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[- What America thinks of the world
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By GeertLovink, Section whatever...
Posted on Sat Jun 21st, 2003 at 10:44:24 AM EURODISCORDIA TIME
BBC global TV spectacle

 

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Has anyone seen the BBC global TV cast What the world thinks of America?

It is a poll and talk fest in a dozen or so countries, worldwide. The outcome is pretty negative, in various degrees, for the Bush administration.

Towards the end of the program, the US conservative ideologist Robert Kagan ("Americans are from Mars, Europeans from Venus.") stated that the Bush administration would not be interested in such polls and opinions anyway.

The opinion of 'the rest of the world' indeed seems futile. Wouldn't the question "What America thinks of the world" be more interesting?

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What America thinks of the world | 13 comments
[new] the world fails to think. (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#3)
by saul on Sat Jun 21st, 2003 at 12:25:45 PM EURODISCORDIA TIME
(User Info) http://uo.theps.net

personally I think this media event is utter bullshit.

the whole construction of the questions - and the idea that 'the world' and 'america' and nationhood itself have any meaning in relation to neo-con imperialism is questionable.

this blasé pseudo-survey is exactly the kind of lame re-inforcement of flimsy cultural identities and disinformation that a). distracts media slags from reporting anything analytical or relevant (without clouds of obfuscation) b). illicits moron response from ill-informed people and (once any kind of individual opinion is ironed out by reducing it to statistics) presents it as 'news'.

news my arse.




 
[new] A perplexing view (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#2)
by Aileen on Sat Jun 21st, 2003 at 11:29:58 AM EURODISCORDIA TIME
(User Info)

The site that I looked at was the BBC news site, which presents the polls on the different questions with and without the views of Americans surveyed.
One thing I found perplexing, though, was a quotation in the "Key Issues" section, where Jonathan Frazen says, "I'm happy to be part of a culture that gives the world the Simpsons." Who is Jonathan Frazen and why would he say that? Does anyone know?
I know there are more interesting and serious issues discussed here, but this one simply mystifies me.



[new] BBC or CBC, and of octupi and kings (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#1)
by amy on Sat Jun 21st, 2003 at 07:24:27 AM EURODISCORDIA TIME
(User Info) http://plagiarist.org

interesting - but it looks from the link like it's by the CBC (canada) rather than the BBC (britain.) ???
then again, there are 10 broadcast networks from different companies that apparently participated.
i think it's pretty interesting to see this eminating from canada though - i'd expect it less than i would from the UK...

as to "what does america think of the world?" whew - i'll have to take a bunch of deep breaths before responding to that octupudnal and painful question, as one who lives here and deals with the many and widely varying opinions of "the rest of the world" that come out on a daily basis nowadays...

but i'd like to also suggest that it would have been interesting if the poll questions the program asked people in various countries were asked of americans as well:
- How do you feel about America?
- What do you think of President George Bush?
- Do you agree with the United States' policy on terrorism? Global warming? Nuclear proliferation? World poverty? The spread of AIDS?
- Does America scare you?




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What America thinks of the world | 13 comments
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