[tore]

As an European, I can assure you that most of the ‘hatred’ is vastly exaggerated. I often see people on american tv programs saying that ‘the world hates us’, and it both puzzles me and makes me sad. I think post-9/11 xenophobia plays a great part in this. I sense some of the same sentiment of ‘they hate us’ over here, but it’s generally about muslims who many danes view as hostile and frightening. Finally, it’s important to distinguish between government and people.. just because there’s a large demonstration against the US somewhere, 99% of the time it’s just a protest against something the US government has done that has ticked people off. It’s almost never a ‘we want to show that we hate everyone living in the US’-demonstration… even the most hate-filled racists don’t demonstrate in the streets just to show that they hate Somalia. But why is the US forign policy making people so angry across the world? Basically because the US is the worlds largest superpower. The US forign policy affects millions of people, and therefore attracts the most attention. The general image of the US is a huge country, mainly christian but filled with a enormous variety of cultures. A nation whose society is based on the same values as most european countries: freedom, a stromg justice system and democracy. Most people I know who are worried about the US are worried about the many wars the US have been agressively involved in since WW2, and it’s habit of applying great political and economic pressure on other countries to achieve certain goals. They genuinely like mosts parts of the diverse US culture, and enjoys american films and music. Here’s an example I find helps illustrate the complex feelings: How do you feel about Russia? Thousands and thousands of nuclear missiles lie waiting in their silos -almost twice as many as in the US… a terrible war going on in Chechnya for dubious reasons. Enough to make anyone worry. You might even make a demonstration to protest. But does that mean that you hate the ordinary russians? Of course not (I hope)

User Detail :  

Name : tore, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Disability : OCD, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 25, City : soroe, State : NA, Country : Denmark, Occupation : unemployed, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Author]

Posts