Why are Americans so oblivious with respect to international politics?

Many Americans are not oblivious to international politics, but media folks like Time sure do like to treat us as if we are.
It’s a bit of a self fulfilling kind of thing. The media (not just Time) doesn’t give us any international news and then tells us it’s because we aren’t interested in it. How can we take an interest if we never hear about it? Americans have to actively seek out international news. It is rarely there for the taking, as is everything about Paris Hilton or some Kardashian whoever that is.

Aside from that being a sweeping statement, I would say that probably most people from wherever they are in the world don’t care one jot about what’s going on in the rest of their own country let alone the rest of the world, so long as it’s not directly affecting them. And even when it does affect them, politically speaking, they can seldom be arsed to do something about it.
I’m generalizing myself, but we’re talking most people here, and most people are the working-class and the disenfranchised.

I’m with @wilma on this. I never hear international news. How will I know to care about something, if I don’t know that it’s happening? I blame the American media for it, because I mainly see reports on sporting events and celebrities.

I don’t think it’s only America, but America does seem to be unique for a modern and developed country.

There could be many factors, including anti-intellectualism: if people are already denying basic scientific principles and complaining about having to pay taxes for their own citizens, why would they care about people outside of their country.

Then, there are the nationalistic principles: “who cares about other countries when there is America? That’s all the country this planet needs.” You can also add xenophobia in here as well. A large number of American don’t even have passports and many don’t even want to travel (and if they do, they don’t want to be around the culture much anyway).

@Rheto_Ric Good point about working people: who is going to care about Libya when they still need rent money or are tired from working 12 hour shifts.

Since America had so much power, especially economic power, for so long, I think the world kind of looked to us, not the other way around. If our economy was good, all was good as far as we were concerned, if Italy or Uruguay had a shitty few years….so? Now we are more intertwined economically and politically, and so we are a little more aware I think.

Also, most Americans felt very safe, and also tend to feel very “us and them” oriented. What was happening in other countries was not affecting the average American’s daily life as far as they could tell, and so they were disinterested, especially the generation born between 1965 and 1990 in my opinion. A great time of peace overall, and a great economy, with some dips now and again.

Then 911 happened, and I think awareness has increased again. We are more aware of the world, at least certain parts of the world.

Also, America is huge. Knowing what is going on in the 50 states is more than knowing what is going on in all of western Europe in a way. It is not really comparable of course, but really if you think of our population, varying climates, politics around the country, issues within different parts of our country, it is a lot. But, I do agree also that I find the news and media culpable, they don’t cover politics of other countries much, only when something crazy is going on. Not sure if it is the media choosing, or the media reacting to what the American viewer tunes into.

I’m apolitical and have been my entire life. I don’t know because I don’t care. Most is completely useless info. and I am not a slave to media. I do my part to make the world a better place but it doesn’t involve politics. I operate on a personal level and that’s good enough for me. I do have a passport and AM interested in other cultures but not necessarily their politics.

There is such a thing as TMI and, quite frankly, we’d all be better off being less informed rather than more

@Coloma “There is such a thing as TMI and, quite frankly, we’d all be better off being less informed rather than more.”

O.o Um, why?

Well, frankly, most Americans are so darned worried about not loosing their jobs that they generally accept the expectation to be “on call” 24/7. Combine that with the practical aspects of keeping the kids healthy and properly fed, not to mention to school on time. Then pile on top of that an extra curricular activity or two necessary to any well rounded upbringing and one pretty much runs out of bandwidth to wipe one’s own behind pretty quickly, much less have the time to worry about the prime minister of a country half way around the world who has very little impact on the day to day life of the average American.

@Blackberry Because, TMI just causes one to spin their wheels, unless you’re a world leader you simply don’t need to stay abreast if every little change in world politics. My goal is to reduce mindstuff not collect more. lol

@YoBob But, you have to admit that a lot of Americans listen to the same bullshit day after day on the news, or a news channel, or political show, and don’t bother to expand their horizons. How many times in a 24 period do we need to listen to a Republican or Democrat spin the same message?

@YoBob, the people who are reading Time magazine’s cover story about pet friends had time to read that crap. But Time (I suspect correctly) anticipated that those same people who choose to read about pet friends would choose not to read about foreign politics.

And people in other countries raise kids and go to work perfectly well while still being aware of the rest of the world.

@Coloma Yeah, unless one is trying to be a contestant on Jeopardy it’s not crucial to know as much as you can, just enough to not be sheltered.

@JLeslie – And exactly where do you expect them to turn for this expansion of their horizons. Don’t know about you, but I pay an absurd amount for a couple of hundred channels of not a damned thing worth watching (not that I really have time to watch TV anyway).

Although I admit I haven’t really looked but I darned sure haven’t seen an international news channel tucked in between the reality shows and other crap beamed into my home.

Ok, so let me revise the question slightly:

Given that American news outlets focus almost exclusively on domestic news, why is there no demand for this to change?

@YoBob That’s a fair comment. I sort of said the same thing above.

Some cities are better than others. Where I live there is very little choice. I can watch BBC America news. My parents get Al Jazeera and the Spanish stations. I still can’t believe I don’t get any Spanish stations where I live, but those are in Spanish, so that would not help the typical American anyway.

To be quite frank, it is because Grey’s Anatomy has more economic impact in Italy than the prime minister of Italy has on the American economy.

@nikipedia I think there is a demand for change, but people have given up on the “old media”. But more and more people are looking at different online sources for their news, including ones that cover international politics.

And, on our list of demands, this one might be really low on the list. If you had to choose between getting Time to change their covers, and getting local employers to hire more, which one would you choose?

The world according to Americans

@nikipedia I guess the same reason Americans don’t count bombs on our military ships or outside of our Embassy in foreign countries as terrorist attacks. If it isn’t right in our back yard affecting our day, a lot of Americans don’t relate. During the Obama McCain run the Republicans kept saying Bush had kept the country safe from terrorist attacks, the Dems let that ride, but we had had an attack outside of our Embassy in Yemen during Bush. I don’t get why that does not count? Al Qaeda was responsible for the attack.

It’s a chicken and egg situation. American people aren’t interested because the media don’t tell them and the media don’t tell them because the public aren’t interested. It’s not just politics, it is how people live their ordinary lives in different cultures that is interesting and the BBC World Service does a great job in providing this insight.

@Jaxk, I would be interested to see your sources for that.

@nikipedia

Besides all of the other points made above:

IMO, a lot of this has to do with what the US public schools taught us and currently teach our kids. There is an intense focus on American History. It’s common for kids to be taught World History in middle or high school.

IMO, most of us have been conditioned to care about the USA, and about little else.

@syz – As much as I would like to rush to the defense of America’s honor, that map is absolutely hilarious!

And, they don’t know a great deal about their neighbours to the North. ;)

I watch the CBC. Unbiased, international news there.

I have BBC, CNN and MSNBC on my XM radio quick pick. After listening to BBC for a while, I’m always appalled at how dumb downed our news is and at how sensationalized it is compared to “real” news.
I do have to admit, that although I may know more than the average guy about world affairs (in my hick town anyway) I still consider myself one of the ignorant masses. I listen to to much of that local (US) crap to ever get my head completely clear.

@Jude I sometimes watch CBC they have a lot more international news than all of the major US stations.

@Jude I only watched a little bit. Hahahahaha. Thing is, when they interview Americans about America it is just as bad. I would hope most Americans know Washington, DC is our capital, but not sure. A bunch of Americans would think DC is a state, which is wrong. To expect them to know the Capital of Canada is Ottawa when they are being told it is Toronto, is just too much. Plus, people don’t expect to be lied to when a camera is in their face.

@nikipedia

Here

It’s a collective self-absorption. We’re the guy at the table of nations who loves to talk about himself, but never expresses any interest in what anyone else has to say. I think this is the natural result of our pervasive culture of self. If it doesn’t directly affect me, why should I care?

@syz I can’t find it right now, but there was a map of what the world is to Europeans, and ¾ of America was labeled as Texas, lol.

” Plus, people don’t expect to be lied to when a camera is in their face.”

That’s a big part of it, I agree.

I find it cute that the young boy knew that Canada had provinces, not states and corrected Rick Mercer.

@Jude Awww, I missed that. I skipped around a lot. Have you seen that show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? I think it is amazing how much I have forgotten or don’t know. LOL. Last episode I watched they had on Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and oy, they really did not make pretty women, cheerleaders, or Texas look good.

I wonder if the average Italian citizen is aware of the state of affairs in California? I doubt it.
@Blackberry Right, my sentiments exactly. :-)
When I travel abroad I am always privy through friends and hosts of the political climate. I don’t plan on going to Pakistan anytime soon, sooo….and, if we get nuked tonight, well..I’ll know., or preferably not know, until after I’m dust.
Probably was a good idea to not buy that rundown coffee plantation in Brazil once upon a time. I just swing with the monkys and hope the Sardinistas don’t spot my blonde pigtails in the jungle. lol

I DO know about all the high risk areas for animal attacks. Crocs in Africa, Cougars and bears in Canada, Tigers, Leopards, Bamboo vipers, Cobras and Kraits in India and other asian countries. Shit..you’re more likely to take a hit from a deadly snake than you are a “Guerilla.” lol

Travel with me, you might get shot but you won’t bend over the watering holes at dusk or dawn. haha

I don’t believe we can truly blame the media for this, many Americans have access to the internet and many frequented sites, such as yahoo, have news of things going on worldwide on that homepage. True, it’s not often that such news takes a headline spot, but it’s there. I do understand that many Americans are much more focused on their daily lives and what is going on around them/directly affects them, and frankly that’s not a bad thing. But for those say with a yahoo email account, it doesn’t hurt or take much time to scroll through the yahoo homepage and at least find a few international articles. Those who don’t take the time to do so even every now and then, those I think you can label as the oblivious and willingly ignorant fools.

I do feel oblivious about the world, but not just the ‘rest’ of the world, most of the US too (like Iowa…) Everything is so tightly contained in the media, and the same few stories are repeated past recognition, and most of the over-hyping in the presentation makes me feel sick, so I hardly watch anyway.
Most of my awareness of the world now comes from listening to NPR, which seems to at least repeat less, whatever I run into online (and I do search and look,) and whatever worldy-questions pop up on Fluther.
It’s not because I don’t want to know, though. I’m at a bit of a loss of how to, and how to know the information I’m getting is even accurate—because I’m not there, I don’t know. I don’t fully trust most of what I hear, I don’t feel like I can, and I’m not exactly sure where that mistrust comes from. It gets wearisome sometimes.

As for the Time cover spectacle—I saw the first online-uproar via a picture going around Facebook. It was an image of Time’s December cover in four different locations—USA, Europe, Asia, South Pacific. “REALLY?” (said the caption) “You know we have the internet, right?”

So I went to Time’s website to see the December edition for myself. Here

And then sent an email to a few people, with the subject: TIME: “Why Anxiety is Good for You” (aka, in the US, we sell you, you).

The nice thing about seeing the actual Time website, is they also show you the contents of the magazine, for each region they send it to. Another layer of interesting.
Apparently, from the magazine covers, they feel like Americans need a drastically different visual-grab than the rest of the world.
On the contents, it’s a little murkier, but something immediately clear—it’s four different magazines, essentially. Each region has a different selection of articles. (The US’ contents page is noticably longer in this particular month, but it also has an article about Burberry coats…) I’m not sure what the differences mean, I just notice that they’re there, which makes the selection of articles for each region seem eerily tailored.

This issues reminds me of an information-version of the controversies over how magazines photoshop Beyonce—lightening or darkening her true skin tone. I couldn’t find it, but there was one magazine that, with the exact same picture, gave Beyonce a different skin tone for each world region (darker for Africa, lighter for Europe/US, more tan for Asia) targetting the supposed majority skin tone in each area. That was disheartening to hear about, too.

There’s something wrong when the media’s trying so hard to SELL that they censor content to please the local viewers, or to seemingly please… Feeding us what they want us to see, or what they think we want to see, or what we, in our specific cultures, expect to see…

We can’t be a true global community if each country/nation/culture/region is only fed bits, slanted bits, of the whole… we already all disagree on plenty.
If this is the way everything’s done… no wonder we all feel so divided.

Still, Time sells. We buy.

But maybe I’m reading too much into it. I don’t feel yet like I know enough about the world to tell if I am or not, sadly.

Hey, I posted a new follow-up question, asking everyone on this thread where they go for international news. So go check that out!

The way I see it is, America is a co-dependent country, we have always stuck our noses in other countries biz. wanted or not. There’s a lot to say about MYOB!
I don’t think it is narcissistic so much as HEALTHY to NOT become overly involved in things beyond ones control and out of ones realm of intervention.

I like asking ” Whose biz. am I IN, My own. someone else, or Gods?”

If you would like to see some decent news coverage (politics and current affairs), go here.

TVO

(Have a look to the left side of the page ^^)

For most Americans, it’s like other countries simply don’t exist. There’s a reason they call it the “world series”.

Being aware is not the same as being obsessive.

From my traveling experience I would say that Americans are no different than the citizens of any other country. Most know the president of the USA is Obama because the USA is a major player, but if you ask anyone anywhere the PM of Australia or who lives at number 10 at the moment, you get a lot of blank stares.

I think people just like to blame yanks for everything. I am constantly telling people that Americans are no different than any other group of people, some really good ones and some total anal openings.

@rooeytoo have I told you lately that I love you?

Collective narcissism, which is especially widespread in parts of the Republican party and their voters.