Quote :

"Muslim activists in Karachi burn an effigy of President Clinton http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/155917.stm i thought people loved us before Bush was elected?"

because there are only two possible states of world opinion of the usa: good or bad. no in-between.

[Edited on September 18, 2006 at 1:11 PM. Reason : quote]

9/18/2006 1:08:52 PM

The lesson here seems to be that how you're viewed abroad is a based on a set of factors more complex than simply being an American, of any political ideology, occupation, or anything else.

What are the rational hypotheses about what causes foreigners to voice frustrations about us or speculate wild attributions of our relationship to their problems?

I bet people of TWW Soap Box on either side would do their causes, and America itself, well to answer this question.

9/18/2006 1:14:57 PM

well the American media likes to often paint our country and government in negative ways

why wouldnt other countries do the same thing

9/18/2006 1:21:37 PM

I'll get back to this after lunch. It's not always negative perceptions, either.

9/18/2006 1:27:03 PM

^ I agree.

^^ Good question. I don't agree with the premise because the American media isn't a single entity, but it's a good followup question.

9/18/2006 1:48:41 PM

i just think if you're strictly looking for a RATIONAL hypothesis, you might not find one

9/18/2006 1:50:03 PM

Oh. So people just want to irrationally speculate and get angrier about stuff they don't really know anything about?

9/18/2006 1:56:42 PM

^DING DING DING DING DING

9/18/2006 2:17:37 PM

Ok. So what if we remove the "and get angrier about" part of that?

9/18/2006 2:41:55 PM

I gotta make this short, but here's a shot from the hip. You'll find that wherever you go, you represent the superpower. Economically, militarily, culturally. You may not like American products, American movies or American foreign policy, but you can't doubt that the US can project its goods, services, media and military like no other nation can. As just one example, I can't even tell you how many plywood and tin roadside shops in Central America have large Pepsi or Coca-Cola signs outside of them (and, as an aside, they sell them in glass bottles). Reminders of the US are everywhere. Pick up a foreign magazine and you'll see dozens of adopted US words. I don't know what the Spanish word for "Windows" is, but who cares, everyone south of the border (that has a computer) knows what I'm talking about when I say "Windows".

The US can offer these countries so much. Indeed, there is a lot of awe and wonder about the US in these countries--why do you think a lot of people are risking life and limb to come to the US? At the same time, there's also a bit of jealousy about the US. After all, the US has so much and some countries have so little. During times of strife, it's very easy to blame the US for nearly anything that goes wrong. For example, Teacher riots in Honduras. The US has absolutely no bearing on what a teacher gets paid in Honduras, but hey, the US controls so much and has so much, that it's not a far leap at all to think that the US must obviously be withholding money. But then again, it's that way with anyone in power, so this shouldn't be new.

[Edited on September 18, 2006 at 3:05 PM. Reason : .]

9/18/2006 3:05:09 PM

To what extent do you think people's opinions of Americans in foreign countries are based on their own understanding of history?

9/18/2006 3:07:17 PM

probably not much

9/18/2006 3:08:31 PM

What informs your hypothesis?

9/18/2006 3:10:51 PM

Quote :

"To what extent do you think"

9/18/2006 3:11:23 PM

Quote :

"What informs your hypothesis?"

=

Why do you think that?

9/18/2006 3:12:50 PM

because people pay more attention to their TVs than history

i'm still wondering if you were being sarcastic or if you somehow were actually being serious when you asked whether or not people just want to irrationally speculate about stuff they dont know anything about

9/18/2006 3:18:11 PM

What, in your view, is missing from their understanding of history?

9/18/2006 3:20:26 PM

a lack of want/care to focus on/think about history

its a lot easier to turn on the TV news and watch TV than it is to read through books

9/18/2006 3:22:00 PM

Quote :

"To what extent do you think people's opinions of Americans in foreign countries are based on their own understanding of history?"

Which country? You're going to get a wide range of answers on this one.

[Edited on September 18, 2006 at 3:25 PM. Reason : .]

9/18/2006 3:22:44 PM

Any. The ones you know the most about.

9/18/2006 3:25:11 PM

I'm thinking this is somewhat of a thought exercise, so I'll probably try to take a stab at this tomorrow just for fun if I have time.

Keep in mind that there's no way anyone can answer this definitively because there's six billion people in this world with their own personal life experiences, values and goals--and people meet under all sorts of different circumstances, so this one may be anecdotal at best. Meeting a 25-year old girl from a foreign country in a club will have a different set of opinions and expectations than meeting a professor in a foreign college.

[Edited on September 18, 2006 at 7:33 PM. Reason : I'll be sure to gather some evidence soon, though, on 25-year old girls in foreign clubs, though..]

9/18/2006 7:31:27 PM

people always player hate on the big dog. always will. kinda how we did before our own revolution.

9/18/2006 8:54:41 PM

^^ You're just using the data to speculate. It's not a way to formulate scientific laws, or usually even logically sound theories, but it'll work for social science. Therefore, it'll work for us. There are after all, many people in the social sciences who read this. Hopefully, they'll have the cowardice to call us out when our understanding conflicts with that of "Experts."

[Edited on September 19, 2006 at 1:33 AM. Reason : ^^]

9/19/2006 1:16:55 AM

It sounds to me like maybe we should just return the favor to our international counterparts.

When an Italian visits, let's all make it a point to ask him why he put up with Silvio Berlusconi's corruption for so long. Let's ask the French why their people are burning cars in the streets, and why they won't approve their own EU Constitution. Or the Germans, why they can't form a stable government and create economic prosperity for everyone. As to Africa -- well, name your problem, it's there.

Maybe it just speaks better of us that we aren't so given to rank bigotry.

9/19/2006 4:20:33 AM

Americans simply lack etiquette. We are a culturally isolated society, and an American tourist is more likely to go somewhere and act like they would at home than say, a tourist from a European nation.

I would say the same is true for tourists from other culturally isolated nations such as China or Mexico. However, when Americans act like themselves, they are obnoxious and loud (when Chinese act like themselves, they are quiet, polite, subservient). Our natural attitude is one that rubs people the wrong way.

Quote :

"When an Italian visits, let's all make it a point to ask him why he put up with Silvio Berlusconi's corruption for so long. Let's ask the French why their people are burning cars in the streets, and why they won't approve their own EU Constitution. Or the Germans, why they can't form a stable government and create economic prosperity for everyone. As to Africa -- well, name your problem, it's there. Maybe it just speaks better of us that we aren't so given to rank bigotry."

Its not rank bigotry. Frank political discussion is much more common in European countries. Go ahead and ask those questions - youre likely to get an honest response.

9/19/2006 4:51:45 AM

sorry but I just have to comment on this specifically...

Quote :

"when Chinese act like themselves, they are quiet, polite, subservient"

Have you ever heard a Chinese person eat?!?!

It has to be the loudest, most impolite scene I can think of

9/19/2006 5:22:07 PM

Quote :

"Smoker4: When an Italian visits, let's all make it a point to ask him why he put up with Silvio Berlusconi's corruption for so long. Let's ask the French why their people are burning cars in the streets, and why they won't approve their own EU Constitution. Or the Germans, why they can't form a stable government and create economic prosperity for everyone. As to Africa -- well, name your problem, it's there. Maybe it just speaks better of us that we aren't so given to rank bigotry."

From what viewpoint?

Cultural bigotry exists. Ideological bigotry exists. How are either less extant than simple nationalized bigotry? Or institutionally and socially-reinforced bigotry?

Sounds to me like what we have here is a collision more defineable in other terms. Not between competing bigotries, but between competing levels of ignorance.

[Edited on September 19, 2006 at 10:29 PM. Reason : ...]

9/19/2006 10:28:23 PM