Americans Still Don’t Know Enough About the World. That Has to Change.

Jonathan Pezzi
4 min readApr 9, 2020

When the US first invaded Afghanistan, a National Geographic article from 2002 proclaimed that only 17% of young Americans could find the country on a map. Needless to say, that’s a problem. With America’s more recent involvement in international affairs, foreign conflicts, and trade wars, one would think we’ve redeemed ourselves since then. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

In 2018, nearly half of Americans did not even know America was still at war in Afghanistan. Things clearly haven’t gotten much better with our attention to global news.

It’s very easy to tune out the stories that so often seem negative. Especially when it seems irrelevant to your life. At one point, it could be argued that what happened in Asia wasn’t important to the average American. But of course, things have changed. We are at a moment in our history where we no longer have the convenience to ignore the world’s news. There are many reasons for this.

Regardless if the US becomes more or less involved on the global stage, the expert consensus is that America will need to cooperate with foreign nations more frequently in this multi-superpower world. The US, though incredibly influential and wealthy, is no longer the only head honcho.

There is also the classic argument that we’re more connected now than we’ve ever been. This has been said so many times before, it is almost not taken seriously anymore. It very much still should be.

In a complex web of exchange, America is tied to nearly every country on the globe. The phone or computer you’re reading this on was designed in America, some of its parts were mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo and others were made in Japan. Then, each piece was put together in China, only to be sent back here for you to click on this article. This is the case for almost everything you own. Any tariff or change in America’s economy could affect every other country down this line. The country of Lesotho in Africa once lost half of its clothing manufacturing jobs solely because America discussed changing their trade policies. In the end, America didn’t even change them.

This connection, naturally, goes two ways. We are affected by our relationships or the actions of foreign countries like never before. What happens in Lagos, Nigeria will have an effect on life in Wilmore, Kentucky. Whether it’s through technology, jobs, or an ethical conscience, we cannot escape this connection we have with the other peoples in the world.

This is all too obvious in a quick drive through many small towns in America, their main streets spotted with vacant buildings and factory jobs shipped off elsewhere. It’s no secret that American manufacturing jobs have been on a steady decline for decades due to overseas competition and improving technology.

Of course, the reasons to read world news are not only for the economy. To find truth of this, look no further than our military.

America has 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and there are several hundred thousand American troops stationed in foreign nations. Each and every one is supported through taxpayer funding.

Despite our constant involvement in the region and the country itself, just 28% of Americans can point to Syria on a map. The country is currently home to approximately 2,000 U.S. soldiers, not to mention nearly a half of a million people have died from the country’s decade long civil war.

Similar statistics are found when looking at our ability to find Iran on a map. As recent events with the killing of Qasem Soleimani showed, we are never too far away from another all-out war in the Middle East.

We know for a fact that this geographical knowledge has a huge impact on the way we view our leaders’ decisions as well. The New York Times found that if Americans are able to find North Korea on a map, they are more likely to prefer dealing with the regime through diplomacy, rather than war.

Your understanding of where a country is could very well have an effect on where our troops go. For a nation that has been at conflict in nearly every decade of this century, this fact is paramount for peace. And in a culture that so ardently reveres its troops, making an informed decision before supporting long, foreign wars should be a priority for everyone.

These arguments also don’t take into account the trillions of dollars America has spent on wars in the last two decades. One statistic even puts that number at $6 trillion. That’s more than a fourth of our national debt.

That is your money that America is spending. You have a say in where it goes. To which country or to no country at all. You have a say in whether America should stay involved in far off places like Mali or whether we keep our troops home. But in order to exercise this power, you have to know about it.

Without knowledge of what’s happening in the world, voters can’t check politicians for their decisions. If the average citizen doesn’t understand America’s relationship with the international community, then our power automatically goes to society’s elites.

If you want to vote for the right person, bring back work to your town, or just silence your uncle’s political rants at the Thanksgiving table, you need to read international news. It is unacceptable for Americans to remain so uninformed on the happenings of the world. In fact, it’s hurtful to our democracy.

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Jonathan Pezzi
Jonathan Pezzi

Written by Jonathan Pezzi

Kentuckian | @ University College London | Research on the Middle East | Interests in Climate Change, IR, & Public Policy

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