Why do Americans (US) know so little about Canada?

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Snow Globe

Give Americans, and everyone else a break! In every country, students learn mostly about their own nation and culture. The problem with being an American is that our country is prominent on the world scene, so non-Americans learn quite a bit from the news and mass media. Unfortunately, much of this is untrue, but still, they often know more about Americans than some Americans will know about them. Non-Americans can get bent out of shape over this, but that's the way it is. I know more about Angelina Jolie than she knows about me. Boy, is she ignorant!

Now, if this survey was conducted on Yahoo Answers, is it any surprise that many of the answers were insulting? I always say, if you go to Yahoo looking for answers, you'll get answers from yahoos. I could write a book listing the things I like about Canada. I have never come across one American who feels "superior" to Canadians. Depending on the region they come from, they might feel more or less different, but never superior. I lived in Canada (Winnipeg) for many years, and all of my children (grown) live there now. Since I came from the northern states, I felt very much at home there. I think it's a great place and love the people (except when they bash the US, based on nonsensical journalism and the garbage the California entertainment industry pumps out). Be patient with people.

Jackie

Definitely ignorance.

Most Americans don't even know United States history very well unfortunately, let alone about other countries. I don't feel any more superior than a Canadian however. You guys have better healthcare, a beautiful, scenic, natural environment (especially in places like British Columbia), you provide Americans with great entertainment (singers/bands, wrestlers, actors, etc.) and Canada is generally more liberal/open-minded than the US (some people see secular Canada as bad, but to me, it just shows that Canada is more tolerant/acceptive towards race, religion, sexuality, etc.) The USA doesn't quite live up to its "land of the free" motto. But Canada comes pretty close. And for the 5th good thing about Canada...hockey!

Britney Spears: "I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada."
(just had to add that in lol...)

:: Coast.al

Haha I LOVE this question because it's true.

I work for a company with most if not all of our clients in the US. When they are asking for our mailing address 9/10 will ask me to spell Canada.

positivepowerdaddy

I have to aggree with Jackie most American are ignorant when it come to anything outside of our own world. our education system doesn't teach us about other countries.

euroteacher0

I have never been to Canada but from what I've heard, it sounds beautiful. Some Americans have a superiority complex in relation to other countries, but really, once the economy really takes a dive, they'll lose that. Canada is such a balanced, clean, and consciencious country...I would love to visit or even live there (and I'm American.)

Ina

Well, this is hard to say and might not even apply to all Americans, because humans are just different.
My general experience was (as a European) living there for some years, that people were interested in you and your country, when they met you, but their overall information about other countries sometimes was quite bad.
Why can something like that happen?
Well, one theory I would like to put forward is, that the larger your country gets, the less interested are you in other countries, as you have enough news coming out of your 50 states. For the US you can also add, people on the East Coast know more about Europe were as people on the West Coast know more about Asia and possibly the same is there for North and South.
I can imagine that someone from Florida really is not interested in anything from Canada, as to the north he has first Washington and then New York or to the south the Caribbean see. The United States are so culturally diverse, that possibly Canada just sometimes does not get into their mind.
I know Canada a bit and love it a lot, especially due to the people, culture and nature you can find there.
But for Americans, this might not be too special, they also have their Rockies and Alaska is also just so far up north.
We also should look at the historic side, which might have caused some of the ignorance. Canada has remained in the Commonwealth for centuries, still being closely connected to the United Kingdom, were the US declared independence. Maybe they just feel themselves as the better and more free people, compared to the country up north who stuck to old allies.
Many things today though are driven by the media. Schools can only teach you so much about other countries, but the most important thing is that you stay interested in other people and countries. But just this bit was my biggest problem in the US, as I felt so disconnected from decent news stations and the world. Everything was pretty much broad casted on the local level and my only connection to Europe was BBC world radio on public radio.
This disconnect peaked on 9/11, when I actually really started to hate the US broadcasting system and just turned to the web and European news.

So in essence, people believe in what they are told and I surely do not want to start a debate on the US media here.
I still think it is a great country, with great people and friends, but we should not forget to keep also ourselves free from the images that are shown to us about them.

Ina

Snorkie

I DO NOT THINK THE AMERICANS DO IT ON PURPOSE .... THINK THEY MIGHT JUST BE A BIT UNEDUCATED OR IGNORANT. PERHAPS THEIR SCHOOL EDUCATION SYSTEM IS TO BLAME. DO NOT THINK THEY DO MUCH GEOGRAPHY ABOUT OTHER COUNTRIES. YOU SHOULD FEEL SORRY FOR THEM. THERE ARE SO MUCH THINGS TO LEARN ABOUT OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

I'm Macedonian!!!

they know so little about everything!!!!

John M aka Needs More Cowbell

Canada is a beautiful country with very nice people.
The insulting ones are just ignorant kids...

Jill

I believe it's just ignorance. Probably due to many factors: the education system, family, media etc. Not only are they not provided with knowledge about other countries, but they are told that they are the greatest, to the exclusion of others. I was taught that Canada (I'm Canadian) is great, but I was also taught to appreciate other countries/cultures. I agree with the poster above that it's just sad. The world has so much to offer...

â™ª~â™¦ Eternal Stream â™¦~â™«

it seems like ur saying all americans or states people feel superior to canadians T.T well its not like that *sniff* anywayz... canadians rule! they're so nice =3 well my online friends who are candians are ._.

Lets play Russian Roulette

I think Ina is exactly right!! I'm American and i agree w/ basically everything she said.

kenoplayer

It's not just Canada that they are ignorant about. They are ignorant about anyplace outside of their borders. Kind of like a one-track mind mentality.

alphadelicious

I'm Canadian, and I think "Because it's north of the US" was just a joke response - a lot of posters on this site just want to have fun rather than post a serious response. It's not that they're ignorant - if the thread was, say, "Can you list five good things about UK?", I bet some people will respond "They don't have teeth" or something as a joke. I bet if somone posted the same question about the US in the Canada forum, the best response would be "because they have Bush LOLLLLLL!!!" or something like that.

Karolina D

My favorite show is Jeopardy, and I watch it almost every day when I can. Those Americans know almost everything about every country... oops, I am sorry, am I stereotyping?

Canadian

Face it; Americans are simply jealous of our healthcare system, our old Imperial status and the fact that we actually win the wars we get in to.

chardun20

Canada doesn't offer anything that the U.S., except half the people speak French. I know a few people that think Canada is a state.

harry k

The population of the US is 300+million.
The population of Canada is 30+ million.
The population of Oklahoma is 3+ million.

Why do Canadians know so little about Oklahoma?

Think about relative significance of the three and you will understand.

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