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From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.flame
Subject: Re: America-bashing
Message-ID: <382@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 19-Jul-85 13:09:33 EDT
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Posted: Fri Jul 19 13:09:33 1985
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> Larry Kolodney:
> > Are you saying that the average American has no knowledge or influence
> > on American foreign policy?
> > 
> > And this is a democracy?
> 
> My impression -- in the four years I've been in this country -- is that
> the "average" American has little knowledge of, and even less interest
> in, what goes on abroad.  Surveys seem to bear this out: I remember
> reading about one last year where most of the people interviewed didn't
> know which side the USA was backing in El Salvador.  I'm amazed
> that this should be the state of affairs here given the tremendous
> amount of information people have free access to, and my conclusion
> has been that most people just don't give a damn about what's
> happening beyond their own backyards.
> 
> -- 
> Saumya Debray
> SUNY at Stony Brook
> 
The situation is worse than that: only 12% of the population could identify
which side the US government supports in both El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Even my wife, who is exposed to a lot more foreign affairs information than
most, was confused as to who we were supporting in which country.

Perhaps most people are too busy living their lives to waste energy and
time worrying about politics.  Sounds like a good argument against unlimited
democracy.