"Why We Still Don't Get It - One Year On"

[Coolville]

Americans are ignorant about the outside world mainly because most of what we're told about it is little more than semi-official propaganda. Our political leaders portray the acts of our government, military and corporations in the best possible light, and our news media do little to challenge these self-serving declarations.

I spent six months travelling the world before and after September 11, gathering impressions about my homeland. I interviewed a wide range of people in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Today, as the Bush administration prepares to attack Iraq, I recall a comment by Ana, an intellectual in Barcelona, shortly after September 11: "Many of us have American friends, but we wish they would think a little more about their government, because we have to live with America's politics, and that is often difficult, especially when war is in the air."

Would outsiders be more forgiving if they knew how little critical information we Americans receive about our government's foreign policy? Even sophisticated foreign observers don't appreciate how poorly served Americans are by our media and education systems, how narrow the range of information and debate is in "the land of the free".

For example, last year's terrorist attacks presented an eerie coincidence to anyone familiar with the real history of American foreign policy. September 11 is also the date - in 1973 - when a coup encouraged by the US overthrew a democratically elected government in Chile. The official death toll in Chile, 3,197, was remarkably close to the number of lives lost to terror 28 years later in America. This disquieting piece of deja vu passed unremarked in American coverage.

So think twice, foreign friends, before judging my compatriots too harshly. Americans suffer daily from pseudo-news that parrots the pronouncements of the powerful and illuminates nothing but the corporate bottom line. Is it any wonder we don't understand the world around us?

Mark Hertsgaard is an American journalist. His latest book is The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World

The above is an edited excerpt from an article in The Guardian

 

[teddybear4play]

The sad thing is that this joker actually listed a real big reason why Americans don't "get it":

Originally written by some shmuck named Mark Hertsgaard
I recall a comment by Ana, an intellectual in Barcelona, shortly after September 11: "Many of us have American friends, but we wish they would think a little more about their government, because we have to live with America's politics, and that is often difficult, especially when war is in the air."

And how much does Spain's foreign policy affect us? Nil. Our own vastness of country and isolation from the rest of the world by two huge oceans are a disservice in this case.

But of course, it's got to just be the corporate-controlled media. When in doubt, always blame the corporate-controlled media.

TB4p

 

[Rex1960]

Yes - those americans know nothing about the rest of the world...

Now lemme try this.
As far as I remember you're from Denmark, right ?
Now Denmark is slightly less than twice the size of Massachusetts (I don't count the Faroe Islands and Greenland).
The United States of America are about 2.5 the size of Western Europe.
Guess it takes you longer to drive from NorthHollywood to Anaheim than from Arhus to Hamburg. Oh wait - on the one hand you're still in the same LosAngeles on the other hand you already crossed a boarder.

Now let's draw a line from let's say Seattle,Wash to let's say Miami, Fl. ....guess that is something like 4500km.

If you'd start in Copenhagen and draw such a line to the south, where are you ? Somewhere in NorthAfrica ? Mali ?
Now please, Coolville, tell me what the danish people know about Mali.

Just in case you get me wrong. I don't blame the danish for their lack of knowledge about Mali.

 

[SINthysist]

LOL Rex. You've been having quite a go at Cool. Cool...

I think size-wise and per capita-wise, Denmark is comparable to Johnson County, Kansas.

But, then Europe is like a box of choc'lates...,

You never know what you're going to get!

 

[April]

Hell, I can drive through three different countries in the space of twenty minutes.

But the point of lack of information is correct. Direct comparison between living in the States and in Europe. Stateside news is local oriented, and if something happens elsewhere, you're likely not to hear about it. And if you don't know that something happened, you're not going to go looking for more info about it. Therefore, you're stuck in a loop of not knowing anything.

If that makes any sense.

And on a second point, "we the people" have virtually no control over our government. These jokers get elected, and immediately proceed to do what the fuck they want with no regard to the people that got them elected. Fucking politicians.

Okay, gotta run.

 

[weed]

Oooooh, can I have the one with nuts and caramel....you don't mind if I bite into each until I find it, do you?

I need something to munch while I check out the headlines to see what the media has chosen to tell me about what the government and politicians have chosen to tell them while the corporations decide what information is best for their market.

Um, is that how it goes? I don't blame them (I wouldn't tell everything) but I do take what I read with a grain of salt.

Unless I can get another chocolate.

Are those German chocolates?

 

[Lost Cause]

I've been to Europe...

Virtually all of it has the charm of a Louisiana Bayou! As for our World leadership, it's like having to make spoiled children eat their vegetables. They don't know it at the time, but the vitamins are good for them. They'll thank us someday. Nah, they won't!

 

[SINthysist]

Hey, that's a highway sign that points both ways. I know the English don't have the slightest clue about what America is and what goes on here and how we arrive at our conclusions.

p_p_man is proof enough!

 

[SINthysist]

I want the one with the squishy center. That would be France. A champaign bon-bon of a country...

Nose up Frenchmen! Nose up...

 

[Coolville]

oh dear.

You disappoint me, boys. I expected much more from you than Driving Times - A Comparative Study.

It may only be 2000 miles from north to south and east to west, but what does that have to do with the american writer's article?

we have more people 350 million in the EU, plus the rest of Europe. But what does that have to do with your state-influenced media?

As for Mali, you had no way of knowing, of course, but Mali is one of the main recipients of Danish Aid and hundreds of Danes are working down there, so it is in the news quite a bit. In fact, one of my mates, an engineer, is headed there next month to study the underground water resevoirs.

so.... nice try.

 

[SINthysist]

You know, when you put too many rats in a cage, they begin to get very neurotic and exhibit anti-social behaviors...

 

[bluespoke]

Hey, that's a highway sign that points both ways. I know the English don't have the slightest clue about what America is and what goes on here and how we arrive at our conclusions.

p_p_man is proof enough!

So true, the ENGLISH don't have a clue!

 

[SINthysist]

What's your tax rate?

 

[Coolville]

As for the dumbing down of America, if a citizen of any other country finishes high school, or their local equivalent, they can start study at a Scandinavian university.

If you're American, you have to have a college degree before you can even get into a Scandinavian university.

This is due to the fact that so many American students on exchange were found to be so far behind their local counterparts.

Which shows how low the American education system is regarded.

If more than a measly 6% of the American population had a passport, went out and saw the world, that might help educate them.

 

[SINthysist]

And didn't you begin this with a C&P? How original do we need to be?












Hey Blues, not ignoring you. Just no need to disagree ...

 

[SINthysist]

It takes a liketime to absorb the wonders of this continent.

Remember, we brought the best of Europe with us...

 

[Coolville]

What's your tax rate?

I assume that is for me... another irrelevant drift from the original topic but...

between 38 and 60, depending on how much you make. that, of course, pays for the schools, uni's, hospitals, bike paths, subsidies on renewable energy, etc. Long list.

But while the tax rate is higher, it is tough to compare, since we make more money - but that is only an exchange rate question. a full time bartender makes $40,000/annum.

So if you come over here from the States, things are expensive. But they aren't for us.

 

[Coolville]

It takes a liketime to absorb the wonders of this continent.

Remember, we brought the best of Europe with us...

Indeed....

America is not so much the home of a great civilisation as a collection of rural peasant worlds displaying hybrid vigour in their transplantion from other continents.
Richard North

 

[SINthysist]

I'll bet there are some gawd-damned dumb uneducated Danes too. Of course you have more who leave the country, where else are you going to go on a short drive? Hell, my maternal grandmother was a Swede, and she wasn't THAT bright. Just blonde...

People iz people.

 

[SINthysist]

And doesn't that quote sum up Europe's view of the America's. And Africa. And Australia. And Russia. And China...

 

[SINthysist]

Quit nicely put.

 

[bluespoke]

I'd like to propose a new thread. One for the exclusive use of REDWAVE and Coolville to expound all their 'we hate America' thoughts and for p_p to pop in occasionally with his Dubya rants.

Then the rest of us can have some fucking peace from this interminable vituperation!

 

[SINthysist]

Sorry blues, I disagree...

There's a big, big, huge even, difference between hate and petty jealousy.

 

[SINthysist]

If I wanted peace and quiet, I'd go out on the back balcony and listen to the cows and the dogs waking up while I waited for the dawn...

 

[Coolville]

LOL!
"Discussing" with all you fundamentalists is like wandering down the halls of an insane asylum. Nobody sticking to the thread topic, mumbling out of turn, shouting suddenly about something completely different, forgetting the question, answering another one from the voice inside your head..

it never fails to amuse me.