through or to maybe 10 different states of the Union. Mine and their ages ranges from <10 yrs to >60 yrs. So that's me visiting their country.

As an ex patriot Canadian I can also add the numerous times American tourists visited my then country who were, for example, amazed to discover that Canada wasn't part of the USA and actually wanted to argue that I was wrong, or those that were aware of this getting angry because a Canadian shop keeper wouldn't accept American currency or if they did in fact accept it, (as some indeed will) that they gave their change back in Canadian currency and not "real" money.  That's not even going into other oddities observed over the years such as residents of Washington State travelling just over the border to British Columbia in July and asking where the snow is. 

Now of course I'm talking about a next door neighbour they know nothing about, not a smaller country on the other side of the world. I see zero reason for that.

The one thing I will grant you is I cannot put a percentage number of these people. According to Mr Google there was 323 million people in the USA as of 2016. if only 1% are ignorant, and that's a VERY conservative number, that's over 3 million people. A pretty good chance of bumping into one or two if you visit there. Personally, I'd put the estimate more at 1 in 10 minimum which equates to more than the entire population of Australia. Now try avoiding coming into contact with some.

I will add, once again, I have MANY Americans I either have had or continue to call friends. (Long distance now of course) People that I consider to be worth knowing regardless of country of origin.
But the ever present ignorant tend to dominate my memories. There's just too many of them. 

 

Cheers

Jim

  Edited to correct grammar 

 



-- Edited by Grandad5 on Tuesday 6th of March 2018 04:00:21 PM

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Grandad5


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I have thought of one flaw in the original video that started this thread.
The interviewer spoke to passers by on Hollywood Boulevard.

Who they should have spoken to are the people working in one of the many tourist shops there. They would most likely have found several Americans who know where Australia is, that Paul Hogan is an actor, that we don't call prawns "Shrimps" and quite likely will recognise your Australian accent and ask which part you are from.

Visiting, Los Angeles to see Disneyland, Universal Studios etc etc is NOT visiting the USA. The people you come into contact with along any of the tourists routes will know much more about our country than most of their countrymen.

If this is anyone's only exposure to the USA, do yourself a favour and go back. From L.A. head inland, or north, or anywhere. Just keep going and see what the USA is really like.
There's a heap to see and learn. Most likely, you'll love it.

Just get ready for some dumb questions from time to time.

Jim

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The Belmont Bear


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I didn't comment before on your post DD because as usual you seem to write things just to see if you can get a reaction. Well I guess that you succeeded because your comment would not only be offensive to Americans but it also shows your ignorance in stereotyping a country that has a population of over 300 million people. nono

BB



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JA2340


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Grandad5 wrote:

Some people seem to like taking one comment about something and then expand that comment much larger than was intended.
My observation that many Americans have little knowledge of basic world geography was just that. Nothing more.

I know stuff all about Slovakia for example. Can't name its capitol nor what language they speak. But, I do know its in Europe and that there is a very large ocean between us and them. That's a more direct comparison to Americans not realising you can't drive from Oz to the USA. There is no need to then ask how much Slovakians know about us? I'll bet they at least know we're across an ocean or two from them.

Personally, I love the American people. Incredibly friendly, especially in the country areas. "Small Town" USA has much the same type of people as we do in "Small Town" Australia. Just with a different accent.
In L.A. Chicago or San Francisco....not so much. Detroit? Somewhere in between.

The day to day food is nothing short of amazing. I could eat it all day, every day. (Although my chances of living to a ripe old age would probably diminish somewhat.) Yes, they put sugar in absolutely everything but the taste is amazing.
Their coffee is terrible however. To our taste at least.

Not all American ignorance should be attributed to intelligence however. EG: 99% of Americans will confidently tell you WW2 started in Dec 1941. That was when it started for them. It's what they have been told all their lives right through school.

At the end of the day, (Apart from it being midnight ) I believe its fair to say that general knowledge of the world as a whole is far less in the USA than in any other part of the developed world.

Cheers
Jim

 


Most of what you write is correct. In particular, the (very general) comment in your last sentence.

With a son and family in the states, I would suggest that their understanding of Aus is quite good, but talking to other citizens of the You Ess of Aye, they are far less knowledgeable of the world than my family are.

Part of this is because the education system there defines everything in terms of USA. 

From current news, we in Oz all know the Pres of USA, and what he says, we all know about the Oscars (and many of us don't care!) but the news services here are full of US things. Their news does not even refer to Australia unless there's a disaster over here!

As Belmont Bear says, there are many people over there who are not all the same (just like here) but there are also many whose understanding of the world is limited by their education system which is US-centric! It is, indeed, unfair to tar all Yanks with the "ignorant" brush, but the fact is that many there are!

 



-- Edited by JA2340 on Thursday 8th of March 2018 07:39:19 PM

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