I think the problem is the definitely not the language. From the original post:
- Presuming the US by default when it is assumed that no country name needs to be given.
- Expecting reader familiarity with US-specific cultural concepts.
- A tendency to focus on the US first and foremost when talking about worldwide problems and scenarios.
Expecting people to self-modify to "correct" these is wrong, although I don't think you were suggesting this.
(EDIT: read "wrong" as "unreasonable")
How exactly is it wrong?
Recently, I have noticed a cultural bias for the United States running through LW threads. It is perhaps to be expected of an English-language website, but for one that is about, among other things, overcoming bias, it is important to recognize one's own.
Aspects of the bias I have observed include:
I'm not the first to raise such concerns, either.
By comparison, e.g. the English Wikipedia strikes me as an example of an international English-language project that's relatively successful at recognizing and fighting systemic bias, and a whole set of template messages to mark articles with identified problems.
To quote Wikipedia itself:
The reason I haven't mentioned other obvious biases, such as gender, age, education, or First World biases, is because those (in my experience) tend to be more subtle here on LW and because I'm myself subject to some of them. However, I might cook something up on them later.