Why does everybody here hate the U.S.A
- Thread starter Turtleboy1017
- Start date
Recommended Videos
The USA is just an acceptable target online, and the criticisms ring hollow since most of the people slinging them could just as easily be talking about themselves.
It's interesting, you hear how Americans tell everyone how great they are.
But online, as an American, all you hear is other countries telling you how much the USA sucks and how great they are.
They also talk about how ignorant Americans are, despite the fact that most of them haven't visited the US, certainly not in its entirety, yet are comfortable throwing around sweeping generalizations about its populace.
It's interesting, you hear how Americans tell everyone how great they are.
But online, as an American, all you hear is other countries telling you how much the USA sucks and how great they are.
They also talk about how ignorant Americans are, despite the fact that most of them haven't visited the US, certainly not in its entirety, yet are comfortable throwing around sweeping generalizations about its populace.
All I can say is, at least we are not a 3rd world country. At least we dont have to carry water from a well in a vase on top of our head. At least our 16-18 year olds can get a license by just paying around 45$. We have an extremely strong military with the ability (if needed) to end any countries life about 20 times over, every conflict we fight with our hands tied behind our back. Even our "poor" have to ability to write a hit song and get it published and become wealthy. We have an infrastructure that supports the basic essentials that we take for granted like clean running water. With 50 states alone we are more diverse then most people give us credit for.
Honestly I've always wanted to live in another country where I wouldn't have to worry that X is going to do Y and fuck up Z. Not sure exactly if that means Japan, but if I lived near Shibuya I couldn't fucking give a shit.
But America isn't as bad as everyone puts it. Honestly, people can shut the fuck up about it. We fought for our country and based it on freedoms. What the hell have you ever done? And yes, we have our screw ups, but so does everyone else. Quit insulting our country and look into your own problems.
And while it's true, this country is starting to go to the crapper, we are indeed a Global Superpower. Got a problem, come at us bros!
My last sentence is another thing wrong with America: Over confidence and arrogance. Yes, true, but while you're bragging about how your country is better than ours.... You get the point.
So shut the fuck up about America people. If you don't like it, don't talk about it. That simple, less conflict.
But America isn't as bad as everyone puts it. Honestly, people can shut the fuck up about it. We fought for our country and based it on freedoms. What the hell have you ever done? And yes, we have our screw ups, but so does everyone else. Quit insulting our country and look into your own problems.
And while it's true, this country is starting to go to the crapper, we are indeed a Global Superpower. Got a problem, come at us bros!
My last sentence is another thing wrong with America: Over confidence and arrogance. Yes, true, but while you're bragging about how your country is better than ours.... You get the point.
So shut the fuck up about America people. If you don't like it, don't talk about it. That simple, less conflict.
You're correct that it's rarely if ever said in that way. It's usually in the context of an American saying to other Americans that they live in the greatest country on Earth. It's not exactly directed at the rest of us, but because we see all your TV shows, and hear what your politicians say on our news, it can be, as that comedian in the link on the first page said, obnoxious.Turtleboy1017 said:
Well since the world is at stake, how about we use the UN for it's intended use and figure out how to keep the global economy from collapsing?Arina Love said:
Full disclaimer rant to follow that is only slightly on subject-
First off I hate all countries deal with it. At first they were necessary however now they are an artificial concept dividing the people of the planet earth and to further our civilization and move forward we need to accept that countries are no longer needed. People always identify me as being an American because I was born here and live here well fuck you I am part of the human race. Forget this view though, because instead of working together to enter a golden age we would rather spend our time fighting and destroying the planet which all lead to us destroying ourselves. For us to actually unify a few thing would need to happen first off people would have to realize almost nothing is black and white. Not just learn it, but actually understand it. Also the key one stop taking the word of centuries old books over that of scientist who have devoted their entire lives to gaining truth through the gathering of evidence and logical thinking and not to mention are probably much more educated then you "uh what's that you think you can explain the diversity of life better then people who have earned their PhDs through 8 years of intensive teaching and research because you read an answer on a creationist web page. Sorry but I am going to have to go with the one that is actually educated." and that is the end of my rant.
First off I hate all countries deal with it. At first they were necessary however now they are an artificial concept dividing the people of the planet earth and to further our civilization and move forward we need to accept that countries are no longer needed. People always identify me as being an American because I was born here and live here well fuck you I am part of the human race. Forget this view though, because instead of working together to enter a golden age we would rather spend our time fighting and destroying the planet which all lead to us destroying ourselves. For us to actually unify a few thing would need to happen first off people would have to realize almost nothing is black and white. Not just learn it, but actually understand it. Also the key one stop taking the word of centuries old books over that of scientist who have devoted their entire lives to gaining truth through the gathering of evidence and logical thinking and not to mention are probably much more educated then you "uh what's that you think you can explain the diversity of life better then people who have earned their PhDs through 8 years of intensive teaching and research because you read an answer on a creationist web page. Sorry but I am going to have to go with the one that is actually educated." and that is the end of my rant.
Well I don't hate America but the fact that we call ourselves America when there are about 700 millions people on continents called America besides ourselves but we just claim the whole fucking continent.
From being in the military I met a lot of people from different states and I have to say all the people from New Jersey, Massachusettes, and Texas are annoying as hell and they are the ones who proclaim the most loudly to be American and that they live in the best states. Never mind that a lot of Texans say this and have never been in any of the non shit states outside of the south. I mean yes giant warthogs and scorpions are better than crippling stupidity and racism Texas but that doesn't mean that a disgusting filthy desert is the best place on earth.
People act like we start a lot of wars and kill a lot of people which is totally not true we just happened to start doing it when the media was around and people started to overvalue life. The British have probably killed or helped kill more Irish between 1820-1870 than people America has killed since 1950. The Italians and Spanish introducing small pox to North America probably killed 90 millions Native Americans but no big deal.
I bet the rest of the world gets pretty irritated that we are a very rich powerful country and a majority of our citizens are borderline retarded and can't pick out such exotic locales as Indonesia on maps. God forbid you ask an American to point out a region on a map, we could never find a place like the Balkans or Scandinavia.
I am guessing the thing that irritates people the most is that the people who are most proud of America and think our country is so great have had nothing to do with our country being as great as it is. Yes we got a very good geographical location, Yes we had many natural resources, yes we were very lucky in some of our early wars and we had some people who made this country great in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Our country is not doing amazingly well anymore if anyone hadn't noticed. Our ancestors gave us this huge head start and somewhere between when an American doctor discovered the cure for polio (then instead of becoming a billionaire for life made it free to all) and our countries government getting hijacked by a bunch of incest bred know-it alls like the tea party we lost a lot of ground
From being in the military I met a lot of people from different states and I have to say all the people from New Jersey, Massachusettes, and Texas are annoying as hell and they are the ones who proclaim the most loudly to be American and that they live in the best states. Never mind that a lot of Texans say this and have never been in any of the non shit states outside of the south. I mean yes giant warthogs and scorpions are better than crippling stupidity and racism Texas but that doesn't mean that a disgusting filthy desert is the best place on earth.
People act like we start a lot of wars and kill a lot of people which is totally not true we just happened to start doing it when the media was around and people started to overvalue life. The British have probably killed or helped kill more Irish between 1820-1870 than people America has killed since 1950. The Italians and Spanish introducing small pox to North America probably killed 90 millions Native Americans but no big deal.
I bet the rest of the world gets pretty irritated that we are a very rich powerful country and a majority of our citizens are borderline retarded and can't pick out such exotic locales as Indonesia on maps. God forbid you ask an American to point out a region on a map, we could never find a place like the Balkans or Scandinavia.
I am guessing the thing that irritates people the most is that the people who are most proud of America and think our country is so great have had nothing to do with our country being as great as it is. Yes we got a very good geographical location, Yes we had many natural resources, yes we were very lucky in some of our early wars and we had some people who made this country great in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Our country is not doing amazingly well anymore if anyone hadn't noticed. Our ancestors gave us this huge head start and somewhere between when an American doctor discovered the cure for polio (then instead of becoming a billionaire for life made it free to all) and our countries government getting hijacked by a bunch of incest bred know-it alls like the tea party we lost a lot of ground
I understand. But that's... well, that's kind of what the rest of the world dislikes. It's self-centered. When the rest of the world was at war (Australia included, and we were more separated from the war than you guys were), you guys just sat back and said "Not our problem". Okay, the rest of the world didn't like it, but hey, that's not our main issue. In the end we're actually glad you guys stepped in at the end. We're glad you helped outSaltyk said:
What the rest of the world hates about it, is the fact that you talk to an American, and they act like it was just them against the Nazi's. In popular media it's America vs. Nazi's, not Allies vs. Axis. No, the Allies probably wouldn't have succeeded without America's help, but America couldn't have succeeded without the Allies either. It really comes down to the way you portrayed WWII, as if you guys were the only ones who mattered, and the only ones who did anything.
Yes, I understand, each country is self-centered and likes for focus on their own victories, each country likes to boost themselves up a bit, but the sheer arrogance that perpetuates from America (or, at least, the arrogance that is perceived by the public), that's just overboard and completely annoying. Again, I'm not trying to argue that America isn't a great country, or that they don't do good or that they didn't play a significant part. I'm just informing the OP of the reason why public opinion is against America. And public opinion isn't always completely rational or thought out, it's actually very susceptible to persuasion (Just look at your politics), I'm just laying down what public opinion is
Look to the first page, I actually outlined a fair few reasons why people dislike America. And it has more to do with your attitude than with anything else. As for the reason why people over-exaggerate American Military killing others, you have to remember that until the Vietnam War, there was no Media Publicized events to do with the killings. They were either in news papers where they were just statistics, or we learned them in history. Only with the advent of Media reporting on the war without the Government dictating what they write did people start caringWarlordnipple said:
First: Americans tend to think they are entitled to better anything and everything. Not on a crazy scale like "I should be God" but more like a person I met on the bus last week complaining about how every night on the local news there is a new murder being reported and he wanted to go somewhere less homicidal. I asked him if he personally knew anyone who was murdered or knew someone who knew a murder victim, he said he did not. This man has not even been near any killing in his personal life yet felt he should be in a better place, because apparently it annoys him when strangers he never met kick the bucket.Turtleboy1017 said:
Second: Somewhat connected to the First, Americans have a habit of complaining. You must have noticed that from the 90% of Americans on the Escapist who "hate" America, or from just about every other thread on this site. In America this habit is only mildly noticeable because most people do it, but in almost every other part of the world the complaining just really pisses people off.
Third: Directly connected to the Second, Americans are activists. Even the ones you think are rather tame people who could care less are troublemakers in most other countries. As an example: The American government has gone to three different countries in the past ten years to interfere in the affairs of the local governments, whereas most other countries will, through the UN, implement embargoes and write reprimands and will only take action if things get ever more out of hand.
Fourth: The glue between the Second and the Third, American culture is obsessed with flaws. It is because of this Americans complain and try to change just about everything. In other nations where the culture would have people not focus on certain troubles this characteristic can put Americans at odds with the local people.
All I know is that from what I have heard from my uncle, people in Europe are quite hypocritical when it comes to the US.
My uncle worked at a company that had many European clients. He did a lot of travel and meeting with those clients in Europe and one thing those clients did almost constantly when talking about the US, they bashed it. This is horrible, that is horrible, it would be really awful to live in the US, blah-de blah-de blah.
The thing is my uncle was good friends with a lot of these people and kept in touch even after he left the company. A few years later when he had got in touch with most of them, all of them that he got in touch with that had retired, retired and came to the US to live, and in those conversations those people told him that the US is great and a great place to live, that all the ragging they did on the US when they lived in Europe, they only did it because it is basically the cool thing to do, because most Europeans are jealous of how nice the US is and has it, and Europeans won't admit it if they aren't living in the US.
My uncle worked at a company that had many European clients. He did a lot of travel and meeting with those clients in Europe and one thing those clients did almost constantly when talking about the US, they bashed it. This is horrible, that is horrible, it would be really awful to live in the US, blah-de blah-de blah.
The thing is my uncle was good friends with a lot of these people and kept in touch even after he left the company. A few years later when he had got in touch with most of them, all of them that he got in touch with that had retired, retired and came to the US to live, and in those conversations those people told him that the US is great and a great place to live, that all the ragging they did on the US when they lived in Europe, they only did it because it is basically the cool thing to do, because most Europeans are jealous of how nice the US is and has it, and Europeans won't admit it if they aren't living in the US.
Instead of linking everything from this article onto here I will just link the article itself and let you check everything out.Garethp said:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19363_6-reasons-your-plans-to-move-abroad-might-not-work-out.html
Let me list some of the highlights from the article for those who don't wish to browse: people in the UK yelling things such as Terrorist and Scum at American immigrants
for all of America's talk of being the greatest we let most people into our country, whereas Canada and Australia grade you based on college degrees and work experience, and if you don't pass you don't get in.
A couple of years ago Australians made a big fuss when the government decided that instead of locking up people who overstayed their visas in detention centers they would be given the chance to get a short term "bridging visa"-they were pissed about not throwing people in jail
Security firms employed by the UK AND standard authorities make a habit of injuring and sometimes killing deportees
Japan makes a habit of injuring and sometimes killing deportees
just ten years ago there was a big fuss over how France's prison were literally suicide inducing rat infested hellholes half populated by people who were never convicted of anything
So what were you saying about American aid programs seeming controlling and dominating and how we act like dictators in other people's countries? Countries, I might point out, which were/are governed by dictators who answered to no one? And sure we have invaded some countries but if I remember correctly we had some help from dozens of other countries to, almost seems worse that other countries who stand to gain nothing are helping take away from others.
[edit]
Because most people are saying "...and your politics! I am not even touching that" and I haven't hit Italy yet I want you to Google this man: Silvio Berlusconi. Or you could look up "corruption" in the dictionary, Berlusconi's exploits are so many and terrible that it may have retroactively altered the definition to cite him or include his picture.
And because many of the foreign "I hate America" members on this site are from the UK: How is the News of the World doing?
So kind of what i was saying exactly, I never said my country was the greatest in the world, I was just sick of others claiming that we DO say that.sebbe8985 said:Im pretty new to this site so i may be out on a lim here. But is it not possible that you are overreacting a little.
Or maybe the community is overreacting. You have to stop define USA as one thing. USA is a country with 300 million people. thousands of different kinds of places, religions, jobs, and you name it. How can you say that its one country when the reality of your country is unique to you as an individual. it probably has a lot of similarities with other peoples americas but it still is unique to you, because nobody else is exactly like you.
Now you say that the pros outweigh the cons, maybe they do, maybe they dont. But why is it so important that it is one way or the other?
you say that its a good place to live in. Thats good for you. Then if you believe that and feel that way then that is ok.
But you dont have to feel bad because of your congress not being able to pass solve their differences with the economy.
They cant do it and thats to bad for the economy. But it doesnt make USA a "BAD" country. It probably isnt a point in your favorBut it doesnt really matter.
If you could stop saying "greatest country on earth" every time you want to describe USA and maybe just seattle for "a really great country.
If you make it a competition then of course people are going to fight back. drag out every pice of dirty laundry that you guys have and point out how much better somebody else is in that category.
Its not a competition!
You have your problems i wont disagree there, but just the same there is a lot of good things with you to. but just accept that you dont have to be best all the time, accept that you are unique without calling yourself american and I guarantee that the haters will come around.
PS, I live in sweden where a book has just been published that pictures our king as a retarded playboy who's been spending his entire married life running around humping 22 year old models with his other spoiled brat friends. Thats the guy who represents sweden all over this globe.
But does that really make me a bad person for being swedish?
Now please reply and counter if you would like. always love a good argument
And exactly. Thanks for your input. Nothing to argue because you basically summed up what I wanted to say, only applying it to your home country instead of mine.
All valid observations that I am sure hold weight, but none of them are ones that are concrete, set in stone, or the social norm. None of the things you listed should be direct reason for any of the misguided hate I see directed to the U.S. Opinions like the ones you listed above occur everywhere in the world, and just because they are a bit more prevalent in the U.S does not mean we are all scumbags or that our government is absolute shit.Shadowkire said:
True, what I should have pointed out in that post is that the American obsession with flaws and tendency to complain is readily apparent on our television programs(I am American, and I don't hate that fact). Because most of the world views these programs they are treated to all our flaws, just about every last one. This coupled with the fact that most foreign governments and peoples like to cover up/forget their own flaws means people around the world are only hearing bad things about America and no other country. Oh and Xenophobia, we Americans are as close to not being intimidated/antagonized by foreigners as currently possible while the rest of the world has it in varying degrees and then they see our television shows displaying our worst quality and it creates an unreasonable negative view of America.Turtleboy1017 said:
After reading that, I have to say, as someone who has moved from America to a foreign country, this article is true on so many levels. Everyone, please read it. I highly recommend it. Thanks to this poster for putting it up.Shadowkire said:
And I do think a lot of people on here say they hate America to try to pick a fight, because they're nationalists for their own countries, the kind of people who make life hard for foreigners in their countries. And I also find that it is true in the article that the reason you don't hear a lot of bad things about places like Europe, Canada and Australia is that their media and culture just don't like to talk about them as openly as the US. Not saying that they don't do as much to actually solve those problems, but they just don't talk about them as openly. The US is an activist culture, as someone else earlier pointed out. Ordinary people get heavily involved and interested in the big issues of our country. We talk it out, we argue, we want to know all the information and we put pressure on our government and media until we get that information. I wonder, with the higher frequency of strikes, marches and riots in other countries lately, if it has something to do with that factor: that the government and media cover up serious issues that the people want to discuss with them, issues that would be more openly debated in the US, even if that debate turns into political mudslinging sometimes.
Makes for another interesting question: which type of debate would you prefer in your government, if both would eventually lead to the same resolution: a public debate that allows public input and often descends into hyperbole and ad hominems, or a private debate behind closed doors with no public involvement, where you don't know the details of how the resolution was worked out, but you do know what the resolution is? (Again, this would be assuming that the same resolution would eventually be produced.)