How the World views the United States

a reply to: MrSpad
The USA without a doubt is the most powerful hegemonic force in the world today. The problem is that sometimes we tend to be an ass about it. Nevertheless, I think that our positives outweigh our negatives, and that the world en large likes us for our spirit, if not our actions. The USA represents unbridled possibility, and is still the land of milk and honey.
Now on a sobering note, USA today is a creaking, rusting hull of a once majestic ship that scoffs at the warning of rough seas ahead. We claim to be exceptional, but in all measure of humanity, we seem to be sorely lacking, and living on past glory. If the 21st century is to be an American century, then we must redirect our course.

a reply to: glend

That is one of the most ridiculous statements of the day (and that says a lot considering it's a Jew/Palestinian debate day)

Asian hospitality has been bar none when traveling

I personally have not been able to understand the very popular American belief that "the world hates us". I haven't seen that to be the case in Europe! The Europeans did not like Bush, and do tend to like Obama more, but on the whole, the nation is still loved and admired.

I have always thought that the idea of being hated by the rest of the world was put forth by the media and politicos in order to increase national solidarity- people will bond better together if they believe "it is us against the rest of the world".

Nobody 'looks up' to America, or any other country.


Besides, why does anyone care?
Have you Americans got a complex, or something?


People just respect other people who aren't causing them major harm.

I live in Australia. Most people here couldn't care less about anything, especially the 'yanks.
That said, so long as your country doesn't pull a swifty, it's pretty much all good.

originally posted by: Diderot
Nevertheless, I think that our positives outweigh our negatives, and that the world en large likes us for our spirit, if not our actions.

I sir, suggest you look closer at your positives ...

In September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital had 170 new born babies, 24% of whom were dead within the first seven days, a staggering 75% of the dead babies were classified as deformed.

Highway of death

Prisoners beaten to death

Everything that is going on in the world today, is your doing. All the deaths, all the wars that go on ... are you or of your creation.

You think anyone here, thinks your net worth is positive?

I'm sure there are retards, who think that in the vague of death, murder, war crimes, beating up women, kids and the disabled, the inhuman treatment of prisoners and the use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. There is some essence of a "brave american".

But I promise, only reatards in Europe are allied with you ... and the only reason we don't oppose you, is because there is "relative" peace in Europe. We're weary of wars.

But sooner or later, the US will be made extinct ... just like Rome. And I promise you, that we here in Europe will have the biggest say in making that happen.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: MrSpad

Personally, I have no objection to the USA itself, but I think its government are a bunch of feckless, useless, immature, soft handed, work shy, and aloof bastards, the best of whom has no intention of representing the people that voted them into their positions, and the worst of whom are little more than mercenaries who wield pens rather than guns.

well that is mosty true of course. but i have always been wary of paying too much attention to what other nations think in general and about america. mostly because the progressives here look to Europe to model what should be done here and no offense but:

we didn't go to the trouble of becoming a free nation to then emulate the policies of Europe or the UK. especially progress policies that Europe is itself back pedalling away from as fast as they can without causing the dependent class from going to pitchforks and torches on them.

generally the leftists here evoke european nations as a device to attack traditional american policy and society. so i just kind of cringe when i see european opinion polls applied to America. nothing against Europeans or UKers but we are not them, don't wanna be them and fought a few wars to not be them. our constitution was created to ensure we didn't become them. (well, in part.)

and using opinion to drive policy decisions is the ultimate in foolishness. you cannot please everyone. if you try then you will please no one most importantly you will not please yourself. all political entities need a big bad for a target and we are often the big bad of choice to distract from a places own problems.

"what? you are impoverished, illiterate, forced to wipe your butt with a rock and think the earth is held up by a turtle in a bowl of milk? well it's america's fault. not the caveman cleric that put you in that position. "(well according to the cleric in question, anyway)

We Love US and A.

originally posted by: Unrealised
Nobody 'looks up' to America, or any other country.


Besides, why does anyone care?
Have you Americans got a complex, or something?

I actually LOL'ed as I read the comments continuing, having another reminder of one of the reasons so many people might get the idea "everyone else hates us".

It is true that in discussion forums like this, with a international population, one could get that idea.

You get American individuals that take the extreme side of "we're the most awesome peoples on the planet, everyone wishes they were us"... which, naturally stimulates others to counterbalance that with criticism.

Even I can fall into that- extreme opinions give rise to extreme opinions.
But keep in mind that that is often a reaction to the opinion at hand- the same people that will react with biting criticism of the US might not even usually hold such a negative view. It is just pretty disconcerning for them to witness such an unhealthy and exagerrated assertion!

It is possible, I suggest, for a country to be appreciated in general, without being worshipped as perfect and ideal at the same time.... and

Such displays of arrogance usually are defenses to mask a deep insecurity and lack of confidence. Let's get real- the world is not all black and white, love or hate....

a reply to: stormbringer1701

Please, do not misunderstand me, I believe near enough the same things about my own nations political figures, as I do about those of the U.S.A.

My issue is, that relative to the amount of money the citizens pay their government, results are very much lacking, and waste is huge. Both nations have an economy based nearly entirely on debt, both nations have a massive concentration of wealth in a very small fraction of their population, both nations have difficulty with properly organising their healthcare system (although those problems are different), and both nations have difficulty producing candidates for leadership who have even one tenth the moral solidarity of your average, foam mouthed rabid bastard.

Crucially, in the United States right now, your government has things in the fire right now which are in the process of creating an old fashioned, European style police state, right in the heart of a land which used to call its self the land of the free.

It must also be pointed out, that the government of a nation which has democratically elected political representatives, has only one mandate. That is "Do as you are damned well told".

If people are telling the government, "You may not frack" then no fracking must be allowed to happen. If the people tell the government "You are not permitted to observe my internet usage without a warrant", then there must be no mass surveillance. If people tell their government "Find a solution to the mass shooting problem, which does not involve an unconstitutional assault on our right to keep and bear arms", then such a solution must be found, and it is the job of the government to ensure that this comes to pass.

In my nation, the people ought to be able to say to the government "We demand the total removal of waste spending in Her Majesties Revenue and Customs department, which has come about due to bad contracts with shady companies." and THAT DAY the situation should improve, because WE the PEOPLE, the NATION has spoken. We should be able to demand that parties offer candidates for office who are not only capable, but actually representative of the majority of people in the country, we should be able to insist that the people always have more power than their representatives in parliament, and on the world stage, because the concentration of power has lead our leaders to believe that they are above us, beyond our reach and not accountable to anyone.

We here in the U.K. should be able to hold our leadership to IMMEDIATE account, when it disobeys our express wishes, and when it acts against its citizens. In the same way, when the U.S. government acts in the interest of itself and not the people who voted for it, it should also be under threat of immediate sanction by its people, and there ought to be a mechanism whereby the people have a greater power than the president, or congress, or any other part of its government, and there is a very good reason why.

Representation. If the majority of people in a country, are not being represented by their government in a way which is acceptable, then government has failed, and when that happens, even in the smallest possible way, that government is invalid and must step down or be removed.

If a government is not immediately, and totally beholden to the will of its people, then it is not under the control of the people. This is a problem, because in every situation where the people do not have control over their nation, you have tyrany.

Freedom has no place in a nation which is governed by the few, in a way which is not acceptable to the many.

originally posted by: bjarneorn

originally posted by: Diderot
Nevertheless, I think that our positives outweigh our negatives, and that the world en large likes us for our spirit, if not our actions.

I sir, suggest you look closer at your positives ...

In September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital had 170 new born babies, 24% of whom were dead within the first seven days, a staggering 75% of the dead babies were classified as deformed.

Highway of death

Prisoners beaten to death

Everything that is going on in the world today, is your doing. All the deaths, all the wars that go on ... are you or of your creation.

You think anyone here, thinks your net worth is positive?

I'm sure there are retards, who think that in the vague of death, murder, war crimes, beating up women, kids and the disabled, the inhuman treatment of prisoners and the use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. There is some essence of a "brave american".

But I promise, only reatards in Europe are allied with you ... and the only reason we don't oppose you, is because there is "relative" peace in Europe. We're weary of wars.

But sooner or later, the US will be made extinct ... just like Rome. And I promise you, that we here in Europe will have the biggest say in making that happen.

got any more recent complaints?

ever been to club gitmo?

the europeans haven't fought a real war since WW2, so what are you talking about?
well, cept the french getting their ass kicked in vietnam.

enjoy the warm weather while you can, it might be a cold winter so don't piss off the russians.

for the thread, i've been around asia for the last 13 yrs and live in hong kong.
i've never felt/seen/heard any bad mouthing of the US.

my chinese and phillipino friends go there pretty often, aussies and brits too.

i was in europe this year too, really liked it. italy was great. france, switzerland and litchenstein were very nice also.

originally posted by: tsingtao


the europeans haven't fought a real war since WW2, so what are you talking about?
well, cept the french getting their ass kicked in vietnam.

Can't help but object there- my father in law fought in Algeria and it killed him, and they have young men fighting in Africa right this moment (and have been for a while). The french continue to go to war when they feel it is really important to do so.

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: MrSpad

Personally, I have no objection to the USA itself, but I think its government are a bunch of feckless, useless, immature, soft handed, work shy, and aloof bastards, the best of whom has no intention of representing the people that voted them into their positions, and the worst of whom are little more than mercenaries who wield pens rather than guns.

Nail. Head.
2nd line.

a reply to: TrueBrit

For that to be the case, the people would have to stand up and just do it.

The biggest things on my list, GMO's, War on Drugs, Corporate Lobbying... they could all be gone in any 4 year span, but for whatever reason the aspect of it happening to us and even around the world IS actually a result of people not being willing to vote independent continuing to follow whatever idiots the media tells us to vote for from 2 bought and sold parties...

We never lost the right to vote, most Americans just don't do it and when they do most of those people do it like complete retards, I sit here and listen to guy after guy talk about the armed revolution, stockpile guns while eating cancer causing foods killing them silently without a shot being fired and kind of Marvel at how this can be... It's all bs talk, virtually no one bothers even on subjects that in theory we basically all agree upon... to just exercise that right and assure it changes, no one else even runs for office...

There is actually nothing stopping this from all changing virtually over night... I think, in the end it's just hard to deal with Insidious pricks, it's like quitting smoking, you know you should but there are virtually no effects on your personal life until it's too late.

originally posted by: Bluesma

originally posted by: tsingtao


the europeans haven't fought a real war since WW2, so what are you talking about?
well, cept the french getting their ass kicked in vietnam.

Can't help but object there- my father in law fought in Algeria and it killed him, and they have young men fighting in Africa right this moment (and have been for a while). The french continue to go to war when they feel it is really important to do so.

algeria had slipped my mind, sorry for your loss. my dad was wounded in korea.

yes, i know what the french are doing in africa, now.

but it's only 3000 troops in 5 countries.

i know it's still dangerous no matter how many are on your side, when people are shooting at you.

i was talking about greater europe that bjarneorn was talking about, being war weary.

when i hear the word "war" i think of more than a "police action"

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: stormbringer1701

Please, do not misunderstand me, I believe near enough the same things about my own nations political figures, as I do about those of the U.S.A.

My issue is, that relative to the amount of money the citizens pay their government, results are very much lacking, and waste is huge. Both nations have an economy based nearly entirely on debt, both nations have a massive concentration of wealth in a very small fraction of their population, both nations have difficulty with properly organising their healthcare system (although those problems are different), and both nations have difficulty producing candidates for leadership who have even one tenth the moral solidarity of your average, foam mouthed rabid bastard.

Crucially, in the United States right now, your government has things in the fire right now which are in the process of creating an old fashioned, European style police state, right in the heart of a land which used to call its self the land of the free.

It must also be pointed out, that the government of a nation which has democratically elected political representatives, has only one mandate. That is "Do as you are damned well told".

If people are telling the government, "You may not frack" then no fracking must be allowed to happen. If the people tell the government "You are not permitted to observe my internet usage without a warrant", then there must be no mass surveillance. If people tell their government "Find a solution to the mass shooting problem, which does not involve an unconstitutional assault on our right to keep and bear arms", then such a solution must be found, and it is the job of the government to ensure that this comes to pass.

In my nation, the people ought to be able to say to the government "We demand the total removal of waste spending in Her Majesties Revenue and Customs department, which has come about due to bad contracts with shady companies." and THAT DAY the situation should improve, because WE the PEOPLE, the NATION has spoken. We should be able to demand that parties offer candidates for office who are not only capable, but actually representative of the majority of people in the country, we should be able to insist that the people always have more power than their representatives in parliament, and on the world stage, because the concentration of power has lead our leaders to believe that they are above us, beyond our reach and not accountable to anyone.

We here in the U.K. should be able to hold our leadership to IMMEDIATE account, when it disobeys our express wishes, and when it acts against its citizens. In the same way, when the U.S. government acts in the interest of itself and not the people who voted for it, it should also be under threat of immediate sanction by its people, and there ought to be a mechanism whereby the people have a greater power than the president, or congress, or any other part of its government, and there is a very good reason why.

Representation. If the majority of people in a country, are not being represented by their government in a way which is acceptable, then government has failed, and when that happens, even in the smallest possible way, that government is invalid and must step down or be removed.

If a government is not immediately, and totally beholden to the will of its people, then it is not under the control of the people. This is a problem, because in every situation where the people do not have control over their nation, you have tyrany.

Freedom has no place in a nation which is governed by the few, in a way which is not acceptable to the many.

I don't disagree with any of that. I'm just saying polls are not the basis for sound policy. it's not that leaders should be dictators. it's that they should on the advice of experts where they themselves are deficient in knowledge choose policies that inflict the least harm and loss of freedom for the most good for thier nation. If American leaders are making policy based on what the masses in wayoutthere-istan then they are idiots. and i could care less what a drunken bunch of pub patrons in europe think of the US. mostly because i can be pretty sure that they, like most americans, have no idea of the particulars of any given issue that they may have a mad-on about.

a reply to: stormbringer1701

And what you seem to be ignoring, is that if you give the power to choose one thing over, to one person, or one small group of people you weaken the validity of their choices.

The governments of both our nations, have systematically, and over successive governments, enacted policies foreign and domestic, economic and sociological, which have damaged our nations. Whether it be the bailout of the banks, the idiocy of their methodology when it comes to dealing with terrorism, the blatant disregard for the privacy of their citizens, the right to bear arms issue in the States at the moment, or the crap state of our manufacturing and engineering sector in the U.K., right down to local waste collection concerns, the thing which links these failures is that a small number of people were bribed, coerced, or corrupted into allowing these things to happen, and to keep happening, and to get nothing but worse as time went on.

All of these things despite the fact that the people on the whole, saw the writing on the wall YEARS ago for this stuff, many of whom protested, wrote to their representatives in government, or made their opinions clear in all the data that these illegal and unwarranted data collection operations have amassed over the years.

The will of the people is often more valid than are the choices of politicians, and less biased by a love of power and prestige. No one would have voted for war in Iraq, and millions went into the streets against the idea, and millions more felt negatively about it but did not make it to the protests that went on. Every year, things get put through the parliament of the U.K., and the huge machine of the U.S. Government, which it's people find utterly and completely absurd, or utterly counter to their way of life, and that is not acceptable. It will continue until the centralised power in both nations, is distributed evenly, until the people vote on the issues rather than for candidates.

While things remain as they are in either place, things will only get worse. Now, you might not care what someone from Somewhereistan thinks about these issues, but you must accept that it is ignorant in the extreme to discount a persons comments because of their nationality. I dare say many regular folk from other nations than your own, have more in common with you, than do the political elite in your country.

And you might not care what a bunch of chaps in a British tavern might say, but you have to be aware, that ones geographical proximity to a problem is not always an indicator of how well informed a person is about an issue arising there. Sometimes, proximity to an issue prevents objectivity, especially where the subject is emotive and causes a swell of passion and zeal.

A well rounded, worldly view being held by as many people as possible, will be better for the human race long term, than an insular, blinkered one.

I would say elect leaders not lawyers from now on. Exempt all legal professionals from capital positions. Only those who have performed expertly in their fields are to be considered.

a reply to: MrSpad

Ah yes PEW RESEARCH quite reablie just as they were on Libya nd Iraq.