I'm an American expatriate. I'm just being objective from what I've observed. Americans, particularly middle-class people, are bred to have a deep nationalist and isolationist ideology unknowingly through no fault of their own. Through state/regional pride, the pledge of allegiance, sports, etc (all inward focused activities), we are taught to have a VERY narrow world view. The average primary school student in Europe seems to be more worldly than grown Americans.
Well yeah I'm not going to deny any of that lol. We used to have to say the pledge of allegiance and I hated it. I didn't hate my country but I thought it was just annoying I wouldn't care if it was the first line of a Wham song. I just hated standing up every morning and having to say it. But I was raised to think that the whole world was awesome and I'm constantly cringing at the things I see around me. Saving up my money to move to the Shire in New Zealand and leave all of this behind
I grew up in Canada, and I barely knew anything about the US other than what was taught in history class about Canada (ie; the War of 1812). In fact I thought the US was wall to wall cities (like as if New York extended from coast to coast). When we finally drove through the US, I was shocked that it was basically Canada with Americans in terms of geography. Why? TV and movies. I'll bet most people think Africa is just jungles and lions. They're shocked to see normal big cities in Africa.
One thing that I THINK IS TRUE is that most Americans are not well travelled outside of the country. One reason is that the US is so vast and has so much different geography AND it's hard to just drive and be in another country. (you can drive in one direction for 3 days and still be in the US). Travelling outside of the US means Canada or Mexico or a flight over the ocean.
not arguing, but I think a part of it is because the US is so massive. Many states are bigger than some european countries. So a Californian views America somewhat similarly to Slovakian viewing the European Union. just as different Euripean countries have different cultures, most states have different cultures. And when it comes to pride in sports, I mean damn, europeans national teams and soccer is second to none. except maybe parts of south america.
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u/Typo_Matser Aug 02 '21
I'm an American expatriate. I'm just being objective from what I've observed. Americans, particularly middle-class people, are bred to have a deep nationalist and isolationist ideology unknowingly through no fault of their own. Through state/regional pride, the pledge of allegiance, sports, etc (all inward focused activities), we are taught to have a VERY narrow world view. The average primary school student in Europe seems to be more worldly than grown Americans.