Why are Americans such ignorant fools?

[August1991]

Paul Wells in Macleans provided the following link and described it by saying:

This is the best writing I've read so far today. It's The New York Observer's Tish Durkin monitoring the cold, hard fury in Baghdad

So I went:

NY Observor by Durkin

(All of this is completely confusing to me. NY Observor and Macleans I know. Wells is new and Durkin, never heard of.)

Reading the article I was reminded of all the conversations I have ever had with Americans abroad. Left Americans, right Americans, confused Americans, informed, ignorant, liberal, whatever Americans.

The article is an American in Iraq. What's that?

Well in my travels, I have learned there is only one way to deal with an American abroad:

If the American says they come from New York, you answer: "New York, that's somewhere on the Pacific Coast, right?"

[For Eastern Canadians, answer: "New York, that's south of Boston somewhere, eh?"]

If they say they come from Texas, you answer: "Oh, I've heard of Texas. It's in the north, isn't it?"

Try this. For real. While on vacation in the States. Or (better) with a tourist here. [Try this with Americans of any racial origin.]

And when you do, look for the expression on the American's face. (In an instant, you will understand all of the problems of Americans in the world.)

This has nothing to do with geography class, your ignorance, or what Americans think of Canadians.

[Frankly, I admire Americans their naivety. The world is a better place for it. When the left speaks about empowerment and giving individuals self-confidence, what is meant?]

Americans, like most majorities (English Canada comes to mind), know everything about themselves - and that's all they know. They are astonished, absolutely astonished, when a minority is ignorant of them.

I have sat through too many meetings/situations where English Canadians blithely, smugly, spoke English and didn't realize that the silence around the table was not acquiesence but confusion and sheer panic. "Répondre? Mais si on me demandait ce que je pensais?"

[boycotthabs]

That's why Canada is in a recession, and on the same scale in international irrelevancy as Cambodia.

[Argus]

Americans are no more ignorant than Canadians on most issues. Americans know what they feel they need to know, just as Canadians do. Just as Quebecers do, btw. Canadians know a lot about the US because we watch so many American TV shows and movies. How much do we know about, say England or France or Germany? Where's Leeds? Huh? Leeds? Is that a place in England? How many cities in Indonesia can you name? Or Italy? Or Egypt? Just exactly where is Osaka? In Japan, of course. But where? You don't know! Man it's one of the biggest cities on Earth!

I work with a lot of Quebecers, a lot of Francophones, and I've noticed no greater awareness of geography or geopolitical issues. Just like most English Canadians they seem blithely ignorant of anything outside their own little worlds. For the most part they don't read newspapers and pay little attention to what's going on in the world. It bores them.

As for Anglos not speaking French and being surprised. Hey buddy, almost everyone I work with is French, and they presume everyone speaks French. And if you don't, well hey, why don't you? Are you lazy?