@ayeisha
ive almost stopped watching cnn because they always depict africa in bad light. nothing good can be seen in their reports.it always has to be one sided.  it doesnt matter what the report is about it just has to be negative. they also give warnings to americans on how to be careful when travelling over there so as not to be robbed, raped, beaten, duped etc and im like wtf?!  
there isnt enough crime in nigeria to compare to crime in newyork city alone!

Then they actually make our poor villagers fabricate some ridiculous dances and chants sometimes dressed in ridiculous leaves. they film this and say its our puberty initiation rites and what have you.

i agree with omoge. they depict our women nude on tv without caution. you know the annual festival the virgin teenagers in south africa have topless? yeah that one. that is shown with their breasts in full display! no decorum by blurring out the essentials if u see what i mean.
you cant even take a picture in a school over here with children for fear of pedophiles using their images on the internet. but they carry their tv crews to film our topless festivals in africa?
im already getting irritated.  
i'll just stop now!

Yes you are right cnn does that from time to time. But there are alot of programs that try to display the beauty of Africa and encourage tourism. I never had negative views about Africa in it's entirety, but then again that's not how I was raised. I also had two very good African Professors in Undergrad. They shed alot of light which may have cultivated my views. Here in America we have our government to be ashamed of as well. BBC and CNN cant deny that this country is ran by an evil tyrant who tries to exploit all the nations he percieves as the weaker ones! So who the hell cares about what america thinks? Our government never practices what it preaches. It you come here be careful cuz you might be shot dead by police mistaking your wallet for a gun and firing 41 times all because you happen to be a black man! Then beware of the mentally disturbed homeless people that wait in the train stations to push you onto the tracks in front of moving trains.
They need to report things of this sort on CNN.

Then beware of the mentally disturbed homeless people that wait in the train stations to push you onto the tracks in front of moving trains.

@ayeisha
huh?

Yeah it happens here in NYC from time to time! People has been pushed in the tracks by the mentally disturbed homeless people that lurk aroound in the train station. I never stand to close to the edge to look for the train when there are people behind me never! All I mean is that even in countries not considered third world, even in the richest nation in the world you have a good chance of getting hurt while you visit and cnn and bbc should remember to broadcast that.

too close to the edge,,,,correction

It is all apart of the "system",

If they show the good places around the world or in "Africa" that would attract the american people, either to visit outside the U.S. more often or reside there.

and if more people move out of the U.S., less people would pay taxes thereby causing the counry's revenue to decrease.

So trust me they know what they are doing.
the more people that come to the The U.S. the more their job would get done.
Building up America.

@ topic

Sometimes it makes me mad when i see how africa is being protrayed. Sometimes people ask ignorant questions and i'm like . They ask me questions like, do we have roads in africa or do we live in huts. true they're some people in certain parts of africa that do live in huts but sometimes its because they are poor or they want to. which is better? being poor in america where no one talks to you, you live on the streets, and the shelter closes at 5 and youre back on the street, or being poor in africa where people like family and neighbors will help you survive and you have a hut to live in .

naija_diva:

@ topic

Sometimes it makes me mad when i see how africa is being protrayed. Sometimes people ask ignorant questions and i'm like . They ask me questions like, do we have roads in africa or do we live in huts. true they're some people in certain parts of africa that do live in huts but sometimes its because they are poor or they want to. which is better? being poor in america where no one talks to you, you live on the streets, and the shelter closes at 5 and youre back on the street, or being poor in africa where people like family and neighbors will help you survive and you have a hut to live in .

i feel ya gurl

Oh. . . I saw a big mound of raw poop in a NYC subway. . . didn't know if I should puke or drop dead. That was simply not right. . . now I'd love to see that poop drama on CNN.

when they asked you respond them stupid way they will leave you alone they tell me that they never seen a light skin africaN LIKE ME BEFORE.

don't mind those God-4saken people who 2 other nations 2 cause confusion in order 2 steal.

but bros eeehhh!!! i no go lie. if i c was to go there i no go look back. atleast them still better pass naija.

Lol, this is an interestin' topic.hmmmm, i agree that americans and most of the people who live in america, and therefore think they are americans, are really ignorant.Sometimes, they make me laugh. They don't seem to understand that there are nice places in africa. What pisses me off is how they call africa like it's a country. I try to correct them that it's a freakin' continent. They be like "it's d same thing". no, it's not. Even some jamaicans and trinidadians be openin' their mouths to talk like their countries are better. If their countries were, they wouldn't be in america too, they'd be in their own countries. Nigeria is supposed to be a very rich and blessed country if only it's government is good. But all these people don't get that. Anywayz, it's only all these dumb teenagers and some loser-adults that think that. I have teachers who know what Nigeria is really like, who have beeen there before. I have this african-american teacher who is married to a nigerian man-a yoruba. she's been to Nigeria and she knows the deal. So, one day , a kid asked if there were cars/cities in africa and the teacher answered, tellin' d kid that there are lots of nice cars in naija and lots of high-class, rich people in naija. She also went on to tell d class that they might not know but there are lots of people in naija who live better than them in america. They all looked surprised! And it's true, lots of people in naija live better than most people here in america. It's just that the government system is good. If not, most people would be eatin' sufferin' here in america. Especially all these black people who refuse to go to school and end up under the government's welfare. They too would be openin' their mouths to talk.
hmmm, anywayz, i try as hard as possible to ignore them but my friends try not to annoy me. They say i don't i act like an african and that i don't have an accent. I wonder what they mean by this accent issue. who doesn't have an accent?. They mis-understand the meanin' of d word "accent". i mean, who doesn't have a freakin' accent?. I always correct them when they're referrin' to me. I tell them it's "Nigeria" not africa. Nigeria is in africa alright but i'm not from d whole of africa,ok? i correct them most often seeein' as they are tanishin' d name "africa". It's just like referrin' to a bajan as a "northamerican". they wouldn't like that.They even got beefs among themselves. For instance, i once called a trinidadian guy in my class a jamaican and he was like"i am not jamaican. we are beautiful. they are ugly". i was crackin' up. I was like "it's d same thing". See, they don't like to be called that. so, they should try and be specific when referrin' to other people because they do know ur country, they just like usin' "africa".

Lol enough said, y'all just try and always correct them or ignore them 'cause i definitely know jamaica is in no way better then nigeria.

chiogo:

Lol, this is an interestin' topic.hmmmm, i agree that americans and most of the people who live in america, and therefore think they are americans, are really ignorant.Sometimes, they make me laugh. They don't seem to understand that there are nice places in africa. What pisses me off is how they call africa like it's a country. I try to correct them that it's a freakin' continent. They be like "it's d same thing". no, it's not. Even some jamaicans and trinidadians be openin' their mouths to talk like their countries are better. If their countries were, they wouldn't be in america too, they'd be in their own countries. Nigeria is supposed to be a very rich and blessed country if only it's government is good. But all these people don't get that. Anywayz, it's only all these dumb teenagers and some loser-adults that think that. I have teachers who know what Nigeria is really like, who have beeen there before. I have this african-american teacher who is married to a nigerian man-a yoruba. she's been to Nigeria and she knows the deal. So, one day , a kid asked if there were cars/cities in africa and the teacher answered, tellin' d kid that there are lots of nice cars in naija and lots of high-class, rich people in naija. She also went on to tell d class that they might not know but there are lots of people in naija who live better than them in america. They all looked surprised! And it's true, lots of people in naija live better than most people here in america. It's just that the government system is good. If not, most people would be eatin' sufferin' here in america. Especially all these black people who refuse to go to school and end up under the government's welfare. They too would be openin' their mouths to talk.
hmmm, anywayz, i try as hard as possible to ignore them but my friends try not to annoy me. They say i don't i act like an african and that i don't have an accent. I wonder what they mean by this accent issue. who doesn't have an accent?. They mis-understand the meanin' of d word "accent". i mean, who doesn't have a freakin' accent?. I always correct them when they're referrin' to me. I tell them it's "Nigeria" not africa. Nigeria is in africa alright but i'm not from d whole of africa,ok? i correct them most often seeein' as they are tanishin' d name "africa". It's just like referrin' to a bajan as a "northamerican". they wouldn't like that.They even got beefs among themselves. For instance, i once called a trinidadian guy in my class a jamaican and he was like"i am not jamaican. we are beautiful. they are ugly". i was crackin' up. I was like "it's d same thing". See, they don't like to be called that. so, they should try and be specific when referrin' to other people because they do know your country, they just like usin' "africa".

Lol enough said, y'all just try and always correct them or ignore them 'cause i definitely know jamaica is in no way better then nigeria.

i know exactly what you. everything you said explains exactly the way i feel and think. they don't understand that africa is a continent and not one whole country. we have many countries with many cultures so it would hard to group us all together as one.

i gotta dvd comming out in two years is called welcome to the west am gon show them a hole bunch of stuff on dvd they will not believe this white people wanna disgrace our continent but they will not make it.

YOUNGDICE$:

i gotta dvd comming out in two years is called welcome to the west am gon show them a hole bunch of stuff on dvd they will not believe this white people want to disgrace our continent but they will not make it.

lol, I've always thought of takin' a naija movie to school to show all these bunch of ignorant kids but i really don't have time. u know, lol, i don't need to prove myself to anyone. it's not like their opinions matter to me. I'll only tell u if u are referrin' to me. but go for it! go youngdice!

Lol, y'all won't believe this. Like a year ago, on movies day at my school, we went to see this movie called "Boys of baraka". The kids were african americans but they were taken to Kenya,(africa like they said) to learn about life and be disciplined. when they got to kenya(a very ugly, rural area), it was rainin' and this kid was like "wow, never knew it rained in africa". everyone was crackin' up. I laughed too, but at their stupidity.

How much do Nigerians know about Asia? We need not get angry just because they don't know much about us.

I asked my co-workers if they would like to visit Nigeria, and one responded that he likes to wear real clothes, instead of loin cloth. Another one told me that she does not want to be fat (cos, I had told them earlier about the fattening room in Nigeria). I aint even stressing over the stereotypes that some people have about Africa. I'd like to think that I am a good ambassador (hook me up with Yaradua ; ) to Nigeria, in America.

How much do Nigerians know about Asia? We need not get angry just because they don't know much about us.

you cannot even compare. all i know is that the oyigbos appreciate the asians alot more than they appreciate us because they have money and they make electronics and all these futuristic gadgets.

ha ha. well said, chiogo. i can definitely relate to that and have been in your shoes, i still am. you know, I try to enlighten as many of the ignorant fools as possible, not because i want them to learn about my culture necessarily, but mostly out of pity for their blatant ignorance! for the number of times i've been asked the dumbest questions, i should honestly be rich by now! i've been asked things from:

oh you don't have an accent, where did you learn english? or did you go to an english speaking school? and i'm thinking WTF?
how did you get to america? shuo! i didn't come by plane, i just jumped on a broom, twitched my nose and abrakadabra! i appeared in yankee! rubbish!
and yes, i've been asked the most ridiculous of all - do you live with animals? haaaaa. and i'm like yes now, i hang out with the tigers and elephant everyday and we play together. hiss!
i've even been asked if honduras, syria etc are in africa!
i've been asked so many dumb questions its not even funny, and i think they sometimes do it on purpose just because they can!

by the time you make them see their stupidity, they will recognize! i don't know a lot about other countries too, but the way i go about asking shouldn't make me look stupid. it doesn't hurt to ask, just be sensible and respectful about it.

its like me assuming that all chinese people can fight kung-fu! or that all indians can sing like in the movies!

omigod, i have a friend that terrorizes every south asian she comes across, asking them if they have indian movies she can borrow because she likes watching it! wether the person is indian, pakistani, sri lankan o, all na the same to her. she believes they all watch indian movies too. imagine!!
in short, all of us get ignorance for our bones small.

@soulpatrol, lol about the animal thingy. u so funny!u hang out with elephants.

It's true though, most of 'em ask u questions on purpose. Sometimes, they pretend like they don't understand what u say when they do and they be like "huh?" and if u don't answer them, they'd reply without askin' again. It happened to someone and d person was tellin' me. I was like "wow, so they pretend not to understand u when they do". Lol, that's grimy!

and not just americans peps 4rm other continents seem to classify the whole of africa as a country
i was asked 1ce by a german if we live on trees?
My ans:yeah,even the german embassy's on the trees and her ambassador does d tarzan with us

I find it quite amazing that, even though the US has a very diverse population, the level of ignorance on anything outside the US is staggering, even among educated Americans.

No wonder US foreign policy is so messed up. The media in the US chooses to portray africa as backward,regressive,primitive and full of savages because that's what they want the average american to think.the media could focus on the positives and magnify that but instead all you see and hear are the negatives which gives people the impression that africa is a God-forsaken continent.the funny thing is most americans are not smart enough to investigate on their own and learn more about africa besides what they've been told by the biased media.some even think that "AFRICA" is a country!!! even so-called educated americans hold the same view and act like it's the truth.i've been here long enough to know most people in this country are very gullible and stupid when it comes to basic knowledge of the outside world.in this day and age,when any kind of information you want is available on the internet and can be accesed with a few clicks of your mouse,it's a surprise that some people choose to be influenced by the media.ask yourself how some people in the US with all it's education and 1st world status fall victim to "419" scam letters they recieve in their email.that gives you an idea of the kind of mind-set that exists in the US.i don't condone fraud in any form or manner,but it makes you wonder why the level of ignorance and stupidity is so high!!!

It makes me so sick that I don't even want to watch any thing the have to show about Africa. do you ever see the stupid shows the have on Discovery channel, National geographic channel or the Travel channel about Africa,, Omg for any one that's never been to Africa, you would think it's notthing but jungel, AIDS, or poverty. The way Africa is portrayed in the US is no different from the way black americans are portrayed in the media.the media magnifies the negatives and paints everything with one brush as if it's reality.funny thing is and this is something i've noticed.most americans swallow it hook,line and sinker like a bunch of dummies.there is no effort made to verify or at least investigate on their own.they let the media do their thinking for them.whenever i see shows like the ones on the Discovery channel,National Geographic,the Travel channel,all i do is laugh and change the channel because as an african,i know better. i can at least say that most of the stuff they are putting out there is a bunch of rubbish that is just meant to smear and create a negative impression of Africa.blacks/africans have been hated and oppressed for centuries,so in essence i don't expect things to change overnight!![b][/b]

white people want to make black americans think that's a opportunity for them that they live in America they trina make akatas think that were they from is nothing but a jungle that's why.

the akatas are even being treated worse than anyone in their own country! so apparently, whether you're american or african, as long as you're black, you don't get treated any better. it's just the way it is unfortunately. sometimes i feel sorry for african-americans who get treated like second-class citizens in the country they were born in! at least in africa, no fool can look at you funny because you're black, them no born am well to even try. those white people during the south african apartheid tried that shit and their ass got corrected at the end of the day.

africa is a continent and not a country bitch!, white folks need some asx whipping

They never say the country. example:
simon cowell went to africa!

Did any of you watch the idols give back show? It would make any african feel depressed. Kai! They made it look like we all doomed.

Thats what I was talkin' bout. They did not mention what country he went

That's why muhammad ali had a problem with d us. When he came to congo to fight george foreman, he was surprised that a black man like him had his own land and didn't need to perform derogatory duties in america. To him, d us stations always have d people bad pictures about africa. That's one reason why he recorded his stay in africa so as to show d americans d liars they were and still are! Goddamn fools

See this type of shit makes me ashamed to even call myself an American!
I hate how those stupid ass feed the children type infomercials that they broadcast depict the continent Africa as a poor country.
And that's what some of these stupid ass ignorant people in the US don't understand is that Africa is a continent with several different countries in it and some of them don't have people running around naked, living in nasty ass mud huts, or children with big bellies.
What I don't understand is if they got all that fuckin money to even fuckin travel to Africa, then why the can't they feed all them damn children.
Why can't we as Americans just simply use what resources we have properly and do more effort in trying to help these other countries in need.
We have more money than we say we do.