Poll: What do other country think of america
- Thread starter Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)
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It's unfair to call you bad, although you have a slightly-off goverment...
At the end of the day, It doesn't matter where you are born - If you're a prick, you are a prick. If you're not, well then your not.
Personally i love your Vehicles, They just look so damn awesome.
UH-60 Blackhawk - The most awesome thing to ever fly
At the end of the day, It doesn't matter where you are born - If you're a prick, you are a prick. If you're not, well then your not.
Personally i love your Vehicles, They just look so damn awesome.
UH-60 Blackhawk - The most awesome thing to ever fly
I usually think of America with a mix of fear and horror. I look at as an Australian and in your defense, there are a lot less of us in a much smaller place, so numbers dictate we just don't have the same sheer levels of crazy you guys have to put up with. These are some of my thoughts when I think about America:
Note: I'll be saying 'you guys' and generalising a lot because adding a disclaimer to every point seems tedious, but know that I'm thinking of America in general, not anyone on the Escapist.
~ Your politicians for some reason are allowed to make entire campaigns against each other that aren't just lies (Because that parts the same here) but that don't have -anything- to do with social issues or economics. We get American news during the late hours and I've seen entire debates where they just slander each other based on their personal lives that have no real connection to social/economic issues. Yet, you guys have to elect one of these people to run your country.
~ You guys can get guns easily and a lot of you don't see a problem with that. A common rebuttal I get is that criminals somehow inherently have guns so selling them everywhere arms good civilians, but no one seems to make the connection that easier access to guns gives people the opportunity to be criminals/dangers that they could not be without that access.
~ Your government hates you, hence the lack of medicare. (Which is being remedied now by Obamacare? Is that a nickname or just arrogant policy-naming?)
~ You guys write American rather than English, which puzzles me endlessly. I'm from a country of convicts and while we invented our own slang to piss off the British, we never changed the basic rules and spellings.
~ Education is more of a hobby where you're from than it is a must.
~ You guys have very low inter-generational mobility, meaning that a lot of you are forced into positions by circumstances rather than moving around by your talents. It also means a lot of your 'qualified' people probably aren't the best for the job.
~ Racism/Sexism and other isms tend to be shouted out loud by a lot of you, but very few of those people shouting grasp the concepts they're shouting about.
~ Some of you have really cool accents, others can have some unbearable ones.
~ A lot of your TV people love to get involved in issues they know little to nothing about.
~ Fox News is apparently watched by enough of you to still exist, for shame, for shame!
~ As far as I'm aware you people are responsible for Ebonics and some of you want it to be an official language, what the heck America!?
- You guys, in my experience, tend to be the proudest when it comes to your country, which puzzles many of us foreigners.
- I'm convinced that the vast majority of you are criminals.
- I think many of you guys overestimate what you're entitled to and like to do bad things and justify them with rights you don't actually have.
Those are my honest thoughts, how correct they are is a different matter. I don't hate Americans in general, I just hate that a lot of good Americans I get to talk to online are burdened with problems caused by bad Americans. I'm thinking a lot of these problems aren't America-specific, but our media tends to show your country more than any other.
Note: I'll be saying 'you guys' and generalising a lot because adding a disclaimer to every point seems tedious, but know that I'm thinking of America in general, not anyone on the Escapist.
~ Your politicians for some reason are allowed to make entire campaigns against each other that aren't just lies (Because that parts the same here) but that don't have -anything- to do with social issues or economics. We get American news during the late hours and I've seen entire debates where they just slander each other based on their personal lives that have no real connection to social/economic issues. Yet, you guys have to elect one of these people to run your country.
~ You guys can get guns easily and a lot of you don't see a problem with that. A common rebuttal I get is that criminals somehow inherently have guns so selling them everywhere arms good civilians, but no one seems to make the connection that easier access to guns gives people the opportunity to be criminals/dangers that they could not be without that access.
~ Your government hates you, hence the lack of medicare. (Which is being remedied now by Obamacare? Is that a nickname or just arrogant policy-naming?)
~ You guys write American rather than English, which puzzles me endlessly. I'm from a country of convicts and while we invented our own slang to piss off the British, we never changed the basic rules and spellings.
~ Education is more of a hobby where you're from than it is a must.
~ You guys have very low inter-generational mobility, meaning that a lot of you are forced into positions by circumstances rather than moving around by your talents. It also means a lot of your 'qualified' people probably aren't the best for the job.
~ Racism/Sexism and other isms tend to be shouted out loud by a lot of you, but very few of those people shouting grasp the concepts they're shouting about.
~ Some of you have really cool accents, others can have some unbearable ones.
~ A lot of your TV people love to get involved in issues they know little to nothing about.
~ Fox News is apparently watched by enough of you to still exist, for shame, for shame!
~ As far as I'm aware you people are responsible for Ebonics and some of you want it to be an official language, what the heck America!?
- You guys, in my experience, tend to be the proudest when it comes to your country, which puzzles many of us foreigners.
- I'm convinced that the vast majority of you are criminals.
- I think many of you guys overestimate what you're entitled to and like to do bad things and justify them with rights you don't actually have.
Those are my honest thoughts, how correct they are is a different matter. I don't hate Americans in general, I just hate that a lot of good Americans I get to talk to online are burdened with problems caused by bad Americans. I'm thinking a lot of these problems aren't America-specific, but our media tends to show your country more than any other.
I was ultimatley torn when answering this. I have met enough PEOPLE from the US to know that they are no different from any other people.
However, in terms of the way the country is organized, and how the culture affects the way the people there act, I find that there is something...wrong. Something off, twisted, corrupted, rotten (not a single word there is accurate, but all of them are close enough to what i'm trying to express,to give a rough idea).
- A two-part political system that pretends it's a multi-party system (a two-party system is only one party a way from being a one-party system).
- Several archaic political ideals and practices, that simply have no place in the modern world.
- A cultural over-emphasis on warfare, military, and weapons, that includes legalizing non-hunting/sporting weapons to civilians.
- An extreme emphasis on the capitalist economic model (nothing wrong with it, but the extreme of anything is never positive), that spills into politics and culture so deeply, that USA is one of the few "developed" countries that doesn't provide basic education and healthcare to it's citizens, and the citizens in question seem to accept ti as a norm (Questioning whether USA fits the category of first-world country).
Since the poll was about the country, not the people I reluctantly chose "you are idiots". Not because I think the people there are, but because I know they are no different from any other people I have met, and therefore I know they can do better for themselves.
However, in terms of the way the country is organized, and how the culture affects the way the people there act, I find that there is something...wrong. Something off, twisted, corrupted, rotten (not a single word there is accurate, but all of them are close enough to what i'm trying to express,to give a rough idea).
- A two-part political system that pretends it's a multi-party system (a two-party system is only one party a way from being a one-party system).
- Several archaic political ideals and practices, that simply have no place in the modern world.
- A cultural over-emphasis on warfare, military, and weapons, that includes legalizing non-hunting/sporting weapons to civilians.
- An extreme emphasis on the capitalist economic model (nothing wrong with it, but the extreme of anything is never positive), that spills into politics and culture so deeply, that USA is one of the few "developed" countries that doesn't provide basic education and healthcare to it's citizens, and the citizens in question seem to accept ti as a norm (Questioning whether USA fits the category of first-world country).
Since the poll was about the country, not the people I reluctantly chose "you are idiots". Not because I think the people there are, but because I know they are no different from any other people I have met, and therefore I know they can do better for themselves.
What high school did you go to? At mine, I learned more about Europe in WWII than I did America.dyre said:
EDIT: lol spambots XD
Well, what else do you want us to call ourselves? United Statesers? U.S.-ians? Miss South Carolina made damn sure that no one is going to take "US American" seriously, so that's out too. We sort of shot ourselves in the foot in that regard when we named the country. At one point, there was a bill in Congress proposing a name-change to "The United States of the World", what would we be calling ourselves if that had passed? Point is, everyone knows that "American" refers to something or someone from the US, otherwise, they'd say "Canadian" or "Bolivian" or whatever.TheOmenCorpse said:
To the thread in general: I'd just like to say that America is like the Internet. Most of us are reasonable and intelligent, it's just that the idiots are louder and get far more attention.
At least, this is what I tell myself so that I can sleep at night.
In my high school history class, we glazed over WWII in about a week. The Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, got a month and a half of attention.Silent Anima said:
America is the worst, first world, country in the world. Overly religious, overly patriotic, retarded use of guns and backward health care. Worst of all is that Bill O'Reilly, someone who wouldn't be allowed on television in other countries for being a dick, is succesful and highly watched.
Like storm dragon, the high school I attended hardly bothered with teaching about the war. I think we may have had three classes on it. Of course, learning about WWII is pretty easy to do on your own (though it's also easy to end up with an inaccurate, biased version of it if you go about your research without some level of intellectual integrity), but in high school we learned a lot more about stuff like Manifest Destiny, the Industrial Revolution, the populist stuff and other pro-worker movements, that sort of thing.Silent Anima said:
I went to a pretty good, fairly wealthy high school in the suburbs of NJ.
The U.S. is big in both influence and size. The influence means we get a lot of global exposer, the size means radically different cultures from region to region. That is a bad combination for global opinion. Thats why even many Americans from both sides of the political spectrum are disappointed in their own country.
Not entirely true, my US History class taught a little about the WWII Russian front. Mainly the turning points, Operation Barbarossa, and even a little about the Winter War and the political mumbo jumbo behind it. But we learned much more about the Pacific front.dyre said:
You are alright. I mean I'm glad you won the cold war over the Soviets but meh, you fuck up, though pax Britannia wasn't a barrel of laughs and I can't imagine south east asian states look at china's rise with hearts entirely free from fear.
So could be better could be worse. But I am quite right wing so I'm not like the average escapist user.
So could be better could be worse. But I am quite right wing so I'm not like the average escapist user.
this is my number one reason why i dislike americans in general... you cant walk anywhere without getting the a flag shoved in your face. every country has idiots, religious mad men and assholes... but the US. is the only country i can think of that is so zealous about their national identity... save for north korea.Evilpigeon said:
i too find nationalism disturbing. maybe its because the country is too young or because being european, we have been thoroughly educated in the dangers of patriotism.
as for the country itself... i dont find the callous way the government treats its citizens appealing at all. but that is an entirely different subject.
Rationally, I know you have your normal people and you have your idiots, just like everywhere else, and that your country is so huge that any generalisation is going to be woefully inadequate. I mean, it's bad enough when people stereotype "the British" when there are such massive variations not only between the four different COUNTRIES that make up the UK, but even between regions and cities within those countries. Seriously, what the fuck is a "British accent" meant to sound like?! Having said all that, it's hard to get away from the impression the media/stereotypes give about America sometimes.
I have never been to America myself, but I would like to visit some day. There are a lot of things about the place and the culture that appeal to me.
However, I wouldn't live there if you paid me. There are two main reasons for this:
1) Politicians and other people in the public eye routinely say (homophobic/racist/sexist/plain dumb) things that would end a career over here and actually gain support for it, becoming presidential candidates and the like.
1A) A disturbingly large number of people in America are prepared to vote for these people.
2) Healthcare. The thought of living under the American health system terrifies me. Now, I'm well aware that the NHS is not perfect (both parents work in it) and that some people over here choose private healthcare over it. But at the end of the day, I know that if I get sick, need medication or an operation, I can have it without having to worry about the cost (for the most part). Not having that safety net just seems wrong to me. Denying people medical attention because of their financial situation is, in my opinion, completely and utterly immoral.
2A) A disturbingly large number of people in America don't seem to have a problem with this and actively reject the idea of universal healthcare.
Just my thoughts on the matter.
I have never been to America myself, but I would like to visit some day. There are a lot of things about the place and the culture that appeal to me.
However, I wouldn't live there if you paid me. There are two main reasons for this:
1) Politicians and other people in the public eye routinely say (homophobic/racist/sexist/plain dumb) things that would end a career over here and actually gain support for it, becoming presidential candidates and the like.
1A) A disturbingly large number of people in America are prepared to vote for these people.
2) Healthcare. The thought of living under the American health system terrifies me. Now, I'm well aware that the NHS is not perfect (both parents work in it) and that some people over here choose private healthcare over it. But at the end of the day, I know that if I get sick, need medication or an operation, I can have it without having to worry about the cost (for the most part). Not having that safety net just seems wrong to me. Denying people medical attention because of their financial situation is, in my opinion, completely and utterly immoral.
2A) A disturbingly large number of people in America don't seem to have a problem with this and actively reject the idea of universal healthcare.
Just my thoughts on the matter.