Your view on America

[ataristarr]

I'm Australian and I really want to visit America one day, especially Washington DC.

As a country I feel kinda sorry for you guys, your seen as the world's police because your the only people with the military power to do it. Yet, people spend half their lives saying your wrong for doing it and the other half telling you to keep doing it.

All the while the lack of money in your domestic sphere is beginning to show, with the insurance and medical issues your having.

I appreciate the foreign policy difficulties you guys have and I think you're doing a good job at it. So yeah, you're doing fine by me. I really want to see the White House in person ( though it's impossible to get inside, just to look at it from Pennsylvania Avenue would be enough.)

...they offer free tours of the white house, you just have to schedule it in advance.

 

[Nmil-ek]

Although I dont like the countries administration or politics I have great respect for the amendment as one of the best things mankind ever conceived. Otherwise seems like a meh place some part beautiful, others overcrowded some boring like any other country really just alittle too big for me probably <3 my small island.

 

[CorvinBlack]

If it is about America as the country - the same as every other superpower in history. You'll go down! But you are lucky bastards.

As for America as the people of said country - I deeply dislike you from personal experience with several Americans - naturalized and born ones.

I dont blame the country, just the people.

 

[Sipo]

OOOO CAAAANNAAAAADAAAAAAA OUUURRRR HOOOME AANNNDD NAAAAATIIIVE LAAAAAAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 'nuff said

 

[Liason]

I don't think America has more idiots, just that our idiots get more freedom. (sadly it is the equal opportunity crap)This way, every one sees all the crap the other countries keep under wraps. How many mentally retarded Chinese have you seen or even heard of? -Anyways, I think we are a strange country for using the backwards dating and overcomplicated time structure. I personally prefer the 1-24:00 and think the date and time and measurement system the rest of the world uses is perfectly fine. Sometimes I look at our policies and go "What happenned there?"

 

[Kajt]

"America? Nah, screw that, let's go to Russia instead."

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Do you really want my honest uncensored opinion? All right, you asked for it. Truthfully, I HATE America. If I were to relate the global stage to a school yard, the United States would be the school yard bully, parading around beating up all the other countries for their lunch money. What's worse it you have the self righteousness to proclaim it's about freedom and democracy, what a hypocrisy! I bet the people of Iraq were just loving all that freedom as you bulldozed their neighborhoods with tanks.
For the record, I try not to hold my opinion of the USA against the American people. Speaking of the American people, it's seems the a good number of Americans live in a bubble, and nothing exists outside that bubble. Up here in Canada, one of out comedians used to do a TV segment called "Taking to Americans" and in this segment he'd go down to various places in the US and talk to various Americans and feed them absolute BS about Canada and see what they'd say. It was hilarious because they all bought it.
By no means to I represent the opinions of every Canadian and by no means do I wish to incur mod wrath, I'm just answering the question honestly.

 

[S1N1S]

The worlds only true super power which is why people hate them, it's been the same thourhout history, the only difference this time is you don't have empire so instead putting down civil unrest you have to invade.

p.s I guessing you mean U.S.A last time I checked there was Canada and Mexico in north America as well.

 

[Clashero]

Here's my Argentine view:
Americans normally live in a sheltered upbringing, insulated from harsher realities. Their geographical knowledge outside of their own country is pretty patchy, as is any sort of knowledge about other nations, cultures and histories other than American. The people are terribly nice, sometimes a bit too nice, to the point it sounds unvoluntarily condescendent. Your public school system, for all the criticism it gets, is great. It functions perfectly and it fosters good values. Now, if we could only get it to teach things appropriate to the students' age level, that would be jolly.
The people are totally controlled by the media. What the news say, goes, and that's the end of it. It seems middle and lower classes have no independent thought of their own. I quite distinctly remember some propaganda-spewing robot saying the words "Can", "we" and "yes" but in a different order and becoming president without actually proposing anything other than "Change".
I do enjoy American movies, games and literature, but I dislike how Americans love American things just because they are American, sometimes to the detriment of superior things created in other countries.

That said, I'd kill to live there again. Easiest 2 years of my life, right there.

 

[matnatz]

Well, I don't like America. I like Americans, some of them anyway. But I don't like the country, I think it's testament to everything that sucks about western society. Although, I do find it quite fascinating as a country, it's a very varied place, so you can't hate all of it.

Also the amount of obese people there is just disgusting. It wasn't until last night when I watched a documetary about something un-related to obesity, but set in the U.S. that I realise how bad it was. There were 4 people in the whole program who weren't fat, one of them was the presenter, and he was British. In-fact, Americans just seem quite un-attractive on average, the women often seem far too big, big features aswell. This is a massive generalisation, I'm sorry, but European women just seem more refined, smaller, more womanly. Look at the Olympic gymnasts for example.

Also, the cheese, alcohol and chocolate there just suck compared to what you get in Europe.

 

[matnatz]

due solely to the good ol' U. S. of A.

I bring forth this ol' sentence to express another problem I have with America.

 

[m_jim]

We are the best country in the world, for we are every country. The rest of the world hates us, but it is yourselfs who made us and are us. We are not one race only found here, we are every race and people from every country. We are a rainbow, and for a loen color to say we are all crap, well your color is here too. To hate us is to hate yourself.

We have our problems, all countries do, but we are full of those who work to fix them, and have counters to everything. Plenty of countries dont have counters to the bad and have to deal with them, or hope we fix them.

** applause **
This is beautiful. I see all of this bigotry in a thread full of people deriding Americans for their ignorance and prejudice, and then I stumble across this post. Thank you.

 

[JodaSFU]

The People:
I have a couple of American friends I speak with on Ventrilo, and my favourite TF2 servers are American (notably The Bar Room and the Cock'n'Balls server). So based on the few people I've spoken with and I meet regularly, I hold no grudge against Americans.
That being said, some polls on how you think always seem to amaze me. The fact that more than 50% of you don't accept evolution, for instance, baffles me, when you consider that your government was among the first secularized governments in the world.

The official America (Government):
Well.. basically I'm just sick of hearing American politicians talking about how great America is, when it's never once topped any charts on the subjects of: Freedom, international trade, equality, least corruption or national happiness. I find it weird that "European Welfare State" is used almost as a curse word, whilst European countries (and Scandinavian in particular) often score the highest on said charts.

 

[TheLefty]

I'm not claiming to know every thing about every country everywhere but I enjoy living here. Despite my own personal money problems otherwise it seems like a good place.

Also, can people please give reasons why the don't like it. Lots of people are condemning it with out giving a reason.

 

[Sanaj]

Americans on average seem to have a greater sense of national pride and patriotism than most other countries.

America has a lack of gun control laws and what firearms are legal to own is ridiculous.
Especially the handguns, the military assault riffles and the types of ammunition.

I just don't understand how some people are okay with HMO's and their current health care system.
Socialized doesn't mean it's bad, yet many people seem afraid of anything related to social programs.

Americans need to stop treating Canada like it isn't a real country. (This is isn't as widespread as I think, I know that.)

American money looks like it's fake, Canadian money looks much better in comparison.

Though I may be biased... I'm from Canada, eh?

 

[Julianking93]

[b/]I'm American and I hate this country![/b]

The main thing about it is our bullshit tax system. I don't really have the time or the patience to write it here but if you're American, you'll know what I'm talking about.

 

[Kellerb]

Not Highly.

 

[JWAN]

Americans: The only idiots who would willingly try to rebuild and reinhabit New Orleans

Pretty much sums it up.

fix'd

Brilliant.

Look, I said we should abandon that awful spot for a city then I got shouted down as being a racist. It sinks by inches every year and is built on a sponge. Its also good to note that not every American lives in New Orleans.

Isn't most of Holland below sea level?

 

[paragon1]

Americans: The only idiots who would willingly try to rebuild and reinhabit New Orleans

Pretty much sums it up.

fix'd

So your saying you wouldn't try to repair a major port and cultural center?

Not when it will inevitably be destroyed again, it's like repeatedly building a sandcastle that you have watched wash away, how long will you keep repairing it until you decide to move it further up the beach?

Its not inevitable so long as people keep their damn levies fixed.

You know, I watched the coverage as Katrina hit, and felt saddened for everyone who died and suffered. But a thought hit me soon after. Why would you build a city that needs levies and is below sea level...especially near a huge body of water?

Dude, most people live near a huge body of water. As for being below sea level, its not a big deal so long as you maintain your infrastructure properly. Just ask Denmark.

Umm... you must be mistaking us for the Netherlands? Denmark is mainly a bunch of islands so if we were below sea level we'd be pretty much screwed.

Oh, shit my bad.

 

[wgreer25]

Like any other country: seemingly defined more by its politics than its people.

/thread.

IMO: I think that thanks to ONE retard prez we are in a economically, politically, and globally fucked situation. Im pretty sure when he left office, Bill Clinton left America with the largest economic prosperity in YEARS! And in two terms of presidency Bush took that money, wasted it on an unnecessary war and left us all poverty stricken.

Like Christopher Tidus said, "We are fighting in the middle east, where the largest oil deposits are, and our president is a Texas oil man. We are fuckin idiots."

Just to give you some more correct facts before you blame everything on Bush (although that idiot is a very good scape-goat, and I agree with you on the war). Bush was given an economy that was doomed to failure. Phil Gramm (R) and Bill Clinton effectively repealed the Glass Stegal act. It was an Act put in place after the Great Depression to prevent another depression from happening. It was a form of regulation that prevented banks, insurance companies and mortage companies from swimming in the same pool. The idea was that the fall of one wouldn't take down the other two. It gets repealed, the greedy fatcats do their thing, and look what happened.

I'm not completely disagreeing with you, but you need to look at where the snowball started rolling, not just who made it bigger, and the fact that the current addministration is making it 10x worse.

But to the point of the OP.

I do live in America. I have had the pleasure of going to Canada, Germany, Jamaca, and the Netherlands. I've also visited 20 states in the US. The one thing that America doesn't have that places like Germany do, is history. We (America) are barely 200 years old. But being a young country I think is one thing that allows us to be the "land of opportunity". I think that the media does portray a very different picture of what real life is like in America and unfortunately the picture that is seen is that of our Government and the "world police" mentality that they possess.

Another thing that is not shown too often about our country is the freedom we do enjoy, and I say this not having lived in another country so I don't have a comparison. But, one of the founding principles of this country was that if you work hard, you will see the rewards (to paraphrase), and I think that is very true. We are also a very diverse country, which is one of our greatest strengths and greatest weeknesses.

Having been to a few other countries, I can say this, you can find jerks anywhere, but there do seem to be more of them in the US, particulary the north-east for some reason (not trying to bash anybody, just my experience). But we are not all the douches that you see on reality TV (my god, reality TV has collectivly lowered the IQ of this country by 20 points... an episode). So to those who would bash the US, it is understandable considering what our government has done, but don't bash the people... unless you know us.