I just hate when they compare things like an Iranians ability to name the US president to an americans ability to name the Iranian president. It's easy for non-americans to know american facts because they are blitzed with about the US (they probably couldn't name the president or PM of most other countries), whereas, americans are expected to know details about every country of the world because thesecomparisons are done about americans and people of every other country. It's a useless exercise. Although, with all that's going on, these people had no reason not to know the president of iran or that tehran is the capital. the supreme leader is surely a little more difficult.
hardcore trancer
These guys did a wicked job in Iran and it was lots of fun watching their interviews with the people there.
Lemonad
quote:
Originally posted by jerZ07002
That was definitely well done.
I just hate when they compare things like an Iranians ability to name the US president to an americans ability to name the Iranian president. It's easy for non-americans to know american facts because they are blitzed with about the US (they probably couldn't name the president or PM of most other countries), whereas, americans are expected to know details about every country of the world because thesecomparisons are done about americans and people of every other country. It's a useless exercise. Although, with all that's going on, these people had no reason not to know the president of iran or that tehran is the capital. the supreme leader is surely a little more difficult.
What? How do you know they're blitzed about it? When i went to Iran, they had nothing to do with America on TV or anything trying to show who is who.
Just because the Americans were ignorant enough not to know who their enemy is should terrify everyone in this world.
jerZ07002
quote:
Originally posted by Lemonad
What? How do you know they're blitzed about it? When i went to Iran, they had nothing to do with America on TV or anything trying to show who is who.
perhaps blitz was an overzealous word choice. But, take a look at the world/international section of most non-US news websites. take a guess at which single country gets the most coverage (on average). Because of america's position at the top, american issues (e.g., our president, elections, etc...) get more worldwide coverage than events and news from any other country. Thus, when a comparison is drawn between an american's ability to recall the PM/president of a random country and a non-american's ability to recall the president of the US, it's not really a fair comparison. Can you name the leader of Costa Rica? I know I can't and I am more conscious of political issues in my hemisphere than most people. I bet most people in Costa Rica know the US president is Obama. Does that make them more aware of world events than you or me? Probably not, it just means that US issues have a broader reach than Costa Rican issues. I hope that clarifies the point of my last statement, which admittedly wasn't as well developed as it could have been.
Moreover, something most people from smaller countries tend not to consider about americans and our apparent lack of regard for international issues is the size of the US. Since the US is large geographically and in population, our domestic issues and news create a sizeable pool of information. In smaller countries, international news is necessary so that the people aren't reading about lost dogs and neighbor complaints. Clearly, some americans choose to be ignorant about international issues, but i will blindly guarantee that many non-americans are just as willfully ignorant of international issues.
As for Iranian TV devoting time slots specifically for american issues (or whatever you were trying to imply) and who is the president/speaker/minority whip, of course it would not! Implying that I even suggested that is ridiculous. Obviously, most knowledge is not developed in such ways, and people don't read for the sole purpose of developing a catalogue of useless information about american government.
quote:
Originally posted by Lemonad
Just because the Americans were ignorant enough not to know who their enemy is should terrify everyone in this world.
blah blah blah....who says iran is our enemy. Iran's president is everyone's enemy, but I don't consider Iran an enemy.
