Quote:
Originally Posted by Visvaldis
I just wonder...
how should the world react to a nation that considers itself god's infallible gift to earth which looks down its nose (and talks down) to other nations?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fleet
I just wonder...
How should the world react to a nation that is by far the most generous on earth and lost hundreds of thousands of its citizens (military) over the years to help liberate other countries?
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As a non-American (otherwise known as an
Alien
), I can say that this is the MAJOR factors of disliking of Americans.
No one likes someone who thinks he/she is THE best and no one even comes close to oneself's
greatness.
People like humble people. And let's face it, the US is not humble.
"
We liberated
you all"
"
We gave
you freedom"
"
No other country has the same freedom as
we"
"
We are better than
you, or atleast most of you"
"
We sacrifized thousands of lives to liberate
you"
"I've been to Europe/Asia/Africa" (never saying WHAT country, because those are not countries but continents)
Well, how about the thousands of Brits who gave their lives to free Europe? (And, again, not ALL countries in Europe were threatened in WWI nor WWII, and even the neutral ones helped a great deal in the war) How about the thousands of French who did the same? Or all the other nationalities, too many to mention here?
The US helped in the end, but gets all the credit (not in Europe, though). It's like when you try to open a jar, and the lid just doesn't want to give in. You are on it for ten minutes without any luck. Then your friend walks in and asks to help - poff! The lid comes off just as he/she touches it.
Now, would you want to give all the credit to your friend? Afterall,
you obviously loosened it, he/she didn't really do anything.
There was a comparison to the King of the Hill, and everyone belov wanting to take whatever person on the top down. Yes, I see the similarity, but it is not only about "taking the King of the Hill down", it is the fact that "the King of the Hill" is keeping everyone down with unfair methods (warfare, nuclear weapons, restrictions etc). In a time when diplomatic conversations are more and more powerful and useful, and where most other nations wants to use this kind of method, the US is still threatening with wars if not getting its will.
"Give me your purse or I'll shoot you."
Nuclear weapons. Weapons of massdestruction. Oh, the dubbelstandard.
The US is the ONLY country that has ever used nuclear weapons on another country. And the US is the ONLY country threatening with war if another country doesn't get stop producing or try to produce nuclear weapons. Yet the US has the BIGGEST nuclear weapon arsenal.
Come on, how can anyone not like this?
The US threatens to start war with Iran (yeah, one of the worst countries today to threaten with war) if it doesn't stop trying to produce nuclear weapons, but other countries cannot tell the US to get ride of its weapons.
The "we are more generous than you" is something that also ticks many people off. No, you are not, but you have
more to give away. You are a bigger country than most others, with more people. In percentage, many, many nationalities are at the same level as you. But we don't brag about it as many Americans do.
It is in the Bible (if I had hung around in the religion forum a bit more, I may would have known what passage, but I don't, unfortunately. My sundayschool thought it was better to learn the essence of His words rather than passages
), where it says that if you want to give something, don't let the person you give it to or the world that YOU gave it away. True generosity is done without expecting ANYTHING back in reward.
So, as a "God-given people", there should by defenition be no bragging.
Plus, the part of "
we are the God-given people"... Well, do I really have to say anything?
The fact that the US thinks it can decide what is right or wrong and put it's nose in other countries's businesses, doesn't sign the Kyoto protocoll eventhough it is producing more greenhouse gases than any other nation (I know China is on the rise, though) and so leaves it up to the other countries to try to change in order to save the world from the facing threats of global warming (now we're saving you, but no credit here since the US government doesn't acknowledge the issue), and the disrespect many old European cultures experiences when American tourists come to their countries (old cultures are very proud of their history. Especially Royalties. And when everyone else is walking around in a castle as if they were in a library or museum and there are Americans who are yelling and chewing gums with open mouths... Try it, no matter what nationality you are, and notice the looks you'll get...)
I'm not trying to cause any problems here. I don't hate Americans, nor do I know anyone who does. But this above is what most people who dislike Americans dislike about "you" in average. I don't know if it is the "average", but it is what we are being told through the news, books, the Hollywood movies, the Internet, personal encounters etc.
I am sure not all Americans are like this. Afterall, you see Swedes in Hollywood movies and they are all blonde and stupid and called either Helga or Marta.
I've
never in my life met a Swede named either Helga (that's German, btw) or Marta. Märta, yes,
once, but never Marta. And not all are blonde and most certainly not stupid. (Eventhough if reading our news these days from our "biggest" newspapers, you would start believing that
)
And, again, the fact that the Americans are so disliked in many parts of the word these days, are mostly, in my opinion, due to the ever presense of the US in media, social life, etc. I can name many things I don't like about Germans, Croatians, Danish, Taiwaneses, Chineses, South Africans, etc, and even about Swedes.
But the rest of the world has not made itself so present as the US has.
Sure, there are always people hating people, so there will always be people hating Americans. But, the average person doesn't HATE Americans or even dislike Americans
in general, just
certain things. Like those mentioned above (those made out the major part of my class' discussion about the US on a social science lesson last week).
It's all about being in focus. If the US did this but wasn't so present in everyday life, it wouldn't be more noticed than other countries's doings.
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