Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 7 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 6 months ago by
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I would like to know the specific reasons Americans are ‘hated’ by people in the Mideast, especially Muslims. For example, “An American has done ‘x’ to me/us, and that is why I hate them.” The reasons I can find all seem too general (support for Israel, etc).
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Name : Eric, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 33, City : Indianapolis, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer/Sculptor, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think the problem may be obvious within the question. If you were to understand the full history of Israel and its relations with its Middle Eastern neighbors, you would understand that ‘support for Israel’ is all the excuse that many people need. I don’t mean to sound patronizing when I say that, it’s just that when I have visited the United States, I have found that the news provided over there is far from even-handed or unbiased.
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Name : Bert, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 31, City : London, State : NA, Country : United Kingdom,“Unjust criticism is usually a disguised compliment. It often means that you have aroused jealousy and envy. Remember that no one ever kicks a dead dog.”
– Dale Carnegie
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Name : Bill, Gender : M, City : n/a, State : NA, Country : United States,Osama bin Laden has stated reasons for hating the United States in various interviews and speeches that can be found with little research. The points he typically sites are:
1) support for Israel; 2) sanctions and bombing campaigns in Iraq; 3) support for ‘un-Islamic’ governments such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt; 4) ‘Infidel’ troops stationed on sacred Arabian soil; and 5) Clinton’s 1998 bombings of Sudan and Afghanistan.
Even Muslims who despise bin Laden know he strikes a cord with points 1, 2 & 5. Also, the U.S. coups in Iran and Indonesia to install brutal dictators in the name of oil, and pumping up the Afghan Mujahadeen with weapons and CIA training to ‘kill the commies’ and then leaving Afghanistan to a decade of civil war are all good ways NOT to make friends.
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Name : Andres, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 25, City : Chambersburg, State : PA, Country : United States,Does anybody here see any of these gripes as legitimate? Is it bad that we support Israel, the only democracy in it’s region? It’s often claimed that it’s about the occupation, but you’d have to be amnesiatic to pretend that the West Bank and Gaza Strip were taken for ‘colonialistic’ purposes. And if it is about occupation, why no intifada against Syria? There’s no basis for hating the U.S. for it’s support for Israel outside of an openly expressed and unapologetic hatred of jews. People keep forgetting that the sanctions on Iraq — administered by the UN not the U.S. — are in place as an alternative to continuing the Gulf War over Iraq’s borders and into Bahgdad. That is why the U.S. ‘hypocriticly left their puppet Saddam in power’, because the UN thought it would be too ‘imperialist’ to actually do the job we gave the arab world the impression we’d do. Westerners seem to want to blind themselves to the fact that the Shah was moderate compared to his peers in the middle-east extending some equality to women, and then go completely mute on the Ayatolla who murdered more people in his first year in power than had been in the entire 25 years preceding his theocratic rule. If that’s arab self-determination, then I hardly see how U.S. involvement in the region could make things worse. With regard to Afganistan, the U.S. weren’t the invaders. Like nearly everywhere else the Cold War was fought, Soviet agression preceded U.S. involvement. Our help in protecting Afganistan’s sovereignty was readily accepted and when the Mujahadeen and the U.S. had completed our shared goal of repelling a Soviet invading force, did we demand to set up shop in Afganistan? Did we attempt to annex the country for ourselves? Did we do any ‘nation building’? No. We went home and left Afgahnis to determine their own destinies. What did we do wrong? Would it have been less imperialistic to reorder their country in our image? I think the respondents here wrongly assume that the reason people in the U.S. are baffled by the hate directed at us from the middle-east emanates from an ignorance of U.S. involvement in the region. At least that’s the tone they take.
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Name : Justin27092, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 28, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,The main thing is the inhumane killing of innocent people, neglecting our rights and the feeling of being controlled. I believe that even if maybe we’re only indirectly affected, there will come a day when we will be the direct victims and it will be my family and friends at stake. These general reasons affect us all personally and we are all one (Middle East , Muslims and the world). If one of us is hurt , we all cry.
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Name : noha, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Muslim, Age : 16, City : cairo, State : NA, Country : Egypt, Occupation : student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,If I was an Arab I would be a bit miffed with America, too. There is the Israel /Palestine thing that you have already alluded to, but there is also the propping up of corrupt / violent dictatorships in the past and present. This is all part of Great Power Politics, and similar things have been done by all the Great Powers throughout history. It just happens to be the case that America is the single great power today and will therefore be responsible (even if only through inaction) for a lot of what is going on in the world. It always surprises me that Americans ask what it is that people might dislike about their country or them. Perhaps there is a gap in your national debate that needs filling. I am English, and while aware of the good parts of our history and the effects we have had on others, I am also aware of the bad bits and have no problem accepting that our country’s behaviour has been and still is mixed. Because of this I know that some people(s) have problems with us and I can recognize what the problems are. I suppose what I am trying to say is that you perhaps need to look at what America has done that upsets people.
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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,I think a lot of people in the Mideast hate things America has done towards them or that they disagree with. They don’t neccesarily hate Americans. WHich is how it should be, because so many of us Americans are not bullies and aren’t stupid like the U.S. is acting right now. I can see how they might hate America, but not Americans specifically.
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Name : Sarita-I28565, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Age : 14, City : Apex, State : NC, Country : United States,
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