NSR-An honest question for Americans

[superjames]

I'm doing a school assignment on people's perceptions of their country, and I was wondering what do americans think of the rest of the world and of their place in it?

Do americans generally think they are beter than people from other countries (ie are they god's chosen country land of the brave and free new world etc)? Also do they think america is the best country in the world?

By the way I'm not trying to have a go at anyone here.

[jhawkinva]

I won't answer on behalf of anyone else. These are all my opinions.

1. What do Americans think of the world and their place in it?

The world is a large melting pot with many different peoples, ideas, and customs. We are just one of hundreds of countries, but the way the world is set up, we have a large say in the way the world works.

2. Do Americans generally think they better than people from other countires?

Americans do not think they are better than people from other countries. They may think they have a better standard of living or system of government, but they do not think of themselves as better people.

3. Do they think America is the best country in the world?

Yes. That does not mean we always consider the things the government does or the things various people say to be right. It merely means that we think the system of "checks and balances" that is in place creates a government representative of the people (or at least part of them). We think it's the best country because the same government (run by the people) has prospered for over 200 years.

[Crazy_Yank]

I'm doing a school assignment on people's perceptions of their country, and I was wondering what do americans think of the rest of the world and of their place in it?

Do americans generally think they are beter than people from other countries (ie are they god's chosen country land of the brave and free new world etc)? Also do they think america is the best country in the world?

By the way I'm not trying to have a go at anyone here.


This isn't really a good place to find a cross section of Americans to answer your questions. 99.9% of US soccer fans are very aware of the world outside of the US. Also, what does this have to do with soccer in the concacaf region?

[Onionsack]

Americans believe that this is the greatest country on the face of the earth. Why? Well thats what we are told since birth, so its become a generally accepted fact here in society.

Most americans are quite ignorant of the rest of the world. Many think Europe is a land of castles and "old world" lifestyles. It would come as a shock for many to see that Europe is every bit as advanced as we are.

The reason for this is actual born out of geography and culture. America is icsolated from much of the world and the country itself is quite large. Thus, we don't have any international issues to deal with daily. Unlike Europe where you sharethe same geography with dozens of other nations, AMerica is by itself mostly and thus Americans care about domestic issues and hardly give a tought to the rest of the world. They just think its a place to vacation...to see how people used to live.

Of course the wordly and well educated Americans are much different, but they are not the majority.

[denver_mugwamp]

If you study anthropology, you find that nearly every tribe or nation in the world has some sort of mythology about how they are the chosen people living in a special place. It doesn't matter if it was the Aztecs, Pacific Islanders, Middle Eastern nomads, or Native Americans. Think about it, Superjames. The place where you live, does it somehow seem a bit special to you, somehow better than the other places around it? It's human nature.

[jared9999]

Originally Posted by superjames
I'm doing a school assignment on people's perceptions of their country, and I was wondering what do americans think of the rest of the world and of their place in it?

Do americans generally think they are beter than people from other countries (ie are they god's chosen country land of the brave and free new world etc)? Also do they think america is the best country in the world?

By the way I'm not trying to have a go at anyone here.

Gods chosen country is Israel

[Popol Vuh]

:D Why is everyone giving this guy neg. rep, I gave him positive rep. :eek:

[Pottermaniac]

I'm doing a school assignment on people's perceptions of their country, and I was wondering what do americans think of the rest of the world and of their place in it?

I used to think that we were superior in every aspect, untouchable and that every nationality should bow to us. I believed the stereotypes

Do americans generally think they are beter than people from other countries (ie are they god's chosen country land of the brave and free new world etc)? Also do they think america is the best country in the world?

By the way I'm not trying to have a go at anyone here.[/QUOTE]

I used to think that we were superior in every aspect, untouchable and that every nationality should bow to us. I believed the usual stereotypes concerning countries in latin america and the rest of the world. Of course I grew up and came more in touch with my mexican roots, that in addition to learning more about other cultures made me change my way of thinking.

Now I think that we are pretty much equal, we just have more money, but we depend in other economies to survive.

I've always and will always think that America is the best country in the world, even though i want to get out of here and go live in europe.

[ZeekLTK]

I used to think that we were superior in every aspect, untouchable and that every nationality should bow to us. I believed the usual stereotypes concerning countries in latin america and the rest of the world. Of course I grew up and came more in touch with my mexican roots, that in addition to learning more about other cultures made me change my way of thinking.

I would agree with davidpotter's statement 100% except change "mexican" to "norwegian" for me. :D

One of the most humbling things I've experienced was this past summer; the Gold Cup was hosted by the USA. It's suppose to be the most prestigous tournament a CONCACAF nation can participate in outside of the World Cup (assuming you don't count the guest spots in Copa America that are given to CONCACAF teams). And we are suppose to be this big powerful country, where everything is heads and shoulders better than everyone else... yet I had to watch the *entire* tournament on Univision, a Mexican station, and in Spanish, a language I don't speak or understand. Hell, even Canada got to watch the tournament, in English, on their national stations. Here, no coverage. At all. You couldn't even buy PPV. You either had to watch the Mexican stations or try to steal the signal from the Canadian stations. To me, I dunno... I just couldn't believe it. We are in the year 2005, how do we, as Americans, not have access to watch a major tournament being held in our own country, in our own language? It was unreal.

*I realize the importance of the Gold Cup is arguable, but it is *suppose* to be the main continental tournament in CONCACAF. To me, not televising the Gold Cup here would be like if the Portuguese people had to watch the BBC, in English, for coverage of Euro 2004, or if the Chinese had to watch a Korean station for their coverage of the latest Asian Cup (remember, Portugal and China hosted their respective cups).

But, like someone else said, I think BigSoccer is not a good place to get true representation of "typical americans". Most soccer fans in the USA are a unique group, one that actually know about other countries and cultures. I would venture to say that 90% of the people (Americans) I know who don't like soccer are also completely ignorant about the world around them. I know this doesn't go for everyone, which is why I only said 90%, but for the most part, it's held true for me. In fact, I've even encountered some soccer fans who were pretty ignorant themselves (this one guy, who is a huge Turkey NT fan, didn't even know the capital of Turkey was Ankara, he thought it was Istanbul), but for the most part, especially on BigSoccer, soccer fans tend to be more knowledgable about the rest of the world and respect other cultures more than non-soccer fans.


2. Do Americans generally think they better than people from other countires?

Americans do not think they are better than people from other countries. They may think they have a better standard of living or system of government, but they do not think of themselves as better people.

This is an absolute lie. Most Americans *DO* think they are "better" than people from other countries. That is part of the reason the majority of people don't like soccer, it's something we lose to other countries at, and since the majority of Americans believe we are better than every other country, they don't like the sport.

It is hard to explain. A messageboard I used to use quite frequently but hardly ever anymore is www.utopiafootball.com. It's a college football message board. If you'd like to see an example of a "typical American" reaction to the rest of the world just go there and look for topics about the rest of the world, specifically international sports. The Israeli Champion, Maccabi Tel Aviv, defeated the Toronto Raptors in an exibition basketball game not too long ago. A thread popped up on utopia about it and there was absolutely no praise for the Israeli team, it was just "the Raptors are terrible, this is a disgrace for American basketball, how could they lose to such inferior players, blah blah blah?" To me, that pretty much sums up how most Americans feel about the rest of the world.

[Pottermaniac]

I would agree with davidpotter's statement 100% except change "mexican" to "norwegian" for me. :D

One of the most humbling things I've experienced was this past summer; the Gold Cup was hosted by the USA. It's suppose to be the most prestigous tournament a CONCACAF nation can participate in outside of the World Cup (assuming you don't count the guest spots in Copa America that are given to CONCACAF teams). And we are suppose to be this big powerful country, where everything is heads and shoulders better than everyone else... yet I had to watch the *entire* tournament on Univision, a Mexican station, and in Spanish, a language I don't speak or understand. Hell, even Canada got to watch the tournament, in English, on their national stations. Here, no coverage. At all. You couldn't even buy PPV. You either had to watch the Mexican stations or try to steal the signal from the Canadian stations. To me, I dunno... I just couldn't believe it. We are in the year 2005, how do we, as Americans, not have access to watch a major tournament being held in our own country, in our own language? It was unreal.

*I realize the importance of the Gold Cup is arguable, but it is *suppose* to be the main continental tournament in CONCACAF. To me, not televising the Gold Cup here would be like if the Portuguese people had to watch the BBC, in English, for coverage of Euro 2004, or if the Chinese had to watch a Korean station for their coverage of the latest Asian Cup (remember, Portugal and China hosted their respective cups).

But, like someone else said, I think BigSoccer is not a good place to get true representation of "typical americans". Most soccer fans in the USA are a unique group, one that actually know about other countries and cultures. I would venture to say that 90% of the people (Americans) I know who don't like soccer are also completely ignorant about the world around them. I know this doesn't go for everyone, which is why I only said 90%, but for the most part, it's held true for me. In fact, I've even encountered some soccer fans who were pretty ignorant themselves (this one guy, who is a huge Turkey NT fan, didn't even know the capital of Turkey was Ankara, he thought it was Istanbul), but for the most part, especially on BigSoccer, soccer fans tend to be more knowledgable about the rest of the world and respect other cultures more than non-soccer fans.




This is an absolute lie. Most Americans *DO* think they are "better" than people from other countries. That is part of the reason the majority of people don't like soccer, it's something we lose to other countries at, and since the majority of Americans believe we are better than every other country, they don't like the sport.

It is hard to explain. A messageboard I used to use quite frequently but hardly ever anymore is www.utopiafootball.com. It's a college football message board. If you'd like to see an example of a "typical American" reaction to the rest of the world just go there and look for topics about the rest of the world, specifically international sports. The Israeli Champion, Maccabi Tel Aviv, defeated the Toronto Raptors in an exibition basketball game not too long ago. A thread popped up on utopia about it and there was absolutely no praise for the Israeli team, it was just "the Raptors are terrible, this is a disgrace for American basketball, how could they lose to such inferior players, blah blah blah?" To me, that pretty much sums up how most Americans feel about the rest of the world.

sorry you have to watch the soccer games in spanish, you might have better luck for the WC I heard NBC bought the rights for Univision and they are actually going to broadcast the games.

as for the soccer fans respecting other nationalities.... sorry to disagree, they hate Mexico and they often ridicule other nationalities, but yes they have a more accurate view about other nationalities than the average american.

One of the events that also made me change my way of thinking was Sept. 11, we are really vulnerable to attacks.

and by the way, i thought the capital of turkey was constantinople, I'm sure if i spelled it right. Excuse my ignorance.

[Oreich]

My personal opinions of the rest of the world:

We aren't better. We have a better system, that's why we're more successful.

Our place in the world? Same as everyone else: influence the rest of the world to be more like us and bend to our desires. :)

[Oreich]

Ok ok, its not ignorant to not know what's going on in Europe. Why? Because it doesn't affect us. We're so successful that we don't care what Europe is up to; thank G-d we don't need to. Ask a European about politics in Nigeria, I doubt they'll know.

Also, they're every bit as advanced? We have a higher standard of living than all the large Western European countries. That's all advancement means to me.

[Oreich]

Zeekltk, just because they lack an understanding of the sport doesn't mean they don't like or don't respect that country. I heard a Jewish kid say something even dumber about that game: that "it must've been their Olympic team or something," and this is a kid that could tell you the history of Tel Aviv.

[Pottermaniac]

Ok ok, its not ignorant to not know what's going on in Europe. Why? Because it doesn't affect us. We're so successful that we don't care what Europe is up to; thank G-d we don't need to. Ask a European about politics in Nigeria, I doubt they'll know.

Also, they're every bit as advanced? We have a higher standard of living than all the large Western European countries. That's all advancement means to me.

My friend I think you should start caring.

Our economy is about to collapse. First, Sept. 11th and with it the Afghanistan war, then the Irak war, and now Katrina, all of this events caused the government to spend enormous amounts of money, meanwhile, Bush keeps cutting taxes for the rich and cutting programs that help the poor and medium class families. Everytime a disaster happens or the president makes another dumb mistake, we borrow money from countries, such as china and South Korea, the same china that the U.S. consistently criticizes.

That is the reason that the market has not crashed yet. Our economy depends on other countries and our president pisses the leaders of those countries off.

the day that china and other lenders decide not lend money anymore or that the arabs withdraw their money from our banks (which consist of 1/3 of all the money in the american banks) when this happens the U.S. is going to have another great deppression.

While i think that the chances the arabs withdrawing their money is very little, the first option can happen any minute. we are now over 400 billion dollars in deficit and Bush has another 3 years to go. Therefore i suggest you start thinking on an european country to live in another option is japan or south Korea, cause this is a time bomb.

[FlanInTheFace]

most americans i know think that America is better than the world, people included.
of course i dont

[Oreich]

I didn't mean we need to know nothing about what's going on in Europe, I mean we need to know much less than they need to know about us. The U.S. has much more weight than any other country economically. The decisions our politicians or businessmen make have more global significance than the decisions European politicians or businessmen make. When you think of what operating system to use, do you look up European OS's out of respect? No, because we make the best ones. For computers, do you look up European computers? No, you look at Japanese and American. For cars, you look at Europe, fine, but now do you understand what I mean by when and why to care about Europe? When it concerns us. If Americans were stupid for not caring about Europe, then we'd be living crappy lives, oblivious to the opportunities we'd get by looking at what Europe's up to. The fact that we have a higher standard of living then the large European countries shows that we don't need to know.

Calling Americans ignorant is like calling Paris Hilton stupid. Paris Hilton doesn't need to know anything about what makes the world spins, she'll have her fortune either way. Only a poor man is stupid for not studying. If you know what you need to know to be happy and healthy, you're a genius.

[El_PoToSiNo]

Calling Americans ignorant is like calling Paris Hilton stupid. Paris Hilton doesn't need to know anything about what makes the world spins, she'll have her fortune either way. Only a poor man is stupid for not studying. If you know what you need to know to be happy and healthy, you're a genius.

WOW!! Couldn't have said it better myself.

[aGuyatTexasTech]

One thing is for sure. Were better then everyone else at sports.

Agreeing with everyone else, its not because we are a superior race, we are all homo sapiens. Its because of the system.

The system...well, this is the most capitalist society in the world so we are natural competitors. So in a certain way, we are better at everything over everyone else.

Looking passed that, Europeans are better b/c they're more laid back.
Thats what typical americans see. We can do everything better, but were not laid back.

No bullshi t

[westsidepunk]

One thing is for sure. Were better then everyone else at sports.

I do not know if I completely agree with that. We are very good at Sport, and we put a large amount of our resources into achieving this end. But we are also one of the most populous countries in the world. A nation that for their population is very overachieving at Sport, is to me the Aussies. Their perfomances in Sport with such a small population is quite amazing.

[aGuyatTexasTech]

I totally agree with you about the aussies. They are awesome.

On the other hand, you just said it yourself. Maybe b/c we put more resources into it, but we are still better.