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I believe that America is an exceptional nation. Most other nations of the world don't "hate" us. They actually envy us and mask that as hatred.
It's not surprising, after all. Who wouldn't envy the richest and most powerful nation in the world, the only nation to land humans on the moon, and the nation that invented the internet? Just like poor people often envy rich people. It comes with the territory. I've traveled enough to know the truth.
And yes, this thread belongs in the politics forum.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 05-24-2011 at 02:08 PM..
I don't think most nations hate us, but I don't think all of them envy us either. The ones that hate us are probably the ones we meddle in unnecessarily, a habit we should try and break. You can't deny that the US' hands aren't totally clean (Iran-Contra scandal, United Fruit Company, funding the mujahideen, etc). We need to stop ****ing around with other nations and focus on OURSELVES.
e: Also, the internet was more of a joint venture between Europe (specifically CERN) and the US. Each deserve credit.
e2: That is, the Internet as most users know it. DARPA invented packet switching and the Internet Protocol Suite, CERN invented the World Wide Web.
I think what frustrates a lot of people are our inconsistencies. A lot of people the world over respect the ideals behind "America," but aren't fans of how America applies--or doesn't apply, as the case may be--those ideals to situations around the world. As to the majority of the world having America-envy, I don't see a lot of evidence of that. I also don't see a lot of evidence that most people hate us. My experience has been that people tend to think rather highly of Americans, but that the American government is not thought of particularly highly.
As for meddling in other country's affairs, America is damned if we do, damned if we don't.
If we do nothing about genocidal dictators, we're criticized. If we try to punish genocidal dictators, we're criticized. I've seen enough of that crap. Screw it.
there's a difference between intervening in a genocide and ensuring the downfall of a head of state in order to put in someone who aligns with your agenda
And if we're damned if we do, damned if we don't, then I'd rather we don't, it's a hell of a lot cheaper.
DC is one of the few cities in this country that still has Memorial Day events that are widely attended and (more important) are all about honoring our vets. We have the parade, we have Rolling Thunder, we have a large number of people who show up to put flags on the graves at Arlington Cemetery.
In most other cities I've lived in, Memorial Day is mostly an excuse for a 3-day sale at the mall, and maybe they have a small parade attended only by a handful of vets. Thousands of people in DC go to Rolling Thunder and the emotion when those vets ride by is palpable. I often tear up and see a lot of others doing the same.
I don't believe DC is the least patriotic, though I doubt that could even be measured. I was amazed at how many people went to the White House after Bin laden was killed, that seemed pretty patriotic to me. And the amount of military members in the area just adds to the amount of patriotism....
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