What does the world have against America?

[Thyunda]

-more absolute bollocks-

How many times am I going to have to say this? I AM NOT ENGLISH. English-born, yes, but everything else about me is NOT ENGLISH. I'm Scots-Irish, god damn it, and nobody has been fucked over more often by the English than her Gaelic neighbours. Stop trying to tell me that I'm somehow pro-England, because I'm NOT. HOWEVER, the people in the Middle East are no more upset about the Empire than they are about the Crusades. It's history. It's over. You're incredibly patronising - why the fuck do you think that full-grown men are upset about something that happened two hundred years ago? It's not happening now, it's over. They DON'T CARE!

No. Islam4UK hate us because they want Sharia law in the country. The rest of the religion don't like us because we're infidels. But they don't harbour a particular hatred of us. Well, not until Tony Blair went and signed his arsehole over to President Bush, because then we went and put ourselves under YOUR flag. We're not the British Empire anymore, Starke. We're Little America.

So, what brought all this on? Did you just read a history book on the British Empire and assume you'd stumbled across some treasure trove of horrific atrocities?
EVERY FUCKING BRIT KNOWS THIS ALREADY. Contrary to popular belief, we do not pretend nothing bad happened during our conquest. But there is one thing we have over you.

At least we accepted what we did. As a country, as an empire, we knew that what we were doing was immoral, but we fought on to expand our influence. We at least opened ourselves up to the fact that we were going to be seen as the bad guys. We can't change what we did, but at least we have that going for us.

But America? Oh no, not America. You're 'liberating' these countries from their 'oppressive' cultures. You're staging your shows backstage, while telling the patrons that you don't do theatre. At least when our country oppressed people, we didn't tell them it was for their own good.
Stop trying to use the actions of the Empire, that NOBODY NOW IS ALIVE TO REMEMBER, to justify the current atrocities of your own corrupt regime.

 

[Delicious Anathema]

The most annoying thing is that they think they're the only country in the world.

 

[Joccaren]

Because of the downright rude and arrogant actions of what I hope is the minority when they travel oversees. Things I have observed Americans do oversees (Note, not saying all do, I've met some very nice Americans too, but some are just downright awful) :
-Walk into a restaurant, take a seat and demand to be served. Suffice to say, they were still sitting there after my family had finished our meal, being completely ignored by the waiters due to their behaviour (And by walk in and take a seat, I don't mean walk in, say hi to the waiter and get seated. I mean barge in, walk past the line, take their own seat, and then demand that they get served. Probably the worst I have seen.)
-Complain about water restrictions and deciding not to obey them, using water for whatever they want whenever they want. (Anyone who has been in Australia for the last few years will tell you we've had reasonably restrictive water allowances, and fines for going over them that we are just starting to get out of now)
-Try to one-up everything that is said on tours with something about America. Doesn't matter what it is. Old English castle? 'Oh, I've seen this castle in x that was more impressive than this...'
Subway systems? 'Oh, the subway system in x is far better than this, I don't know how people here can stand it'.
Theme parks: 'Oh, x is far bigger and better than this'
It gets really annoying.


There is a reason more than half of the tour guides oversees ask our nationality, and then say 'thank god' when we say Australian, because they have just had a loud mouthed and annoying American filled tour that got on their nerves. Sadly, this is all a number of people see of America; these loud mouthed and arrogant people that go oversees and couldn't give two shits about anyone else. As such, they generalise all Americans that way. Sure, other countries will have people like that too, but from all accounts those people don't appear as often. The solution to this problem: Get every nice American you know and go on a round the world trip. Take tours, stay with families, meet new people, eat out - do everything you can, and whilst you do it, be polite, nice and agreeable. It will hopefully start to undo the influence of what those other American's have done.

 

[Baron Samedi]

For me it's americanization, or localization as it should be called. It's just the way that the american culture shapes those in other countries. For example, I live in western australia and I come from an english family. Many people here go on about the great australian life and all that but through my eyes australia doesn't have its own culture anymore, it's just american under an aussie disguise.

Another thing are the wars and disputes they keep dragging us into. I'm pretty certain that the Vietnamese war was easily avoidable and didn't have as much to do with america as it did with australia (mind you, the Uk refused to get involved). Anyway, because Australia is allied with america they got dragged into the conflict.
The war in Iraq was pointless as well, with Bush trying to continue what his father finished but thats a bit off track. Australian soldiers suffered from that war but australia has nothing to do with terrorism in america!

Anyway. I suppose another thing is americas obliviousness to the other cultures. I mean australia is said to be a multicultural country and I believe that we get an insight to other cultures past racist stereotypes yet I know that the average american doesn't. I'm saying this because it is what turned me of bleeding RayWilliamJohnson after that c---flaps video.

In the end, I probably hate america for its paranoid army, gullible average public, somewhat obsession with WWII, westboro baptists and kkk, bias poorly though gun laws and all round foolishness. I would go on but I fear that I've already insulted more than half the members of this forum...

 

[Starke]

-more absolute bollocks-

How many times am I going to have to say this? I AM NOT ENGLISH. English-born, yes, but everything else about me is NOT ENGLISH. I'm Scots-Irish, god damn it, and nobody has been fucked over more often by the English than her Gaelic neighbours. Stop trying to tell me that I'm somehow pro-England, because I'm NOT. HOWEVER, the people in the Middle East are no more upset about the Empire than they are about the Crusades. It's history. It's over. You're incredibly patronising - why the fuck do you think that full-grown men are upset about something that happened two hundred years ago? It's not happening now, it's over. They DON'T CARE!

The ones I've spoken to over the years had a pretty strong and specific hatred for the UK. You're right of course, in that they don't care what you did two hundred years ago, but the shit you pulled fifty years ago? That's still fresh in their memory. They're not going after you because they can't get to us, they're going after you because they want to go after you as well.

No. Islam4UK hate us because they want Sharia law in the country. The rest of the religion don't like us because we're infidels. But they don't harbour a particular hatred of us. Well, not until Tony Blair went and signed his arsehole over to President Bush, because then we went and put ourselves under YOUR flag. We're not the British Empire anymore, Starke. We're Little America.

Last I checked you do still have a few colonies in stock, pretty close to home in fact. On top of that the Empire still casts a long and bloody shadow over many parts of the globe. Your legacy is, quite literally spread across every continent. The world doesn't like America, agreed, but I find it incredibly hard to believe that no one in the world can remember to hold a grudge against more than one group at a time. The Middle East still holds the British responsible for the League of Nations Mandate, the Suez Crisis, the ousting of Mosaddeq (even though, yes, that was CIA), and many other events I'm not inclined to recall of the top of my head.

And you're right, for some extremists, your stubborn refusal to except Sharia law is a sticking point, but, to be fair, with people who are that far out already, that was all you needed to do, assuming you needed to ally yourself with the US in order to piss them off enough to come at you is a bit like assuming jumping into traffic only became problematic because of your tie.

So, what brought all this on? Did you just read a history book on the British Empire and assume you'd stumbled across some treasure trove of horrific atrocities?
EVERY FUCKING BRIT KNOWS THIS ALREADY. Contrary to popular belief, we do not pretend nothing bad happened during our conquest. But there is one thing we have over you.

Why, you did of course. Isn't it obvious?

You keep assuming the world has forgiven you and moved on to hate us, but then it turns around and bites you, and all you can think is to point your bloodied finger at us and say it's our fault you kicked the dog that bit you. It's not. You kicked it, you got bit. That we took a swipe at it with a newspaper between point A and point B has no relation.

At least we accepted what we did. As a country, as an empire, we knew that what we were doing was immoral, but we fought on to expand our influence. We at least opened ourselves up to the fact that we were going to be seen as the bad guys. We can't change what we did, but at least we have that going for us.

Then accept it. Deal with it, and stop pretending it never happened.

But America? Oh no, not America. You're 'liberating' these countries from their 'oppressive' cultures. You're staging your shows backstage, while telling the patrons that you don't do theatre. At least when our country oppressed people, we didn't tell them it was for their own good.
Stop trying to use the actions of the Empire, that NOBODY NOW IS ALIVE TO REMEMBER, to justify the current atrocities of your own corrupt regime.

And you were doing so well. God save Bloody ole' England.

English patriotism is a hillarious thing because, let's look at that paragraph again with a few minor corrections:

But England? Oh no, not England. You're 'civilizing' these countries from their 'primitive' cultures. You're staging your shows backstage, while telling the patrons that you don't do theatre.
At least when our country oppressed people, we didn't tell them it was for their own good.

See, that's the thing, people are alive who remember. Granted, they're getting on in years, but the British Empire as a thing didn't really end until the 1960s. That was when you, the French, and others started ceding control of your colonies remaining. That was 50 years ago, and with the number of people living into their 80s, you honestly believe there's no one on the planet who was alive in 1960?

Come to think of it, Malta hasn't celebrated their sixtieth anniversary of independence from The Empire yet, have they?

Hell, there are people alive today, who were around when there was no Pakistan, just India.

In point of fact though, nearly every colony in (what's now) The Third World began with the belief that the Europeans were bringing civilization. It happened in Algiers and Vietnam with the French, in South Africa with the Dutch, in America with the Dutch, French, Spanish, and English (over time), in China and India, well, you know. (And, yes, I do know you divested those colonies earlier) The point is, all of these were with the express intent of "civilizing" these lands, and bringing these "uncivilized" people into the modern world.

In the aftermath of the First World War, America adopted our isolationist stance again, our bad. And France and England carved up the Middle East. For you or me, that may be ancient history, but the native populations remember that. Ironically, the League of Nations mandate was about "liberating" and "protecting" these "oppressed" people. The terminology has changed, true, but what we did, what you did, what everyone did, it's all the same. And, I think I know what really pisses you off. It's not that I'm trying to claim the moral high ground, it's that I'm telling you, bloody old England is just as much the bad guy as we are, just as corrupt, just as nasty.

But, to be fair, we've yet to invade a country because we wanted to addict their population to drugs.

The fact of the mater is, The British Empire still is a thing. They still lay claim to conquered territories Scotland and Ireland, all we've got is a chunk of Japan. I'm not sure that counts as a colony, after all the rest of Japan is there...

Wait a moment... the Fauklands were in the early 80s, weren't they? So that means the British Empire persisted up to at least 1982, if we're not counting Hong Kong, so that means the empire existed thirty years ago. You're telling me there's no one alive today over the age of thirty? I mean, if we're talking about The Escapist, maybe, but no one alive today who remembers the British Empire? I think you might be mistaken there.

 

[SadakoMoose]

http://worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/views_on_countriesregions_bt/680.php?lb=btvoc&pnt=680&nid=&id=
Yo, check dis out.

 

[Blow_Pop]

They mispronounce the word "aluminium".

fun fact, both pronunciations and spellings of aluminium are correct. It is really up to personal preference.

To quote the wikipedia article on it:

Two variants of the metal's name are in current use, aluminium and aluminum (besides the obsolete alumium). The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990 but, three years later, recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both.[57] IUPAC prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although nearly as many IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum.[58]
Most countries use the spelling aluminium. In the United States, the spelling aluminum predominates.[13][59] The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium. In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

The name aluminium derives from its status as a base of alum. It is borrowed from Old French; its ultimate source, alumen, in turn is a Latin word that literally means "bitter salt".[60]
The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: "Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium."[61][62]
Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."[63] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[64]
The -ium suffix conformed to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802. The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide, as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.
The spelling used throughout the 19th century by most U.S. chemists was aluminium, but common usage is less clear.[65] The aluminum spelling is used in the Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[54] he filed between 1886 and 1903.[66] It has consequently been suggested that the spelling reflects an easier to pronounce word with one fewer syllable, or that the spelling on the flier was a mistake. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#History

 

[IKSA]

Well I dislike because many ppl from U.S online are stupid dicks(not everybody but I had so many bad experiences with ppl from U.S) stupid goverment and religious fanatics....so mostly because many of them are idiots.

 

[Ranorak]

Because every time this kind of thread is made, some American will come in and say it's because we're all so very jealous of their country.

Which we're not.

 

[Pearwood]

fun fact, both pronunciations and spellings of aluminium are correct.

True and maybe it's a bit more natural with an American accent but aluminum just sounds weird and feels strange to say. Really my comment was more to offset the more serious political comments though, just a little comment for you to maybe get a quick smile out of before reading more about why George Bush/Sarah Palin/arrogant tourists are shit.

Its kinda like owning a PS3 (America) and saying the Xbox 360 (every other country) is shit without trying it

Surely vice-versa would be more appropriate, the 360 being an American thing after all

 

[Blow_Pop]

fun fact, both pronunciations and spellings of aluminium are correct.

True and maybe it's a bit more natural with an American accent but aluminum just sounds weird and feels strange to say. Really my comment was more to offset the more serious political comments though, just a little comment for you to maybe get a quick smile out of before reading more about why George Bush/Sarah Palin/arrogant tourists are shit.

meh *shrugs* a lot of people don't know that though. I get constantly chastised for my mispronunciation of aluminium out here. Its more just we're lazy....I have a youtube accent video thing and one of the words to pronounce is aluminium. Doesn't sound any different between American and any other countries dialect. Just the matter of the accent.


OT: Another thing I can think of is how supposedly Americans have a separation of church and state when if you look at it, that doesn't exist any more. It is one of the biggest reasons why Americans can't accept gay marriage because of religion. At least from my point of view.

 

[Electrogecko]

People hate Americans? I'm not sure how true that is.

People hate America, including lots of people living here, and it's not hard to see why.

 

[MrTub]

Because it's the 'it' thing to do, it seems. It's always hilarious to fire right back pointing out the same flaws with their country they're pointing out with mine, guaranteed way to rage them out.

Yeah, people only hate US cause its a cool thing to do.


Of course.

 

[-Ulven-]

I don't hate americans in person. I more hate how stupid the government and jail systems are. I mean a land of "freedom" and still it regulates EVERYTHING to the degree of insane (except guns... cuz you know. GUNS).

And then it's the issue of "freeing" countries and giving them a democracy. USA don't even have a real working democracy of their own. And still they're trying to teach other countries how to behave.

Also all the nosing around and playing world police. I mean there was a case where they had leaked a country's "confidential" files to the States for 6 months. And still they just shrugged and said "it was in the interest of the security of USA" Bullshit!

America is acting like a hypocrite. A real big hypocrite. It needs to sort itself out before nosing into other countries.

 

[Colour Scientist]

US is one of the greatest country in the world and yes I dare say many other countries out there wouldn't be without us. (Yes France we know you helped us during the Revolutionary War, thanks for that) Yea we stick our noses in where it doesn't belong. But think about WWI and WWII who was the major player in both wars? The U.S of A, hell even historians say if the US didn't get attacked at Pearl Harbor by Japan, then there'd be just one big Germany and one big Japan, then Africa (cause nobody wants that place) and America. (cause.. U.S of A!) Austrilia would still be there cause the land itself would kill the invading forces.

I really doubt any reputable, academic historian said that. Not only is it speculative, it's just plain wrong.

 

[davros3000]

Most hate of the US comes from the Cold War period. Instead of focussing on what you may call 'social power' (culture and so on), the US and the USSR flooded the world with weapons. At one point in some Sub Saharan African countries assault rifles were so numerous you could trade live stock for weapons (the price roughly equivalent of one AK 47 to a chicken).

Combine this with putting bad people in power, like Saddam Hussein, and then keeping them there. Thats pissed off a lot of people, particularly in South and Central America which the US sees as its own territory. Control of the seas around the American continent is US doctrine.

In Europe feeling is a bit more friendly, thanks to the Marshall Plan and poor communist government behind the iron curtain, but this positive sentiment has been diminished thanks to George W Bush and US corporate behaviour. The global economic crisis, thanks largely to US banks, has enhanced this sense of the out of control or bully boy behaviour.

Obama could have turned water into wine and not overcome this sizeable challenge.

But its like anything else, most American people are friendly and sociable but are let down by the behaviour of their supposed 'betters'. As the US is the most powerful country, people expect it to lead.

 

[senordesol]

American here.

A large part of our formative history was being successful at pretty much everything we did. We became a nation by taking on the biggest baddest empire in the world at the time and winning. We conquered 3 million sq. miles of wilderness, and peoples from all over the world flocked -FLOCKED- to come here to grasp a better life than they could possibly have elsewhere. Many countries that came after us even modeled their constitutions (or whatever forms of government) to imitate our own. We built New York. We built Hollywood. We built Las Vegas. We built San Francisco. And -for a time- we never even lost a war.

Sadly, all that success went to our head. The men building those cities and fighting those wars knew they weren't entitled to success, the men who wrote the constitution knew that the government itself was the biggest threat to freedom. But all that changed, when the Nazis fell. Our goals became more than being the best country we could be unto ourselves; but 'proving' our country was the best period.

I'm not saying we had a spotless past before, but we really did some dumb things in the cold war and after. The 'Reds' were everywhere -an attitude that still prevails today with regard to terrorists (NDAA, anyone?) Reflexive patriotism (or nationalism, if you like) became the norm. And our government cannot seem to get past wanting to make all our decisions *for* us, whether we like them or not.

For all that, though, I still love my country. I am still proud to see so many flying their flags in front of their home. I may not approve of all the things my countrymen have done, but my hope remains that we can forge a better future. Because we are still the country to which millions flocked just to be a part of; there's got to be something in there that can still be redeemed.

 

[Thyunda]

-almost serious argument-

I almost took you seriously until you implied that Malta, Scotland and Ireland are all somehow immensely angry at the English.

Have you even been to those countries? Last time I was in Malta, the Maltese seemed pretty damn happy with the English. While Ireland constantly complains about not being independent, they're hardly oppressed. Same with the Scottish. Do you know how much the Scots care about being part of the UK?

They do not give a shit. Now, you can keep telling me about all this stupid shit, but you're getting nowhere. Fact of the matter is, England slipped into near-obscurity in the early 20th century, when the US took hold. Nobody cared about the country any more. We were no longer big, no longer powerful, we were just old news.

Oh. And will you please stop telling me I'm an English nationalist. My name is Conchobhar mag Fhionnghaile, for fuck's sake. Does that sound English to you?

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

The us is just another country to most the people I know, sure, some hipsters hate all things American, going on about whatever country they chose to idolize today. But seeing as we do not live in the US, most people do not really care.

Of course people are arrogant bastards, the lot of us. So people don't say "Hey, I heard most americans have similar views and values as we do and have similar lives, that's crazy!" They say "Did you know that some americans can't tell the difference between Sweden and Switzerland? Man those guys are idiots".

But we do that about every country. You go "Man in china they totes eat dogs man, those guys are barbarians!" You don't go "Man I just went to work, ate and then went to bed today, I hear a billion chinese did the exact same thing! That's hilarious"

And then americans go "Maaaaaan! I heard all the Swedes (or was it Swiss?) totes thinks we're idiotss dawg, those guys are crazy."

 

[Dogstile]

Jealous. They see that we get all the fast food, guns and laziness. They want to be like us. Also, this song.
They be jealous. You can't write a like that song about France or the other european countries.

Wasn't that song made as part of a film mocking the ever loving shit out of America and their foreign policies? Wouldn't that kind of make your point sorta... invalid? Just sayin'