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Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

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Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#181

Post by deehouie »

This is a wonderful illustration of American obsession over the years. Back in the 1990s, Japan was the target. Articles attacking Japan appears on NYTimes and the like daily. The accusation was Japan used all these unfair trade practices to protect its industries, unwilling to open its market to US companies, etc. Then after a while, these criticism disappeared. Has Japan changed much since? Apparently not.

Now the target is China. Which makes me wonder how much of this avalanche of attack on China is driven by a insidious political agenda.

Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#183

Post by ghaff »

selimthegrim wrote: post #165
ghaff wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowledge of counties are somewhat of a function of the state. In some states, counties (or their equivalents like Parishes in Louisiana) are fairly powerful. In others, they're almost meaningless. I live in Massachusetts and I could name maybe 3 or 4 counties--and that's because I've lived in two of them.

I don't think MA has much more than that :)

It actually has 14 apparently.

Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#184

Post by School-Cotton »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #160
scythe wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People know about the political divisions of America which make the news. Likewise, Americans know about important provinces of other countries. For example, when I was in China, people asked me all sorts of questions about Texas. It turns out the Lone Stars have built quite an international reputation as a... libertarian paradise. Hawaii, California and New York play on the international stage, but nobody has heard…

No-one has heard of Idaho, the potato state? >"Most US states are culturally and historically insignificant." // Someone said upthread. Thing is they're not culturally insignificant, I've no idea where Idaho is (NW?) but somewhere I've heard about its potatoes! That's because in the UK almost all the TV is from USA. Perhaps someone in a film, cartoon series, TV serial, song was from Idaho, maybe a country singer sang…

To clarify a bit, the existence of official state flowers and so on seems to mainly be a way for legislators to waste time.

I have absolutely no idea what the official flower of any state is, including the state where I was born, and the one I live now.

Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#185

Post by SL61 »

wolco wrote: post #182

Wonder what the 1900ish single Canadian flag was about.

Looking through the Wikipedia pages for June 1910, it looks like quite a bit was happening in the US. Oklahoma chose its capital, O. Henry died, statehood was given to two states, and Halley's Comet made a visit. Newspapers might have been preoccupied with domestic issues.

Other than Diaz winning yet another election in Mexico, it doesn't look like much was going on internationally. Goldwin Smith, who appears to have been very well known at the time with comments on American politics, died that month. He lived in Canada. A few front page headlines about his death might have been enough to put Canada on the chart, given the conditions.

Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#187

Post by Drdrdrq »

dragonwriter wrote: post #120
burlesona wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has a huge German immigrant population, and during WWI many people sympathized with the Germans and felt they were basically forced into a preemptive strike because Britain and France would have declared war on them soon anyway. A lot of Americans wanted to join the war on the side of the Germans. Then the Germans sank the Lusitania and became the chief bad guy. In WW2, as others have mentioned, the US was mor…

> Then the Germans sank the Lusitania and became the chief bad guy. The Zimmerman Telegram helped, too.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimmermann_Telegram

Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#188

Post by masonic »

coldtea wrote: post #132
blhack wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so mean spirited, and honestly just wrong. Why do you think this?

I've actually tried it with people. And in US-own media, I've seen people unable to name the vice president, think Africa is a country, not know the 50 states, and all kinds of things.

Like Barack Obama's assertion that the USA has 58+ states?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/57-states/

Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#189

Post by masonic »

burlesona wrote: post #117
blauditore wrote: post #16

Why was Germany not more prominent during WWII (but apparently during WWI)?

The US has a huge German immigrant population, and during WWI many people sympathized with the Germans and felt they were basically forced into a preemptive strike because Britain and France would have declared war on them soon anyway. A lot of Americans wanted to join the war on the side of the Germans. Then the Germans sank the Lusitania and became the chief bad guy. In WW2, as others have mentioned, the US was mor…

The US also made a huge amount of hard currency from supplying the UK before Germany declared war on the US.

Re: Countries that have preoccupied Americans the most since 1900

#190

Post by masonic »

metaphor wrote: post #6

Why is 1964 empty? JFK was assassinated in November the year before, and LBJ took the con. Was the US simply distracted by its own domestic realignment?

The Civil Rights Act was far more important.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

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