Got to point something out here.

America's involvement in WW2 was hugely appreciated by Europe AT THE TIME.

And whilst I personally think that Americans overstate their contribution to WW2 (you can look up the casualty figures yourselves) I understand that its national pride and I can assure you that your countries efforts and scarifices are not, and will not ever be, forgotten.

However, World War two finished 62 years ago. Its over and done with. World War two is NOT the issue here.

We're living in a different world these days. Its just not the same. And any kudos and former glories got wiped off the slate when the US entered into the Iraq folly. Even the sympathy of the world for the events of 9/11 has been largely trashed.

Its not about people "being jealous". Its not about people "hating your freedoms". Its about how your actions are percieved on the world stage.

Its about American foreign policy. Its about how the US affects the world. And to be honest a large section of US foreign policy has sucked for a considerable time now, and the lame duck you have in the Whitehouse, and his neocon cronies are just dragging you down further and further into the mire.

AugustusMasonicus wrote
This is an interesting argument. Are you infering that because we, as Americans, live in a country that is currently engaged in conflicts in Afghanastan and Iraq we are all war-mongering Christian fundamentalists? A rather broad brush to paint all 300 million of the United States citizens with. By the same stroke being that our oldest and closest ally, The United Kingdom, is aiding us in both endeavours does that make all citizens of Britain war-mongerers as well? When a radical fundementalist imam preaches hatred from his London mosque and terrorists who reside in the United Kingdom are involved in a foiled plot to attack US bound jetliners does that make all members of your country the same? I think not......

Granted part of your arguement, if I am infering correctly, is the United States government is attempting to fulfill an 'end times' prophecy. I think this a bit difficult for me to digest as only a small portion of the administration is Evangelical Christians. The portion of the country that is does indeed exert influence in electing leaders but is mostly nullified in general elections by their counterparts on the left who are secular or do not prescribe to their radical position.

If you read closely the majority of the responses here have been moderated, lucid and introspective in regards our countries short-comings, both recent and historical, and they have been equally moderated in addressing our assistance in both Worlds Wars.

I never applied that all American's are the same and neither does the article I posted. I was referring to Evangelical Christians within the US Government and the people that support them. You say that these people don't have the power to bring their plans to fruition simply because they are out numbered. The Bush admin and those behind the scenes pulling the strings now wield more power than any previous administration in America's history. They can do whatever they like. Whose going to stop them?

Need I remind you that in Great Britain we went to war with Iraq all because of one man and his relationship with George Bush. Another deluded fundamentalist Christian called Tony Blair.

Another example - Most people in the UK are against the EU constitution and it counts for absolutely nothing, because we continue to delude ourselves that we have elected leaders who serve our best interests. We all continue to believe in the illusion that we all live in a true democracy when we dont. The EU is the road to hell and Gordon Brown is driving the bus. Anyone happen to know who these un-elected civil servants are, who will be controlling all aspects of our lives? Are they Elitist bankers, Zionist Jews, Hitler, Nazis, MR Blobby, Aliens? Does anybody even know ? Does anybody even care

I read in the paper today that the EU wants to ban vineyards in Great Britain and they also plan to ban all health and vitamin supplements. This is only the start. Geez what's next. I laugh at all those people who keep going on about how we won WW2. That was yesterday and unfortunately tomorrow it will count for absolutely nothing, because we are on the verge of losing our freedom and civil liberties and nobody is even putting up a fight.

At the end of the day, it makes no difference whether we are talking about Democrats, Republicans, New Labour, Conservatives or the EU. They are all fascists and rotten to the core and their only goal is complete control. Enjoy prison.

USA deserves everything that is thrown back at her. When you kill 1 million Iraqies because of an illegal war then you should not be surprised if people hate you.

And it's not just the wars which anger people, but the lack of reaction from the American citizens. Why don't they stop Bush? Everyone seems to hate him, and still no one tries to stop Bush.

There is no conspiracy to "hate" Americans, they did this with their own hands! If you got fooled by Bush and some elite group then it's still the fault of Americans for not thinking and reacting.

It is never too late to make that hate turn into respect, but as I see it, Bush is after Iran and the Americans don't even care. Expect more hate to come from the world.

I have lost all my respect for USA.

Hey. We already tried to vote the fish poop out of office, but it turns out he had is rich buddies rig some electronic voting machines and stole another election. (And when I say "fish" think "bass" and when I say "poop" think "turd.")

It's easy for you to sit back and demand we start some civil war to overthrow him, but I think the general consensus is we can avoid spending the rest of our lives on death row if we just wait until his two terms are up.

It's not about courage or laziness. It's about knowing full well that he's only got 8 years and there's no since destroying our own country completely just to skim a year and a half off the end of it.

Edit: Is that your picture? If so, you're hot.

[edit on 31-10-2007 by mattifikation]

True.. The best thing you U.S. citizens can do is vote for someone who will abolish the federal reserve, and leave the money printing in the hands of the government and out of the hands of private entities.

Then the half of all problems are already solved.

Originally posted by Raf_50
I might have argued with until I saw your origin point.
Cape Town, South Africa?! Who do you think you are kidding?

No one as i can't base my reasoning on those people that are stupid enough to judge how well informed or educated a person by their country of origin or residence?

Now there is a shining...stellar example...of a modern society. Talk about "throwing bricks in glass houses". Boy..I'll sure take you seriously when it comes to discussing repressive governments and their policies. Along with war being funded by special interest groups.

I don't care what you think but as long as you make it so very public i am bound to disagree with you as publicly.

Coming from the land of Apartheid, death squads, torture and wrongful imprisonment…to name only a few..your statements sure mean a lot.

Ack…I may be ill.

And while i don't claim first hand knowledge of any of those methods i wonder why you have presumed that living in a country with such history has not in fact given me first hand experience of how it all figures into the bigger picture? You seem to want to disqualify my comments by presuming i know a great deal about the subject matter? Can you clarify how that in your mind serves as disqualification of my opinions and statements?

Originally posted by Raf_50
Oh...this is rich. Now the USA is to blame for Aparthied.

The US national security state were one of the staunches supporters of old regime and Reagan was about as they were likely to get in the 80's.

And Cecil Rhodes...

I will hold the Royals responsible for that one.

and that great boogey bear...THE CIA...

Like they didn't provide the tip off that resulted in the Rivonia trail and the the destruction of the ANC leadership for years to come...

This board is populated by innocents.

For every innocent there are in my opinion at least a dozen willfully ignorant types..

Every country out there has their own version of the CIA. Every single one of them.

Point me to a few that are anywhere near as effective as the CIA ( on foreign soil) that are not in fact being sponsored by the US government. I am sure there must be some so go right ahead.

All the great democracies, all of the totalitarian theocracies...all of them.

Few if any of which have the type of resources and expertise ( resources helps a lot to affect hiring the cruelest and most inhuman types) that the CIA have managed to buy. The most effective one's are as i understand mostly being operated with US aid money ( think turkey, Israel, Indonesia, most of South America before recently, Egypt, Iran under the Shah, Saudi Arabia and many of the other ME states, Iraq under SH and so forth. The list is far longer but those are the one's i could think of in thirty seconds.

And they play just as fast and loose with the rules as America does.

Some clearly do but in the end you can only do so much with limited funds and more vigilant oversight.

Some are cruel beyond belief..check out the history of the KGB sometime.

I have little reason to believe that the KGB were ever as effective or efficient as the Shahs torturers or death squads the us backed and funded ( to say nothing of the CIA training) regimes in South America operated to destroy the parts of their populations they did not think they could cow into submission by other means.

The sooner you kids grow up and realize that the game of nations is anything but a game.

You are pretending that most Americans are aware of the atrocities being committed by their government when that is just not the case. When these episodes become public the US administration does it best to deny it or cover up the extent of the crimes as they are quite well aware of the fact that they have very little if any support for such crimes. This is the case in most countries where the people are largely unaware and in the rest such excess happens because those who do know are threatened with the same if they talk about it publicly.

All of our respective governments will do anything to further their own goals and national interests.

They will do whatever it takes to further their own goals but it's rarely in the national interest and practically never to our benefit.

If you don't like the USA...consider the alternative. Perhaps Putin would give you a big ol' hug?

And what's Putin going to do to me that the US national security people is not doing to Iraqi's? Fact is the Russian army seems quite uninterested in even policing their own seditious areas so i am nowhere near as worried about the Russian army than i am about the private US army that will pretty much do what their told any destroy as many countries as their ordered to. Common Russian soldiers seem to be very well aware of how things stand and thus far less willing to risk their lives for Putin, Russia or anyone else. I am not great 'fan' or professional armies that are basically state sponsored death squads waiting to hear who the next enemy is. We may have armies with professional career officers but soldiers should be drafted so that we always have plenty of people around to sabotage the machinery of death when it's employed for corporate gain.

And tell you everything will be just dandy. Or perhaps everyones favorite wacko...Ahmadinejad?

How is crazier than the unelected twice unelected Bush?

Grow up children...and realize that the world is a cruel place.

We know but some of us are smart enough not to take responsibility for a mess we, humanity, never created and did our best to prevent.

Only the strong survive.

Which is why our armed forces all employ guns these days? Why do some people insist on making such a mockery of common sense? Does George Soros/Bush do weight training while they are discussing international affairs with their advisers? Bah....

And when the aforementioned Iranian wacko gets a nuke or three?

Then the Israeli's will 'deal' with it as they have done so brutally effectively so far.

I wonder who the world will call for help?

Raf

When was the last time anyone called to America for help? When last did you see poll's in some foreign nation held to establish if they wanted a US backed invasion or coup in their country? Don't you think it's interesting that the average person are never asked if they truly want to be helped and how they want it done?

Stellar

I was not going to get involved here until I viewed your last post of the links being a courtesey. I agree. I also disagree with alot of info on the links. I especially laugh at the link to hurricanes. Just my luck I joined the U S Navy a long time ago and was sent to weather school and recieved orders to the Weather Office onboard USS Ranger CV-61 home port at the time San Diego California. Fortunately for my adventerous self I was privedlidged to sail from California to Central America,and Panama,on to Hawaii and the Phillipine Islands thru the Straits of Melacca and Singapore, across the Indian Ocean to the North Arabian Sea where I helped further the mission of the USN.
I feel qualified to say that upon examination of some of the charts provided in the link, I failed to see one from the "Mid Atlantic" region. Noting that the northern Atlantic is not a nortorious spawning ground for "tropical hurricanes". I wouldn't be lieve much of what I've seen in that link.

Interesting topic. Not sure where you got your numbers for all the people in the world from but its a fair question to ask when all you hear are the people that "Scream the Loudest." (perhaps they are just looking for more money so they tell you they hate you?) You have many sub points and are garanteed a hundred differing angled responces. You have arranged your own points of your topic to validate the question "Why do you hate your own country?"

Some of your points soley depend on what angle a single person views them. But there is no doubt that people are tired of Congress and want change including myself. I say Congress needs to be destroyed. But they were sent there by people who voted for them. Interesting eh.

As far as the world goes and how America is viewed by what it does. If you are going to do business in the world as a big country you will do big things. And you are a country that is on the move you will be one place one day and another place a different day. Unavoidable!

In any event and short of time I only made it this far before I got amused with this gentlemen.

Originally posted by Britguy
I even find this in the workplace, working as I do for a large US corporation. Myself and my colleagues look after the needs of everything outside of North America yet the US are always making the rules without consultation with the attitude of what works in the US is good for the rest of the world. In a way it's a kind of blind arrogance in assuming that the rest of the world should be like the USA and we spend a lot of time explaining to them the realities of the world.

What American way? I am poor and I got the third world pushing their way down my throat with the government backing them. In America I am poor but to much of the world I am rich and I agree but my government wants me third world while they make the immigrant rich. Tell me...If you go to another country to provide them with something they can't. Why would you ask them how they want it done? Ha, ha, ha. ( And no I don't mean going around insulting foriegners on purpose )

I dont hate Amercia how could i ? without Amercia growing up id of had no BMX no Skateboard no hamburgers no Cola no Micky Mouse no NASA no Fonzie No of a lot of "cool" things that every kid loves,the list is endless.

I dont think the rest of the world hates Amercia we are concerned about what it looks like it has become. But we dont hate Amercia at least i dont.

"I love you Amercia"...you feel better now?...........or you want another hug?


PS im not from Amercia

[edit on 31-10-2007 by N.B.A.Y.S.O.H]

I don't think that the rest of the world hates Americans. I do think that they resent American foreign policy and interference in the business of some nations but ignoring others that may be in more need. Most Americans I have met are too busy trying to live thier own lives to worry about the world's opinion of them. I also find that a lot of Americans have the same feelings towards your leadership and your bureaucracy as the rest of the world.

I would say it's the war mongering and sabre rattling that puts people on the other side of the fence. The "Your either with us or with the terrorists" kind of mentality that your leaders throw around to deal with problem's. I have read lots of talk of "gray areas". It seems like the American Governmnet hasn't figured it out yet. It all looks black or white to them. Or maybe I should say Red or Blue.

World hates us because our Gov is a bunch of royal Anuses. Not that the rest of the world isn't of course. Right now, I see nothing more then people hating the US because we are going bankrupt, and the money hose is going dry.

IMO, I think one of the main factor as to why America is now "hated" or disliked all over the world is because people, all over the world, are now realizing that the "disneylandesque" reality that we live in is a complete lie.

Big corporations advertise this American jugernaut towards little kids, the poor, and the stupid and uninformed to rape(not just America) but the entire world from all it's resources.

Coolness sales, and if you're aren't "cool" it's harder to function in this America driven world(can't get friends, can't get laid, prozac, etc.). This coolness, being hip issue, which has lead to the invasion of coporate advertising executives, is nothing new. This is classism on a much wider and sinister scale. Poor people can be hip and cool just like someone who is rich but the problem there is that the rich exploit the poor all the time with this. Coolness, however, only can be sold to the young and gullible(remember when you absolutely needed that shirt, those jeans, those shoes, etc.) The corporations understand that in order to have a strangle hold in an industry, they have to convince people that you need their product. Is there any better way to have power, money and control over a populace when you know you can sell BS products to an 8 year old because mom and dad wants little Davie to "fit in"? Corporate ad men(madmen) come up with a strategy to market and sell their products(to the "hip" and "cool") and these hip and cool people buy this product(or gets their parents to buy it for them) which causes the less "hip" people that can't afford said products to be labeled "outcasts" and "losers". This creates a big divide, and when the marketing machine gets bigger and bigger, the divide is bigger and bigger.

Now America is selling war with the help of Corporate advertisers insight!(Carlyle Group anyone?)

The so called "hip"/"cool" people, or just people that go with the flow, aren't aware of what is going on around the world or in their country for that matter because they are too being trying to be "hip"/"cool". They are not in the majority but they have a monopoly over everything. These are the arrogant/ignorant Mr./Mrs. know it alls(no nothings really) that are going to end up being the ones that bring the downfall of america. Just like Germany.

People hate America because they are able to see through the BS and understand now that America is nothing but another empire seeking world domination advertised with the help of Mickey Mouse. America was able to mask it's hypocrisy since it's inception, but now, it's coming to an end.


P.S. This is clearly just a rant. The topic of advertising, marketing, globalism, and exporting empire all over is world, is a very lengthy topic to discuss. I just wanted to throw a little something in here.

I was born and raised in the United States, and I'm still and will forever be a United States citizen (at least, as long as I'm alive and the country still exists.) I love my country but fear & loathe my government. I thought the thread-starter did a beautiful and eloquent job, and I agree with most of what you said.

However, I'm now a permanent resident of Canada and I can say there is a lot of mixed feelings here. As others have said hate is a very strong word. I would go more with mistrust, anger, fear, indignation, or resentment. Issues that directly affect how Canadians feel about the U.S.:

1. Arctic Sovereignty
   
2. Softwood Lumber
   
3. BSE (a.k.a. Mad Cow)
   
4. Devil's Lake
   

...and those are just a few of the recent issues that I've heard about in the Canadian press since I moved here in 2004. That doesn't even include how Canadians feel about Afghanistan, Iraq, 9/11, Bush, how the tanking US economy will likely bring a great many other economies down with it (or, at least make already bad situations worse.)

Yet there are plenty of people who support the U.S. in Canada. I know just as many people who love us as who loathe us. Every single Canadian I've ever met would gladly stand side-by-side with the Americans to defend the continent should we ever be legitimately attacked.

Something I find quite amusing is the fact that a lot of Canadians crack jokes about "when the Americans invade to steal our resources and nubile Canucki women..." Considering the US gets a stupid amount of its oil from Canada, and Canadians sit on a huge land-mass chock-full of resources they've carefully protected from plunder for many years the U.S. probably will cook-up a reason to launch "Operation: Beaver Freedom" someday. If the status quo continues.

Personally I do not believe hate is too strong a word.

However, it should be understood that it is hate of a regime and its observed values. It is not a hatred of the general american public.

Although respect has also been lost. There are a thousand reasons why, I'll mention a couple.

911 / free press. I link the two together - the complete lack of resourced investigative journalism assisting the crime of the century to go unpunished whilst seemingly the overriding majority of the public couldn't care less. I doubt there is another country in the world where this situation could have come to pass.

Television. For many around the world this would be their only view of American life. Even among intelligent, rational people there will be a tendency to relate fiction to real life, to believe in the stereotypical portrayals shown. Take a look at the most popular programmes - Springer / Oprah and any number of crime shows - and then think about how this looks to others.

Any American's ever gone to England expecting to see someone wearing a pin stripe suit, bowler hat on head swinging an umbrella and talking cockney ? Gone down under expecting to find someone wrestling a croc at customs ?

Some people can't travel to find out the truth.