Netizens created a country to fool Americans

　　Recently, netizens have created a country called “Ristenburg” on social platforms to mock Americans who do not understand geography, and even multiple official accounts have “real-name authentication”. In fact, in the United States, in addition to ordinary people, politicians also extremely lack geographical knowledge, and even make frequent mistakes in diplomacy.
　　Recently, a country named “Ristenburg” has become popular on the social platform Twitter. This is a virtual country created by netizens to mock Americans who do not understand geography.
　　To ridicule the United States, netizens created a country
　　 On October 30, French blogger Gaspardo posted a map on Twitter. He stitched together a country bordering Spain and Portugal on the map and marked it with a red arrow. Gaspardo joked in the accompanying text: “I’m sure that Americans absolutely don’t know the name of this country.” Some netizens took the opportunity to comment: “Who doesn’t know this is Ristenberg?
　　 ” The “Twitter founding” action kicked off. Someone designed the national flag, and someone posted a passport. In addition, the official Twitter accounts of many “government departments” such as the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Public Affairs, the Ministry of Security, and the Meteorological Bureau of Ristenburg also sprang up quickly, and updated the news in a serious manner. Gaspardo was elected by netizens as “President” of Ristenberg.
　　Since then, the “state building” actions of netizens have become bigger and bigger, and they have also set up a Wikipedia page to compile detailed information about Ristenburg. According to Wikipedia’s “profile”, Ristenberg is a unitary constitutional republic with a semi-presidential system of government. The country is located on the Iberian Peninsula, covering an area of ​​about 642,940 square kilometers. Its eastern border borders Spain and Portugal. The country is divided into five administrative regions, and the capital is Lurenberg. The country’s total population will reach 78.9 million in 2021. French, German, Spanish and Portuguese are mainly used in the country. The minimum legal wage is 1539.42 euros (approximately RMB 10775.94) per month.
　　 Netizens also compiled a history of Ristenburg, which can be traced back to the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Middle Ages. “Data” shows that Ristenberg has gone through several feudal dynasties, and one of the kings once fought against the French King Louis XIV in 1661 in order to compete for the title of “Sun King”.
　　In addition to the spoofs by netizens, many official accounts on Twitter also “authenticated” Ristenberg one after another.
　　 Former French MP and 2022 presidential candidate John LaSalle also posted: “I attended the agricultural festival in Ristenburg yesterday. Thanks to the breeders for allowing me to visit the last handmade wool workshop in the country. Protect small businesses! The
　　 official account of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games also posted: “With the addition of Ristenberg, the number of delegations participating in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games has increased from 206 to 207. Welcome!
　　 ” The media also reported the matter. A French video blogger interviewed Americans with a map of Ristenburg and asked about the name of this place. Their responses gave multiple wrong answers for France, Germany, Iceland, Spain, and more.
　　Geographically Uninformed
　　 Americans Are Americans really so geographically uninformed? The answer is yes. As early as 2006, an American polling company found that even though the Iraq war was still going on at that time, 60% of American adults could not find where Iraq was on the map of the Middle East, and about 75% of the respondents Iran and Israel, which are both international political hotspots, cannot be identified. In addition, in the survey, half of the people did not know where New York State is located in the United States.
　　 In April 2017, the New York Times commissioned a consulting agency to conduct a survey of American adults, asking them to indicate the location of North Korea on a map of Asia. The results of the survey showed that only 36% of the 1,746 Americans surveyed could refer to North Korea.
　　 Not only the American people, but also the American media have made similar mistakes. In 2005, CNN mistakenly identified the French cities of Toulouse and Strasbourg as Swiss and German cities. During the Ukraine crisis in 2014, CNN described the Donbas region as somewhere in Pakistan.
　　
　　Unfamiliar with world geography, the United
　　 States makes frequent diplomatic mistakes. In the United States, politicians are also very lacking in geographical knowledge, and even make frequent diplomatic mistakes.
　　 When former US President Barack Obama attended the United Nations Climate Conference held in Scotland, he once had a big oolong. He has always liked to quote classics, and he quoted Shakespeare’s “Othello” in his speech. He said: “Since we’re in the Emerald Isle, let me quote Shakespeare – what wounds don’t slowly heal?” However, the “Emerald Isle” refers to Ireland.
　　 In contrast, former US President Trump is even more outrageous. In 2017, at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump praised the medical system of the African country “Nambia”, but there is no such country as “Nambia” in the world. Later, according to the president’s speech published on the White House website, Trump actually mentioned Namibia, a country in southwestern Africa that has a similar pronunciation to “Nambia”.
　　 Former U.S. White House security adviser Bolton said in an interview that Trump once asked him whether Finland belonged to Russia. A reporter from the US “Washington Post” also mentioned a detail: Trump made a statement that “China is not on your border” during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi. It is said that Modi’s expression changed from “shock and worry to helplessness” after hearing these words. A Trump aide revealed that Modi said when he left: “This is not a serious person. I can’t expect this person to be a partner.” In addition, Trump once referred to Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom as the “Queen of England.” .
　　 Also ignorant of world geography is former US Secretary of State Pompeo. He had included Singapore as part of neighboring Malaysia in a transcript of his briefing. Historically, Singapore was indeed part of Malaysia. It joined Malaysia in 1963 and became independent two years later.
　　 In this regard, some geographers have expressed concern that this level of ignorance of geography may lead to the United States having no effective reference when considering foreign policy issues.