by Robert C. Sage

Created on: August 28, 2007

America is indeed an enormous country and within it are areas that may be among the most tolerant and also the most intolerant. The real issue is American insularity and isolation from the rest of the world. Compared to other counties, the American mass media has a strong domestic bias in what news is reported. Except where there is direct impact on America, it is rare for international news to have any prominence in American news broadcasts.

Most Americans don't travel abroad and so they have little frame of reference about the rest of the world. It is ironic that most Americans' ancestry can be directly traced to other countries. Yet, most Americans know relatively little about other countries. Such is the strength of the "melting pot".

A key factor is American isolation, beyond the obvious fact that east and west have America bordered by oceans. It is the American public education system which does not emphasize international affairs and knowledge of foreign counties, as much as it could. Additionally, American knowledge of geography and foreign languages is not nearly as high as in other developed countries. Lack of knowledge of other countries correlates highly with intolerance of alternative ways of living. Despite the fact that most Americans trace heritage to other countries, we have a legacy for being xenophobic. Whether we remember the incarceration of ethnic Japanese during WWII or the Sikhs being attacked after 9-11, based on mistaken beliefs that they were Arab Muslims.

The way forward is to reform our compulsory education systems to require study of foreign language(s). It was so in higher education a generation or two ago and for unclear reasons, almost all American universities have dropped those requirements. It is time to consider readopting them. America needs to be able to do business in the language of the customer!

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