When I lived in Canada, a Canadian told me he was amazed at the ignorance of Americans about their neighbor to the north.

A U.S. businessman bore this out when, in a meeting with Canadian business people, he said “I don’t make any distinction between Canada and the U.S.” It think he meant it as a compliment, but many Canadians wouldn’t see it as one. They want the world to know that they have their own distinct culture and opinions, as the businessman should have known if he hoped for a successful business in that country.

If we know so little of the nation whose border we share for over 5,500 miles (counting the Alaska/Canada border), our ignorance of the rest of the world must seem appalling.

A headline in the December 16^th issue of The Week magazine caught my attention: “How they see us: The GOP makes a virtue of ignorance.” I checked one of the magazines quoted in the article, the online English version of the German magazine, Der Spiegel . It was eye-opening. Basically, the article lambasts the election debates for statements that show “stark lack of knowledge—political, economic, geographic, historical . . .”

I’m not making a political statement about the Republicans or the Democrats. Both parties often play to Americans’ unawareness of the world. After all, if we don’t care about, say, the European financial crisis (which may increase unemployment in this country), why should our politicians? It won’t help them get elected.