In my head I feel that those from other countries see our country like a really bad car accident that people drive by, slow down a bit and say oh gosh I hope everybody’s okay when in reality you know damn well none of us are okay.

… you said it, not me 😅 It’s a combination of worry, horror and a sort of sick fascination.

But yeah the stereotypical joke of some Americans not realizing there’s a world beyond their borders does have some truth to it. I guess it’s sort of understandable given just geographical facts alone (let alone hegemonic status): continental US of A only has 2 countries as neighbors and one of them mostly speaks the same language, where in continental Yurop you can probably hit 4 countries with 7 languages on a 6h drive.