For once, Oprah is actually good for something (How the world sees the United States)

[NFS4]

Normally, I wouldn't be caught dead watching Oprah, but I had been seeing commercials for her episode today on how the world looks at the United States. They had CNN correspondents from around the world talk to people in France, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Afghanistan, and a host of other countries interview the people of the respective nations and see how they felt about the United States. For those most part, this is what I picked up:

- Americans only care about themselves and no one else
- After Sept 11, the US has gone from being a relative "gentle giant" to an angry nation hell bent on revenge
- We're too obsessed with looks and money
- We're being too gung ho on the issue of attacking Iraq, and we need to take matters up with the UN instead of going full bore by ourselves

There were a lot of other things said too, but I thought that it was a rather good show...well maybe that was b/c Oprah's mug wasn't plastered all over the screen for the hour

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Normally, I wouldn't be caught dead watching Oprah, but I had been seeing commercials for her episode today on how the world looks at the United States. They had CNN correspondents from around the world talk to people in France, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Afghanistan, and a host of other countries interview the people of the respective nations and see how they felt about the United States. For those most part, this is what I picked up:

- Americans only care about themselves and no one else
- After Sept 11, the US has gone from being a relative "gentle giant" to an angry nation hell bent on revenge
- We're too obsessed with looks and money
- We're being too gung ho on the issue of attacking Iraq, and we need to take matters up with the UN instead of going full bore by ourselves

There were a lot of other things said too, but I thought that it was a rather good show...well maybe that was b/c Oprah's mug wasn't plastered all over the screen for the hour

Was this a random sampling of randomly picked people? I'll bet not. Not with Oprah and CNN working together. I'd put money down that these were hand picked responses from a large number of clips... picked with an agenda in mind. I'll bet that many positive answers were overlooked, and left on the cutting room floor.

Sorry, but both Oprah and CNN blew their credibility with me a LOOONG time ago. And with this being aired the night before elections? My money is safe.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Amused
Was this a random sampling of randomly picked people? I'll bet not.

biased, they edited it to present the angle they wanted to, to promote their own agenda

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: NFS4
Normally, I wouldn't be caught dead watching Oprah, but I had been seeing commercials for her episode today on how the world looks at the United States. They had CNN correspondents from around the world talk to people in France, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Afghanistan, and a host of other countries interview the people of the respective nations and see how they felt about the United States. For those most part, this is what I picked up:

- Americans only care about themselves and no one else
- After Sept 11, the US has gone from being a relative "gentle giant" to an angry nation hell bent on revenge
- We're too obsessed with looks and money
- We're being too gung ho on the issue of attacking Iraq, and we need to take matters up with the UN instead of going full bore by ourselves

There were a lot of other things said too, but I thought that it was a rather good show...well maybe that was b/c Oprah's mug wasn't plastered all over the screen for the hour

Was this a random sampling of randomly picked people? I'll bet not. Not with Oprah and CNN working together. I'd put money down that these were hand picked responses from a large number of clips... picked with an agenda in mind. I'll bet that many positive answers were overlooked, and left on the cutting room floor.

Sorry, but both Oprah and CNN blew their credibility with me a LOOONG time ago. And with this being aired the night before elections? My money is safe.

Actually, it was about 50/50 negative/positive (except in the Muslim countries). Most of the countries said that they respected the American people, but had harsh words for our government and foreign policy.

 

[klah]

Was there an interview with Christine Amanpour

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: NFS4
Normally, I wouldn't be caught dead watching Oprah, but I had been seeing commercials for her episode today on how the world looks at the United States. They had CNN correspondents from around the world talk to people in France, North Korea, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Afghanistan, and a host of other countries interview the people of the respective nations and see how they felt about the United States. For those most part, this is what I picked up:

- Americans only care about themselves and no one else
- After Sept 11, the US has gone from being a relative "gentle giant" to an angry nation hell bent on revenge
- We're too obsessed with looks and money
- We're being too gung ho on the issue of attacking Iraq, and we need to take matters up with the UN instead of going full bore by ourselves

There were a lot of other things said too, but I thought that it was a rather good show...well maybe that was b/c Oprah's mug wasn't plastered all over the screen for the hour

Was this a random sampling of randomly picked people? I'll bet not. Not with Oprah and CNN working together. I'd put money down that these were hand picked responses from a large number of clips... picked with an agenda in mind. I'll bet that many positive answers were overlooked, and left on the cutting room floor.

Sorry, but both Oprah and CNN blew their credibility with me a LOOONG time ago. And with this being aired the night before elections? My money is safe.

Actually, it was about 50/50 negative/positive (except in the Muslim countries). Most of the countries said that they respected the American people, but had harsh words for our government and foreign policy.

Well of course they had to have some positive answers, or their bias would be way too obvious. Still, I'll bet they skewed the results.

 

[Moonbeam]

Amused has a point. From the points made , however, I would guess they guite accurately represent the typical view. What is very useful, I wluld thing, is if more Americans were challenged more outside points of view. People in the US have no idea how ignorant they are about the rest of the world. We are profoundly shallow and self satisfied.

 

[NFS4]

I think you all are missing the point

The way we as Americans see ourselves is not always how other countries see us. That was the whole point of the show, and what I got out of it.

To tell you the truth, I didn't give two sh!ts about what happened in the rest of the world before 9-11...but now I tend to pay closer attention to things. That's the kind of attitude that the people being interviewed were talking about.

 

[Shantanu]

As an immigrant whose lived in the U.K. and in India before coming here, I would say that most foreigners (who are not Muslim, Communist, Socialist, or members of the foreign press) have an overwhelmingly positive opinion of Americans and American state.

 

[N8Magic]

5. Americans don't take criticism well.

The proof is in this very thread.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: NFS4
I think you all are missing the point

The way we as Americans see ourselves is not always how other countries see us. That was the whole point of the show, and what I got out of it.

To tell you the truth, I didn't give two sh!ts about what happened in the rest of the world before 9-11...but now I tend to pay closer attention to things. That's the kind of attitude that the people being interviewed were talking about.

It really doesn't matter to me what other countries think of the US...

amish

 

[Dudd]

Bah, who cares about the rest of the world. Just let me know when France surrenders.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: N8Magic
5. Americans don't take criticism well.

The proof is in this very thread.

Canadians dont take criticism of their tank well. The proof is in other threads.

 

[EvilYoda]

hehe, Amish has it dead-on. but one thing that someone mentioned, and I can't stand, is how some people who never used to care for politics or world events now think they have to defend their nation at every stand and that they've newly acquired all knowledge concerning all things in the world. (This is not to offend whoever said it, gaining a new interest in the world is great) But those people that I meet that are still completely ignorant, and feel the need to express their ignorance.....oy.

I'll ask all my international-student friends what people back home think.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: N8Magic
5. Americans don't take criticism well.

The proof is in this very thread.

Bullsh!t. I've had conversations with people all over the word, and my experience is the same as Shantanu's. The vast majority of people in other countries haveca positive viewpoint of us.

Taking this show as a "random sampling" of people's opinions is just a laugh. Number one, the pissed off people are always the loudest, and number two, to claim Oprah and CNN don't have an agenda the very night before an important election is just laughable to it's very core.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: Dudd
Bah, who cares about the rest of the world. Just let me know when France surrenders.

Think about that for a second... do you want to be interrupted every 2 minutes?

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Amused has a point. From the points made , however, I would guess they guite accurately represent the typical view. What is very useful, I wluld thing, is if more Americans were challenged more outside points of view. People in the US have no idea how ignorant they are about the rest of the world. We are profoundly shallow and self satisfied.

Moonbeam can I take this to mean that the rest of the world is not shallow and self-satisfied?

 

[johnjohn320]

Y'know, I'd really like to go travel around the world, to hundreds of different countries, and talk to the people there and ask them what they thought of Americans as a whole. Then, I could come back here and present it.

Everyone either assumes the world hates us or the world loves us, and you're all full of sh!t because you don't know.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: NFS4

- We're being too gung ho on the issue of attacking Iraq, and we need to take matters up with the UN instead of going full bore by ourselves

which is why we've done nothing so far and made lots of speeches to the UN and colin powell is talking to everyone on the planet and trying to bring them over.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Amused has a point. From the points made , however, I would guess they guite accurately represent the typical view. What is very useful, I wluld thing, is if more Americans were challenged more outside points of view. People in the US have no idea how ignorant they are about the rest of the world. We are profoundly shallow and self satisfied.

Moonbeam can I take this to mean that the rest of the world is not shallow and self-satisfied?

you can't worry about being shallow and self-centered when you have to worry about whether you will eat the next day.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: Shantanu
As an immigrant whose lived in the U.K. and in India before coming here, I would say that most foreigners (who are not Muslim, Communist, Socialist, or members of the foreign press) have an overwhelmingly positive opinion of Americans and American state.

Says the overcompensating immigrant.

I'm from Trinidad, and I don't remember anyone there having any positive or negative opinion of the US, except a kid in the 4th grade who wanted to be in the US military (too many movies?).

I don't know what the opinion is now though. I'll have to find out.

 

[N8Magic]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: N8Magic
5. Americans don't take criticism well.

The proof is in this very thread.

Bullsh!t. I've had conversations with people all over the word, and my experience is the same as Shantanu's. The vast majority of people in other countries haveca positive viewpoint of us.

As have I, and i've heard people express the same gripes about Americans over and over again. This is not to say they hate Americans, but every country and citizens have their faults. (even us Canadians :Q)

Taking this show as a "random sampling" of people's opinions is just a laugh. Number one, the pissed off people are always the loudest, and number two, to claim Oprah and CNN don't have an agenda the very night before an important election is just laughable to it's very core.

That may be so, but immediately writing off the show as propaganda and biased just because it doesn't jive with your view of things is just as laughable.

 

[NFS4]

That may be so, but immediately writing off the show as propaganda and biased just because it doesn't jive with your view of things is just as laughable.

I'll agree, while some may laugh at CNN, they have more credibility than us yahoos on an internet discussion board who think we know everything

 

[jahawkin]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: N8Magic
5. Americans don't take criticism well.

The proof is in this very thread.

Bullsh!t. I've had conversations with people all over the word, and my experience is the same as Shantanu's. The vast majority of people in other countries haveca positive viewpoint of us.

Taking this show as a "random sampling" of people's opinions is just a laugh. Number one, the pissed off people are always the loudest, and number two, to claim Oprah and CNN don't have an agenda the very night before an important election is just laughable to it's very core.

So your conversations with people all over the world are a better sample than the random sample Oprah had?? Oh, right, the "liberal" media is skewing the issue. People around the world love the benevolent empire known as the US. They love when we subvert their democracies and bomb thier cities.
Perhaps the reason is that people of other countries aren't exposed to the cheerleading of american "journalists"

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Amused has a point. From the points made , however, I would guess they guite accurately represent the typical view. What is very useful, I wluld thing, is if more Americans were challenged more outside points of view. People in the US have no idea how ignorant they are about the rest of the world. We are profoundly shallow and self satisfied.

Moonbeam can I take this to mean that the rest of the world is not shallow and self-satisfied?

you can't worry about being shallow and self-centered when you have to worry about whether you will eat the next day.

So everyone in the world is starving but the citizens of the US? ummm, ok.