snow2fall said:
Something else I'm wondering about: Why is it that Europe - which is a culturally diverse continent consisting of many different countries - is often referred to by Americans like it was one single country?!
Honestly, there are probably many reasons, but the most common is simply lack of eduaction on the different countries and cultures. In schools, they do not teach about each individual country and their histories excepting various wars and time periods. In fact, in schools, they will often refer to a certain European country as "Europe", to simplify things.
ANother reason being that Europeans can jump from country to country like Americans jump from state to state. And while I can go to Oklahoma or Louisiana and see subtle differences, you can probably go to England, Italy, or Sweden and see vast cultural variances. But there is a flip side to the coin. Whereas you stereotype Americans based on a few experiences, there are actually a huge gulf of differences in the areas, which might as well be different countries: New England, the Deep South, West Coast, Plains area, North Central area...all have different cultural traits from the others, while not being as culturally deep seeded as European countries.
Other reasons include the lack of international travel from the majority of Americans and a lack of interest since the media here often refers to a single Euro country as "Europe", creating an 'Us and Them' mentality.
I also believe the events of the last few years have made "foreign" people more aware of Americans, whereas ten years ago, no one would have cared about "those loud Americans". Hell, people hate Americans just based on principle now. Sad, but true.
