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Stemming from the "threat to world peace" poll:
I want to talk about the United States and why people have such disdain for my country. I feel it's important to simply discuss this, because although there are a metric f*ck ton of good reasons to dislike the US, I feel that a lot of this is not only misplaced anger, but also based on the same ignorance, arrogance, and self-important attitudes that Americans are falsely labeled (as well as dehumanized) with.
In particular, I'd like to hear reasoning- not just history, but personal (human) experiences from people. If you aren't from the US, I want to know if you've ever been to the US, met an American, or studied our history.
I'd also prefer to see your level of education in the subject (if any)
In short, I don't want to know what "the world" has against the US, but rather provide an opportunity for us to talk about this topic as a group. I can't help but stress both empathy respect on both sides of the argument (considering this won't be as one sided as I'm expecting it to be)
*poke*
Hey, look at this.
Moddb.com
There's a forum.
America is a power hungry country that desires control over all of the countries in the world, they interfere in every situation that happens in the world and dictates what should be done, they should back down and be more co-operative with other aspects of the world other than purely on what they want
Which means that they are acting like every other major powers from history...
Well, power corrupts, what else can we expect on the international geopolitical stage?
I think much of the hate is directed at the American government rather than at the population (One of the stereotype about Americans is that the average US citizen has no clue where their government has invaded, much less why). Though since in theory the US government is suppose to represent the people (whether that is true or not is for another debate), therefore, a lot of the hate directed at what the US government did is also directed at the US people since those two are suppose to be the same thing (no they are not, not by a long shot).
Of course, the justification for their [USA's] intervention in other countries for suppose benign purpose (whether or not those purposes are true is for another discussion) gets a lot of people riled up. Not just the actual justifications themselves, but rather than the fact that so many people actually believe them (due to the massive influence of American media and the large population of the US itself).
The United States is by no means the sort of perfect nation it portrays itself to be. We have made many, MANY mistakes domestically and internationally in the past- not to mention in the present- but ultimately I feel that the United States is used as just something to hate on. Yes, there is a great deal to hate on and rightfully so, in terms of the societal views and the government's actions, but in many ways we're just hating on global phenomenon. Being one of if not the most powerful nation in the world at the current moment and recent past, the United States gets all the criticism. Not that it shouldn't be criticized- it's just that we need to step back a moment and look at everything on a global scale.
In terms of democratic nations, the United States is a massively bureaucratic, mangled mess of politics which is full of idiots who never get anything done and can often cause violence all across the globe. So is ALMOST EVERY OTHER DEMOCRATIC NATION. The U.S. just happens to be the most powerful one, for now. In comparison to non-democratic countries, developing democratic countries, or even-more-corrupt democratic countries such as China, many Middle Eastern lands, or Russia, the U.S. is practically a pioneer of social and political progress and the nicest guys imaginable. Not anywhere close to what they proclaim in politics, but still pretty good.
While I prefer certain other nations, such as many European nations and several parts of the British commonwealth, the U.S. on a global level is a comparatively benevolent power. Yes, I'm tremendously frustrated with the lagging society, tendency to get involved everywhere, enormous military, lack of good welfare programs, general values, etc., but it's really not that much worse than everyone else. I'm no patriot and I'll criticize the United States any day; but it's not the worst country which has ever existed anywhere in any age, as seemingly everyone seems to believe.
My history teacher was in New York and was asked by a waiter, once he realised he was British, 'Well, d'you want us in or out buddy?'. We had a discussion as a group in class, only 3 of us including my teacher, and we decided that we'd sooner have the USA involving itself and leading to positive change through unrefined means (see the removal of dictator Saddam Hussein; it was positive but involved the false WMD Iraq, or Afghanistan; some good work is being done but the people we're leaving in control of the country are unpopular dirtbags). Anyhow, my personal dislike for the United States is the relative lack of education of the people there. I have been to the US, more specifically New York. I was asked by several people where I was from due to my rather unusual (or sexy) refined English accent. Anyhow, most of the comments were rather silly. Things like "Why don't you just invade France and finish the rivalry once and for all?", "What's it like having a Queen rule the country instead of a proper government?" and probably the golden one; "Why don't you let Scotland be independent? I mean, they practically are already!"
This sort of lack of aware of other nations and their politics grates on me. I make it my job to know about Europe. I can name every country in it, west to east and their capitals. On top of that, I am aware of American politics and can name a fair number of states. I also know about American history as well as European. While most Americans on here act civilly and are intelligent, there are plenty who believe the USA can do no wrong and has shouldered every burden alone throughout history. That's why I have a slight distaste for the USA.
I should add, the USA most certainly does not deserve the terror attacks from militant muslims just as Britain did not deserve the 7/7 bombing, Lee Rigby most certainly did not deserve the cowardly attack he suffered, Denmark did not deserve the attempts to sabotage its economy after an image of muhammad was drawn and published and the Indians didn't deserve to have bombs placed under vehicles in Orissa intending to blow up police officers.
I've had similar experiences to those you've described while I was living in Europe. I have examples ranging from people telling me my country is run by malicious jews to saying the US invasion of Iraq was done to TAKE their oil. I had some random kid come up to me and say "I hate Americans" (causing a bit of a fight) at an indoor pool without any kind of provocation. Even though these incidents were rather frequent, at that age I knew that these people don't represent the majority of Germans or Europeans for that matter- I had to take these as isolated incidents, and I could see how that could be harder to do when observing the US after a lot of the problems we've caused in the past.
Having experienced the American education system, I can honestly say that it gets a bad rep and while it ins't particularly good, it isn't that bad either. I took both US and European history as well as AP government in high school. These classes were actually very informative and had clear bias (which is a good thing). I'll admit we have problems in our education system, but that's to be expected- we have individual states trying to meet federal standards with different funding/methods. Education can differ from state to state and even precinct to precinct. You can't expect any education system to be as thorough as that of a smaller, more manageable European state.
The US is also not bordered with any European nations, so it's actually unfair for you to expect us to understand politics overseas when none of it really effects us- In Europe, things are so interconnected between the states that understanding the other cultures, languages, and politics of your neighbors becomes necessity.
In short, a vast majority of Americans are critical of our government. You really aren't alone, those nationalistic 'muricaheads drive everyone crazy, the majority of Americans included.
I have no quibbles with what you've said save for the what happens in Europe doesn't affect America. It does. European nations are the US's staunchest allies. For example, in Iraq: Round 2, nations involved in the war from Europe include everyone from the UK and Italy to Estonia and Hungary. The second biggest contributor to said war was the UK with 46,000 troops. The US sent 165,000 roughly at peak. If these European countries did not contribute to Iraq, the US would likely have had to contribute more troops to this conflict leading to a bigger cost on its part. Not to mention the fact that, the last time I checked, only France was willing to trawl into Syria with the US, knocking out the additional European soldiers that were present in Iraq, as well as the blue water navy of the UK.
To factor economics into this, the US invests about three times more into EU nations than it does into all of Asia while the EU nations invest several times more into the US than they do into India and China combined. If, for whatever improbable reason, the USA and European nations become enemies politically or militarily, that's a lot of investment that's at risk of being wasted. Generally the two continents are inter-reliant on each other; the USA has massive military and economic power while Europe is the ally that ensures, so long as the politics is right, that America has the extra manpower, money and political support to drop large mounds of faeces on evil dictators or terrorists around the world and do so without major opposition from modern nations. The best example of this would be the Cold War, Europe was the equivalent of a 'swing state' if Western Europe were pro USSR, bearing in mind their international relations in the form of overseas territories and the Commonwealth of nations (a sorely underused political force), then it is more likely that the USSR would come out on top as world superpower.
Also out of curiosity, where about in Europe did you live if you don't mind my asking?
I am guessing Czech Republic or Poland, probably not Germany or Austria.
As far as people and culture go, I see nothing wrong with Americans. I'm technically an American, though I identify far more with Asian cultures due to having never actually lived very long in the USA. In terms of politics and government however, I can't quite say the same. People there take pride in how much democracy they have because they get to vote, and they theoretically have some say and influence. But if there's one thing that humanity is good at, it's oppressing human beings. And if the USA can't do it easily on their own soil, they'll find other places to do it.
This is not so much a problem of nationality as it is about human nature. By nature, humans are exploitive and somewhat lazy. The cultural and political environment in the USA makes it very easy for those less-than-desirable traits to manifest themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the rest of the world is perfect. Not by a long shot. I'm just pointing out that patriotic Americans should stop envisioning their nation as humanity's savior, when it is in fact a highly over-rated society that's becoming more and more corrupt.