What does the world have against America?

[SadakoMoose]

http://worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/views_on_countriesregions_bt/680.php?lb=btvoc&pnt=680&nid=&id=
Yo, check dis out.

 

[Blow_Pop]

They mispronounce the word "aluminium".

fun fact, both pronunciations and spellings of aluminium are correct. It is really up to personal preference.

To quote the wikipedia article on it:

Two variants of the metal's name are in current use, aluminium and aluminum (besides the obsolete alumium). The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990 but, three years later, recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both.[57] IUPAC prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although nearly as many IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum.[58]
Most countries use the spelling aluminium. In the United States, the spelling aluminum predominates.[13][59] The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium. In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

The name aluminium derives from its status as a base of alum. It is borrowed from Old French; its ultimate source, alumen, in turn is a Latin word that literally means "bitter salt".[60]
The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: "Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium."[61][62]
Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."[63] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[64]
The -ium suffix conformed to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802. The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide, as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.
The spelling used throughout the 19th century by most U.S. chemists was aluminium, but common usage is less clear.[65] The aluminum spelling is used in the Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[54] he filed between 1886 and 1903.[66] It has consequently been suggested that the spelling reflects an easier to pronounce word with one fewer syllable, or that the spelling on the flier was a mistake. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#History

 

[IKSA]

Well I dislike because many ppl from U.S online are stupid dicks(not everybody but I had so many bad experiences with ppl from U.S) stupid goverment and religious fanatics....so mostly because many of them are idiots.

 

[Ranorak]

Because every time this kind of thread is made, some American will come in and say it's because we're all so very jealous of their country.

Which we're not.

 

[Pearwood]

fun fact, both pronunciations and spellings of aluminium are correct.

True and maybe it's a bit more natural with an American accent but aluminum just sounds weird and feels strange to say. Really my comment was more to offset the more serious political comments though, just a little comment for you to maybe get a quick smile out of before reading more about why George Bush/Sarah Palin/arrogant tourists are shit.

Its kinda like owning a PS3 (America) and saying the Xbox 360 (every other country) is shit without trying it

Surely vice-versa would be more appropriate, the 360 being an American thing after all

 

[Blow_Pop]

fun fact, both pronunciations and spellings of aluminium are correct.

True and maybe it's a bit more natural with an American accent but aluminum just sounds weird and feels strange to say. Really my comment was more to offset the more serious political comments though, just a little comment for you to maybe get a quick smile out of before reading more about why George Bush/Sarah Palin/arrogant tourists are shit.

meh *shrugs* a lot of people don't know that though. I get constantly chastised for my mispronunciation of aluminium out here. Its more just we're lazy....I have a youtube accent video thing and one of the words to pronounce is aluminium. Doesn't sound any different between American and any other countries dialect. Just the matter of the accent.


OT: Another thing I can think of is how supposedly Americans have a separation of church and state when if you look at it, that doesn't exist any more. It is one of the biggest reasons why Americans can't accept gay marriage because of religion. At least from my point of view.

 

[Electrogecko]

People hate Americans? I'm not sure how true that is.

People hate America, including lots of people living here, and it's not hard to see why.

 

[MrTub]

Because it's the 'it' thing to do, it seems. It's always hilarious to fire right back pointing out the same flaws with their country they're pointing out with mine, guaranteed way to rage them out.

Yeah, people only hate US cause its a cool thing to do.


Of course.

 

[-Ulven-]

I don't hate americans in person. I more hate how stupid the government and jail systems are. I mean a land of "freedom" and still it regulates EVERYTHING to the degree of insane (except guns... cuz you know. GUNS).

And then it's the issue of "freeing" countries and giving them a democracy. USA don't even have a real working democracy of their own. And still they're trying to teach other countries how to behave.

Also all the nosing around and playing world police. I mean there was a case where they had leaked a country's "confidential" files to the States for 6 months. And still they just shrugged and said "it was in the interest of the security of USA" Bullshit!

America is acting like a hypocrite. A real big hypocrite. It needs to sort itself out before nosing into other countries.

 

[Colour Scientist]

US is one of the greatest country in the world and yes I dare say many other countries out there wouldn't be without us. (Yes France we know you helped us during the Revolutionary War, thanks for that) Yea we stick our noses in where it doesn't belong. But think about WWI and WWII who was the major player in both wars? The U.S of A, hell even historians say if the US didn't get attacked at Pearl Harbor by Japan, then there'd be just one big Germany and one big Japan, then Africa (cause nobody wants that place) and America. (cause.. U.S of A!) Austrilia would still be there cause the land itself would kill the invading forces.

I really doubt any reputable, academic historian said that. Not only is it speculative, it's just plain wrong.

 

[davros3000]

Most hate of the US comes from the Cold War period. Instead of focussing on what you may call 'social power' (culture and so on), the US and the USSR flooded the world with weapons. At one point in some Sub Saharan African countries assault rifles were so numerous you could trade live stock for weapons (the price roughly equivalent of one AK 47 to a chicken).

Combine this with putting bad people in power, like Saddam Hussein, and then keeping them there. Thats pissed off a lot of people, particularly in South and Central America which the US sees as its own territory. Control of the seas around the American continent is US doctrine.

In Europe feeling is a bit more friendly, thanks to the Marshall Plan and poor communist government behind the iron curtain, but this positive sentiment has been diminished thanks to George W Bush and US corporate behaviour. The global economic crisis, thanks largely to US banks, has enhanced this sense of the out of control or bully boy behaviour.

Obama could have turned water into wine and not overcome this sizeable challenge.

But its like anything else, most American people are friendly and sociable but are let down by the behaviour of their supposed 'betters'. As the US is the most powerful country, people expect it to lead.

 

[senordesol]

American here.

A large part of our formative history was being successful at pretty much everything we did. We became a nation by taking on the biggest baddest empire in the world at the time and winning. We conquered 3 million sq. miles of wilderness, and peoples from all over the world flocked -FLOCKED- to come here to grasp a better life than they could possibly have elsewhere. Many countries that came after us even modeled their constitutions (or whatever forms of government) to imitate our own. We built New York. We built Hollywood. We built Las Vegas. We built San Francisco. And -for a time- we never even lost a war.

Sadly, all that success went to our head. The men building those cities and fighting those wars knew they weren't entitled to success, the men who wrote the constitution knew that the government itself was the biggest threat to freedom. But all that changed, when the Nazis fell. Our goals became more than being the best country we could be unto ourselves; but 'proving' our country was the best period.

I'm not saying we had a spotless past before, but we really did some dumb things in the cold war and after. The 'Reds' were everywhere -an attitude that still prevails today with regard to terrorists (NDAA, anyone?) Reflexive patriotism (or nationalism, if you like) became the norm. And our government cannot seem to get past wanting to make all our decisions *for* us, whether we like them or not.

For all that, though, I still love my country. I am still proud to see so many flying their flags in front of their home. I may not approve of all the things my countrymen have done, but my hope remains that we can forge a better future. Because we are still the country to which millions flocked just to be a part of; there's got to be something in there that can still be redeemed.

 

[Thyunda]

-almost serious argument-

I almost took you seriously until you implied that Malta, Scotland and Ireland are all somehow immensely angry at the English.

Have you even been to those countries? Last time I was in Malta, the Maltese seemed pretty damn happy with the English. While Ireland constantly complains about not being independent, they're hardly oppressed. Same with the Scottish. Do you know how much the Scots care about being part of the UK?

They do not give a shit. Now, you can keep telling me about all this stupid shit, but you're getting nowhere. Fact of the matter is, England slipped into near-obscurity in the early 20th century, when the US took hold. Nobody cared about the country any more. We were no longer big, no longer powerful, we were just old news.

Oh. And will you please stop telling me I'm an English nationalist. My name is Conchobhar mag Fhionnghaile, for fuck's sake. Does that sound English to you?

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

The us is just another country to most the people I know, sure, some hipsters hate all things American, going on about whatever country they chose to idolize today. But seeing as we do not live in the US, most people do not really care.

Of course people are arrogant bastards, the lot of us. So people don't say "Hey, I heard most americans have similar views and values as we do and have similar lives, that's crazy!" They say "Did you know that some americans can't tell the difference between Sweden and Switzerland? Man those guys are idiots".

But we do that about every country. You go "Man in china they totes eat dogs man, those guys are barbarians!" You don't go "Man I just went to work, ate and then went to bed today, I hear a billion chinese did the exact same thing! That's hilarious"

And then americans go "Maaaaaan! I heard all the Swedes (or was it Swiss?) totes thinks we're idiotss dawg, those guys are crazy."

 

[Dogstile]

Jealous. They see that we get all the fast food, guns and laziness. They want to be like us. Also, this song.
They be jealous. You can't write a like that song about France or the other european countries.

Wasn't that song made as part of a film mocking the ever loving shit out of America and their foreign policies? Wouldn't that kind of make your point sorta... invalid? Just sayin'

 

[Malty Milk Whistle]

people are just silly. ALL people.

 

[Malty Milk Whistle]

snipity snip

Someones a tad defensive today..... but the difference between the British empire and U.S.A is that most Britons well....dont like the idea of a empire, and think it was a terrible time...and this forum is about america as a governmental body, not the individuals.

That's funny, because most Americans don't like the idea of empire, and think it is a terrible idea. Those that actually like the idea tend to be either a small cadre of elites or people who have been lead blindly by the nose, either through patriotism or other incentives. A pattern that should be painfully familiar to you. Saying you hate America for it's hypocrisy while at the same time raging at the very behaviors your own government engaged in is, well, hilariously hypocritical. Especially when you do not even acknowledge your own government's history.

your argument has already been notified, and i admitted it was ill stated. and British people are all cunts, myself included(i believe Google picked up on that some time ago)but self deprecation is a main-stray in England. and...when did i rage against america, because the only person i have found myself not liking (apart from bush, most republicans and pre-pubescent Kids) is you? and most English/British people will be the first to admit that the government(most of them) screw up big time. and to quote a maniacal freak with a strange smile "why so serious?" and also "Saying you hate America for it's hypocrisy while at the same time raging at the very behaviors your own government engaged in is, well, hilariously hypocritical.". i honestly don't understand what your trying to prove here. Just sayin.

 

[Devil's Due]

I don't know... I made a joke about Americans forgetting what country they are in and requiring flags to remind themselves for a reason.

Yeah! Americans always waving their flags! It's not like those peaceful Australians, like you, who never do that!

Spoiler: Oh wait...

Because it's only nationalism when it's in America, right?

Oh, buddy. I can find you dozens more of any country in the world who act the exact same. Get off your high horse, it's hilariously hypocritical.

As for the thread: Same reason people hate celebrities, they get all the fame, money, and pull they'd like. I mean, who doesn't dislike the rich kid on the block?

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

i think because most americans are a little bit to arrogant (in my opinion)