OK, so off-topic posting is more fun than the OP topic, and even sanctioned by a mod, then, heh why not?
Earlier, I recounted some personal anecdotal stories as to how foreigners know more about the US than an American knows about the international world. This is easy to imagine.
Let's pick a random citizen of Azerbaijan, one of Peru, and one average American. Though I have not been to the above two countries, I would bet that the Azerbaijan and the Peruvian would know something about America, while the typical American may not be able to say a whole lot about these two countries. The knowledge possessed by the foreigners may be very superficial, but my point is that they know something, while the American may have problems placing these countries on the world map.
But why the above is true is palpable. The US is like a cheerleader in a high school. All eyes are on her. Every of her moves is observed, and which easily becomes a topic for gossip, no matter how well she behaves. On the other hand, how can our cheerleader know about what each geek in her classes is up to?
Oh, I know some will say that this cheerleader has done some mischief
. But, but, but my point is that no matter what she does, all eyes are on her, and she simply cannot return the same attention to the entire school.
The world seems to follow American politics as much as US citizenry does. And in the couple of incidences that I personally encountered and recounted earlier, some foreigners acted like they wanted to be able to cast some votes in our election too.
Good grief! The typical American does not follow elections in other countries that closely. He could hardly keep up with gubernatorial election in nearby states (unless it is populous and interesting like California, of course
).
PS. I forgot to point this out. How much do our Azerbaijan and Peruvian know about each other?