Yes, our media tell us that Americans are stupid. (Jay Leno routinely goes in the streets and asks people such basic questions as who the President and Vice President are, and usually gets answers that embarass me as an American.)
But because we live in the U.S., it's a lesser-reported story how uninformed many foreigners are.
I recall a CNN poll in 1999 that was done in the United Kingdom, where British citizens were asked about British history.
It revealed that 75% were proud of their British Empire history, but knew nothing about it.
About 70% didn't even know that the United States had once been an English colony.
I think many Americans are disinterested in world politics because we are a self-contained continent-spanning nation, that is virtually the size of Europe by itself.
We arguably still have no enemies or immediate threats on our borders. So there is a perception that what happens in Asia, or Europe or the Middle East, or even in Mexico or Canada or Cuba, doesn't really affect them.
A friend of mine who was engaged to a girl in Finland was amazed when he visited that country, and locals there knew so much about the United States.
He asked: "Why do you follow the news of the United States so closely, when I know almost nothing about Finland?"
To which his Finnish friend responded: "Because your country and Russia could destroy the world in 30 minutes."
Obviously U.S. global power and influence is why the world focuses on every detail of what the U.S. does. As opposed to Norway, or Ghana, or Outer Mongolia.
