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I spent some time at school here, worked here quite a lot over the years and now I live here. But even at home in UK, the US has always impacted on my life in one way or another. I grew up in a part of England which then had the highest concentration of US troops in Europe, airbases from which the V-bombers came and went every day during the Cold War. The debate over their presence scaled down as the bases themselves did, but then it was the the time of the Vietnam war. Then the Israel/Palestinian issue which brought terrorists to Europe years before 911. Then extending facilities to the IRA. Then the (first) Gulf War. Etc. Etc.
So there are a lot of important "American" stories which directly and indirectly affect people in other countries and for a bit of "I'm glad I don't live over there", there are always the serial killers, school shootings, tales of the huge law suits brought on some fanciful pretext and all the other bizarre (at least to non-Americans) stuff of which the US seems to have a rich supply.
However distorted the view all that provides, it is more information than we get about any other country except our own, and certainly enough to let people form opinions. I make no judgement as to whether such opinions have any merit...
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