Anti-American sentiments justifiable?

[Shinova]

The world dislikes/hates/disagrees with America for various reasons, and they differ from different country to country. Are these sentiments justifiable? If some are and some aren't, then elaborate.

[Mr Bean]

America is hated for absoultiy every single it has ever done by other Countrys, Not nessary every person hates America for all the same reasons but if we did somthing, somone hates us somewhere for it

(Except of course Countrys we've librated in the Past twenty/thirty years, The Former Soveit Republics have quite a strong love(60%+ of the Popluation) for America

A better example is Kuwait, Bush has a 84% Aproval Rating over there and America is "Liked or Loved" by better than 90% of the Popluation

Meanwhile the Majority of Frence, Belgium, German, and oddly Enough Denmark dislikes American, SA, UK, and Russia all toe the line between like and love and most everyone else falls somewhere inbetween

[HemlockGrey]

Who cares? Gloria ad Americam!

[Stormbringer]

The world hates America for various reasons, and they differ from different country to country. Are these sentiments justifiable? If some are and some aren't, then elaborate.

Some countries sure do have a reason to hate America. America helps railroad and talks down to a lot of nations for no better reason than they can.

Some do:

Japan- Our military personel have a history of rape and abuse to local woman, not to mention lots of other sorid behaviour and we've let them off. I can see why they'd be pissed at us.

Middle East - We've helped a oppress them for a long time for oil and we've generally talked down to them. Not to mention we need to moderate Israeli behaviour. (I think blaming westerners for the Crusades is at this point retarded)

Some Don't:

France, Belgium, Germany, the EU at large- They hate us simply for being powerful and them being second teir nations (at least in terms of power and influence) internationally. Most of them are former colonial power and seem to have a residual envy that the US remains powerful and important.

[McNum]

Being from Denmark I can tell that we're usually divided on the whole "America good/bad?" question.

Currently I think the pro-American part is slightly bigger, but not by much.

I can give some insight as to why some danes (and probably other europeans as well) dislike America, though.

Here in Denmark we have a very broad political spread. We litterally have everything from communists to facists in our parliament.
Anyway, it probably comes to no-one's surprise that the right-wing is the most pro-USA part of the parliament and the anti American sediments comes from the left-wings.

Whenever there's an election we usually have pretty heated arguments. (Imagine having an extreme right person and an extreme left person within a few meters of eachother on national television, I feel sorry for the hosts of those shows...) When election day finally comes the votes are usually divided more or less 50/50 (our closest was ~150 votes in a 5 million people country).

Knowing that it comes as no surprise that you hear of Denmark being anti-American. More or less half the population are, anyway. Knowing the press' knack for finding bad news and blowing it out of proportion I'm not surprised that a "Denmark hates the US!!!" story has been made. Currently we have a right-wing government and they are America friendly. We have, in fact, sent troops to aid America in Iraq. It's only one submarine (Called "Sælen"), but still...

So, what does all this rambling actually mean? That the anti-American stances in Europe are probably not personal grudges, like those some middle-eastern countries probably have, but rather politically motivated.

Some (most) of the extreme leftists are still sour that the Soviets lost the Cold War... So, naturally, they are bashing everything American. I believe they are what we could call the very vocal minority.

At least, that's how I see it happening here in Denmark.

BTW, I've tried debating one of the extreme leftists, but gave up after encountering a powerful Wall of Ignorance. Not quite Darkstar quality, but close.

[Darth Wong]

Japan- Our military personel have a history of rape and abuse to local woman, not to mention lots of other sorid behaviour and we've let them off. I can see why they'd be pissed at us.

Middle East - We've helped a oppress them for a long time for oil and we've generally talked down to them. Not to mention we need to moderate Israeli behaviour. (I think blaming westerners for the Crusades is at this point retarded)

I'd agree with that.

France, Belgium, Germany, the EU at large- They hate us simply for being powerful and them being second teir nations (at least in terms of power and influence) internationally. Most of them are former colonial power and seem to have a residual envy that the US remains powerful and important.

I think it's more complicated than that. The way Americans can often dismiss criticisms with appeals to their own might is a major contributing factor. Or, to put it another way, the minute somebody ends an argument in the schoolyard by saying "Oh yeah? Well I'm bigger than you," what do you think of him?

[Korvan]

A few months ago, I remeber seeing an international survey that (amoung other things) ranked various countries approval rating of the US. I was quite surprized to see that one of the highest ratings was from Vietnam.

[Frank_Scenario]

Let's keep in mind that Europeans don't hate America. Most Europeans are pro-America, but have problems (rightly so, in my opinion) with the current trends in American politics. Currently, America is running roughshod over other nations, and these nations are pissed. That's not the same as a deep-rooted hate for the nation.

[Master of Ossus]

The world dislikes/hates/disagrees with America for various reasons, and they differ from different country to country. Are these sentiments justifiable? If some are and some aren't, then elaborate.

Many of the sentiments are justifiable in the same way that people right here in the US hate their governments, and the way people in Australia and Britain sometimes do the same thing.

The fact is that when you have a large country that makes lots of decisions affecting other people, choices have to be made about what is important. Sometimes people get screwed by what ends up happening, so that other people may live their lives more comfortably. A government cannot be realistically expected to make decisions that uniformly improve the lives of every single one of its citizens. Some people are upset with things like speed limits being imposed, because they frequently drive at unsafe velocities and get speeding tickets, but the fact is that those limits save lives and make the country a safer place to live. Since every decision a government makes will harm people, they are placed in an essentially no win situation. While they are making the tough choices as to which groups are "more important" than others, they invariably end up making people angry at them. Everyone has a RIGHT and a legitimate reason to be upset with the US government, and with many other governments from around the globe. Usually, the benefits of what governments do, however, on balance helps people out. Sometimes they make mistakes, but for the most part I think they do their jobs.

An example: many people are very upset with the United States (and a few other nations) for their roles in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. What you have to do, though, is not look back at the Cold War and say "Terrorism came out of it," but rather look back and see what information the governments had at the time. In this case, high-ranking officials in the CIA, State Department, Executive Branch, and Congress understood that whichever side "won" the Cold War was going to have to go back and try to work out some of the problems that the conflict caused in areas like Africa, South East Asia, and the Middle East. However, they ALSO decided that this was an acceptable price for the removal of the threat of a massive, global nuclear apocalypse that was hanging over everyone's heads at the time. Yes, I realize that the spectre of nuclear war still exists, but nuclear "wars" now are appearing to be relatively localized scales (a few cities), as opposed to the global conflagrations people used to live in fear of. I'm also not saying that governments never make mistakes. Obviously they do. However, I also believe that the vast majority of governments are far better than most people give them credit for being.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Hey, I hate America, and I'm an American!

Of course, this can be argued as being patriotic...

[Steve]

Well, I don't think everyone who is, say, against Bush, or against the war in Iraq, is "Anti-American".

I reserve that term solely for radicals and close-minded fools who hate America for what it stands for and for what they feel it stands for, whether it be Capitalism (the pet peeve of Marxists and other Communist ideologies), global economics (anti-globalists), or the environment (Radical Greens). These types do not bother trying to put forth alternatives to whatever question is being decided. They simply go apeshit whenever the US is brought up, pick up their placards and their bricks, and go protest and riot in the streets.

I can understand some of the concern across the world for Bush; the man's not a good diplomat, and he is nowhere near as charismatic as Clinton, Reagan, or Kennedy, hell, even Nixon. He's blunt, to-the-point, and unafraid of offending people. An approach that works well when in Texas (them Texans are crazy, I'm tellin' you!) or in a domestic post like a state governor, but not when in Washington. And I don't like his choice for VP nor his choice for Attorney General (although I do like Rumsfeld, Powell, and Rice). I didn't vote for the man either, I didn't like him enough to do so.

But I prefer him to Gore, especially in this situation. Of course, this is Gore we're talking about. Mr. "I invented the Internet". And I daresay that Lieberman was even more of a religious authoritarian than Bush is.

A final note: If I were President, I would want foreign leaders and domestic opponents to think I'm stupid too. Not enough to be regarded with absolute contempt, that would be going against Machiavelli's advice, but enough to be misjudged and underestimated. After all, knowledge is power, and as Sun-Tzu has said, to know yourself and know your enemy is to guarantee victory, and I'd rather not give my enemy the chance to secure that guarantee.

[Frank_Scenario]

As an aside, Bush and conservatives in the media have done quite a bit to get this sort of language into common use. That is, anyone who opposes the conservative policies of the administration is "anti-American." You can disagree with American policies without being anti-America. Dissent is patriotic, friends.

[Wicked Pilot]

Some countries love us because we have done something to help them out. A good example would be Kuwait.

Some countries like us because we are similiar, and generally work together for our common goals. I would put Canada, and a lot of Europe in this boat.

Some countries don't care, as we don't have a large influence with them. Many African nations would be in this group.

Some countries hate us for frivilious reasons like envy or religious bullshit. Saudi, China, and France fit the bill.

Some countries have a legitimate hate for us because we screwed them over in some way. Palestenians and Iraqis are the most obvious example. Of course, the Iraqis brought in upon themselves.

[weemadando]

Some countries are just, well, like - *meh*... Much like Australia, despite Little John's enthusiastic cock-sucking.

[Steve]

Some countries are just, well, like - *meh*... Much like Australia, despite Little John's enthusiastic cock-sucking.

It's Australian policy to find a strong ally to latch onto.

It used to be Britain, but WWII and it's aftermath kinda ruined that, so the US gets the role now.

Of course, you're all going to have to take up a bigger slack now that New Zealand is going the way of the Federation from Star Trek.

[Enricko]

Most sensible people in the world would agree that hatred is too strong a word. Sure, there is a great number of fundies that hate America as some hate homosexuals, but the majority is in the category : "You're big, it's your job to see you're not stepping on my toes!".

Anyway, pretty much the entire planet think your President is a moron...

[Stuart Mackey]

The world dislikes/hates/disagrees with America for various reasons, and they differ from different country to country. Are these sentiments justifiable? If some are and some aren't, then elaborate.

As far as I am concerned hating America in the sence that you refer to it as, is nothing more than a general ad-hominem attack. It is permissible to attack the rights or wrongs of a nations policies, but it is not acceptable to attack a individual based on the policies of that person government.

[Captain tycho]

Some countries are just, well, like - *meh*... Much like Australia, despite Little John's enthusiastic cock-sucking.

It's Australian policy to find a strong ally to latch onto.

It used to be Britain, but WWII and it's aftermath kinda ruined that, so the US gets the role now.

Of course, you're all going to have to take up a bigger slack now that New Zealand is going the way of the Federation from Star Trek.

Not my beloved homeland!

[Stuart Mackey]

Some countries are just, well, like - *meh*... Much like Australia, despite Little John's enthusiastic cock-sucking.

snip
Of course, you're all going to have to take up a bigger slack now that New Zealand is going the way of the Federation from Star Trek.

I Trust that you are not serious with that comment?. The American adminisatration just cannot handle the fact that PM Clark does not put out the way PM Howard does.
Heaven forbid that a democratic nation choose its policies and not have them dictated from Washington.

[Stuart Mackey]

Some countries are just, well, like - *meh*... Much like Australia, despite Little John's enthusiastic cock-sucking.

It's Australian policy to find a strong ally to latch onto.

It used to be Britain, but WWII and it's aftermath kinda ruined that, so the US gets the role now.

Of course, you're all going to have to take up a bigger slack now that New Zealand is going the way of the Federation from Star Trek.

Not my beloved homeland!

No, its just that some people I have met cant handle that NZ does not adopt the same position as Australia, which goes something like this.

Bush, from his desk: "the USA and its strong freind and ally Australia, stand together to protect world freedom from all threats, isnt that right John?"

John Howard, from under the desk: "Mmmph"

NZ however has this disturbing tendeny to think for itself.

[Stuart Mackey]

But if New Zealand isn't with us, we're doooomed. LOL. What the fuck, are we planning on bombing Iraq with sheep or something? Why was NZ even consulted?

NZ was consulted for its veiws and hoped for support of the US position along with every other nation at the UN. The reason for this is because the US wants to add as much legitimacy as possible to its actions. Having said that the US will probably do as it wishes anyway.
NZ is actually asked to do quite alot in a number of things, mainly because we are known to support 'just' causes and we have special forces that are seconed to none, and better than most.
We train US special forces in some areas as well, and aid/diret US spec/forces when operating in a warzone on occation. Our regular army is also thought of very highly overseas as well for its professionalism and its ability to get the job done with next to no kit {not including stuff we have stolen from various nations }that better equiped armys would struggle to do.
NZ also has vastly superior sheep to America.

[Mr Bean]

Simple fact is
More nations that Support us
Less Troops we have to leave in the Aftermath for Clean-up

[Stuart Mackey]

Simple fact is
More nations that Support us
Less Troops we have to leave in the Aftermath for Clean-up

This is also true. Having said that, the more legitimacy you have the less gripes you get later on. But America will go in anyway, extra allies or not as you got the ships, you got the men, you got the money too

[Cpt_Frank]

France, Belgium, Germany, the EU at large- They hate us simply for being powerful and them being second teir nations (at least in terms of power and influence) internationally. Most of them are former colonial power and seem to have a residual envy that the US remains powerful and important.

The Germans do NOT hate America. They disagree on several points but this is far from hatred.

[Enricko]

Oh yeah, Enricko? Well you're from QUEBEC! Absolutely NOBODY likes Quebec, even folks from other parts of Canada! So there! Ha!

That's why we want our independence from Canada, so we can declare war on everybody!

And it's not Québec they don't like, it's because we speak french. They don't realise that if our forefathers left France in the 16th century, it's for a good reason!

But if you felt the need to answer my post, is it because you disagree with the fact that you have to take care not to hurt anybody, or with my opinion that Bush is a moron?