Are Americans Stupid?
Dmitri May 21st, 2007
If you travel to Europe or advanced countries in Asia like Japan, China, Singapore, etc. you will know what I mean. Americans are generally thought of as stupid and ignorant people in these countries and often become objects of mockery. Although the stereotype is not fair, it does have some factually and statistical basis which gives the world this stereotype.
Unlike what Americans like to believe it is not that the world hates their freedom and democracy that causes them to stereotyped. It is the way they project themselves around the world and their own behaviour which causes the world to see them as stupid. If democracy and freedom were the cause then countries like France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark or Singapore would have been better targets than USA for getting stereotyped. Yet these countries are highly respected in the world for their strong democracy with a healthy mix of liberalism and nationalism.
A video survey which portrays Americans as idiots. (Click on video to play)
In most places around the world from Tokyo to Caracas, most people can easily spot out an American within the first few minutes of interaction. This shows there is something in an American which makes them different from the similar looking but easy-to-blend-in citizens of Europeans. Today the world outside America has become an unpleasant and sometimes dangerous place for Americans to travel or visit. A European or an Asian isn’t such a target of the world mockery or dislike as an American is. Europeans and Asians generally find more acceptance in the world outside their countries as compared to an American.
I will point out a few reasons in the future articles why Americans get dubbed as stupid around the world. If they take care to avoid things and situations which puts a stamp of disapproval of them among the Europeans and Asians, they would have a much better and safer time around the world. Not all Americans fit these points but statistically a large majority of them do which is why a Google search for Americans Stupid brings up at least 2,230,000 results.
Possibly Related posts:
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- Are Americans Stupid? - Statistics, Studies and Research
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- Europe’s Hatred for America - Imaginary or Real?
- Travelling With Your Laptop - Before You Leave
- America , Internationalism , World Culture
- Comments(23)
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I live in America and I cannot believe how stupid and ignorant people are here. I am seriously contemplating moving as soon as I finish my degree. The rest of the world has it right about most Americans, we deserve the reputation we have obtained.
[...] had a couple of posts concerning people’s perception of Americans around the world and the things American tourists do to enforce that perception. Now we come to the [...]
A video like this is easy to make anywhere in the world. If you ask 100 people a question, you will get a stupid answer.
At least one of the people was obviously homeless. How educated are homeless people anywhere in the world?
Furthermore, it looks like the map was mislabeled to intentionally mislead people.
If you put a camera in most people’s faces, they are going to follow where the interviewer leads them because they are afraid to disagree with the person in the position of power and because Americans are generally trusting.
Americans are generally not extremely bright about the world, but that video is an exaggeration.
The video is just a survey to portray Americans as stupid as pointed above, it is more of a case of ‘leading the witness’ as you pointed above. To be honest I do not really appreciate the choice of video to the above post as it dilutes the matter of the article itself.
Even if we were to go by facts and take statistical information and practical experiences with resident Americans into question, a majority of them are isolationists and unaware of the world compared to Europe or Asian countries. Apart from this, in general intelligence, the average American citizen gets beaten down by their European or Asian counterparts.
Ha ha you are right Dmitri most of the Americans are too clueless about the world and would not even give a damn when they are in a foreign country. There are golden anecdotes of americans shouting is busy markets in here “How much is that in REAL money?”. For them a Euro of any currency is secondary to dollar.
Yea America so bad. That is why we pay 22% of the all United Nations expenditures, compared with China’s 1.53% and Russia’s 1.2%. Wow. At least non the ex Warsaw Pact countries want to join NATO, oh yea….
Further, as an “Isolationist”, I would like to know what is wrong with trading with anyone who wants to trade with us and that is it. That is the only contact we need to have. What they do in other countries that aren’t our allies I could care less.
And the better question would be,
Are Europeans lazy?
How does US contribution to UN, an organisation it funded and controls, has anything to do with how stupid (or not) Americans are? Speaking of UN contributions, there is no reason China and Russia should fund so extensively an organisation which is practically a political tool for US. It is not hard to understand why the world disregards the UN to such an extent that it is held less relevant than G8, EU, ASEAN, CIS or other international organisations.
Maybe you could enlighten others on the answer to your question. If you have a definite and clear argument I won’t mind putting it up as a guest post.
Personally I think being somewhat lazy is better than being hyperactive but stupid. The mess in Iraq wouldn’t have been if only there were more lazy people in US administration (and military) rather than narrow minded but hyperactive administrators. But then, it is only my personal opinion which I doubt would be appreciated here.
If Americans are so stupid why do we rule the world? The richest country is America and it is more powerful than any country in the world.
@ ericoak
“That is why we pay 22% of the all United Nations expenditures, compared with China’s 1.53% and Russia’s 1.2%. Wow. At least non the ex Warsaw Pact countries want to join NATO, oh yea….”
Really brilliant, I am astounded. Do you know that the neither China nor Russia have any serious consideration of UN in their policies. They know that the UN is nothing but a foreign policy tool for America, to be weilded as they please and to be blackmailed with disregard when it seems to go against them. As for a couple of ex-Warsaw countries joining NATO I don’t see anything which puts a halo around the American head. In fact I am forced to conclude you lack logic, plain and simple. A lot of Europeans joined Nazis and Fascists during World War 2, in the beginning even the US corporates funded Nazis to power. Does that alliance make the Nazis good? Just because someone wants to join an organisation does not make that organisation good. Oh well I forgot it is an American I am talking with, I hate to say it but I am yet to meet an American who has shown a trace of reason and logic. Maybe I haven’t come across them or maybe they just don’t exist.
” What they do in other countries that aren’t our allies I could care less.”
That still doesn’t give you a justification to conduct mass genocides. If the Americans kept their noses out of other countries’ businesses, no one would have cared what they are. But they deserve to mess with countries selectively, to mess with countries where they have strategic interests and ignore countries where they don’t. Living in American and brainwashed by your propaganda media you might not be able to understand it. But don’t expect the rest of the world to be a bunch of idiots.
Americans are understood as stupid because of their unique mixture of one part arrogance to three parts ignorance… a combination that does not go down well with other inhabitants of this planet!
Here’s the problem. I would say, in general, that the average American is just about as smart as the average person from anywhere else. However, I think our stupidest people may be stupider than your stupidest people (wherever you are). I believe it stems from the “we’re the greatest country in the world” mentality that seems to have people in its grip. In any case, the U.S. will need to get over itself because, in the ensuing decades, arrogance and ignorance are becoming increasingly dangerous. (did I leave out hypocrisy and xenophobia?)
@ peacekeeper
The US is richest, and maybe the most powerfull?
does’nt mean a mojoraty of americans aren’t stupid.
and the US dont rule the world, explains everything about America aint it, a bit like Nazi Germany and you know what they lost.
Haven’t americans learn’t there lessons by now……………… Stalingrad,Korea,Veatnam(twice),Iraq (twice) and know powerfull Iran.
US is a bit like a Barbarian cant live without a war or invading another country.
Talking about above video…
I see no proof that it is filmed in America (except American flag waving in background in first sequence) & no exact figures are disclosed of how many people were asked & how many of them given a right answer & how many wrong… Film might be made up with solid intention to prove Americans as an Idiots.
anyways…assuming it as genuine, we must say that Americans are lousy in General Knowledge - GK, but calling them Idiot is really embarrassing for any American. lets not forget that ALL Americans are Not Idiots… (as blog creator mentioned in his intro.)
I think computers which we are using right now had most of its inventors in America. I think that also denotes something.
We shouldn’t confuse ourselves into difference between GK & Intelligence.
@Peacekeeper
Educate yourself with economics that Richest country in the world is Luxembourg $ 68,800 GDP - per capita.
USA ranks 6th with $ 43,500 GDP - per capita.
I think guys like you are the main cause why Americans are notorious as Idiots.
@nofal
Hey… you are the Pakistani guy who gone crazy in India Vs Pakistan Military Strength right?
brother at least you shouldn’t nag Americans…they pour billions of $ every year on your country to feed you. don’t they? of course not for charity, but to have wars. & they do.
As an American, I am deeply hurt by the terrible things that the rest of the world associates with Americans. It is difficult not to take these comments personally. I wish there was something I could do to change the world view of Americans. I do not even know where to start, frankly. It seems like we are in too deep.
Many Americans are good people with good intentions. They believe what they are told by a censored media and are sheltered by what I would consider to be “big brother.” It is really hard to find a good news station that does not just report on the latest celebrity drama.
One day the most interesting thing reported on my local news station was that a family had their pet deer taken away because it is illegal for deer to be domesticated as pets. Honestly, this is the news most people get!!! We cannot tell you about what went on in China today, but we can sure tell you what happened to little “Snowball” the deer. It’s sad, really.
My personal theory is that the United States government wants to keep its citizens uninformed. We are much easier to control this way. If we are stupid, we will not venture outside of our “American” bubble and question the staus quo.
I believe that most Americans could not handle the truth about our dealings in world affairs. We choose to stay in our little bubbles, because things have gotten so far out of our control that we do not know how to cope. We want and need change in our country, but its almost like an addiction that we cannot face yet.
We hide behind the cloak of religion to justify our actions. I often feel the only sane person in the room, with regard to this. However, it is what it is. Either conform to some degree or be burned at the stake as a witch.
I guess my point is, I understand the concept that Americans are perceived as idiots. We are! Just understand that not all of us chose this for ourselves, we were just born here. If you had a terrible president like Bush, little to no help for health care costs, a chronic addition to McDonalds, a failing public education system and religious fanatics sponsoring every gig in your town, not only would you be drugged up with the latest anti-depression medication, you would also be an idiot with regard to international affairs too.
Just my two cents.
mypetviola you’re obviously not any old stupid American so there’s no need to be insulted you’re not the problem. In fact you’re assessment of the “American problem” was so clear and honest I can’t find a flaw in anything you said. You should find solace in the fact that you are not just some idiotic “average joe” and take pride in the fact that you display a degree of understanding which puts most (if not all) so called American politicians to shame.
The last time I travelled in Europe, I was at a business conference. When I said that my country represented Canada and the US, I was cautioned to say only Canada. The reason became very clear over the next few days. While Americans may think Canadians are just like them, we are certainly not, and there is a large difference between how Canadians are treated and Americans. Incidentally, our offices were only one border and state apart from the American company. I was invited to after-meeting suppers and parties, they weren’t. I watched the subtle body language change from respective listening at my questions to almost hostile when they did.
The American group wasn’t loud, annoying or boisterous. However, their business practice was, shall we say, aggressive, telling the Europeans what to do, rather than accepting suggestions the other way.
There was also the embarrassing moment when they all showed up at the last meeting dressed in pleather jackets make to look like the American flag was wrapped around them. In the meantime, I could only tell from skin tones and accents which person was from what European country.
Outside in the street, I also encountered Americans who walked up to me, thinking I was a local (I never travel like a stereotypical-gawking tourist) and shouted at me loudy “DO… YOU… SPEAK… ANY… ENGLISH?” “Yes, I’m Canadian, and shouting loudly at anyone in any language isn’t going to help. What do you need help?” and that led into a very painful discussion about how confusing it is to travel here because nothing is in English, blah, blah, blah.
I also experienced a black American celebrity who just couldn’t understand that the black people in Brussels were not like the black people in Detroit or the American Deep South, that the entirely different culture of Europe makes that different too.
Last, the concept of “old”. Neither Americans nor Canadians have a sense of the ancientness in Europe and how long cultures have grown there. Our histories as nations go back only 200 years at most, so everything for us is immediate like a brightly-lit fire that goes out quickly, rather than the slowly smoldering pot that is Europe. A person above mentioned the American’s power in the last several wars, as if that was any more important than the many wars that raged all over Europe and Asia before the “New World” was even discovered. I’m sure life in America would have been different if the Spanish Armada had smashed Britain. How often we forget the consequences of history.
While the video is obviously organized in such a manner to display Americans as stupid, it is just a gimmick. Although, it appears no one is arguing that. As viola so eloquently put it, the problems with our world view stems from policies outside many American citizen’s control. Nationalism is matched in America only by its blind acceptance to the ruling elites decisions.
The citizenry not only accepts, but welcomes, blatant violations of there constitutional rights in bills passed such as the patriot act. From a young age, there is a very strong societal influence of not only military dominance, but ethical superiority as well. Ever since Woodrow Wilson, the people of the united states have not only been very ethnocentric, but believe that it is our divine duty to spread our democracy and freedom throughout the world. This facilitates blind support to such needless conflicts as the one we are experiencing right now in Iraq. The average citizen does not look at the war in Iraq as securing oil interests for the future but rather, a protection of democratic freedom that everyone should enjoy (which if that were the case, darfur would be looking at a much different scenario presently). Wilsonianism justifies every conflict we enter now, just as raison d’etat did for Richilieu and France in the 1600’s.
The problem then can be deduced to a lack of critical thought in America’s populace. On every account, there is none. With state run media filtering all sentiments detrimental to the ruling parties interests, it is no wonder that citizens stationed on the bottom level of the socio-economic strata support whatever the current administrations goals are.
Although there are many factors as to why so many americans are not only seen as ignorant, but are in realty very much so, there is still strong anti-war sentiments in the country. Not everyone is for the war, and not everyone is happy with our foreign policy, and you can be damned sure not everyone is pleased with George W. Bush.
On to my stance pertaining to this article, I disagree. There is no biological difference between me and a frenchman, or a citizen of Japan or Singapore, although there are many different social and environmental factors. Therefore, Americans cannot be inherently stupid, the problem is societal. Blind nationalism with a heaping scoop of ethnocentrism and a lack of educational opportunities and support will create the people you see in that video.
Despite all this, as an American I have pride in my country. My heroes are Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Roosevelt. These are men of my history, not bonaparte or sun-tsu, or Han-fei-tzu, or Talleyrand and Richelieu. So if the world has the opinion that I and my countrymen are fools ready to fall, in the end, it doesn’t matter. They cant prove it and I cant convince them otherwise.
I agree to some extent…I have seen Americans behaving embarrassingly stupid in other countries, but I have also seen many other English-speaking tourists being mistaken for Americans due to their stupidity. One such incident occurred while I was visiting a friend in Krakow. Some Australian tourists were completely drunk - singing, dancing, and parading through the city center like total fools. They approached us to ask if we could speak English and complained that few people in the city could speak good English with them. My friend, a Polish guy, assumed they were American because of their behavior.
I have seen tourists from many countries - Germany, UK, Australia to name a few - make complete idiots of themselves in the presence of the local population. I’ve witnessed a German guy chastising an English guy about England’s quest for superiority in the world; an English guy burning his rubber shoes and dancing around the smelly fire in Israel; German teenagers spitting, jumping, and dancing to Euro-pop while visiting Auschwitz; and Canadians discussing their superior intelligence and education to make them appear more acceptable than the USA population to their European acquaintances (these same Canadians were unable to locate the Netherlands on a map I provided, were unable to name more than 7 of the 50 US States, or tell me who the president of France was). So, obviously, Americans are not the only stupid tourists. That said, I know many Americans travel abroad without any knowledge of or respect for the country they are visiting, and that is pathetic. But those are the Americans everyone notices. The Americans who are more considerate likely go completely unnoticed.
The stupidest thing an American can say is ‘we are the greatest’. Cut the crap, you are no better than other countries. You just have a lot of money and a nationalist obsession for wars because unlike Europe, you haven’t faced a major damage in wars.
Stupid and arrogant? Perhaps. Amazingly, Americans are also the people that treat immigrants the best. I came to this country from Russia 14 years ago and have never been mistreated because I am a foreigner. Just compare this with immigrant experiences in Austria or France or Russia… Having spent only a month in Vienna, I witnessed an ugly incident in the subway where a woman told a group of teenagers of Middle Eastern appearance to go back home because the foreigners steal jobs from real Austrians. And what I have seen in Moscow is even more disgusting when it’s not simply horrible…
At home, Americans are incredibly open-minded and tolerant towards guests. They respect both the individual immigrants and immigrant communities. In this, as in many other respects, this is a country of unique greatness.
Peacekeeper-
You just proved this blogger’s point about Americans being stupid.
USA is not the richest country in the world, Luxembourg is. And yeah, our stupidity has made me ashamed to be an American. It’s ridiculous. Many high school students can’t even find New York on a map or globe. If I could move to France or Spain, I would.