World Opinion

As a youth taking ‘civics’ in school I had little interest in the concept of foreign policy or America’s place in the community of nations or foreign affairs in general. Neither did I give much thought to how we as Americans ‘come across’ or are perceived by others. I remember hearing about Lederer & Burdick’s “The Ugly American,” but I was a college graduate before I got around to reading it. Though not a great novel it got me thinking.

With our nation now economically tied up with nearly every other developed or developing country in the world, with people travelling everywhere by plane as well as now being connected by television and various electronic social media, and being something of a traveler myself I now think quite differently; I very much care about how America and Americans are perceived.

I submit that we have become culturally careless. Seriously careless. Cultures can no longer keep their secrets, and we’ve got some that should be kept until they can be rectified. Part of the problem is that culturally we do not seem to be embarrassed by anything anymore. Author Peggy Noonan notes that “when a culture descends to the lowest common denominator, it does not reach the broad base at the bottom, it lowers the broad base at the bottom.”

There is an ‘America’ in the minds of people and that construct has been formed by what people hear about us and what they see in the images that are projected around the world in newspapers, magazines, and on television. Our image is also projected by what we reveal about ourselves on social media and in person when we visit other cultures or they visit us. With what people see, hear, and read about, judgments are formed. More and more these judgments are negative. Consequently, we lose influence.

So, what should we be more concerned about that will contribute to a positive opinion being formed about an America that has lost or is losing its iconic World Leader image? For starters how about giving attention to these very fixable issues:

• Our sloppy, crass and often immodest dress and grooming and appearance

• Our inane and vulgar television programming and many ‘entertainments’ that foreigners construe as being accurate portrayals of America

• Cleaning up our language, our manners, our respect for others of both sexes and of all ages; of showing tolerance for the rights, religions, and customs of others

• Cleaning up our homes, towns, and environment from junk, litter, graffiti

• Being more charitable toward others

A decade ago Mormon church president Gordon B. Hinckley published a book that reached the New York Times Best Sellers list titled ‘Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes.’ Civility, the root of the word civilization, is one of the virtues he suggests will bring America back to its place of respect and positive influence.

America is you and me.

An easy starting place for raising world opinion of us is our being a more civil people.