Why do you hate the United States?

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Originally Posted by Mark Gambo

So I should sit back and just let uninformed persons make disparaging remarks about the US? Yes, I am very proud of my country and I have fought to protect it's sovereignty which I will happily do again if call upon to do so. How many of you can say that you have or would do the same?

I will not stand by and listen to out right slander of the US and it's people. It seems to me that all of the worlds problems are because of the US. So if it bothers you so much that I am a big "flag waver" then do yourself a favor don't read my posts better yet there is a function on VBF where you can ignore a particular user, I suggest that you utilize this feature because I am not going away and I will continue to espouse the virtues of the US whenever it comes under attack.by bombs or by the pen (or the keyboard).

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I cannot ignore you because it is my duty as a moderator to read your posts.


In order to reach understanding, one must see from not just one, but both sides. In this thread you asked people why they hate the United States. Yet in your responses you seek only to defend it from any and all criticism. I can only presume that you were the one joking.

In any case, it is irrational for one to feel hatred for a nation, especially one with as diverse a population as the United States. One might hate a government, perhaps, but governments are dynamic, and get replaced. One might generalise, and generalise as far as to feel hatred for the population as a whole, but populations turn over just as governments do. None of us are here indefinitely, yet grudges and prejudices stay. Each generation inherits the views, the attitudes of its predecessors, and adapts them in only the slightest of ways.

Do I hate the United States? No, because I will not commit this generalisation. But it is the views, the attitudes, which you display, with which I disagree, and with which people may take offence, or feel insulted by. I am trying to convey this to you. This is not slander; not unless slander is all you are willing to see it as.

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With that being said I wish a Happy Easter to all and have a pleasant rest of your weekend!

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Thank you and the very same to you and yours.

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Originally Posted by Mark Gambo

So I should sit back and just let uninformed persons make disparaging remarks about the US? Yes, I am very proud of my country and I have fought to protect it's sovereignty which I will happily do again if call upon to do so. How many of you can say that you have or would do the same?

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I'd like to hear where you fought, because whether your fight was productive or not could be in question. :D

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I will not stand by and listen to out right slander of the US and it's people. It seems to me that all of the worlds problems are because of the US.

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There are plenty of people who support America and back it, whole countries even. You need to keep the picketers apart from the people with serious criticism. America is big, if you want to discuss Dutch politics here, feel free to start.

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So if it bothers you so much that I am a big "flag waver" then do yourself a favor don't read my posts better yet there is a function on VBF where you can ignore a particular user, I suggest that you utilize this feature because I am not going away and I will continue to espouse the virtues of the US whenever it comes under attack.by bombs or by the pen (or the keyboard).

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Can't take the heat? You know the saying...

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Originally Posted by Mark Gambo

You are joking right? Query some CC posts from two certain members one from Canada and another from Sweden.

If you want their names pm and I will give them to you and even give you specific posts if you would like.

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I can only guess that you're talking about me as you repeatedly seem to lose arguments to me. It's funny, but if I disagree with you, then are you implying that this means I hate the US? :ehh: Isn't that a touch arrogant? That is a very screwed up way of looking at things.

I have repeatedly stated in my posts that I think most American citizens are great people, and I think that they have some very good reasons to be proud of their country. So, do I hate the US?, not at all. Do I hate Bush?, yes. This is a very clear distinction.

Now, although on the whole I do like America and have had a lot of fun there, if you want things that I hate about it (note: this is very different from saying that you hate everything), then I would have to go with "detention without trial", "torturing prisoners" and "unprovoked attacks on other countries"..... really, all the same reasons that I hate the North Korean government or Saddam's Government.

But while we're talking about it, there are things that I hate about most governments in the world, including the British and Canadian ones (in particular the way politicians vote themselves pay rises or side with big business for political funding).

I think you will be very hard pushed to find many people who hate the US here. Can you point out some evidence?

As for your options, if you really think they might be reasons for people to hate a country, then it does show you to be totally out of touch with reality. But I don't really consider you to be any sort of measure of the average US citizen. All the choices are laughable.

As for the misguided patriotism, that doesn't bother me as it is a fact that almost 50% of the US population are of below average intelligence. :wave: I guess these are the ones who believe might is right, and it's okay to torture, maim and kill as long as it isn't happening to them.

Surf, guilty conscious hmmm ;-). Don't worry you were not the canadian citizen I was referring to in my post to pino. So rest easy I don't take thing to heart but I will defend what I think is right and I will work to defeat those things which I think that are wrong. I have been doing this all of my life and I am not going to stop now.

I am not going to apologize to anyone or be made to be embarrassed about my feelings for my country. If others choose to talk about a subject they obviously don't have a clue about I am not going to stand by and allow them to continue without me calling them on the sometimes stupid and ignorant comments that they make.

I have no ill will against anyone here we should all be proud of where we come from and not look to say idiotic things about places that more than likely you have never been in their lives. The one about people having guns on every corner in the US is an example.

As for the options that I listed in my poll, my original intent was to be funny but I found out the some people can dish it out but they can't take it. Don't PM me asking if I was referring about you, the parties that I refer to know who I am speaking of and they should move from their glass houses. That is fine now I know the rules.


So like I stated in a previous post I am not going to stop posting because I few people here have thin skin and don't like it when people stand up to them. I will continue to defend what I think is right from not and until the day I die.

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Originally Posted by Mark Gambo

So I should sit back and just let uninformed persons make disparaging remarks about the US? Yes, I am very proud of my country and I have fought to protect it's sovereignty which I will happily do again if call upon to do so. How many of you can say that you have or would do the same?

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I would never fight for your country; or mine. :wave: One exception; I would fight for my family and friends and if that means fighting for
a nation to achieve that objection then I would.

The US is not a model nation; not even 60% of the way toward being a model nation. The US does good things, it does bad things and it does plain stupid things; most nations do. Anyone who thinks their nation is a model nation is misinformed and until you can say you have lived at least a year in every country of the world I'll take anything you say to that cause with the same regard as most of the other meaningless banter in this forum ;).

Some jokes can't be made by some people. The only option you had on the list that made me think you might not have been serious was the second one. As for the others, I expect conservatives to have a sense of superiority based on each of them. You aren't normally humorless, but if there is one underlying complaint against Americans it is arrogance....no wait, it's ignorance....or arrogance based on ignorance. Pretty much every complaint against America comes down to some form of that.

When someone acts the way they are expected to act, you can't really fault people for believing it was honestly meant.

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Originally Posted by penagate

Your own posts demonstrate exactly why.

You place the United States on a pedestal. You extol its virtues; you compare it to other cultures and ways of life in a manner that is nothing but condescending. You deliberately set out to frame anything that does not conform to your partisan, patriotic viewpoint as somehow inferior.

There is a prevailing arrogance among Americans. And you have the naïvetè to wonder why you think the rest of the world hates you. I hope that one day you can see.

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So simply being patriotic towards ones on country is perceived as arrogance? Are Americans not allowed to feel good about their own country? There has to be a reason why people get so bent out of shape when Americans extol the virtues of their own nation. I know I do not feel the same way when people from other nations express their own patriotism for their own nation. Why is it not ok for Americans to do the same without being perceived as being arrogant?

X

What I don't get is that you ask for the reason people don't like the US and then go of on one when they tell you?

IMO you are just looking for an argument and have been successful to a degree in that.

I can say that the majority of contact I have had with Americans lead me to believe that they are loud and obnoxious although most of these are on Xbox Live. I have had the unfortunate experience of meeting some face to face and I can only state that the experience was similar. There is a stereotypical image I have of an American. He is fat wearing a skip hat dragging a luggage case and hollering at the top of his voice and looking to see how many are watching. As an attention seeking individual I understand the last part of this however I do behave in a far more discreet manner and am not as fat yet.

I know and understand that there are nice American citizens who don’t fit this stereotype, migrants mainly or the small fat ones that have still to aspire to their Mom or Dad’s wonderful image.

Mark, I would say that we remember the bad things about everything and thus this is why people develop an image of certain things such as religions, countries and groups. If I came to the states with my friends and caused a scene 3 nights out of five then you would remember the loud Scot who acted like a prat not the fact that the other 3 guys with me behaved impeccably. This is a fact of life. The news paper today does not have nice things about the scout helping the old lady over the road it tells you about race hate crime and murders ect.

I don’t hate America, I don’t have the time too, nor the want I have 2 beautiful daughters and a gorgeous wife that keep my interests. I believe that you have an issue with certain people on here thus remembering the bad and tarring everyone the same thus reversing your theory in that you are not dealing with the fact it is you seeing it this way.

The fact you have fought for your country is a credit to you, however you may be seeing things form behind the wall and not looking objectively, America has it’s fair share of problems and the hate by certain groups is deserved IMO.

I think that Pen hit it on the head.

And I know that there will be the obligatory comment about the hairy arsed Scot wearing a kilt!

David

The main problem that I have with America concerns the basic tone of the OP. There seems to be the idea out there that if you are against the bad things that America does, then you are similarly against all the good things as well.

If you believe that starting wars based on lies and needlessly causing the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people is bad, then you must be against free speech as well. If you think that health care should be a basic right in a society, rather than a commodity to be profitted from, then you must think that repressive dictatorships are the highest form of virtue. If you're against demagogues trying to enshrine their hate-filled, narrow interpretation of their religion into the nation's laws, then you must be dismissive of the scientific accomplishments of other members of the country.

It's the pedantic all-or-nothing notion behind the phrase "do you hate America?" that I hate. There are things which I love about America and things that I hate about it and my opinions about the former have no bearing on my opinions about the latter. There are aspects where it's a model society and aspects where it's the anti-thesis of a model society, the same as every other country in the world. It's better than most in most areas and worse than some in other areas.

The "with us or against us" mentality is despicable though, and is an attitude that I'm very much against.

Can I steal tom Sawyers post and pretend that I said it? I think he pretty much hit the nail on the head. :thumb:

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Originally Posted by Mark Gambo

Don't worry you were not the canadian citizen I was referring to in my post to pino.

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Then I apologise unreserverdly.

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Originally Posted by Mark Gambo

As for the options that I listed in my poll, my original intent was to be funny but I found out the some people can dish it out but they can't take it.

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Ah - Sorry, although you do normally have a good sense of humour I do see you as quite bullish when it comes to certain subjects, and I thought you where being serious. You see, that's the problem with the internet, no body language hints.

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Originally Posted by Xanith

So simply being patriotic towards ones on country is perceived as arrogance? Are Americans not allowed to feel good about their own country?

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Not at all (to the "So simply being patriotic towards ones on country is perceived as arrogance?" part of the quote). Americans have a lot of great things to be proud of. It is just that some of your countrymen use the word patriotism to disguise (amongst other things) blind devotion to your goverments policies (is it unpatriotic to disagree with the policy of the government), racism (anti-muslim, non-english, anti-French speaking sentiment - Freedom fries - we still laugh at that), and down-right illegal activity (retrospective immunity for breaking the law anyone?). That is not patriotism, it is facism.

I love my country(s), yet I can still see the problems they face and by facing and overcoming those problems, I can make them better countries for the next generation. I believe most American citizens probably feel the same about the US, however it is never the level headed ones that make it on the news. As soon as an international camera crew turns up, it's inbred racist old uncle Jack that leaps infront of the camera to be interviewed, and all we hear is how anyone who questions the government is a godamn pinko commy who hates our troops and loves Al-Quidea. How the French shouldn't have any say in international affairs, because we fought WWII just for them, and they'd all be speaking German now if it wasn't for the US of A. And how if anyone suggests in any shape or form that we should somehow look into the reasons behind 9/11 and try to understand why these attacks where carried out, then they're obviously Iraqi lovin' terrorists themselves who are jealous of American's freedoms.... :rolleyes:

Of course, it doesn't help matters that your President is cut from the same cloth.... ;)

Sorry, Double post.

Gambo I've been trying to read your posts but I can see that you are a product of the American Education system and have no ability to spell. Could you perhaps get a spell-checker from a foreign country to check your English before you post?

I can't remember a time in my lifetime when the US media focused on what the rest of the world thought of America. I certainly never cared as an individual; how many people in a country sit back one evening and think to themselves 'I wonder how the people of Kazakhstan think of us Americans?'.

Most people are simply Bush haters. The funny aspect of that is Bush was labeled as the silent missing president, out playing golf, not holding press meetings, generally leaving the country to continue forward as it had - hardly attending to anything other than his tax cut program. It was only until 9/11 did Bush become an actual president and had to make real decisions.

The faulty intelligence he was given did state the possibility was extremely high for Saddam to have obtain weapons of mass destruction. Saddam continuously was cited many times for violating UN mandated weapons inspections, and with the oil-for-food scandal, perhaps the suspicions were great enough to justify an overthrow - at the very least it was a big smoking gun.

Bush made his decision, and the rest of the populous, especially the democratic left. But the war is just an excuse, they are simply upset Bush won twice against their own presidential nominations. Frankly, I'm surprised as well.

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Originally Posted by SurfDemon

Not at all (to the "So simply being patriotic towards ones on country is perceived as arrogance?" part of the quote). Americans have a lot of great things to be proud of. It is just that some of your countrymen use the word patriotism to disguise (amongst other things) blind devotion to your goverments policies (is it unpatriotic to disagree with the policy of the government), racism (anti-muslim, non-english, anti-French speaking sentiment - Freedom fries - we still laugh at that), and down-right illegal activity (retrospective immunity for breaking the law anyone?). That is not patriotism, it is facism.

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I don’t personally know anyone who blindly follows what the government says. The US was built on revolution and not trusting government. I know people on both sides of the political spectrum who feel this way. It’s perfectly American to not trust your government.

As far as racism goes I honestly don’t think the US corners the market in this category. You say the US is anti-Muslim, yet directly after 9/11 you didn’t see people burning down mosques or stories of people assaulting Muslims. You say the US is anti-French, yet you base this on Freedom Fries? This story was about one cafeteria inside the US capital renaming them for like a day, not some nationwide movement that the whole country bought into, what I find funny is that people in other nations actually thought this joke was real and indicative of all US sentiment (If you want to talk anti-French look at parts of your own Canada who absolutely hate and I mean hate the French in your own country for daring to try to separate).

No clue what you are referring to as far as illegal activity and “retrospective immunity” (I think you mean retroactive).

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I love my country(s), yet I can still see the problems they face and by facing and overcoming those problems, I can make them better countries for the next generation. I believe most American citizens probably feel the same about the US, however it is never the level headed ones that make it on the news. As soon as an international camera crew turns up, it's inbred racist old uncle Jack that leaps infront of the camera to be interviewed, and all we hear is how anyone who questions the government is a godamn pinko commy who hates our troops and loves Al-Quidea. How the French shouldn't have any say in international affairs, because we fought WWII just for them, and they'd all be speaking German now if it wasn't for the US of A. And how if anyone suggests in any shape or form that we should somehow look into the reasons behind 9/11 and try to understand why these attacks where carried out, then they're obviously Iraqi lovin' terrorists themselves who are jealous of American's freedoms.... :rolleyes:

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People generally believe what they want to believe and usually accept what the media tells them. So if a media organization (TV, internet, movies…etc) slants a certain way they are going to put forth those stories that support that, so it doesn’t surprise me how stereotypes can become fact in some people’s minds.

Questioning the government:
Most Americans don’t care if you question the government; in fact most people are expected to question what the government does. It’s what the US was built on, distrust of government. I think you are confusing those people who undermine their own government by giving aide, comfort, and support to the enemy. That’s not simple questioning.

WWII:
The US did give great support to Europe before, during, and after WWII. I think what most Americans are upset about are people trying to downplay or discredit the US and what they did during the war. Try to think how you feel when people think Canada never even participated in WWII to understand how Americans feel when people try to downplay or discredit their role.

9/11:
Americans want to understand 9/11 both the why’s and the how’s. Not sure what you are suggesting here, I sure hope you are not one of those 9/11 conspiracy nuts who think it was the Jews or the US government itself.

X

I certainly wouldn't have agreed with Bush for several of the decisions he made (in who to appoint to various things) had there been no war. And he just recently surpassed Reagan's record for most vacation days taken by a sitting president, so he's the alltime most absent president, though telecommuting isn't a bad thing, either. However, I particularly disliked the way he managed to squander America's good name. His father was much smarter with foreign affairs (and Clinton was better with domestic affairs, though he had plumper tastes than mine).

I think the whole point of that paragraph was that final joke. So let me wander off onto a different line. Being a big, bearded, white guy, other white guys expect me to share their views. This is helped because I can talk redneck with the best of them. One result is that I have no doubt that racism is alive and well in this country, because after people settle down a bit, their true feelings start coming out with the expectation that I share them. This got me thinking about stereotypes. I have been thinking about AI for a couple decades now, and observing what human brains do along those lines. It appears to me that the human brain is only really good at one thing: Pattern recognition. Even so-called "thinking" games, like chess, have proven to not involve much thought at all. Grand masters only evaluate one or two moves, and don't examine them in much depth. They can do this because they have played and studied so many games that they recognize board positions. Pattern recognition, again.

However, our brains work against us with pattern recognition. As anybody who thinks about it realizes, our senses are providing a deluge of information at every second. From this firehose, we are taking a sip that we call consciousness. The rest is ignored. In fact, the rest is often actively surpressed. There are some interesting studies on time dilation at moments of stress that show that time, as we perceive it, actually does slow down in moments of great stress. All attention is focused on a few inputs at the expense of the rest, which is called tunnel vision.

Tunnel vision isn't something that just occurs in moments of stress, though, it's how our brains decide which sip to take from the firehose. Our pattern recognizing brains are looking to fit the incoming stream into recognizable patterns, which is far easier than forming new patterns. Thus, once we believe any particular idea to be true, our brains will tend to emphasize supporting evidence, and ignore contrary evidence. Some of my work with Genetic Algorithms (GA) showed me that these blinders are affecting all aspects of my life, from mundane fish science to political philosophy. A GA, which is a simple construct at heart, has no such boundaries, and can find solutions that highly knowledgeable humans are mentally incapable of seeing.

From all I have done with this sort of thing, and observing conservatives, liberals, intellectuals, idiots (I spent a very enlightening afternoon in inadvertent bible study with a guy who was clearly insane, but that's another story), bigots, scientists, etc., I have reached the conclusion that whatever you believe, you're wrong. You may be wrong in every single piece, or only in a few aspects, but you are most certainly wrong. However, you have to make it through life, so you only need to make sure that the errors in your judgment are acceptable, and that you listen to other people. All significant advances in science come when we break through the blinders that constrain the things we can contemplate, such that we can see problems from a novel point of view.

If you ask for other opinions, don't complain about what you get, they aren't any more wrong than you are.

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Originally Posted by Xanith

I don’t personally know anyone who blindly follows what the government says. The US was built on revolution and not trusting government. I know people on both sides of the political spectrum who feel this way. It’s perfectly American to not trust your government.

As far as racism goes I honestly don’t think the US corners the market in this category. You say the US is anti-Muslim, yet directly after 9/11 you didn’t see people burning down mosques or stories of people assaulting Muslims. You say the US is anti-French, yet you base this on Freedom Fries? This story was about one cafeteria inside the US capital renaming them for like a day, not some nationwide movement that the whole country bought into, what I find funny is that people in other nations actually thought this joke was real and indicative of all US sentiment (If you want to talk anti-French look at parts of your own Canada who absolutely hate and I mean hate the French in your own country for daring to try to separate).

No clue what you are referring to as far as illegal activity and “retrospective immunity” (I think you mean retroactive).



People generally believe what they want to believe and usually accept what the media tells them. So if a media organization (TV, internet, movies…etc) slants a certain way they are going to put forth those stories that support that, so it doesn’t surprise me how stereotypes can become fact in some people’s minds.

Questioning the government:
Most Americans don’t care if you question the government; in fact most people are expected to question what the government does. It’s what the US was built on, distrust of government. I think you are confusing those people who undermine their own government by giving aide, comfort, and support to the enemy. That’s not simple questioning.

WWII:
The US did give great support to Europe before, during, and after WWII. I think what most Americans are upset about are people trying to downplay or discredit the US and what they did during the war. Try to think how you feel when people think Canada never even participated in WWII to understand how Americans feel when people try to downplay or discredit their role.

9/11:
Americans want to understand 9/11 both the why’s and the how’s. Not sure what you are suggesting here, I sure hope you are not one of those 9/11 conspiracy nuts who think it was the Jews or the US government itself.

X

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Who are you, and what have you done with Xanith:mad:

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Originally Posted by Xanith

You say the US is anti-French, yet you base this on Freedom Fries? This story was about one cafeteria inside the US capital renaming them for like a day, not some nationwide movement that the whole country bought into, what I find funny is that people in other nations actually thought this joke was real and indicative of all US sentiment

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There's a pizza shop around my way that still has "Freedom Fries" on the menu. :afrog:

Me and some friends polished off a bottle of Absynth the other night (sp?) and someone explained the meaing of life to us but unfortunately I cannot remember most of it. I think there was a bit about being good to your friends and try to aim for the bowl when you pee. I think as long as you follow those rules you should be OK.

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Originally Posted by Xanith

You say the US is anti-French, yet you base this on Freedom Fries? This story was about one cafeteria inside the US capital renaming them for like a day, not some nationwide movement that the whole country bought into, what I find funny is that people in other nations actually thought this joke was real and indicative of all US sentiment (If you want to talk anti-French look at parts of your own Canada who absolutely hate and I mean hate the French in your own country for daring to try to separate).

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Well someone could have told me we were joking! I've been sending the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys hate mail for over 6 years now! I obviously didn't get the memo.

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Originally Posted by Xanith

People generally believe what they want to believe and usually accept what the media tells them. So if a media organization (TV, internet, movies…etc) slants a certain way they are going to put forth those stories that support that, so it doesn’t surprise me how stereotypes can become fact in some people’s minds.

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That's why I watch Fox - For it's unbiased reporting. :)

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Originally Posted by Xanith

WWII:
The US did give great support to Europe before, during, and after WWII. I think what most Americans are upset about are people trying to downplay or discredit the US and what they did during the war. Try to think how you feel when people think Canada never even participated in WWII to understand how Americans feel when people try to downplay or discredit their role.

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Canada was in WWII?

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Originally Posted by Xanith

9/11:
Americans want to understand 9/11 both the why’s and the how’s.

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Yes! Unless they're pinko commy subversives like that preacher of Obama's. Pffft! What a ridiculous thing to suggest, the US hasn't hurt a single soul overseas in years. They're just ungrateful - that's what it is!

See what he said.....

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He told his congregation on the Sunday after Sept. 11, 2001 that the United States had brought on al Qaeda's attacks because of its own terrorism.

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.

"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation.

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Originally Posted by Suzzi

Canada was in WWII?

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The second one :afrog:

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Originally Posted by crptcblade

The second one :afrog:

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There's more than one Canada?

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Originally Posted by Suzzi

There's more than one Canada?

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Quebec, aka Canada's Goiter

I love America! It's beautiful, and it has football. :-)

In order of favorite teams.....
Go Dolphins! Go Giants! Go Raiders!

Canada doesn't exist; everyone knows it is part of Morocco.

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Originally Posted by visualAd

Canada doesn't exist; everyone knows it is part of Morocco.

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http://www.vbforums.com/attachment.p...1&d=1206404314

:afrog:

:roflmaohahazomgwthpwntforevernoobnadians:

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I have fought to protect it's sovereignty

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Really!!?? You must be extremely old. I'm not aware that the USA's sovereignty has been threatened in well over a century. I believe us Brits were the last to do it in the 19th century (and I'm not sure we really threatened your sovereignty, even then, though we did give the Whitehouse a quick makeover). I think what you mean is that you have fought to protect it's interests.

The question is an interesting one though. I don't believe many people really hate the United States itself. Some hate your foreign policies, some hate your government, some hate the people, some are envious of your success, some hate Bush (though personally I think your single ladies are one of your finest assets).

Also, with the question as posted you have to keep in mind that perception is everything. Intentions and reality are an irrelevance, people will love or hate you based on what they think you intended or did.

With the above two points in mind, here are a few reasons why people "hate America":-
1. Jealous of your success: Yeah, we need to fess up and admit it, we are bothered that you can afford bigger homes than us, drive bigger cars than us, eat bigger meals than us, have more TV stations than us... well, you get the picture. Now, morally we don't really have a right to feel jealous, but then no-one ever does have a right to feel jealous about anything, doesn't stop it happening though. I'm afraid if you want the benefits of success you're going to have to live with the jealousy too.
2. You patriotism: There's nothing wrong with patriotism. What's wrong, though, is when you bleat about it the whole time. Seriously, it's boring. You know how people tend to hate religious folks proselytising the whole time? Well we feel the same about you. I don't begrudge you thinking your country is wonderful any more than I begrudge anyone's right to worship their god, but why do you have to keep telling me how wonderful you think it is? I don't care.
3. Your arrogance: I'm sorry but you guys really do come across as arrogant. Your original poll options are a case in point. You may have meant it to be funny, but to me it reads as if you're saying "look at all the wonderful ways in which we're better than you". You're aproach to foreign policy in the build up to Iraq was another case in point. You abandoned the very concepts of international concensus of action as though they were a mere inconvenience to you. You basically said to the world "We're right and your wrong (unless you agree with us, of course) and we don't care what you think because we've got bigger guns than you". If, to pick a completely hypothetical example, Algeria had aproached an invasion of Morocco in that way, you can bet the UN would be passing resolutions against them and we'd probably have started the air campaign by now.
4. Your ignorance: you guys come across as ignorant of affairs outside your borders. Hell, your president is happy to invade a country without even bothering to look up the pronunciation of it's name first. I suspect you're not really that much more ignorant than the rest of though, if at all. I couldn't tell you what the capital of Uzbekhistan is (or even how to spell Oozbeckystan) without looking it up on google first. But you somehow appear more ignorant. I have no idea why.
5. Creeping cultural incursion: It's frustrating when I see a kids commercial and all the accents in it are American. It's annoying when there are more burger outlets in my city's centre than there are fish and chip shops. It's downright bloody infuriating when I have to pick "English (United Kingdom)" as a language option when I install software instead of just plain "English". As with 1. this is largely a case of envy, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. Britains historically guilty of this too, but at least we gave the world cricket and steam power, you just gave us obesity and bad sitcoms.
6. Guns: I posted in another thread that I didn't think banning guns in America would work but you've got to admit, your kind of out of synch with the rest of the Westernised world where gun laws are concerned. Bound to cause a bit of tension.
7. Football: You kick the ball, damnit!! The clues in the title!! And while we're about it, Baseball is correctly called rounders... and you use a much smaller bat.

I think I should reiterate as a footnote that it's all about perception. Some of the points above a barely true and they're certainly unfair, but they do represent how you are percieved. So what to do about it? You can either post on forums about how unreasonable the rest of the world is to hate you (in which case I guarentee that you will continue to be hated) or you can look at how you are percieved and try to tackle those perceptions. The former is more fun but the latter may actually result in you being less hated. Show some sympathy towards other nations cultures. Learn as much geography and foreign history as possible. Acknowledge your country's failings from time to time. Stop calling it football. Realistically, you'll have to do more than other other countrys in order to achieve a simliar perception, but that's the price of being liked when you're top of the heap.



PS. Ooh, forgot one. Learn to bloody spell! We came up with language so what we say goes as far as spelling is concerned. That extends to the incorrect use of words like 'Purse' and 'Pants' too.

I think you missed out the biggest reasons..........stop your human rights abuses (torturing people and detaining people without trial) and attacking/over-throwing goverments who don't agree with you.....

I think those two would go a long way.....

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Originally Posted by crptcblade

Quebec, aka Canada's Goiter

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Ah - So that must be the French Canada I keep hearing about. I didn't realise it was a seperate country (much like French Guiana and British Guiana).

Hang on, I just looked at a map and there's another country up there called "British Columbia", does that mean the other Columbia, (the one in Africa) is actually "French Columbia?".

hang on!!!!, while I'm looking at the map, there's a "Nova Scotia" which (unless I am very much mistaken) is French for "New Scotland". Do the Brits know that the French are just going around claiming countries and naming them after British ones. is this some kind of sick joke?

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Originally Posted by SurfDemon

I think you missed out the biggest reasons..........stop your human rights abuses (torturing people and detaining people without trial) and attacking/over-throwing goverments who don't agree with you.....

I think those two would go a long way.....

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You have to crawl before you can walk. I think we'll start with working on our accent.

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you just gave us obesity and bad sitcoms

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:lol: :lol:

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Originally Posted by Suzzi

Do the Brits know that the French are just going around claiming countries and naming them after British ones. is this some kind of sick joke?

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The french have no imagination - except the self delusion of being the worlds best lovers. They even tried copying the Union Jack and .... well google for "french flag" and see for yourself. Their flag should be white stripes on a white background. They smell too - hence the need for all the perfume manufacturers. The best that's come out of france is failure.

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Originally Posted by schoolbusdriver

The best that's come out of france is failure.

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and Gerard Depardieu. :mad:

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Originally Posted by schaefer

Gambo I've been trying to read your posts but I can see that you are a product of the American Education system and have no ability to spell. Could you perhaps get a spell-checker from a foreign country to check your English before you post?

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I'll try that, but when I get agitated spelling and grammar go out the windows unfortunately :(

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Originally Posted by SurfDemon

. . . Ah - Sorry, although you do normally have a good sense of humour I do see you as quite bullish when it comes to certain subjects, and I thought you where being serious. You see, that's the problem with the internet, no body language hints. . .

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Hey Surf, how about I do this next Time

;-)

Do you think the "slow" people will get the point

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Originally Posted by FunkyDexter

. . . I'm not aware that the USA's sovereignty has been threatened in well over a century. . .

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You are joking me right?

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Originally Posted by Mark Gambo

You are joking me right?

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Originally Posted by Sovereignty

The principle that the state exercises absolute power over its territory, system of government, and population. ..

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I do believe he is not joking; you appear to misunderstander the meaning of sovereignty.

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I do believe he is not joking;

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I do believe VisualAd is right

I am going to have to agree with Mark on this one. The outcome in the Pacific during WWII could have been very different had a few things have happened differently. During this time I do believe that US sovereignty was threatened. So while you cannot say during the last 100 years you might be able to get away with saying during the last 63 years, after the bomb was dropped the world dynamic changed drastically.

X

Oh, come on.

The Japanese strategy in WW2 was never to invade the US. They wanted to protect their Asian interests and to do that they attempted to set up a wide naval perimiter and make it difficult for the US to attack them. Even while they were doing this they knew that the US would eventually overpower them but they hoped they would be able to hold the US back long enough for them to negotiate a beneficial peace which would allow them to keep their mainland holdings. Pearl Harbour was intended to delay the US's ability to respond as part of that strategy or (and this was their most optimistic projection) that the US would lack the stomach for a fight and acknowledge their claims on the spot. It was never meant as a precursor to invasion.

This is well documented, by the way.