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The idea that Americans have a "superior attitude" is silly and in itself a product of irrational antipathy.
I've lived outside of the US for about 10 years (6 here in Australia) and the US features in the news on a daily basis. Everything is negative. People hate us for the very things that they are guilty of themselves.
Well, don't shoot the messenger! I don't hate America; I love it! Cant say I like the U.S. Government's choices of late, but I dearly love the American people. I simply posted my observations gleaned from my travels and from years of participating on American-dominated discussion forums. Of course, I come from a country where propriety and reservedness are desirous traits, so as with all others, my perspective is no doubt colored by my own roots and culture. Still, there isn't a person or place on the planet that I don't find intriguing - as far as I know.
Like every other country on Earth, America has it's fair share of problems. The reason why "everyone hates America" (which is debatable) is not only a reflection of the US government's questionable decisions that affect other countries, but that the average Joe is simply too blind to see that America is not the greatest country on earth. Unpatriotic? No. Realistic.
There are many countries that do things better than we do, and many that do things worse. But anybody who finishes the phrase "I'm from America" with "greatest country in the world." has likely never left the country and has no clue about what the rest of the world can (and does) do better than us. If you were to ask someone with an illness that needed expensive treatment, would they value America as the greatest country in the world when so many others offer affordable healthcare? How about all the supposed freedom we have - is every other country a dystopia? Wake up. We're not the only ones that have freedom.
It's relative to what an individual perceives as what makes a country so great. Now, I've lived in various countries around the world and the most shocking thing I learnt is that America's version of history is often vastly different to everybody else's. In other countries they learn about both sides of history, the good and the bad, yet we're taught our version - America's version - of events, and it paints us in such a heroic light. You want to know why people hate us? It's because the majority of us are ignorant, arrogant about our achievements, dismissive to other countries, insulated, and overly-defensive against anybody who dares to say a bad thing about America.
If we want to change anybody's mind about America then we need to start educating ourselves. If we want to be respected by the rest of the world, we can't just act like it's owed to us... we gotta ****ing earn it.
Rant over.
I think this has pretty much hit the nail on the head. Great first post! Time to close the thread?
Well, don't shoot the messenger! I don't hate America; I love it! Cant say I like the U.S. Government's choices of late, but I dearly love the American people. I simply posted my observations gleaned from my travels and from years of participating on American-dominated discussion forums. Of course, I come from a country where propriety and reservedness are desirous traits, so as with all others, my perspective is no doubt colored by my own roots and culture. Still, there isn't a person or place on the planet that I don't find intriguing - as far as I know.
Blessings,
Mahrie.
I'm not having a go at you, but I think that something more basic in terms of human nature is at play here.
I do believe that people have cultural blind spots when it comes to their own weaknesses and the US has too big a role in entertainment and news. It gives people a false sense of familiarity and leads to facile comparisons based on very limited information.
I'm not having a go at you, but I think that something more basic in terms of human nature is at play here.
I do believe that people have cultural blind spots when it comes to their own weaknesses and the US has too big a role in entertainment and news. It gives people a false sense of familiarity and leads to facile comparisons based on very limited information.
Morning, dirtyjerz!
I agree with Rudy's statement because I can tell you, in all honesty, that I never once thought about America (the U.S.) until I was sixteen years old, and even then my introduction to it was via my friendship with John Denver, which is why I moved to Aspen a year or so later.
As a child, I wasn't taught American history in school - none of us were in Scotland. We didn't own a television and I wasn't much interested in movies until I reached adulthood. (I attended music school most of the time.) The States didn't feature prominently in our newspapers, and I don't recall giving the place a 'second thought.' I studied the travels of Thor Heyerdahl and learned about the Aztecs and Incas, but nothing was mentioned about North America (the U.S.). I'm glad in a way, as I was free to discover the different states without any preconceived ideas, and my travels have been delightful.
Europe is an entity. It's a union of countries. But when you come into EUROPE from a country outside the EU, you go through CUSTOMS no matter what EU country you enter through.
You may be entering Germany, or France, or whatever, but you're also entering EUROPE.
And by the way, I used the term "Europe" rather than the specific country I came through because I was traveling through Europe - not just one country. In fact, I honestly can't remember whether I came into Europe via Belgium or Germany on that particular trip.
What are you talking about? Russia is Europe, good luck going there with your German tourist visa. You are talking about Shengen countrues maybe?
There are many reasons why people hate the USA and it depends on the individual. But I see that most anti-USA hate is incoherent and unfounded. Lots hate the USA just because it is the richest and most powerful country. This makes some people jealous. But more importantly there is also a negative obsession with the US (at least in Europe) with nonstop news stories making it look as crazy as possible. Alot of people don't realize that the idiot they see on TV from America is only one person who is controversial enough to attract attention and not representative of millions of other regular American people. Americans really have no idea just how outlandish alot of our news is. Anything that is smearing the USA will sell. I really think that there is a big inferiority complex in Europe that makes people have this oneway competition with the USA.
When I actually went to the USA I realized that most of "news" about how bad the USA is all rubbish. Just as one instance I can say that people in the USA don't go around saying USA #1 anymore than people in Europe do. I see more Europeans who think Europe is the pinnacle of world civilization and there are so many rivalries bordering on racism between all the countries. The US a fine place and I would love to live there permanently. But by watching the News and looking at things online (like City Data no offense) I thought the USA is a crazy place.
What are you talking about? Russia is Europe, good luck going there with your German tourist visa. You are talking about Shengen countrues maybe?
In the Netherlands it is common for people to say that even Poland isn't really European. Hardly anyone considers Russia European. The term "European" is only reserved for the supposedly civilized countries like Germany, France, and so on. A place like Ukraine often isn't called European even though Finland would be because Finland is considered "civilized". I think this is really silly though, and I agree that Russia should be Europe, at least the western part of it like Moscow and especially Saint Pietersburg.
I don't care if he/ she is a real communist and I don't view patriotism as a virtue, but this person has pilloried the 'murican stereotype and made the exact opposite mistake as the 'murican. The rant isn't any closer to reality than one of the insular types. It's the "I'm wonderful and I'll throw everyone else under the bus" types.
No, I think your post sort of does that. His/her rant spoke in general terms. Your response made it personal. I don't think there is any reason to make things personal, that introduces a whole new dynamic that actually veers away from the main topic.
The idea that Americans have a "superior attitude" is silly and in itself a product of irrational antipathy.
I've lived outside of the US for about 10 years (6 here in Australia) and the US features in the news on a daily basis. Everything is negative. People hate us for the very things that they are guilty of themselves.
"I hate Americans because they think they're better than us, but they're actually all a bunch of ignorant, stupid, uncouth, shiftless losers with no class or culture."
"I hate Americans because they think they're better than us, but they're actually all a bunch of ignorant, stupid, uncouth, shiftless losers with no class or culture."
- Some Hypocrite
Whoa! That's the broadest brushstroke I've seen in a while! Good grief! People are just people in every country on Earth, and there are wonderful people, as well as ar$eholes (unfortunately), in all of them.
Mahrie.
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