take a look at how closely they are following our election overseas. A recent poll
showed that 83% of the Japanese were closely following the U.S. elections. That's
also why Sen. Obama was able to draw a huge crowd in Germany.
Last month my parents visited Spain for the first time. While vacationing there
they able to catch some Spanish television while at the hotel. They thought one
show was particularly funny so when they came back home they looked it up
online. I guess I can describe it as the Spanish version of Talk Soup. In a recent
episode they were talking about the Paris Hilton response ad to John McCain. You
can view video here. Here's a screen cap of the show:
I just find it amazing how closely the world follows our elections and politics. We
have influence outside of the United States. What we do affects others. However,
I don't think we should vote the way foreigners want us to. The people who have
America's best interests at heart are, indeed, Americans.
I would also like to talk about the cultural element here that goes beyond politics.
I would like to note that when you see something on television or in a movie that
irritates or shocks you, more than likely it's not only Americans seeing it. If you
watch the video I linked to earlier the host joked about Paris Hilton. They knew
who Paris Hilton was! Yikes! We distribute our media and conversely our pop
culture worldwide. That's one of the reasons why I think it's important to care
what's on our television sets, movie screens, and radio. I'm not calling for any sort
of censorship but more of an awareness of the full of effect of media has on us and
those we distribute to.