Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > World
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 12-07-2012, 08:06 PM
 
Location: Mid Atlantic USA
12,623 posts, read 13,887,925 times
Reputation: 5888

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by dunno what to put here View Post
It's amazing how quickly you have changed your tune from proclaiming your admiration of the UK, to how annoying Brits are and how jingoistic they are. This has been occurring for the past few months and I am not the only person to notice this bizarre transition.

Listen, we've had a great year of optimism, we've had articles and TV specials talking about how great Britain is and how well we've done, rather than how Britain fails, how it is awful, how it lags behind everywhere else, and it's something new to us, we're not used to it, so it's understandable that some people may have gone a bit overboard with the patriotism, but I must admit I haven't noticed it anywhere, not least on this forum.

Rest assured that next year, it will be totally forgotten about and we'll return to our usual self-loathing selves, and all the achievements of 2012 will be a thing of the past and it will be back to Panorama specials of Broken Britain. We're already back to doom and gloom economy is in the sh*tter, because, you know, this is probably the reality, and these aesthetic achievements in the long-run mean nothing to anyone.

Maybe the transition cause I'm sick to death of seeing the US being bashed by you lot. I am critical of the US quite a bit. It seems though that everyone else in the world can be boastful about their country but not us. When I mention that Aussies can be some of the worst braggards, Brits claim they have every right to be proud. Well how bout Americans then?

I never once proclaimed the US was the greatest country on earth, nor have I ever been taught that by my family. Not by a long shot. Yet people that have never set foot in this country seem to have us all figured out. You proclaim that most British people "loathe" us. Quite enlightened don't ya think for such a civilized nation as yours.

btw, I never stated anywhere that I don't still admire the UK. 3 of my 8 great grandparents were born in the UK. It is part of my ancestry. I used the example of the bragging this past summer cause some of it was in bad taste. Things like "US could never pull off such a great Olympics, blah, blah". When Americans engage in that kind of talk they are hated, but it seems no one else is. Sydney Olympics the same crap went on.

 
Old 12-07-2012, 08:09 PM
 
Location: Leeds, UK
22,118 posts, read 29,517,076 times
Reputation: 8819
To be fair, a lot of it might have been in response to Romney's sentiments. I doubt any Brit would say that without being provoked, but I never partake in patriotism, I find the whole thing sickening. I didn't even watch the Olympics, bar a few snippets.

Most Brits loathe the US, and its politics. Note that the title of this thread is 'Why do so many people hate America?' not 'why do so many people hate Americans'. The few Americans I have met are perfectly nice people.
 
Old 12-07-2012, 08:10 PM
 
Location: Chicago
3,391 posts, read 4,472,832 times
Reputation: 7857
Quote:
Originally Posted by LOOK MA NO HANDS View Post
I checked past threads to see if this has been done before, which I don't think it has. Anyway, the title explains it all.

Is it because of American tv (which portrays us in the worst light possible, and most of it is not real anyway)?
Because we are a superpower?
Is it because of the "American ignorance"?


Please feel free to answer my question
The people who really hate America, I mean hate it enough to do violence, are the ones being bombed all the time (e.g. people in Pakistan). Go figure.
 
Old 12-07-2012, 10:25 PM
 
Location: Duluth, Minnesota, USA
7,641 posts, read 18,085,270 times
Reputation: 6913
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob702 View Post
There is a difference between knowing the things that may be better in your country and shoving that down everybody else's throat. That just leads to people not liking you. You can know or feel that way but you should stay humble and be able to see things in perspective. Many of the blessings of our modern era also have foundations in other parts of the world, yet you hardly hear people from those countries brag about it. First car? German invention. First computer? German invention. First 'TV'? Oh, also a German invention. First antibiotic? British. Paper money? China. Dynamite? China. Aspirin? German. Light bulb - British. I could go on but I'm sure you get my point. Saying that your country is "the center of the world's blabla ..." can come accross as very braggy and arrogant. This is exactly the attitude that many non-Americans despise.

Many countries are doing pretty well indeed and there are a few that are doing much better than America when it comes to the average joe. Obviously, as the largest 1st world country, the US is number one in many absolute numbers, but what matters more is relative numbers. If not, the United States will be a much worse place to live than China in a couple of years.
I don't think the U.S. can claim an inordinate amount of inventions as its own for its population size and historical state of development. However, many things invented in other countries, such as the phone, car, and TV, first became household items in the U.S.

For example, the majority of households in the U.S. owned a car by 1930, at which time it was a rich man's toy in much of Europe. Only in the 1950's and 1960's did car ownership become a "normal" thing in the U.K.

TV provides another example. TV was invented by a Scotsman, and many European governments had set up TV networks in the 1930's. However, it was the U.S. where TV first actually became a popular, in-every-household thing, in the 1950's. Affluent European countries were about 5-15 years behind in this regard. Along with Japan, HDTV first became widely disseminated in the U.S. All of the major networks and several cable channels had HD counterparts, and an all-HD satellite service had already launched, by the time that Europe launched its first HD broadcaster in 2004. This may have been due to the somewhat higher resolution of the PAL standard.

As for computers, that can be disputed, as the first all-digital computer was ENIAC, which was built in the U.S. Nevertheless, if the honor goes to the "Mark" computer developed in Germany, you still have to admit that in terms of computer ownership and even household internet connections (at first), the U.S. was well ahead of most of Europe. The exceptions were the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries. However, even as late as the mid-2000s, the U.S. had higher internet penetrations than most European countries sans Scandinavia and much higher penetrations than some (e.g. France, Italy).
 
Old 12-08-2012, 12:04 AM
 
Location: Nob Hill, San Francisco, CA
2,346 posts, read 3,979,167 times
Reputation: 1088
[Mood cut: this post has been deleted]

[Mod cut: personal] I've traveled to quite a few countries and have enjoyed my time in each of them, I haven't ever bullied anyone in any of them into thinking they are inferior human beings or living in inferior countries, every place have something going for it. [Mod cut: personal, off topic]

Last edited by elnina; 12-08-2012 at 02:03 AM..
 
Old 12-08-2012, 03:18 AM
 
Location: Hong Kong / Vienna
4,499 posts, read 6,326,428 times
Reputation: 3986
Quote:
Originally Posted by RogersParkGuy View Post
The people who really hate America, I mean hate it enough to do violence, are the ones being bombed all the time (e.g. people in Pakistan)
One could argue that they did that even before the wars (e.g. people like bin Laden).
 
Old 12-08-2012, 10:35 AM
 
Location: London, UK
9,970 posts, read 12,351,742 times
Reputation: 3473
Alot of Americans i've met are braggers on how great their country is and how they invented everything which is not true.
Many people are also digusted about anything to do with their culture and generally everything 'American' Aussies are much more pleasent at least all the australians i've bet.
 
Old 12-08-2012, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
15,331 posts, read 23,838,747 times
Reputation: 7419
Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
Alot of Americans i've met are braggers on how great their country is and how they invented everything which is not true.
Many people are also digusted about anything to do with their culture and generally everything 'American' Aussies are much more pleasent at least all the australians i've bet.
Most Americans are nothing like that. There are ones like that obviously, but it's not a large percentage in reality. There are many different cultures here. I don't think anyone can argue there's a lot of Americans who consume way too much "stuff," but that's true of people from a few other countries as well.

Anyway, there is the American culture you see on TV and then there's the American culture you don't see which is more in line with European culture in some cities. It's a country made of up many different peoples and not all of them have "lost" their cultures and customs. You will still hear French, Italian, Arabic, Polish, Russian, Spanish, etc in many cities even if the people were born here and sticking to their customs, lifestyle, etc.

The people you hear bragging are usually (but not always) the ones who grew up and possibly still live in an area that doesn't allow them for much contact with other cultures. Trust me. I went to school in an area where that was true, and living in an actual city I've barely ever heard it. Even my ultra republican friend here in the city doesn't go like "but America is the greatest!" because she has traveled around the world and has friends from around the world too.
 
Old 12-08-2012, 10:43 AM
 
Location: London, UK
9,970 posts, read 12,351,742 times
Reputation: 3473
Then why is it so known if that makes any sense
 
Old 12-08-2012, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
15,331 posts, read 23,838,747 times
Reputation: 7419
Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
Then why is it so known if that makes any sense
Because the ones who say this crap are the "not boring ones." Action makes more news than non action. Someone who doesn't say anything about "'MERICA!" will never get on the news, never get on TV, etc. They aren't memorable. The ones who say crap like "MERICA!" are the memorable ones, usually get on TV and more memorable to most people.

It's sickening the people they let on TV from this country. Most people are nothing like the hicks or idiotic people who tan 24/7. Sure they exist, but for example, most hicks are not loudmouth even if some might be ignorant about the world.

There's nothing I hate more than ignorant people here, and loudmouth hicks, but really...not the norm. I remember when I first moved here (Chicago). We get a lot of tourists, and I was sitting out at this place near my place (typical area with a fountain, social area where you can talk to people ala Italy) and this tourist comes up in typical hick fashion and yells "WOOOOOOOOOOO! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!" Now, where I went to school in Iowa, which is full of farmers and "hicks," most certainly if that happened others would have joined in with them and gone like "WOOOO!!! YEAH!!!!" So what happened here in Chicago? Everyone who was a local and sitting outside, talking to each other, enjoying themselves, basically stopped, turned around and stared at the guy as in "shut up." That type of loud mouth "YEAH!! MERICA!" attitude is not supported in the cities usually. You'll find it happening in the smaller towns/cities where the people have never lived alongside someone from another country/culture and have never been outside of the country (even sometimes their own state).

There's different cultures here
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:24 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top