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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bullgrit" data-source="post: 5228770" data-attributes="member: 31216">I just saw a news headline that says, "U.S. Braces for Hurricane". My first thought was, "Really? The whole U.S.?" (The hurricane in question might hit Texas. My state probably won't see a drop of rain from it.)The U.S. is so big, it's a rare thing (natural disaster or man-made tragedy) that affects *all* of it. Earthquakes, hurricanes, plane crashes, mine collapses, etc. only affect a small percentage of the country. (Though the media will play it up as a national concern.)I mean, even the Gulf oil thing is only a direct problem for 2 or 4 states (out of 50!). I'm not trying to make light of any issues, I'm just framing perspective.This got me thinking about how such things affect smaller nations. For instance, there are some countries for whom a bad weather incident is, indeed, a national event. A plane crash at an airport might disrupt all air travel in that country.I wonder if we correctly perceive/understand events in other countries that are of drastically different sizes. I mean, when say, Italians hear of a hurricane hitting Brazil, do they think *all* of Brazil is affected? When Chinese hear of an earthquake in Netherlands, do they not realize that *all* of Netherlands is shaken up?Do you live in a particularly big or small country? Do you think you understand the relative effect that "national" problems cause a country on the opposite size scale from yours?Bullgrit</blockquote>

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