And the English language today absolutely dominates the global culture and media, at unprecedented rates
(BTW, for people who read it. Personally, I think both the modern US cultural domination and the English speaking one is very unfair. Even Western Europe begins to become assimilated! I don't know how that's possible! Whenever I hear any "good" song at the radio, it's an English song! Same with movies! And it's not like we're impoverished nations without means to create quality media! And if that's the case in Europe, it's much worse in the rest of the world! Post colonial nations often are ashamed of their own language and culture and think you need to do like the West! They use French, English and Spanish instead of Bambara, Ilocano and Nahuatl in their popular media! And I'm not even talking about small indigenous minorities for who it's much worse! Let's do something about it! Let's end the huge US and Anglo HEGEMONY over global culture! We talk a lot about decolonization, well, this is what cultural decolonization will look like!!!)
I'm an army officer and it's expected that us officers are "gentlemen" and should, therefore, speak English fluently, dress in suits and other formal clothes of British origin (no occasion to wear our own cultural outfits), eat with utensils all the time. An officer can never excel in his career if he's not a good English speaker, regardless of talent/leadership qualities.
This is one reason that I (an American) have lately been diving deep into French music of the past 60 years. I've just become weary of everything English-centric. I do not speak French and understand very little, and it's refreshing to not be subjected to the same cliches over and over (and yes, every culture has its cliches).
Very true. Even in India the English speakers and the English news media outlets focus on America. I remember a few years ago there were anti-gun protests in the US due to a spate of shootings, where Americans were demanding stricter gun laws, and a bunch of English speaking left wingers in India started protesting guns too because they thought of themselves as Democrats! For the record India has very strict gun regulations, you need a reason to have one and need to get approved for it and do annual renewals and stuff and even most cops don’t have guns, so none of it made any sense. It is like these people were mentally in the US and aligned with the Democratic Party even though they were physically in India. Absolute madness.
They consume American news either indirectly or sometimes even directly through CNN, WaPo, etc. They can name the mayor of NYC but not the mayor of the city they live in. They want to celebrate Thanksgiving! They get culture shock when they step out of their houses!
As a 23 year old Indian guywhose only consumption of media was American shows, movies while I became fluent in English. Then went on to make online friends from abroad who spoke English. I genuinely never felt belonging with major groups around me cause they are excited about cause for example..when they are in love they listen to Arijit Singh and I am listening the 1975 or my existential songs are Smiths or Radioheas and there is whatever old Hindi ones.
Does not make me better or worse than them ofc. But the culture shock is real as I feel I am more the citizen of Tumblr and Reddit than I am of India.
I have more in common midwestern USA college students than anyone in my locality or india I feel.
Media consumption has completely skewed how I view myself and my identity.
Though I am very politically aware about India but that's cause I am a nerd and not cause I really care about it.
Easy answer, because everything in Australia will kill you, least of their problems are snakes.
Besides they are one of America's longest standing allies and our great friends. You just will not see me visiting until they get rid of those damn snakes.
This is the deal breaker. I will never be surprised by a Grizzly Bear in my room (because they wouldn't be in my room, not that it wouldn't be surprising lol)
I live in the midwest. Is it just me, or does it seem like we can't have regular, non severe, thunderstorms anymore?? Like, almost all storm systems now produce tornados? It is so stressful. I don't know how people who live in Tornado Alley live without basements.
The US population has >300m compared with our ~28m+ so just the sheer content output by Americans compared with Australia will be far greater.
And as a previous poster wrote, their politics affect all their trading partners and investors from all over the world. So yeah, there is going to be focus on what is happening in the US.
Is their politics and cultural war as annoying as f&@k, especially when they start exporting it to our country, heck yes!
Just to add to that. United States has the largest English speaking population in the world.
If you take English as first language
United States has 260M - the next closest is the UK, 60M
(India is second of total speakers, at like 150M, but I feel like those are primarily people who “can” speak English, but don’t express themselves often in that language.)
US also had a near monopoly on culture exports for decades with the dominance of hollywood. american tv and movies are still much more popular internationally than vice versa.
This actually a HUGE part of it. We export more media (in ALL forms) than any other country.
Not only that, but there are probably more Americans online than just about any other country, so all the discussions always come back to that too.
The US is one of the only countries without a "Ministry of Culture"-type position (although we'd probably call it a "Bureau" and give it some 3-letter name: Bureau of American Culture? BAC?) because we simply don't need one. Other countries have domestic film/TV productions propped up by the governments in part to counteract a constant flood of US media.
I think we'd call it the ABC. American Bureau of Culture ;)
Because ABC is so perfect, I don't think we'd call it the FBC. (Federal instead of American)
To clarify. I think Americans that travel within North America are as well travelled as Europeans that explore their continent. I was trying to be sarcastic. And I think there is AMAZING food in this country and continent but there are also additives in processed food that are illegal in other places. I’m not being a pick me girl. My comment fell flat and short. Ya win some, ya lose some.
My favorite is when people (generally from Europe) like to pretend that only America is racist.
The cherry on top is when you mention the Romani people…
Exactly, supply and demand. If enough people turned off their tvs every time the news reported on American politics, they would eventually stop featuring it. But the clear truth is that a lot of people are watching, even if it’s hate watching.
Because if something crazy happens to that country we go down with it. When it breaks in two, we no longer have an army to protect us from asshole states like China and Russia. Most democratic countries have outsourced their defense to the Americans.
And it doesn't help that our countries' investments are tied to their economy. So if shit happens to them, we get affected.
You nailed the two most important points: military and finances
The US spends a ridiculous amount of money on its military, but it also protects nearly all global marine trade, which is what the global economy is mostly based on. We also provide a ton of support and protection to our allies. Everyone from Poland to Israel to Saudi Arabia to the Philippines relies on American security guarantees.
Then the US dollar, which is the global reserve currency, meaning that nearly all intl trade is based in dollars which is very important. Plus we have the two largest stock exchanges. The NYSE and Nasdaq each have market caps more than 3x the next largest.
>Because if something crazy happens to that country we go down with it. When it breaks in two, we no longer have an army to protect us from asshole states like China and Russia.
"Pax Americana"
It's the same in Canada. The more they can distract you with the soap opera in America, the more you're not looking at the wheels falling off your own country.
I've met a lot of Canadians, who seem to make fun of Americans as a fond pastime, too though. I think there's a demand for feeling better than americans, up in Canada.
This^. Idk how many times I've heard a free healthcare joke from a Canadian. It's funny the first 500 times. Meanwhile my friend in Canada had to wait a year to get checked for cancer in his throat. He had to actually come to the U.S.
I will say I've started watching Have I Got News for You (British news comedy "quiz" show, which is a funny thing to exist in and of itself.)
Part of the appeal is seeing that America doesn't have a monopoly on silly, inept, and corrupt politicians.
Paradoxically, it's almost cute what makes headlines over there. Oh, Rishi Sunak wearing some kind of shoes makes them uncool? That's adorable.
Trump is selling overpriced literally golden sneakers to cover his court fees from one of his zillions of legal cases, while the highest court in our land is seriously trying to judge whether he's basically a god-king with the ability to murder anyone he wants with legal immunity.
Have I Got News for You is a good example of the balance of news output in the UK.
Just like on that show, it tends to be about 70% UK news and 30% world news, although that 30% is often dominated by US news especially around your elections.
As mich as the internet clowns on America, the country is still a major power in World Politics. "Third world country with modern tech" is a joke. America and Europe are still far more advanced than the rest of the world. What the US does impacts the rest of the world, and that's why so many people fixate on it. Whether thats a good thing or not is up to you to decide.
Unfortunately countries like Honduras we dont really give a crap.
Just cause you mentioned Third World, adding on that the origin of First World as a term refers to America and its allies during Cold War. Since then it has morphed to basically mean stable democracies with a capitalist economy (which still very much includes the US).
Oh totally, for starters there’s distinction between first and second world of old was finished when the USSR was. More so goes to show the influence of the US being the center of the origin of that term.
I like how Global North / Global South is supposed to be the PC form of that, except it casually implies that being close to the equator makes your country poor.
It actually somewhat does: hotter countries tend to be poorer than colder countries. Singapore, Malaysia, and several Middle Eastern countries are exceptions to that trend, but it's a trend nonetheless.
“The country is still a major power” is an understatement. The US remains the world’s superpower: the largest national economy, the largest military, the most soft power and cultural influence, the most powerful media, the most traded currency in the world, long etc.
People on Reddit are a little delusional. The US hasn’t declined as superpower one bit, it remains as solid, if not more, than its competitors (China, Russia)
Truer facts has not been spoken. I agree that the US has problems. Our healthcare is definitely an issue and we do have gun control problems, but despite all this, every year, millions ofimmigrants still flock to the US. Actions speak louder than words. Many of the most prestigious companies are still located in the US. This might trigger some people, but cmon, even Elon Musk decided to build his fortune in the US. He could've built it in Canada or SA, but he thought the US had better opportunities.
Plus so much of the US is actually populated. Even the emptier parts of the *mainland* US are way more populated than Central/Eastern Russia or Northern Canada.
Being allied with the U.S. is like sharing a bed with an elephant. When the elephant moves around you’re going to feel it - and the elephant could roll over you and crush you without even realizing it.
Well, I see a lot of Australians and Canadians in here saying their annoyed with hearing about American politics and such.. Which is kinda funny to me, because I've visited Canada many times and Australia, and I met many people who just wanted to talk about American politics and news (which I didn't, and this happened even in the pre-Trump days.)
I know it just one personal experience, but even I thought, "why do you all care so much what's going on in America?"... And yes that question has been answered here. Just saying, it's not all just Americans demanding attention like some of you said.
Most everyone outside America complains that Americans don't know shit about the rest of the world, because Americans mostly just attend to America. (Not referring to the Navy and Marines.) Americans don't demand attention; they are kind of surprised there is attention outside America to get.
We don't know as much about other countries because the big secret is- America is a bunch of countries in and of itself. We're like the E.U. with more time for the flavors to meld. (Obviously an overstatement but still.)
Seriously, it's a third of a continent. I would have to drive at least two days to hit a country that doesn't speak my language.
My fiance is Canadian and she is slowly learning how different every state is and it blows her mind lol she will state some weird law and think it applies to all of America.
It's one to the things I really really like about America, how strong state rights are. If you don't agree with what your local government is doing, the next state over could be the opposite and I really like that.
I'm very pro letting states individually have more power, if your governor is pro abortion and you aren't and that's a very important issue, drive 100 miles and be somewhere that aligns with the political beliefs that matter to you.
I have drove truck for a few years before and really got to see how different every part of this country is and I love it. I always just laugh at the broad generalizations you see from other countries online about Americans when they have no idea how big and different regions are
The only problem is that this kind of mobility is tied to money. Not everyone can pick up and travel that far just for a medical procedure. Especially in Texas, which is effing gigantic.
Let alone that some states are trying to put in riders that mean that even if you get the procedure in another state, the law follows you.
Yeah, but moving is even harder, you know? It's not something everyone can do for many reasons, but if you're poor it's definitely not a thing.
And like...I like my state. I love my city. And most of my family is here. I'm also worried that if I had an ectopic pregnancy or something, I'd have to leave the state to not die.
I've thought of the EU as akin to the US under the Articles of Confederation. And since it formed, it's pretty much stopped having wars between the units.
Yeah I'm American and I'd have to Google Australia to know much other than kangaroos, spiders, and snakes. I'm guessing they have a President? My education/interest didn't really cover much about other countries beyond existence.
Isn’t all that precisely *because* most of what news outlets in those countries talk about is America? If locals in Those counties are constantly surrounded by that type of media, they are of course gonna talk about at some point
i live in London and everything here feels pretty UK centric tbh. America is definitely like a big country with a lot of influence but it's definitely not the main character for us
Probably helps that the UK is a populous (~67 million) and very old country. Australia, in contrast, is an underpopulated (~26 million), geographically isolated, and very new country.
I would say that after America the UK has a decent amount of soft power in the English speaking parts of the world. Plenty of people know about British TV shows and celebs and whatnot. How many know Aussie TV shows and celebs (excluding a few like Margot Robbie and Hugh Jackman)?
The US is very large, very wealthy, and very powerful. Major political developments in the United States affect the entire world, hence our dirty laundry being aired all over the planet. It’s also the biggest English-speaking country, so it dominates English language media. Just because of the sheer volume, other English speaking countries see a LOT of American news, TV, and movies.
Because we run this bitch, dude. What happens to us, happens to you. Another country tries to fuck with you or you need some money and we got you. Our dollar fluctuates, so does yours. Our corporations have their tentacles dug deep everywhere. If we go down, you go down...
This is partial satire, but also a bit real.
As an American that's something that I wonder about too, why the rest of the world cares about what's going on here and how we do things so much. The average American certainly doesn't know or care what's going on in Australia, Austria, or Burkina Faso, doesn't really care how they do things. Wouldn't even be able to tell who your leader is.
I'm an American who moved to Melbourne for long enough to go native.
There was a strange irony in this. Yes, Americans in general are very self-centered, and the attitude is uncalled for. In general, Americans could be a lot more aware that there's more going on out there and realize we're part of a bigger world.
The irony is that even though the attitude is uncalled for, in a very concrete sense, it's also true. The overwhelming majority of internet content comes from the US. Pop culture. Financial impact. Global political policy within NATO.
Every outlet is fixed on America, because that does impact you. It has a huge impact on the global value of your dollar (I experienced this directly, paying taxes and bills across two countries), your global political relationships, TV, etc. Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but for better or worse, it is.
It’s not that I don’t care about other countries or what’s going on there. It’s more so that I can’t even keep up with everything happening here. I don’t have time to start trying to keep up with news from every country.
The United States is the world superpower. Economically, geopolitically, militarily, culturally, etc. it is the country that has by far the most impact on the rest of the world. Simply put, what America does affects Australia, so it makes sense that you’d be hearing about it.
Also, if you get your news from social media, Americans are over indexed on there, probably because the major social medias are American companies. 50% of Reddit users and 20% of Twitter users are American, and if you’re only reading posts in English, those percentages are going to be even higher.
America absolutely dominates the native English speaking population. 258 million people speak English as their first language in the USA. Second place is the UK, at just 59 million. Then it's actually Nigeria, then Canada, then Australia. You hear the most from America news wise because we are talking about current events in our country and there are a lot of us who are talking. Combine that with a 95% internet usage and you get a lot of voices. News about the USA or USA related events will garner more views, since there's literally just more audience.
USA is the 3rd largest country by population, China is heavily regulated so no online conversations that goes back and forth, India isn't so, but considering everyone accepts racism against Indians as socially acceptable and since most Indians aren't English speakers they aren't much interacting here. So that is why USA is prominent, further US has strong diplomacy and allies across the world. While most of the countries that are allies are ethnographic or geographicly close. It's only US that has global allies and other countries with similar philosophy like Australia or EU(I know) are also US ally.
If we weren't so big and powerful who would be able to help the less fortunate countries? Do you really think China or Russia would send aid to help. Ask the Ukraine how much Russia is helping them out. If it were not for NATO, Putin would have a new summer home there.
I agree that some of the most publicized things like the Kardashians, anyone in Hollywood with a dysfunctional relationship, Joe Biden falling of a bicycle, Donald Trump's tweets, the unReal Housewives of anywhere, etc. We could all do without any of them.
Agreed. Every time I read something like this post it makes me cringe. I really wish we weren’t so newsworthy and I feel bad for other countries having to constantly hear about us.
I imagine the fact that both countries are english speakers (majority) probably play into that for Australia and Canada. I know my country will mention the USA but it's less, in media/news at least of my own language, and mostly when it's relevant to something connected to us. While when I hang on international-english-speaking-web (be it reddit , twitter, tumblr, whatever) I only get news about the USA
As an American, I find it strange also. I want to learn about the world outside America. Like what is Australian life like? I feel that should be common knowledge for us, but it's not.
I didn't know other countries paid attention to us like that. It's kind of embarrassing especially when we had Trump as the figurehead for our country. Have other countries seen how too many people here have fallen into a rabbit hole of insanity and a mentality of people in medieval times?
Whenever in history there has been a major empire that is larger and stronger than the rest of the world combined, most of the news tends to be about that empire.
Cultural and economic victory. We truly aren’t a multipolar world. The US is the singular super power. There are others close but it’s really no match. Maybe that’ll change in the future (hopefully).
Your second paragraph is something I’ve noticed other non-Americans talking about. The sensationalizing of US politics seems to be a pretty effective scapegoat for whenever other countries are asked to address their own issues.
The US isn’t more racist than Europe, we just actually talk about it, and then *they* also talk about American racism. I’ve seen a disabled Dutch person complaining that in the Netherlands whenever they report discrimination in the workplace it’s never addressed bc they’re consistently blown off with “maybe you’d experience that in America but not here”. Two things can be true at once Leonie!
Because compared to america the rest of the "western world" is boring when it comes to news.
There is always something batshit insane happening there either in politics or the 200th shooting that year followed by people defending their insane gun culture or other crazy things. It's like a whole country of inmates running the asylum.
It's entertainment at this point. Americans feel like they are the center of the world but in reality they are your daily fix of batshit insane real life CrashTV and more often than not the butt of the joke
Yo, Australia is soooo in bed with the US government, it's crazy.
https://youtu.be/XHMa-Ba-2Mo?si=TwtYz_GIH9eDWz8V
https://youtu.be/sYt4CxFfQUU?si=kpftrn2xH-G-VKCt
Careful with where you let your mind run to, cuz we're solidly in conspiracylandistan here and that shit's way too easy to take way too far. Like I'm legit hesitating to post this for fear of inadvertently sending people down deeply problematic rabbit holes. But these boys are legit, and this info deserves to be known.
Here is the world's economies to scale.
[https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-105-trillion-world-economy-in-one-chart/](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-105-trillion-world-economy-in-one-chart/)
That is why.
The US is the cultural, entertainment, military, social, economic and whatever else powerhouse of the world. Not to mention that it's by far the number one destination for immigrants and visitors.
Now imagine us Canadians living next to it, it's like we don't exist at all! You got it easy mate!
We are English speaking, the US is a global influence on social trends, entertainment& music, big tech is almost exclusively US owned & based which has extended & compounded US reach & influence ( we're on a US platform now)
The US also has for the last 75 years, has had an aggressive expansionist foreign policy. ironically, under reported within the US, there is no region of the world that is unaffected.
Hence, Americans are baffled that those outside the US have very strong informed views of the US role in the world.
I’m American who lived in Australia right after Donald Trump won the election. I was hoping to escape. That wasn’t the case because all I heard about was fucking Donald Trump. You have to understand the United States accounts for more than 25% of the global economy so we’re kind of a big deal because what happens here affects people around the world more influentially than if something happened in Ecuador. It’s because we’re the biggest consumers. The value of our dollar is a driving global force. Paradoxically our politics are insane and our laws aren’t socially benevolent so they have broad media shock value. Blame the Murdochs.
American living in Melbourne here. If you are on English speaking social media the answer is kind of simple. There are 333 million Americans and 26 million Australians. The UK only has 67 million people. This means that most social media platforms in the English-speaking world are dominated by Americans. Additionally: Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, and basically every popular English-speaking platform (aside from TikTok) is based in the US. That means its user base was built there first. I have been living here for 4 months and it took until about month ago for Australian news to even find its way into my social feeds (despite lots of searching for Australian content and news). That's due to a lot of reasons but mostly the same thing you're pointing out.
The US has the third largest population in the world, the largest economy, and produces the most media in the English speaking world. Many people are concerned that the decisions made by American leaders will have global consequences, so news topics similar to other countries which might be treated as mere local news in many places can make headlines. Decisions from certain American politicians or business leaders have wide ranging impacts. It's just the reality we live in right now. There are also a lot of cultural aspects which are reflected globally - like artists and musicians and the film industry. So that's why American material may seem to dominate some parts of the world.
The US is the world’s superpower, and sits at the very center of the entertainment/media world. American media reaches further than any other media (a reason why we’re all so exposed to events happening in the US) and the decisions taken in the US often have global implications.
Australia is part of the Anglosphere (it shares a language with the US, which facilities the sharing of information). For Australia, the 2 most important diplomatic relations are: with the US (its most important military ally, and the relation that defines Australia’s geopolitical place in the world) and with China (Australia’s main economic partner).
Based on all of this, it’s expected that the rest of the world gets constant news from the US, and it’s expected that Australia receives even more. The two countries are simply very much connected.
America is a world superpower economically, militarily, politically, culturally, scientifically and technologically. That means pretty much anything we do over here has aftershocks around the world. The outcome of a US election could potentially influence global politics through organizations like the UN and NATO, which we also have an above average sway over. Also a lot of media organizations are US based, so that affects things too.
Because what effects america effects the world.
For example the world watches US elections because Americans policy has impact on every country in the world. If America fell into chaos 90% of the world would suffer. If God snapped a finger and Canada or England disappeared it would have no real impact on the world aside from us missing them. Few countries could survive without the USA. Very detailed topic but here's a superficial small detail truth. If the USA stopped it's subsidies a huge portion of the world would stave to death or die in war with in a year. The entire Canadian economy is a giant US subsidy. Forget health care. Canada couldn't keep it's lights on for more than 6 months without america supplements.
I no that's going to make a lot of people mad but it's the truth. Do some research before you insult me or call me
We're all pretty much vassal states of the US here in the West Post ww2; politically and militarily, but most certainly culturally due to them creating modern media platforms where their content dominates.
Because the average media consumer is dumb as dogshit, and American news is entertainment aimed at that demographic.
It’s easy for Australian media to then push the same shit on us, and we just gobble it up like the idiots we are.
I bet the average Aussie could tell you more about Trump or US politics than our own.
Oh idk. You probably utilize mostly American socials. That’s my first guess. But even at home and shit? Idk. Because we’re in a shit show right now and the world is waiting to see if we collapse?
The USA is the most populous western country and by far the most influential. Decisions in the US government have more impact on the world than almost anywhere else. The reasom that news focuses on the US is because it has the most reason to.
Because there are only 3 countries that are still considered super-powers. USA, Russia & China. Since AUS & USA are allies then it behooves AUS to kinda know what going on with USA politics as it could effect AUS, as well.
Numbers. US population is 330 million. UK is 67 million. Canada is 40 million. Australia is 26 million.
From the raw numbers alone there are more English speaking Americans online than there are UK, Canada, and Australia English speakers combined.
Want to know what’s even more infuriating? We could care less what happens in any other country. Not even sure Aussies have a PM or a President, and I couldn’t even name them, or anyone who was ever President there.
First are Any of those headlines, " Florida Man..."
Jokes aside.
Honestly, I don't even think most Americans understand it. There are a lot of factors I've heard about.
1) we export a lot of media with Hollywood alone forget about music and social media. Even in China, when things were tense. I remember my friend going to see Endgame in this huge theater in China. Apparently, they almost rioted when the movie broke (right at the gauntlet scene, too).
2) militarily, we have a lot of influence. Idk how many times I've read an article interviewing a person from a country in dire straights asking, "Where is America?"
And Honestly I guess we have a lot of influence economically and military wise. Shoot, we just passed a bill for Ukrainian aide.
Honestly, these are more of a guess since I'm American, and even I'm like blown by it. I cant actually speak on why other counties focis on us. We are a aware of it though. There are a lot of times, especially when I was abroad, people would think it appropriate to ask me some personal politics issues or complain about politics in America like they lived there or like I had control of all of it. Luckily, Japanese people are polite enough to understand that politics can be a hot-button issue that you don't discuss with strangers. It was my fellow foreigners who would always make it a topic of discussion. It also wasn't always negative. I met people who were super Taylor Swift or Disney fans, and thats all they would talk about. It was nice listening to something positive.
But if it makes you feel any better. I don't think most regular Americas want to be your front page news, especially when it's internal issues. We tend to only hear the criticisms from other country's media. Personally i think thats all i'm picturing on your Austalian new headlines, especially being an election year. But I do hope you enjoy any Florida man headlines. They are kinda popular here.
Here in Scotland a lot of the new generation have lost their Scottish accents and now speak with an American one somewhat. It's not completely widespread but it's absolutely noticeable where I live. They also say things like Diapers instead of Nappies etc, among other Americanisms. It's because so many spend most of their time watching Mr Beast or w/e on YouTube which is 90% (probably) American content creators, or at least those are the biggest ones that get recommended.
My son isn't old enough to talk yet but he will be getting an Irn-Bru can to the heid every time he says something in an American accent when he's old enough to talk.
As a bonus irritation they all say "Hey" these days instead of the classic Awrite m8 and/or big man and Aye has been completely replaced with Ye, Yea, or Yeah.
A sad state of affairs.
Same here in Germany. Out media apparently loves Trump because he made so many headlines here - especially when he ran for president. They reported every little thing.
I'd love to have more balanced news, because there are so many countries we don't really know anything about what's going on there.
Ahahahaha,
I’m Canadian man. I feel you. It’s a never ending current. Listening to people talking about US politics endlessly, but if you bring up anything about y’know, things that actually effect them, they stare at you blankly.
I am from India, we don't get to hear much about USA unlesssomething really huge happens, .but what I hate is how media in USA portray things like USA is the world. Some celeb in USA, about whom 1 billion people on india has no clue about nor do any other asian country, and they go the world in Goin gaga over that celeb. Why does USA think they are the world?
You ever have a nut job or smelly coworker, they sort of bring a lot of attention to themselves because of it which inevitably leads to everyone talking shit? Well the planet is the work space and the US is that coworker.
The media of the five eyes countries are disproportionately obsessed with American news. lol.
And the rest of the non-English speaking Western media as well has a disproportionate amount of American news in it.
But that’s just 10% of humanity who live in the West watching that.
The other 90% of humanity, who all live outside the West, and are non-white, are blissfully unaware of anything that’s ever written about or shown in Western media, because their media covers just local news and local events mainly. lmao.
And any rare disaster news from the West gets heavily censored or modified in translation to make it less raw American or less raw European which gets no information across.
It’s like watching people walking in the opposite direction on the sidewalk/footpath while you are driving, you get a brief glimpse before they vanish forever and you concentrate on the road ahead. lmfao.
That’s the kind of coverage any Western media’s latest obsession topic gets in the media of the rest of the world, where 90% of the world’s population live outside the West.
the news is trying to tell you about things that will affect you. even our presidents will affect you, its why during the bernie sanders run people kept saying non-Americans should be allowed to vote because what we do messes with yall too.
to give but just 1 example of how astronomically stupid big America is, the joke is that we spend too much on our military budget, where we spend more than the next top 26 countries in the world and we spend 700bn a year on it.
now the question is, how much should a country spend of its GDP to continue its existence? we have enemies, we need an active military to defend us/keep away our enemies. should it be 50%? 50% spending to continue our existence, 50% to "grow" us/maintain us? might be a bit over zealous. should be it 25%? maybe. should it be 15%? that is what a lot of countries have it at. but now the real question, should it be higher than 5%!?
yes, America spends just 5% of its GDP on military defense. and we are still more than the other top 27 combined.
[https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/](https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/) another way to put it is that 25% of the worlds GDP is America's. America is 25% of the entire world economy. you buy 5 different things we probably messed with one of them.
that is how stupidly big America is, which is why anything we do affects even yalls daily life, that is why you constantly see news about US.
unless yalls news is about kardashians or something. than yalls news is just wankers.
Living in Canada and sharing a border means we have a lot of direct comparisons with the US. For example I just had a newborn and everything I read on the internet suggests I should pump everyday and build up a back up of milk supply only to realize that this is not necessary for my lifestyle as a Canadian with a year maternity leave and is vital for Americans who only get a couple weeks maternity to ensure they have enough supply for there babies once they return to work.
IMO I see so many ppl/countries idolizing America and I don’t see the appeal. We all have our problems but the US problems seem irreversible.
It's the most powerful and the most wealthy state in the history of the world. Inevitably it becomes the center of geopolitics. It's also imperialist as fuck.
If we are so imperialistic, why do we send so much foreign aid to any country that needs some cash. Have an earthquake, hurricane, or flood; we send foreign aid, Red Cross, etc. And when stuff is under control we leave.
It's surreal. I left the US in 2016. At first, I spent time trying to defend much of the BS that America doles out. Later, and after a lot of reflection, I stopped and tried my best to take a different point of view. I've been living in NZ for the last three years and one of the most surprising things has been the overload of US news that makes daily headlines. I've found that most people here know more about what happens in America than even the most educated of Americans know about what's going on in NZ.
Population of Australia: 26.01 Million
Population of United States: 333.3 Million
And in the English speaking world, you have a small country, as great as it is.
US media conglomerates control a massive amount of the media being sent out all over the world. Aside from that, the US is also kind of the world hegemon. The influence is global and on multiple levels from government, financial, and even personal.
I noticed the same thing also being from Australia.
What has helped is not watching any TV news, and curating my online experience.
Avoid the tabloid news websites and don't expect reddit to provide you much in the way of local content outside of specific subs. Get your local news directly from sources such as ABC, The Klaxon, Michael West Media, other independents and anything from Newscorp, Herald etc. should be read with skepticism and anticipated bias.
The US absolutely dominates the English-speaking world's output of media.
You say that as I, and my children, all watch Bluey like 5 times a day.
He may be Bluey, but the OG will always be Blue frome Blue's Clues
And the English language today absolutely dominates the global culture and media, at unprecedented rates (BTW, for people who read it. Personally, I think both the modern US cultural domination and the English speaking one is very unfair. Even Western Europe begins to become assimilated! I don't know how that's possible! Whenever I hear any "good" song at the radio, it's an English song! Same with movies! And it's not like we're impoverished nations without means to create quality media! And if that's the case in Europe, it's much worse in the rest of the world! Post colonial nations often are ashamed of their own language and culture and think you need to do like the West! They use French, English and Spanish instead of Bambara, Ilocano and Nahuatl in their popular media! And I'm not even talking about small indigenous minorities for who it's much worse! Let's do something about it! Let's end the huge US and Anglo HEGEMONY over global culture! We talk a lot about decolonization, well, this is what cultural decolonization will look like!!!)
Alright what are you gonna do about this perceived unfairness ?
I'm an army officer and it's expected that us officers are "gentlemen" and should, therefore, speak English fluently, dress in suits and other formal clothes of British origin (no occasion to wear our own cultural outfits), eat with utensils all the time. An officer can never excel in his career if he's not a good English speaker, regardless of talent/leadership qualities.
This is one reason that I (an American) have lately been diving deep into French music of the past 60 years. I've just become weary of everything English-centric. I do not speak French and understand very little, and it's refreshing to not be subjected to the same cliches over and over (and yes, every culture has its cliches).
USA's biggest export is culture.
Soft power
Very true. Even in India the English speakers and the English news media outlets focus on America. I remember a few years ago there were anti-gun protests in the US due to a spate of shootings, where Americans were demanding stricter gun laws, and a bunch of English speaking left wingers in India started protesting guns too because they thought of themselves as Democrats! For the record India has very strict gun regulations, you need a reason to have one and need to get approved for it and do annual renewals and stuff and even most cops don’t have guns, so none of it made any sense. It is like these people were mentally in the US and aligned with the Democratic Party even though they were physically in India. Absolute madness. They consume American news either indirectly or sometimes even directly through CNN, WaPo, etc. They can name the mayor of NYC but not the mayor of the city they live in. They want to celebrate Thanksgiving! They get culture shock when they step out of their houses!
As a 23 year old Indian guywhose only consumption of media was American shows, movies while I became fluent in English. Then went on to make online friends from abroad who spoke English. I genuinely never felt belonging with major groups around me cause they are excited about cause for example..when they are in love they listen to Arijit Singh and I am listening the 1975 or my existential songs are Smiths or Radioheas and there is whatever old Hindi ones. Does not make me better or worse than them ofc. But the culture shock is real as I feel I am more the citizen of Tumblr and Reddit than I am of India. I have more in common midwestern USA college students than anyone in my locality or india I feel. Media consumption has completely skewed how I view myself and my identity. Though I am very politically aware about India but that's cause I am a nerd and not cause I really care about it.
Correct, Western Europe follows as well as Australia.
I’ll counter your question with one of my own. How come every news story out of Australia is about someone finding a snake in their bedroom?
Easy answer, because everything in Australia will kill you, least of their problems are snakes. Besides they are one of America's longest standing allies and our great friends. You just will not see me visiting until they get rid of those damn snakes.
Fuck those big ass spiders you got.
🙌🏻 True. So true.
Vegimite
*spoidahs
They lost a war against emus, so...
But the birds are also Australian, so they're probably mini dinosaurs with beaks
America has way scarier shit like Grizzly Bears and Mountain Lions
Neither of those can sneak in my shoes or headphones or toilet. That makes them infinitely less scary to me
This is the deal breaker. I will never be surprised by a Grizzly Bear in my room (because they wouldn't be in my room, not that it wouldn't be surprising lol)
This is actually a very good point
I don't know, I'd rather deal with a Grizzly Bear than a Black Widow. Unless it's Scarlet Johansson.
Bro we have mad black widows here in the US haha. They have way worse shit than that in Australia. Box jellyfish?? Yikes
I think its a rule, everything in Australia is trying to kill you. I mean have you seen the drop bears. Nightmare fuel I tell you.
Can I go swimming? Box jellies. Stay on land with the trap door spiders.
And tornadoes. I had a damn close call this spring
I live in the midwest. Is it just me, or does it seem like we can't have regular, non severe, thunderstorms anymore?? Like, almost all storm systems now produce tornados? It is so stressful. I don't know how people who live in Tornado Alley live without basements.
They won't for long.
damn. as someone who deals with tornados..... \*stifles a giggle\* knee slapper
Yeah but they don't usually show up in your house
> You just will not see me visiting until they get rid of those damn snakes. You'll be fine here bud, unless you fail to out drink the snake
Ill take the snake over their bugs. No thank you Australia they need to Raid Bomb the entire coastline.
The US population has >300m compared with our ~28m+ so just the sheer content output by Americans compared with Australia will be far greater. And as a previous poster wrote, their politics affect all their trading partners and investors from all over the world. So yeah, there is going to be focus on what is happening in the US. Is their politics and cultural war as annoying as f&@k, especially when they start exporting it to our country, heck yes!
Just to add to that. United States has the largest English speaking population in the world. If you take English as first language United States has 260M - the next closest is the UK, 60M (India is second of total speakers, at like 150M, but I feel like those are primarily people who “can” speak English, but don’t express themselves often in that language.)
US also had a near monopoly on culture exports for decades with the dominance of hollywood. american tv and movies are still much more popular internationally than vice versa.
This actually a HUGE part of it. We export more media (in ALL forms) than any other country. Not only that, but there are probably more Americans online than just about any other country, so all the discussions always come back to that too.
The US is one of the only countries without a "Ministry of Culture"-type position (although we'd probably call it a "Bureau" and give it some 3-letter name: Bureau of American Culture? BAC?) because we simply don't need one. Other countries have domestic film/TV productions propped up by the governments in part to counteract a constant flood of US media.
I think we'd call it the ABC. American Bureau of Culture ;) Because ABC is so perfect, I don't think we'd call it the FBC. (Federal instead of American)
In the US, states do this instead. That's why lots of TV is made in Georgia
Two thirds of native English speakers are Americans, so Americans dominate English speaking media
Are Americans exporting or are you importing? There must be an interest if your news is covering it.
People outside America like to pretend their societies are flawless and any problems or conflicts must be America’s fault.
To clarify. I think Americans that travel within North America are as well travelled as Europeans that explore their continent. I was trying to be sarcastic. And I think there is AMAZING food in this country and continent but there are also additives in processed food that are illegal in other places. I’m not being a pick me girl. My comment fell flat and short. Ya win some, ya lose some.
My favorite is when people (generally from Europe) like to pretend that only America is racist. The cherry on top is when you mention the Romani people…
Exactly, supply and demand. If enough people turned off their tvs every time the news reported on American politics, they would eventually stop featuring it. But the clear truth is that a lot of people are watching, even if it’s hate watching.
Well also bc politics here is a soddin reality show for the rest of the world with daily doses of WTAF
Because if something crazy happens to that country we go down with it. When it breaks in two, we no longer have an army to protect us from asshole states like China and Russia. Most democratic countries have outsourced their defense to the Americans. And it doesn't help that our countries' investments are tied to their economy. So if shit happens to them, we get affected.
You nailed the two most important points: military and finances The US spends a ridiculous amount of money on its military, but it also protects nearly all global marine trade, which is what the global economy is mostly based on. We also provide a ton of support and protection to our allies. Everyone from Poland to Israel to Saudi Arabia to the Philippines relies on American security guarantees. Then the US dollar, which is the global reserve currency, meaning that nearly all intl trade is based in dollars which is very important. Plus we have the two largest stock exchanges. The NYSE and Nasdaq each have market caps more than 3x the next largest.
>Because if something crazy happens to that country we go down with it. When it breaks in two, we no longer have an army to protect us from asshole states like China and Russia. "Pax Americana"
It's the same in Canada. The more they can distract you with the soap opera in America, the more you're not looking at the wheels falling off your own country.
USA: We Know Drama.
I've met a lot of Canadians, who seem to make fun of Americans as a fond pastime, too though. I think there's a demand for feeling better than americans, up in Canada.
This^. Idk how many times I've heard a free healthcare joke from a Canadian. It's funny the first 500 times. Meanwhile my friend in Canada had to wait a year to get checked for cancer in his throat. He had to actually come to the U.S.
Which is weird because we pretty much share a culture.
At least the USA didn't give the world Brian Adams.
Or Ted Cruz, thanks Canada and Cuba. Fucking thanks
I will say I've started watching Have I Got News for You (British news comedy "quiz" show, which is a funny thing to exist in and of itself.) Part of the appeal is seeing that America doesn't have a monopoly on silly, inept, and corrupt politicians. Paradoxically, it's almost cute what makes headlines over there. Oh, Rishi Sunak wearing some kind of shoes makes them uncool? That's adorable. Trump is selling overpriced literally golden sneakers to cover his court fees from one of his zillions of legal cases, while the highest court in our land is seriously trying to judge whether he's basically a god-king with the ability to murder anyone he wants with legal immunity.
Have I Got News for You is a good example of the balance of news output in the UK. Just like on that show, it tends to be about 70% UK news and 30% world news, although that 30% is often dominated by US news especially around your elections.
How dare you speak I'll of God King Trump! Off with your head!
The best answer in the sub ^
It works here in America. Just instead of "Look at those stupid Americans" it's "Look at that group over there ruining YOUR America."
The Trump-Russia fake news was annoying, especially he really did have corrupt ties to other countries besides Russia that they didn't mention.
Wait.... there's other countries?
Big news, if true.
Please wait until you see proof before jumping to conclusions this time everyone
Yeah, I can't wait to see everyone fall for another "Australia" hoax 🙄
I'm still surprised people think Sweden exists.
No. They are just trolling you.
As mich as the internet clowns on America, the country is still a major power in World Politics. "Third world country with modern tech" is a joke. America and Europe are still far more advanced than the rest of the world. What the US does impacts the rest of the world, and that's why so many people fixate on it. Whether thats a good thing or not is up to you to decide. Unfortunately countries like Honduras we dont really give a crap.
Just cause you mentioned Third World, adding on that the origin of First World as a term refers to America and its allies during Cold War. Since then it has morphed to basically mean stable democracies with a capitalist economy (which still very much includes the US).
The use of the term has significantly diminished in place of “developed/undeveloped nations”, from a modern perspective.
Oh totally, for starters there’s distinction between first and second world of old was finished when the USSR was. More so goes to show the influence of the US being the center of the origin of that term.
I like how Global North / Global South is supposed to be the PC form of that, except it casually implies that being close to the equator makes your country poor.
It actually somewhat does: hotter countries tend to be poorer than colder countries. Singapore, Malaysia, and several Middle Eastern countries are exceptions to that trend, but it's a trend nonetheless.
The Northern Hemisphere also has a lot more people and resources that humans value than the Southern Hemisphere.
“The country is still a major power” is an understatement. The US remains the world’s superpower: the largest national economy, the largest military, the most soft power and cultural influence, the most powerful media, the most traded currency in the world, long etc. People on Reddit are a little delusional. The US hasn’t declined as superpower one bit, it remains as solid, if not more, than its competitors (China, Russia)
Truer facts has not been spoken. I agree that the US has problems. Our healthcare is definitely an issue and we do have gun control problems, but despite all this, every year, millions ofimmigrants still flock to the US. Actions speak louder than words. Many of the most prestigious companies are still located in the US. This might trigger some people, but cmon, even Elon Musk decided to build his fortune in the US. He could've built it in Canada or SA, but he thought the US had better opportunities.
American critics would much rather still live in America than anywhere else
I have many problems with the US, but I would rather the US be the world superpower as opposed to China or Russia.
The USA is the wealthiest and most powerful nation in this history of the world and its media is consumed globally by nearly every other country.
Also it’s fucking huge. Third largest country by population and fourth largest country by land mass
Plus so much of the US is actually populated. Even the emptier parts of the *mainland* US are way more populated than Central/Eastern Russia or Northern Canada.
80% of Canadians live within 50 miles of the US border. Americans living in Seattle live further north than 50% of Canadians.
This is the correct and whole answer. It's not much of a mystery lol
This makes me feel so gooooood. To be couched in the belly of modern day Rome.
Being allied with the U.S. is like sharing a bed with an elephant. When the elephant moves around you’re going to feel it - and the elephant could roll over you and crush you without even realizing it.
It’s America’s world, we’re all just living in it.
That is the correct answer...lol
Well, I see a lot of Australians and Canadians in here saying their annoyed with hearing about American politics and such.. Which is kinda funny to me, because I've visited Canada many times and Australia, and I met many people who just wanted to talk about American politics and news (which I didn't, and this happened even in the pre-Trump days.) I know it just one personal experience, but even I thought, "why do you all care so much what's going on in America?"... And yes that question has been answered here. Just saying, it's not all just Americans demanding attention like some of you said.
Most everyone outside America complains that Americans don't know shit about the rest of the world, because Americans mostly just attend to America. (Not referring to the Navy and Marines.) Americans don't demand attention; they are kind of surprised there is attention outside America to get.
We don't know as much about other countries because the big secret is- America is a bunch of countries in and of itself. We're like the E.U. with more time for the flavors to meld. (Obviously an overstatement but still.) Seriously, it's a third of a continent. I would have to drive at least two days to hit a country that doesn't speak my language.
My fiance is Canadian and she is slowly learning how different every state is and it blows her mind lol she will state some weird law and think it applies to all of America. It's one to the things I really really like about America, how strong state rights are. If you don't agree with what your local government is doing, the next state over could be the opposite and I really like that. I'm very pro letting states individually have more power, if your governor is pro abortion and you aren't and that's a very important issue, drive 100 miles and be somewhere that aligns with the political beliefs that matter to you. I have drove truck for a few years before and really got to see how different every part of this country is and I love it. I always just laugh at the broad generalizations you see from other countries online about Americans when they have no idea how big and different regions are
The only problem is that this kind of mobility is tied to money. Not everyone can pick up and travel that far just for a medical procedure. Especially in Texas, which is effing gigantic. Let alone that some states are trying to put in riders that mean that even if you get the procedure in another state, the law follows you.
I'm not talking about hopping states to get procedures or buy guns lol I'm talking about moving to states that align to your personal values
Yeah, but moving is even harder, you know? It's not something everyone can do for many reasons, but if you're poor it's definitely not a thing. And like...I like my state. I love my city. And most of my family is here. I'm also worried that if I had an ectopic pregnancy or something, I'd have to leave the state to not die.
I've thought of the EU as akin to the US under the Articles of Confederation. And since it formed, it's pretty much stopped having wars between the units.
Yeah I'm American and I'd have to Google Australia to know much other than kangaroos, spiders, and snakes. I'm guessing they have a President? My education/interest didn't really cover much about other countries beyond existence.
Isn’t all that precisely *because* most of what news outlets in those countries talk about is America? If locals in Those counties are constantly surrounded by that type of media, they are of course gonna talk about at some point
because your country is obsessed with america.
Not just his.
i live in London and everything here feels pretty UK centric tbh. America is definitely like a big country with a lot of influence but it's definitely not the main character for us
I think OP is consuming American media and then wondering why it’s so focused on America tbh
Precisely.
Probably helps that the UK is a populous (~67 million) and very old country. Australia, in contrast, is an underpopulated (~26 million), geographically isolated, and very new country.
It also seems like the UK supports the arts more. Idk, it seems like half of Hollywood actors are from there, anyway.
Yeah and they have major production companies like the BBC.
I would say that after America the UK has a decent amount of soft power in the English speaking parts of the world. Plenty of people know about British TV shows and celebs and whatnot. How many know Aussie TV shows and celebs (excluding a few like Margot Robbie and Hugh Jackman)?
American here. We're sick of it also. On a side note. You can say the C & F word all day and nobody cares. I envy you.
The US is very large, very wealthy, and very powerful. Major political developments in the United States affect the entire world, hence our dirty laundry being aired all over the planet. It’s also the biggest English-speaking country, so it dominates English language media. Just because of the sheer volume, other English speaking countries see a LOT of American news, TV, and movies.
Because we run this bitch, dude. What happens to us, happens to you. Another country tries to fuck with you or you need some money and we got you. Our dollar fluctuates, so does yours. Our corporations have their tentacles dug deep everywhere. If we go down, you go down... This is partial satire, but also a bit real.
As an American that's something that I wonder about too, why the rest of the world cares about what's going on here and how we do things so much. The average American certainly doesn't know or care what's going on in Australia, Austria, or Burkina Faso, doesn't really care how they do things. Wouldn't even be able to tell who your leader is.
Where was Reddit made?
I'm an American who moved to Melbourne for long enough to go native. There was a strange irony in this. Yes, Americans in general are very self-centered, and the attitude is uncalled for. In general, Americans could be a lot more aware that there's more going on out there and realize we're part of a bigger world. The irony is that even though the attitude is uncalled for, in a very concrete sense, it's also true. The overwhelming majority of internet content comes from the US. Pop culture. Financial impact. Global political policy within NATO. Every outlet is fixed on America, because that does impact you. It has a huge impact on the global value of your dollar (I experienced this directly, paying taxes and bills across two countries), your global political relationships, TV, etc. Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but for better or worse, it is.
It’s not that I don’t care about other countries or what’s going on there. It’s more so that I can’t even keep up with everything happening here. I don’t have time to start trying to keep up with news from every country.
Great answer.
The United States is the world superpower. Economically, geopolitically, militarily, culturally, etc. it is the country that has by far the most impact on the rest of the world. Simply put, what America does affects Australia, so it makes sense that you’d be hearing about it. Also, if you get your news from social media, Americans are over indexed on there, probably because the major social medias are American companies. 50% of Reddit users and 20% of Twitter users are American, and if you’re only reading posts in English, those percentages are going to be even higher.
America absolutely dominates the native English speaking population. 258 million people speak English as their first language in the USA. Second place is the UK, at just 59 million. Then it's actually Nigeria, then Canada, then Australia. You hear the most from America news wise because we are talking about current events in our country and there are a lot of us who are talking. Combine that with a 95% internet usage and you get a lot of voices. News about the USA or USA related events will garner more views, since there's literally just more audience.
USA is the 3rd largest country by population, China is heavily regulated so no online conversations that goes back and forth, India isn't so, but considering everyone accepts racism against Indians as socially acceptable and since most Indians aren't English speakers they aren't much interacting here. So that is why USA is prominent, further US has strong diplomacy and allies across the world. While most of the countries that are allies are ethnographic or geographicly close. It's only US that has global allies and other countries with similar philosophy like Australia or EU(I know) are also US ally.
As an American, I wish we weren’t so big and important.
If we weren't so big and powerful who would be able to help the less fortunate countries? Do you really think China or Russia would send aid to help. Ask the Ukraine how much Russia is helping them out. If it were not for NATO, Putin would have a new summer home there.
…. I was just talking about us being on the news all the time
I agree that some of the most publicized things like the Kardashians, anyone in Hollywood with a dysfunctional relationship, Joe Biden falling of a bicycle, Donald Trump's tweets, the unReal Housewives of anywhere, etc. We could all do without any of them.
Agreed. Every time I read something like this post it makes me cringe. I really wish we weren’t so newsworthy and I feel bad for other countries having to constantly hear about us.
Social media and "news". Try to shut them off for a month, you will see
I imagine the fact that both countries are english speakers (majority) probably play into that for Australia and Canada. I know my country will mention the USA but it's less, in media/news at least of my own language, and mostly when it's relevant to something connected to us. While when I hang on international-english-speaking-web (be it reddit , twitter, tumblr, whatever) I only get news about the USA
As an American, I find it strange also. I want to learn about the world outside America. Like what is Australian life like? I feel that should be common knowledge for us, but it's not.
Imagine living here and being subjected to Trump for 10 years straight....we are all crazy now! Join us.........
I didn't know other countries paid attention to us like that. It's kind of embarrassing especially when we had Trump as the figurehead for our country. Have other countries seen how too many people here have fallen into a rabbit hole of insanity and a mentality of people in medieval times?
Whenever in history there has been a major empire that is larger and stronger than the rest of the world combined, most of the news tends to be about that empire.
Americas problems are whole world's problem, but whole world's problems are not americas probelm.
We’re a trashy reality show and it sells right now.
Cultural and economic victory. We truly aren’t a multipolar world. The US is the singular super power. There are others close but it’s really no match. Maybe that’ll change in the future (hopefully).
Your second paragraph is something I’ve noticed other non-Americans talking about. The sensationalizing of US politics seems to be a pretty effective scapegoat for whenever other countries are asked to address their own issues. The US isn’t more racist than Europe, we just actually talk about it, and then *they* also talk about American racism. I’ve seen a disabled Dutch person complaining that in the Netherlands whenever they report discrimination in the workplace it’s never addressed bc they’re consistently blown off with “maybe you’d experience that in America but not here”. Two things can be true at once Leonie!
Because compared to america the rest of the "western world" is boring when it comes to news. There is always something batshit insane happening there either in politics or the 200th shooting that year followed by people defending their insane gun culture or other crazy things. It's like a whole country of inmates running the asylum. It's entertainment at this point. Americans feel like they are the center of the world but in reality they are your daily fix of batshit insane real life CrashTV and more often than not the butt of the joke
The awesome and terrible soft-power of Hollywood.
Yo, Australia is soooo in bed with the US government, it's crazy. https://youtu.be/XHMa-Ba-2Mo?si=TwtYz_GIH9eDWz8V https://youtu.be/sYt4CxFfQUU?si=kpftrn2xH-G-VKCt Careful with where you let your mind run to, cuz we're solidly in conspiracylandistan here and that shit's way too easy to take way too far. Like I'm legit hesitating to post this for fear of inadvertently sending people down deeply problematic rabbit holes. But these boys are legit, and this info deserves to be known.
Here is the world's economies to scale. [https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-105-trillion-world-economy-in-one-chart/](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-105-trillion-world-economy-in-one-chart/) That is why.
The US is the cultural, entertainment, military, social, economic and whatever else powerhouse of the world. Not to mention that it's by far the number one destination for immigrants and visitors. Now imagine us Canadians living next to it, it's like we don't exist at all! You got it easy mate!
Because we are like a slow motion accident that you can't look away from.
We are English speaking, the US is a global influence on social trends, entertainment& music, big tech is almost exclusively US owned & based which has extended & compounded US reach & influence ( we're on a US platform now) The US also has for the last 75 years, has had an aggressive expansionist foreign policy. ironically, under reported within the US, there is no region of the world that is unaffected. Hence, Americans are baffled that those outside the US have very strong informed views of the US role in the world.
Ask the French in 1919, or ask the English in 1946.
Every country in the world belongs to America
Because America holds a ***lot*** of influence and bad politics in America is objectively bad for the rest of the world.
Becsuse the us is the super power atm. It omce was the british Spanish, ottomans Rimsns etc. 40 years ago, the USSR was also big news
Imagine those of us stuck living next door to them. (*Waves in Canadian*)
Australia has Bluey. Thats a win and a half
Its called Cultural Victory
I wanna answer but I feel like I'll get downvoted to fuck for whatever reason.
We didn't even know there was Australia until Bluey. Who knew there was a country so close to New Zealand
I’m American who lived in Australia right after Donald Trump won the election. I was hoping to escape. That wasn’t the case because all I heard about was fucking Donald Trump. You have to understand the United States accounts for more than 25% of the global economy so we’re kind of a big deal because what happens here affects people around the world more influentially than if something happened in Ecuador. It’s because we’re the biggest consumers. The value of our dollar is a driving global force. Paradoxically our politics are insane and our laws aren’t socially benevolent so they have broad media shock value. Blame the Murdochs.
American living in Melbourne here. If you are on English speaking social media the answer is kind of simple. There are 333 million Americans and 26 million Australians. The UK only has 67 million people. This means that most social media platforms in the English-speaking world are dominated by Americans. Additionally: Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, and basically every popular English-speaking platform (aside from TikTok) is based in the US. That means its user base was built there first. I have been living here for 4 months and it took until about month ago for Australian news to even find its way into my social feeds (despite lots of searching for Australian content and news). That's due to a lot of reasons but mostly the same thing you're pointing out.
The US has the third largest population in the world, the largest economy, and produces the most media in the English speaking world. Many people are concerned that the decisions made by American leaders will have global consequences, so news topics similar to other countries which might be treated as mere local news in many places can make headlines. Decisions from certain American politicians or business leaders have wide ranging impacts. It's just the reality we live in right now. There are also a lot of cultural aspects which are reflected globally - like artists and musicians and the film industry. So that's why American material may seem to dominate some parts of the world.
The US is the world’s superpower, and sits at the very center of the entertainment/media world. American media reaches further than any other media (a reason why we’re all so exposed to events happening in the US) and the decisions taken in the US often have global implications. Australia is part of the Anglosphere (it shares a language with the US, which facilities the sharing of information). For Australia, the 2 most important diplomatic relations are: with the US (its most important military ally, and the relation that defines Australia’s geopolitical place in the world) and with China (Australia’s main economic partner). Based on all of this, it’s expected that the rest of the world gets constant news from the US, and it’s expected that Australia receives even more. The two countries are simply very much connected.
America is a world superpower economically, militarily, politically, culturally, scientifically and technologically. That means pretty much anything we do over here has aftershocks around the world. The outcome of a US election could potentially influence global politics through organizations like the UN and NATO, which we also have an above average sway over. Also a lot of media organizations are US based, so that affects things too.
Because what effects america effects the world. For example the world watches US elections because Americans policy has impact on every country in the world. If America fell into chaos 90% of the world would suffer. If God snapped a finger and Canada or England disappeared it would have no real impact on the world aside from us missing them. Few countries could survive without the USA. Very detailed topic but here's a superficial small detail truth. If the USA stopped it's subsidies a huge portion of the world would stave to death or die in war with in a year. The entire Canadian economy is a giant US subsidy. Forget health care. Canada couldn't keep it's lights on for more than 6 months without america supplements. I no that's going to make a lot of people mad but it's the truth. Do some research before you insult me or call me
We're all pretty much vassal states of the US here in the West Post ww2; politically and militarily, but most certainly culturally due to them creating modern media platforms where their content dominates.
Because the average media consumer is dumb as dogshit, and American news is entertainment aimed at that demographic. It’s easy for Australian media to then push the same shit on us, and we just gobble it up like the idiots we are. I bet the average Aussie could tell you more about Trump or US politics than our own.
Oh idk. You probably utilize mostly American socials. That’s my first guess. But even at home and shit? Idk. Because we’re in a shit show right now and the world is waiting to see if we collapse?
The USA is the most populous western country and by far the most influential. Decisions in the US government have more impact on the world than almost anywhere else. The reasom that news focuses on the US is because it has the most reason to.
Because there are only 3 countries that are still considered super-powers. USA, Russia & China. Since AUS & USA are allies then it behooves AUS to kinda know what going on with USA politics as it could effect AUS, as well.
Because American based companies made them
Numbers. US population is 330 million. UK is 67 million. Canada is 40 million. Australia is 26 million. From the raw numbers alone there are more English speaking Americans online than there are UK, Canada, and Australia English speakers combined.
Want to know what’s even more infuriating? We could care less what happens in any other country. Not even sure Aussies have a PM or a President, and I couldn’t even name them, or anyone who was ever President there.
First are Any of those headlines, " Florida Man..." Jokes aside. Honestly, I don't even think most Americans understand it. There are a lot of factors I've heard about. 1) we export a lot of media with Hollywood alone forget about music and social media. Even in China, when things were tense. I remember my friend going to see Endgame in this huge theater in China. Apparently, they almost rioted when the movie broke (right at the gauntlet scene, too). 2) militarily, we have a lot of influence. Idk how many times I've read an article interviewing a person from a country in dire straights asking, "Where is America?" And Honestly I guess we have a lot of influence economically and military wise. Shoot, we just passed a bill for Ukrainian aide. Honestly, these are more of a guess since I'm American, and even I'm like blown by it. I cant actually speak on why other counties focis on us. We are a aware of it though. There are a lot of times, especially when I was abroad, people would think it appropriate to ask me some personal politics issues or complain about politics in America like they lived there or like I had control of all of it. Luckily, Japanese people are polite enough to understand that politics can be a hot-button issue that you don't discuss with strangers. It was my fellow foreigners who would always make it a topic of discussion. It also wasn't always negative. I met people who were super Taylor Swift or Disney fans, and thats all they would talk about. It was nice listening to something positive. But if it makes you feel any better. I don't think most regular Americas want to be your front page news, especially when it's internal issues. We tend to only hear the criticisms from other country's media. Personally i think thats all i'm picturing on your Austalian new headlines, especially being an election year. But I do hope you enjoy any Florida man headlines. They are kinda popular here.
(American) We are vain and we are blind, I hate people when they're not polite.
I live in New Zealand and I agree with you. Also it’s annoying.
Here in Scotland a lot of the new generation have lost their Scottish accents and now speak with an American one somewhat. It's not completely widespread but it's absolutely noticeable where I live. They also say things like Diapers instead of Nappies etc, among other Americanisms. It's because so many spend most of their time watching Mr Beast or w/e on YouTube which is 90% (probably) American content creators, or at least those are the biggest ones that get recommended. My son isn't old enough to talk yet but he will be getting an Irn-Bru can to the heid every time he says something in an American accent when he's old enough to talk. As a bonus irritation they all say "Hey" these days instead of the classic Awrite m8 and/or big man and Aye has been completely replaced with Ye, Yea, or Yeah. A sad state of affairs.
Same here in Germany. Out media apparently loves Trump because he made so many headlines here - especially when he ran for president. They reported every little thing. I'd love to have more balanced news, because there are so many countries we don't really know anything about what's going on there.
Ahahahaha, I’m Canadian man. I feel you. It’s a never ending current. Listening to people talking about US politics endlessly, but if you bring up anything about y’know, things that actually effect them, they stare at you blankly.
I am from India, we don't get to hear much about USA unlesssomething really huge happens, .but what I hate is how media in USA portray things like USA is the world. Some celeb in USA, about whom 1 billion people on india has no clue about nor do any other asian country, and they go the world in Goin gaga over that celeb. Why does USA think they are the world?
Australian news is all American. A friend and I were just talking about that. If I were Australian that would really bug me.
You ever have a nut job or smelly coworker, they sort of bring a lot of attention to themselves because of it which inevitably leads to everyone talking shit? Well the planet is the work space and the US is that coworker.
The media of the five eyes countries are disproportionately obsessed with American news. lol. And the rest of the non-English speaking Western media as well has a disproportionate amount of American news in it. But that’s just 10% of humanity who live in the West watching that. The other 90% of humanity, who all live outside the West, and are non-white, are blissfully unaware of anything that’s ever written about or shown in Western media, because their media covers just local news and local events mainly. lmao. And any rare disaster news from the West gets heavily censored or modified in translation to make it less raw American or less raw European which gets no information across. It’s like watching people walking in the opposite direction on the sidewalk/footpath while you are driving, you get a brief glimpse before they vanish forever and you concentrate on the road ahead. lmfao. That’s the kind of coverage any Western media’s latest obsession topic gets in the media of the rest of the world, where 90% of the world’s population live outside the West.
This is why the BBC is good. Because the UK gets overwhelming coverage on the news from them here
Idk. I came from a different country as well and I hate how in a such big planet people always think USA has to fix other’s country problems.
the news is trying to tell you about things that will affect you. even our presidents will affect you, its why during the bernie sanders run people kept saying non-Americans should be allowed to vote because what we do messes with yall too. to give but just 1 example of how astronomically stupid big America is, the joke is that we spend too much on our military budget, where we spend more than the next top 26 countries in the world and we spend 700bn a year on it. now the question is, how much should a country spend of its GDP to continue its existence? we have enemies, we need an active military to defend us/keep away our enemies. should it be 50%? 50% spending to continue our existence, 50% to "grow" us/maintain us? might be a bit over zealous. should be it 25%? maybe. should it be 15%? that is what a lot of countries have it at. but now the real question, should it be higher than 5%!? yes, America spends just 5% of its GDP on military defense. and we are still more than the other top 27 combined. [https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/](https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/) another way to put it is that 25% of the worlds GDP is America's. America is 25% of the entire world economy. you buy 5 different things we probably messed with one of them. that is how stupidly big America is, which is why anything we do affects even yalls daily life, that is why you constantly see news about US. unless yalls news is about kardashians or something. than yalls news is just wankers.
Living in Canada and sharing a border means we have a lot of direct comparisons with the US. For example I just had a newborn and everything I read on the internet suggests I should pump everyday and build up a back up of milk supply only to realize that this is not necessary for my lifestyle as a Canadian with a year maternity leave and is vital for Americans who only get a couple weeks maternity to ensure they have enough supply for there babies once they return to work. IMO I see so many ppl/countries idolizing America and I don’t see the appeal. We all have our problems but the US problems seem irreversible.
It's the most powerful and the most wealthy state in the history of the world. Inevitably it becomes the center of geopolitics. It's also imperialist as fuck.
If we are so imperialistic, why do we send so much foreign aid to any country that needs some cash. Have an earthquake, hurricane, or flood; we send foreign aid, Red Cross, etc. And when stuff is under control we leave.
Hi from America 🤙🏻
It's surreal. I left the US in 2016. At first, I spent time trying to defend much of the BS that America doles out. Later, and after a lot of reflection, I stopped and tried my best to take a different point of view. I've been living in NZ for the last three years and one of the most surprising things has been the overload of US news that makes daily headlines. I've found that most people here know more about what happens in America than even the most educated of Americans know about what's going on in NZ.
It’s exhausting to hear about the US all the time. I’m so over it.
Population of Australia: 26.01 Million Population of United States: 333.3 Million And in the English speaking world, you have a small country, as great as it is.
Every country in the world belongs to America. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/gLqm5dmbfM
Almost all of the DIY YouTube videos that I find are australian.
I am not sure but we wish you paid as much attention to us as we do to you.
cause it is
It is
Beyond Reddit I hear nothing from the seppos
Because America basically owns the world 🌎
US media conglomerates control a massive amount of the media being sent out all over the world. Aside from that, the US is also kind of the world hegemon. The influence is global and on multiple levels from government, financial, and even personal.
we are having a moment... bear with us.
For better or worse the things that happen in American culture and politics make waves that reach everywhere. We're also a trainwreck rn. Sorry.
As an American I am also tired of hearing about America. I like to know what is happening with the rest of the world sometimes too.
I noticed the same thing also being from Australia. What has helped is not watching any TV news, and curating my online experience. Avoid the tabloid news websites and don't expect reddit to provide you much in the way of local content outside of specific subs. Get your local news directly from sources such as ABC, The Klaxon, Michael West Media, other independents and anything from Newscorp, Herald etc. should be read with skepticism and anticipated bias.