From the birth of the country to the protests of today, Americans seem obsessed with proving that they are “the best.” They make the best music, they have the best sports, they have the most money, etc. 

But how much of that is true? The best music? That’s more of a subjective term, and it’s pretty much impossible to say which country makes the best music. Based solely on listens per month, the Spanish-speaking world seems to be more popular than the United States. The best sports? The Olympics continue to disprove that. The most money? Countries like Luxembourg, Singapore, and Qatar have more GDP per capita than America does. 

Instead, this American pride likely stems from the impenetrable Constitution that created a set of laws built on truth rather than corruption. Unfortunately, that ideal, which has been spoon-fed to every American generation, has caused more than just passionate patriotism. Now, many Americans have a superiority complex about their country, resulting in them refusing to learn from or even respect other cultures and religions. It’s baked so deeply into the American lifestyle that most don’t recognize it’s there. 

Asian restaurants, which are known for their “authentic cuisine”, often serve a mixture of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanise dishes. While this benefits the restaurants, who are able to cater to different people who have different tastes, it teaches Americans to generalize the cultures as one monolith: “Asian”. This generalization causes misinformation and general ignorance towards other cultures, bolstering the lie/misguided idea/misconception that all other countries are the same and America is one of a kind. It also causes misrepresentation in media, because the traditions of one culture can be falsely applied to another. As just one example, consider chopsticks. Even though chopsticks are common in Thai, Bangladeshi, and Indian restaurants (in America), those cultures actually use forks and knives, not chopsticks. Despite the fact that this is easily accessible information, media portraying these cultures often use chopsticks because they’re seen as an Asian tradition. 

Other than generalizing, American media is guilty of inadequately researching cultures before setting their media and shows in them. This is true even for cultures that are technically under the American umbrella, like Hawaii in Lilo and Stitch. Although the movie received glowing praise during a time in which it seemed Disney could do nothing right, one common criticism was its portrayal of Hawaiian tourism. While the culture is well-represented with hulas, differently-sized drums, American influence, and traditional Polynesian dances, the film refuses to demonstrate tourist ignorance. Many tourists do little to avoid offending locals and often make them feel like tourist attractions in their own homes. Instead, the film portrays the tourists as well-meaning and unintrusive.

In one deleted scene, the film tackles this issue head-on by having Lilo egg on tourists who say things to her such as “speak English?” or “Oh look! A real native!” Although no Disney executive has explained why Disney deleted this scene, speculation suggests that they didn’t want to make white viewers uncomfortable. However, by shielding their viewers, Disney reinforced the blissful ignorance Americans have about Polynesian culture. 

The answer as to why Americans seem obsessed with their country and refuse to learn about others is a mystery that can only be solved through speculation. One popular theory blames America's history. After all, America was founded to prioritize American culture, and successfully created a system of laws that worked much better than the British monarchy. As it was taught in schools, American children were shown that their way of life fundamentally functioned better than everyone else's, which led to the toxicity we live through today.

Some may say that this isn’t a big deal. After all, America's foreign friends are an ocean away, and America has few neighbors to educate itself on, so what’s the point of knowing about/having accurate information about other cultures? Well, although it's true that other countries are far away, it’s still important to represent them well, whether it be in a restaurant or a movie that’s distributed internationally. Not only does this help make sure that the immigrants from these countries feel like America has represented their country well, but it’s also useful in applying these countries’ strategies at dealing with big-picture problems.