My 2 cents
I find it actually kind of hard to separate sometimes between the American people, and the country as a whole.
There are jerks on both countries but with 360 Million Americans, the US has a much larger population size of them.
From day 1, Americans are taught how they are the best country in the world and they are the best by being an American. Along with role as being the world's protector, you can't really fault Americans for developing a proud and entitling mentality. As a result of this and other factors (education, travel experience, media), I don't think Americans are willfully ignorant about us, but rather they don't really think about others, unless it somehow affects them directly or challenges their patriotism. As Canadians, we can't help but to feel over shadowed by the Americans, and that makes us crave any sort of attention from them, and annoys us whenever our contribution are ignored or marginalized
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