What the world (literally) thinks of America

December 9, 2002 7:04 AM

A monster of a poll(by America's monster pollster PEW) asking 38.000 people (!) in 44 countries what they think of America. VERY interesting!
posted by acrobat (41 comments total)

If you don't like me, then GET OFFA MY PLANET!
Actually, my neighbors all expressed great love for me when I anchored their tug-o-war in the sports festival. My Japanese (I think) wife is absolutely certain that Bin Laden developed a hatred of Americans because his encounters had mostly been with boorish GI's. "If only he had had a homestay with Leo and Margaret in Baton Rouge (like she did), he wouldn't hate America. Really. Think about it. Things would be so different."
posted by planetkyoto at 7:29 AM on December 9, 2002

Salon had an article on the same topic - a journalist who traveled the world gathering peoples' opinions about the US. The results are very enlightening.

Having lived in Bolivia before coming to the US it's no surprise to learn that a lot of people around the world don't like the US. In Bolivia there's plenty of resentment of US policy, especially in regards to the misguided war on drugs. But at the same time, they love American pop culture - movies, clothes, fast food chains.
posted by O9scar at 7:34 AM on December 9, 2002

Japanese (I think)

You only think your wife is Japanese? I'd have thought that kind of thing would come up at some point during a courtship and marriage.... I know my wife is American, bless her. I'm prepared to overlook that kind of thing in the name of love, though.
posted by humuhumu at 7:35 AM on December 9, 2002

That's shocking. The Europeans turn their noses up at us and the Muslim states hate us. I'd have never imagined it.

Thanks for the insight, Gruniad!
posted by jammer at 7:42 AM on December 9, 2002

Did they approve of suicide bombing in defence of Islam? Seventy-three per cent in Lebanon said yes. Well, they would, wouldn't they? But what about the 43% in Jordan, the 44% in Bangladesh, the 47% in Nigeria, the 33% in Pakistan? And in Indonesia (including Bali)? Twenty-seven per cent said yes. Those are hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people with a totally different take on what constitutes terror. This is alienation on the grandest scale.

this is bullshit on its grandest scale. as a moneyless muslim in some 3rd world open sewer confronted by a western "journalist", i'd have said the most outrageous things i could think up. this data, and muslims who support terror, are not worth the powder to blow them to hell...

on preview: hook, line and sinker, jammer.
posted by quonsar at 7:46 AM on December 9, 2002

"Only 20% of Americans think the US doesn't consider other countries much or at all. Eighty per cent of Americans believe it's good to see US ideas and customs spreading round the globe. "

damn, that's the really scary statistic, especially as what, 85% of the US public don't own a passport!
posted by derbs at 7:58 AM on December 9, 2002

I've conducted an extensive study to find out what the world thinks about Tuvalu. It appears the world does not, in fact, think about Tuvalu. Tuvaluians are not sure what, if anything, they are supposed to do in light of that information.
posted by pardonyou? at 8:03 AM on December 9, 2002

Did anyone else see that CNN story on Qatar (soon to be US Miliatary Command if the war goes through) that was asking average Qatari's (I think that's what they're called) about America. They went to Qatar's largest shopping mall and posed some questions.

They came to a bunch of teenagers dressed in their Fubu finest busy breakin' to Jay-Z as it played out their boom box. When asked whether they thought American culture was good they of course knee jerked responses that were highly negative. Then another slamming hip-hop track started and they went back to doing the helicopter.

A bit more alarming though was an interview with a quite well educated look in a Starbucks who then claimed that every single US President was/is Jewish.

If The Daily Show ever went there they could find material for years.
posted by PenDevil at 8:16 AM on December 9, 2002

Uh ... no. Not very interesting at all, actually.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 8:17 AM on December 9, 2002

Argh preview... that 2nd last sentence shoud read

"...an interview with a quite well educated looking guy..."
posted by PenDevil at 8:18 AM on December 9, 2002

"...as a moneyless muslim in some 3rd world open sewer...
... not worth the powder to blow them to hell..."

Yep... that's exactly the kind of arrogance the world has come to hate. Keep it up, boys!
posted by acrobat at 8:32 AM on December 9, 2002

Someone come by with a trowel and smear a big steaming heap of "But that's because they're jealous of us" over this thread, so we won't have to address the possibility that the US could actually ever do something wrong.
posted by websavvy at 8:32 AM on December 9, 2002

How can thirty-eight people live in 44 different countries? Either some of them are dismembered, or they manage to live in two countries simultaneously, which sounds like a neat trick.
posted by beth at 8:33 AM on December 9, 2002

"Eighty per cent of Americans believe it's good to see US ideas and customs spreading round the globe. "

Guess what, most populations in any country are going to believe it would be good for their country's ideas to spread, and not so good for the ideas of other countries ideas to be spread in theirs. Amazing! The Guardian has discovered ... nationalistic sentiment! Of course, people have known about that for a couple of millenia now, but what the hell, some folks are slow learners.

The interesting thing about the Guardian is that the article about this poll is titled "Not such a super power after all". One would think it was a poll about global attitudes towards the US. It's not - attitudes towards the US are simply one (the last one) of four sections. There is a wealth of interesting data from Great Britan - about British attitudes towards the lives, their country, and British institutions.

If the US is "not such a superpower after all", then why is the Guardian focusing on the part of it having to do with attitudes towards America, and ignoring the large amounts about British attitudes about the UK? Interesting.
posted by MidasMulligan at 8:42 AM on December 9, 2002

Here I am, websavvy. . .

Well, not quite. I'm first in line to say that about 85% of American foreign policy is destructive. Also that about 85% of Americans travelling abroad are obnoxious gits. However, you can say that about most other countries as well. To what degree is the antipathy towards America due to the "TUCK FEXAS" principal? People always hate the dominating team. Not really jealousy, but resentment. I think that the interesting thing here is determining the split -- how much is America's own damn fault, and how much is the inevitable consequence of being the big kid on the block?
posted by LittleMissCranky at 8:46 AM on December 9, 2002

A Poll? Like this?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 9:03 AM on December 9, 2002

to save folks a few clicks and the Guardian's influence, here is Pew's page on it's poll,
posted by danOstuporStar at 9:10 AM on December 9, 2002

Interesting fact at the end of the article -

Canada is the only country in the West in which a majority of those surveyed express satisfaction with national conditions.

Hmmm... Almost legal, cheap pot, nationalized health care, and Montreal. Canada sounds nice.
posted by SweetJesus at 9:14 AM on December 9, 2002

LittleMissCranky: i think there's a big difference between Western Europe's attitudes towards America and Eastern attitudes towards America. There's obviously very little of the 'blind hatred' towards the US that seems so prevalent in the East, in part due, i believe, to the religious schooling in those parts compared to a more fact based education system in the west.

There is, however, resentment, mainly by the French, but others to lesser extents, of American culture and business actually infringing on peoples' way of life. A way of life that is very old indeed.

However, this is the first time that i've seen such contempt for the current American administration from people in my peer group (UK, early twenties). I just hope Mr Bush hasn't done any lasting damage by the time his 2 terms are up...
posted by derbs at 9:18 AM on December 9, 2002

However, you can say that about most other countries as well.

This is the key. In the first three sections, a good baseline is established, i.e., you can see the entire sample set giving an opinion about (for instance) what they think of crime in their countries, or the economy. These answers are quite illuminating not because of the absolute numbers, but because of the relations of the numbers to those of other countries. Simply knowing that 61% of the British think "Crime" is one of the top problems doesn't mean much (it's difficult to tell how much of the response might have come from the wording of the question itself). Seeing it in juxtaposition, however, with answers of 48% in the US, 26% in Canada, 86% in India, and 96% in South Africa (etc., etc.) is what adds meaning to the number.

The fourth section, however, establishes no such baseline. I wonder, though, if the same set of questions were asked about global attitudes towards all the countries in the poll, whether something resembling an actual context might emerge. So most people don't like the spread of US ideas to their countries? Or the attitudes the US has about their nations? With a context this would have meaning (what if it turned out that there was always a high number when people in a country are asked whether ideas from other countries are imported is good). What would be interesting is to see the same relations that appeared in the first 3 sections. Many folks don't like American ideas - but do they like them less or more than Chinese ideas? European ideas? Muslim ideas? Russian ideas?

Without that kind of information, it is not possible to tell how much of the answers convey genuine information about America, and how much is simply normal nationalist sentiment that would apply to all countries people were asked about.
posted by MidasMulligan at 9:18 AM on December 9, 2002

"...as a moneyless muslim in some 3rd world open sewer...
... not worth the powder to blow them to hell..."

Yep... that's exactly the kind of arrogance the world has come to hate. Keep it up, boys!

and THAT's precisely the kind of cut and paste out of context propoganda thats passing for journalism these days. thanks for illustrating it so well.
posted by quonsar at 9:23 AM on December 9, 2002

"Only 20% of Americans think the US doesn't consider other countries much or at all. Eighty per cent of Americans believe it's good to see US ideas and customs spreading round the globe. "

damn, that's the really scary statistic, especially as what, 85% of the US public don't own a passport!

You have heard of the television, right? And Movies? Foreign tv is an endless parade of syndicated American television.
posted by eyeballkid at 9:40 AM on December 9, 2002

What do you think of someone who you're jealous of?
posted by fried at 9:45 AM on December 9, 2002

Foreign tv is an endless parade of syndicated American television.

I'd love to debunk that comment, but don't have time because the Simpsons will be on the BBC in 15 minutes. It's my inspiration for US ideas and customs.
posted by sebas at 9:48 AM on December 9, 2002

to save folks a few clicks and the Guardian's influence, here is Pew's page on it's poll,

Also you can look at this being discussed earlier on MeFi
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 10:24 AM on December 9, 2002

//Boorish GIs in Japan. One. Two. Three.
Could you please not use with such a broad brush?
posted by keithl at 10:25 AM on December 9, 2002

The spread of American Ideas...
posted by dash_slot- at 10:49 AM on December 9, 2002

So, I'm curious. Why is when this was first posted about a week ago, there was almost no discussion but now that it's been posted a second time, there's plenty of discussion?

What makes a subject interesting at one point in time and not interesting at another?

Is it just that the blurb for the link was so much better this time? The blurb is less accurate this time (the poll isn't just about what others think of America), but cetainly more eye-catching.

To me the more interesting story is the meta story behind metafilter! :)
posted by jdroth at 10:59 AM on December 9, 2002

jdroth - perhaps that's just fashion for you, see also the lovely line in dash_slot's last link;

"The article, entitled “Women Actors, Notorious Whores,” was widely accepted until the queen herself decided to become a thespian."
posted by biffa at 11:32 AM on December 9, 2002

These stats are intriguing . Almost everyone is susceptible to the well-documented "better-than-average effect" (exactly what it sounds like, like, say, a red-throated black bird), except a minority of people who actually report being worse off than the average citizen. What's up with Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, and half the African countries surveyed? Is this a quirk of their interpretation of the question? Are these people actually less "happy" than people in other countries? What does it take to override the better-than-average effect?
Fascinating cross-cultural data.
posted by statisticalpurposes at 12:17 PM on December 9, 2002

From fried's post: What do you think of someone who you're jealous of?

From Pew's report: Fully 15% of Americans say there have been times in the past year they have been unable to afford food – the highest proportion in any advanced economy.

Wow, that's more than 1 in 7. That really sucks. Those dirt poor hungering Americans are probably thankful they're living in the land of posibilities so they can go get a job and do something about those nasty munchies. And that makes me jealous.
posted by Hjorth at 1:21 PM on December 9, 2002

Could you please not use.. such a broad brush?

I second that, especially about the boorish part, but I think the brushes have given way to spray cans at this point.
posted by hama7 at 3:33 PM on December 9, 2002

i demand a recount.

get jeb on it pronto.

ps. f the french
posted by tsarfan at 4:07 PM on December 9, 2002

I think many peope are not pleased that the USA is the world's only superpower, they are pleased that the USA is the world's only superpower.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 5:33 PM on December 9, 2002

I've recently started broadening my cultural horizons, courtesy of a region-free DVD. Finding indigenous films on overseas sites can be done, but only after plowing through the same crap I find on the shelves here at home.

On a positive note, my copy of The Discovery Of Heaven arrived from the Netherlands today.
posted by tpoh.org at 5:40 PM on December 9, 2002

Misquote, Keith. When you quote someone, Copy and paste the words. I didn't write about Japan (though I could). I wrote about Bin Laden in Afghanistan.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:52 PM on December 9, 2002

They hate freedom.

Don't you listen to Bush?

[/sarcasm]
posted by Shane at 6:58 PM on December 9, 2002

Cut-and-paste 1: "boorish GI's."

Cut-and-paste 2: "Could you please not use with such a broad brush?"

Cut-and-paste 3: "I didn't write about Japan (though I could). "

I am getting vouja-day all over again.
posted by hama7 at 8:53 PM on December 9, 2002

Good post dash_slot.
posted by raaka at 9:17 PM on December 9, 2002

So many stereotypes, so little time.

Jingoism is alive and well!
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 2:00 AM on December 10, 2002

Foreign tv is an endless parade of syndicated American television

Foreign is one country!
posted by Summer at 2:49 AM on December 10, 2002