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Originally Posted by MagicRat
^^ good point^^
I blame, in part, the poor education that American children receive about other countries; For example, how many Americans are forced to take American history, in school? (Everyone, right?)
Now, how many are forced to take European history or history of ancient civilizations?
Also, imo (to a certain extent) misguided patriotism that emphasizes "America is the best" is a problem here.
Some people take this to mean that other countries and cultures are not worthy of respect. Many American have little interest about learning about others.
As an example of this contempt, in recent years, some American journalists and writers etc, were encouraging the public to hate the French. The French????
France is the cradle of Western civilization and liberal democracy, upon which the US is based!! How does this make sense??
This is frustrating because pretty much all Americans I have met are very nice , but are still disliked overseas.
Finally, American foreign policy, such as support for Israel and certain recent military campaigns have tainted much foreign opinion of individual Americans, undeservedly so.
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I couldn't agree more with the both of you and it really saddens me to say that (not because of you, but because you're so right).
I can only hope that when my wife and I have children, we teach our children the value of respecting other cultures, especially when immersed in them.
And I really do think that there should be ancient civilizations taught in school. It was taught at my high school and I took it in college, but I know that not all schools offer such a course.
side note: I think I'm going to move this to politics.