The USA is a vast country, a junction for people coming from all over

the globe. As over 30% of American citizens belong to an ethnical

minority, it is wrong to generalize that all Americans have the same
perception of themselves. Therefore, I am going to speak in the name of
the average American. Americans typically do seem to be unaware of
the rest of the world at best. At worst, they are grossly misinformed and
this is partly due to US history. Until the middle of the 20th Century, the
US was largely isolated from the rest of the world. There was a
prevailing attitude that the US just wished to be left alone. As capitalist
production expanded and the US economy grew at the end of WWII, US
interests also changed. US involvement in foreign nations took the form
of covert operations to secure resources. But, another simple reason is
that Americans don't travel. The amount of US citizens with passports is
very low. A large reason for this could just be economics. It's expensive
to travel across oceans. However, this American disinterest is objective
and roughly reflects the way US citizens are seen by foreigners. On top
of all this, there surely is a subjective point of view. Americans take
great, mostly exaggerated pride in their nation and its achievements. It's
comfortable to believe everywhere else is a hole of misery and despair
and that you are in the only sanctuary from it. As seen in some of Mark
Twain’s novels, Americans think they are idols for other nations and that
everybody else longs to live in the New World. They have a very
distorted view of themselves which can’t be changed overnight.