Gennifer Flowers.

[Dill]

(10-09-2016, 09:50 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Oh there was that, but I am curious as to whether that's an American thing or if it goes both ways.  

The issue is not whether we think the other guys are great or limp-wristed, like Browns wondering what Ravens fans think of them.


People in many countries play very close attention to US politics and what the US thinks of them, because US politics affect them very directly, especially in the Mideast.  Even an American living in some Middle-Eastern countries can get very nervous about news from the U.S. and its impact on the local economy or politics. 

On the other hand, in some developing countries (Like India and Afghanistan), there are vast swaths of uneducated populace who know little about the U.S. beyond what they see in media and advertising. Some want to keep U.S. commercialism out of their culture, and so show no curiosity about the U.S. or what we think of them at all.  Others, especially the young, are enamored of the U.S. lifestyle as portrayed in movies and tv commercials, but are not necessarily curious about what we think of them.  The urban and educated, though, are almost always very curious and sometimes worried about what we think. Right wing nationalists in countries like India and Pakistan tend to be very curious about what our politicians think, not so much our public.

In Germany and the Scandinavian countries, most students come out of the Gymnasium reasonably fluent in English and easily able to watch our media and read our news reports.  So they are very aware of how media filter news through differing national perspectives, and often maintain an interest in international news long after school. Relatively few Americans can follow foreign language press.  So what they know of the world is filtered largely through our media and our interests--especially regarding Middle East politics.  Doubly filtered if Fox is your primary source, explaining why "they" hate us today. The higher the level of development, political democracy and education, they more "they" seem interested in us.

If you see important political or economic connections between the U.S. and Europe which can be affected by U.S. elections then the question of what "they" think of us becomes very interesting, sometimes concerning. Everywhere I have traveled, I have met people who know a lot about the U.S. but take it for granted that Americans don't know much about their culture or their region. That ignorance and incuriousity seems to be an internationally recognized trait.

From my perspective, the main reason for finding out what "they" think is that one learns a lot about one's own country from "them", how it is actually acting and perceived to be acting in the world. The political groups in the US which I presently regard as most threatening to democracy exhibit the least curiosity about what "they" think and concoct foreign policy proposals based upon a mythology of Cold War Victory. The less they know or care about what "they" think, the less likely that mythology will be dis-confirmed or even challenged.

PS are Austrians our "allies"? They aren't NATO signatories.