Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 46 replies, 47 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 5 months ago by
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A lot of Americans don’t know the operations and other crap that we pull off in other countries. We interfere in their business like its our own. These countries haven’t pleaded for our help and therefore aren’t in need. Maybe if we stop acting like just because we’re a superpower, that we can be the assumed mediator in international issues then maybe other countries would stop hating us. Also, Americans and the government need to stop acting like we are always right. The attitude has really been sparking up some enemies. Altogether America is never garunteed a say in internatinal issues and therefore needs to stop intervening.
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Name : adrian, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Atheist, Age : 14, City : bridgeport, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma,I think that very few people hate Americans, after all most Americans are reasonable polite and friendly, much the same as most other peoples of the world. America does though have a very self serving foreign policy and can be extremely nasty and unfair in world politics to assuage internal public oppinion or maintain the least of its priveleges. Couple this with the fact that America is the sole super power and could maintain its vital national interests without causing half the harm or insult it does and you can see why there is a deep well of resentment towards America. Individual Americans usually don’t help themselves when encountering these resentments by running out a pretty threadbare argument about how good America is / has been and proceeding to talk nonsense about subjects that they are grossly misinformed on. Let me finish by just saying that a niave belief in their own self righteousness is not a characteristic restricted only to Americans, frankly we are all guilty off it at some point or other. It is just tradgic that the country with the most power, which should therefore be more thoughtful about its actions and their consequences is one of the most wilfully ignorant of all and often seems incapable of accepting advice or criticism even of the most constructive kind.
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Name : Andy, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 30, City : Darlington, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : Civil Servant,The reason that a good majority of the world hates us is because of some of our policies. While the majority of Americans are nice people, some of the things that we have done, or do, are perceived by some as just wrong. Take our unwavering support of Isreal. While I think we do need to support Isreal, there are some serious problems with our current policies (which I won’t get into because there are too many). Also, because we are the greatest power in the world. If anyone is in high school or remembers high school, which school do you hate or have the biggest rivalry with? It is usually the one that wins in everything. That is America. There is a long history to this than just current problems. However, it really isn’t everyone. I would suggest finding the West Wing Episode ‘Isaac and Ishmael’ is covers this a little, and it is a great show.
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Name : Travis, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 26, City : Beresford, State : SD, Country : United States, Occupation : Educator, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,We are the Empire. Todays Rome if you will. We are a people with a wonderful style of government, that we are constantly in danger of subverting with our own good intentions. We also have the military might to force our own best interest. Lastly we have the common decency to get all we desire without offending the voters.
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Name : jerry30749, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 54, City : hampton, State : VA, Country : United States, Occupation : electrician, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,You seem very naive. I live in America and I see the things that Americans do. Americans do terrible things. Americans are lazy and believe what they are told. Like when someone tells them that people in west asia and north africa hate them, they believe it. We watch you keep yourselves ignorant to the pain and suffering that your government is responsible for and we wonder why. But truthfully, most countries that I have been to, namely Iraq and Jordan, the people don’t hate americans, they resent the foriegn policies of this country. That’s all. This country takes the resources from all over the world and then claims ‘those people hate us’. You need to find an alternative to the exposure you have had up until now. Go to Iraq. See how the people treat you. You will never want to come back to So. Carolina.
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Name : NA, Gender : M, Religion : Atheist, Age : 29, City : Oakland, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : public school teacher, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The attacks on the World Trade Center demonstrated a cultural hatred of capitalism throughout the middle east, and America is the epitome of capitalism. It is seen as ‘the rich get richer.’ America has also seen itself as morally and culturally superior since the Founding Fathers wrote of their mission to become a democratic example for the rest of the world, which has led us to being the world police force today. Certainly if you were part of a culture that disapproved of capitalism, you would resent being supervised by the U.S. France, once a great colonial empire, had trouble getting beyond the age of colonial empires after WW II. Some French blame the U.S. for not giving France enough or punishing Germany enough at the end of WWII.
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Name : Jessica, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 23, City : Huntsville, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think it comes down to the fact that America is a very powerful country, and people from other countries feel threatened by this, with good reason. The American government often seems to be trying to impose its policies on other countries, and to some degree, it is successful because America is so powerful. These policies usually have negative consequences for the other countries. Additionally, Americans are often very suspicious and intolerant of non-Western cultures and religions, so they feel it is necessary to try to ‘convert’ other societies to Western ways, whether the other society wants to or not. Imagine if China became more powerful than America and refused to do business with our country unless we followed their ‘rules’, which were very restrictive for us. (Keep in mind that, currently, a lot of goods and cheap labor that keep America so properous, come from China.) And imagine that they wanted us to follow their religious and cultural practices, putting more pressure on our government to make this so, and imposing more policies to get us to do things their way, all the while becoming very rich and prosperous while we (America) languished into poverty and social upheaval. Wouldn’t you be resentful too?
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Name : V.K., Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 34, City : San Francisco, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,Alas, the United States of America is super powerful and envied and feared. Granted America is not always ‘right’ in their interactions and often the people of America have no clue as to what the government is up to. I am American and now live in Canada. I married a Canadian and circumstances just ‘happened’ that we wound up living here. To be totally honest with you I find that anti-Americanism is hugely a fault of the media. Almost every article I read is focused on some editorialist’s opinion of what the US did wrong or is doing wrong or what Canada did better. It is very sad that all the good the US does has a tendency to be ‘overlooked.’ And it is also sad that a nation cannot focus on what is good about itself based on what it is or has to contribute to the rest of the world. For many years I lived in the US and went to work in the morning, came home in the afternoon, helped my kids with their homework, did housework, fixed supper and got up the next day for more of the same. I worked to teach my children to be honest, dependable people and never wrong another. I would say based on my experiences, this describes the average working-class American (Most Americans). For every perceived wrong that someone can name that the US did I can name 5 good things. I for one am proud to be an American and wish that others would try to understand that we are not bad people, not out to get anyone. And we are not arrogant or ignorant, just self contained. Of course there are exceptions….always. Diversity is what makes us, US.
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Name : C. M., Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 37, City : Saskatchewan, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : Administration, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Yeah, i’ll admit that I’m ashamed of Americans’ lack of travel experience, not to mention their idiocy concerning geography, but then again European countries are closer to each other. It’s only a quick train ride from France to Germany. You take a short train ride in most places in the United States, and guess what……more United States!
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Name : John29248, City : somewhere, State : NY, Country : United States,Personally, I don’t have anything against the American people. But I don’t trust the federal government. Why? Some of the USA’s leaders feel that their country has a right to tell the rest of the world how to live. Yet from time to time on CNN, Fox News and other American news channels, you hear about racial tensions, greedy corporations, injustices in the legal system, and other problems in the country that wants to set an example to the rest of the world. Think of it this way: if there was another nationas more powerful than the US, and its government expected Americans to follow their leadership, but still was unable to solve problems in its own country, wouldn’t Americans get upset?
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Name : A. B., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : Black/African American, City : Mangrove, State : NA, Country : Barbados, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College,I think other countries do not hate the American people in particular, but either our extremely capitalistic, commercialized culture and/or the past and present actions of our government. I’ve never been to the Middle East, but if you are educated in the United States’ foreign diplomatic past, it becomes clear where some of their animosity comes from. In my opinion, much cross-cultural animosity, especially in the case of America and the Middle East, comes from slanted rhetoric spouted by the powers-that-be in both the Middle East and United States.
As for Europe, I’ve spent extensive time there, and never experienced anti-American sentiment. I always felt welcome, even in France (I speak no French), and especially in Germany, Spain and Italy. Americans are stereotyped as loud and obnoxious tourists, and in my travels, I definitely saw some, and I experienced some rude natives in every country, but there are plenty of rude people in America, too.
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Name : D.Z., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 24, City : Madison, State : WI, Country : United States, Occupation : waitress, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,This could just be my simple naivete that appears to be quite typical of we Americans, but I think it is quite simply a matter of envy. We are the global equivalent of the Captain of the football team. While everyone claims to be our friends, underneath there seems to be some real resentment. Everyone seems to be very friendly with us when we are doing what serves thier countries interests, or better sill…pulling their collective asses out of the fire (i.e. France on multiple occassions). However, if they disagree with any of our global actions, the criticism bypasses all levels of debate and dicourse and goes directly to anti-american hate. What the rest of the world is loath to admit is that if America ever decided to adhere to the vitriolic ‘advice’ of it’s detractors, and simply mind its own business (that includes peace-keeping, trade, finacial aid, etc), this planet would quickly fall into utter chaos. Incidentally, I don’t know who said it first, but my new favorite quote is, ‘Going to war without the French is like going deer hunting without and accordian’. Love it.
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Name : George21666, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 31, City : Manchester, State : NH, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I agree with just about every reply to your question so far. I have lived in London, traveled all over Europe, Africa, Carribean and all Arab countries and Iran. The place I felt the safest was in the Arab world, because their laws are absolute and the people have more respect for others. Everywhere I traveled, I learned the customs before I visited the country. I took my time to learn some simple phrases and was very respectful of my hosts. I never had any problems whatsoever, because the key word is, ‘respect’. A lot of Americans who travel abroad go with an attitude that they are superior to non americans. I think that is what stirs up any animosity against us. Another thing is, America is thought to be a ‘democracy’. There is no truth to that. America is a ‘republic’. We have a representative government. Ou government has too many problems because we elect too many idiots and not the ‘right man’ for the job. Even though I have harsh things to say about America, I do enjoy being an American, but I could enjoy being any other nationality, because we all have something to contribute to the world.
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Name : Dave Shaver, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Disability : Depression, not disabled, Race : American Indian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 49, City : Jacksonville, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : Mental Health, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,It’s funny how often I’ve heard this question: why do they hate America? But what of America hating the rest of the world? And France more than ever? Your people – or at least most of it – blindly back a president whose narrow logic is: if you’re not with us, you’re against us. If you don’t give me what I want, I won’t be your friend anymore.’ I’ve heard such arguments on a schoolyard at recess. But from a country leader, it sounds lame. And in those American movies I enjoy watching from time to time, often the bad guy or the terrorist is a foreigner. Arabs are shown as the Devil, or the French are mean and arrogant. In war movies, the only heros are Americans, and the ‘others’ are either cowards or allies of the enemy. So, hate comes from each sides. Some are just more fed up than others. Anti-Americans, the moderate ones, are against not the government, not the people. Yet it seems that some of your people have chosen to hate everything that’s French -related, government and people alike, whether they are from France or not. I’d be afraid to come down to the United States these days. And I have been in your country and met marvelous and open people; I truly enjoyed my stays there. But ever since that war mess that Bush triggered, I’m not sure it’s safe, being French-speaking. This war has done far more damage than just killing people: the relations between the United States and some ethnicities suffer greatly from it. It will take time for forgiveness from each part. Yet I don’t hate Americans, and I don’t hate you. I just hate the fact that for America, it’s always the others’ fault. Still, as I work serving many Americans, I will keep on giving them a kind, warm welcome because I believe in the human individual – no matter where they are from.
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Name : Nathalie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 28, City : Laval, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : Convention center hostess, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Very few people here in the UK hate Americans. Most of us like you, and your culture has a positive influence on us. However, there are some minor annoyances. Firstly, you seem very proud of yourselves. National pride is bad because it implies other countries are inferior. Also, you tend to use the word ‘Americans’ and ‘humans’ interchangably, even though you’re only 1/24th of the human race. For example, the popular phrase ‘God bless America’ is almost like saying ‘God d*** everyone else’. Americans are generally good people, but there does seem to me to be a higher proportion of aggressive, insulting and racist people in America than in any other country. I have encountered some extremely ignorant and offensive people from America of a type that you just don’t get here in the UK. People wouldn’t tolerate it. These are all minor complaints though. On the whole, we don’t have a probelm with Americans. Many hate George Bush, though.
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Name : Jamie, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 26, City : Torbay, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : designer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,
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