US citizens are geographically challenged partially because they don't travel outside the USA, except to DisneyWorld. Most Americans don't have passports. Not even the 160,000 troops in Iraq. More surprising is the fact that over 70% of Americans can't find New York City on a map.
"What do I need a map for when I have GPS?" One long-distance driver retorted after failing the test, but it is important to know where you are, so you have an idea where you have been and/or are going, and not only Americans can benefit from a better grasp of geography.
In 2003 anti-Thai riots broke out in Phnom Penh after a Thai TV actress, Suwanan Kongying, supposedly claimed that Angkor Wat and its treasures belonged to Thailand and should be returned to its rightful owners. The Thai embassy was burned and the ambassor had to flee to safety. Later on no one could prove that the popular actress ever said these words other than in a TV series from two years earlier. Hun Sen the prime minister is partially to blame for the troubles for having stated, "Some Khmer houses don't even have portraits of Cambodian king, queen or even their own parents. But they hang that Thai girl's picture."
Most Thais know which way is Cambodia, however the present government is still fighting for recognition of the new frontier for the Preah Vihear Temple. The World Court has supported a 1962 border agreement, which cedes a parking lot owned by friends of Thaksin to Cambodia. The former PM protested this decision by saying, "Who knows what is the border? One day it's Cambodia, next year maybe Thailand. Who knows? Certainly not me. I'm no good at geography."
So Americans your geographical ignorance is shared by other nations.
No one knows where they are and sometimes that's a good thing.
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