Howcome so many europeans are so anti-american?

Question

I know not all of them hate us (like the british for example) but many in Europe seem to hate the USA no matter what.
I was reading these articles:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1019739/posts

This goes way before the Iraqi war.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/29/AR2006062902248.html?sub=AR
also

http://www.theamericanenterprise.org/issues/articleid.17764/article_detail.asp

Forgot to post that too

Pancakes hit the nail on the head

What bothers me is that the EU is meant to be a coutner-weight to the US.
How about they use the EU, not to rival the US, but to help it and help the world. Like pushing Russia and China to become republics and to help Israel and all of that stuff.

" Canadian-U.S. relations had been good untill G.W. Bush took ove"

Actually its getting better. with discussions of a North American Union going on.

The Jean guy that was the last Canadian PM was blatanltly anti-US. That really did hurt relations until Harper recovered it.

Answer 1

Make a list of the chief inventions of the past 100 years; see how many of them can be attributed to Americans (magnetic recording tape; Polio vaccine; pantyhose; plastics; analine dyes; shampoo; telephone, telegraph, movies, jet engines, etc., etc.).

Compare the standard of living: for example, the availability of a simple glass of ice water at a restaurant in Moselle, or a choice of shoe widths in Zurich. You might look at the r-value of house insulation (there are places that don't even know what it is), or see if it is easier to get a fresh melon in upstate NY in winter, or in Moscow, ever.

Check out the availibility of higher education if you are over 23 most anywhere in Europe, or if you have the choice of driving a Hummer (you might not want to...but here, you CAN). I'm not even going to address the legacy of the Winchester rifle, except to say that, if I want one, I may legally own one.

In short, this is a pretty nice place to be; we, far more than Europeans, have the freedom to decide if we want to live like cowboys, like NYC gangsters, like Southern Gentlemen, like California Settlers, or any combination that pleases us.

We have freedom of choice, and it makes some people just furious.

Answer 2

No one likes to be pushed around, not other countries nor even friends.
President G. W. Bush said of those countries that did not assist America in the second war in Iraq, You "...countries are with us or against us". Excuse me they are sivereign countries not American vassel states. Canada was vilified when it did not fight in Iraq, even though we had several thousand troops stationed in Afganistan (&still do). And we have had a number of very advanced warships protecting Western (mostly American), ships in the Gulf of Arabia for many years. (and to this day).
The U.S. has started instituting isolationist restrictions on Canada, in the past several years that are excessive and downright hostile. Canadian-U.S. relations had been good untill G.W. Bush took over. I'm not comfortable going through U.S. customs, anymore. I am eyed with hostility. I have cut my ross-border travel to minimum in response. (goodby tourist dollars and business opportunities)
Right after the war, U.S. swaggering foreign policy was a naive action and it antagonised millions of Germans, French, and millions of people in many other European countries. I remember the pejoratives bandied abou,t then, like "Old Europe", freedom fries etc.
The U.S. cannot go it alone in the World on the World stage. It costs too much money. Don't believe it? Review recent Soviet history & its support to a number of Communist surrogate countries, (like North Vietnam, Cuba, Afghanistan, & for a long while China.) brought them to edge of bankruptcy.
After 9/11 America has turned into a hostile unwelcoming place. & people, (would-be immigrants, foreign students, tourists, and international conventions,) are going elsewhere.
Sorry for the crummy news.
But that's the way it is.
Harper has a minority government. The passport rewquirement for Canadians to enter the U.S., and Americans to get back home to their country is a hostile act. It will also kill the N.A.F.T.A. agreement. A billlion and a half dollars of trade goes through the border every day. They predict 1 week lineups at the Windsor-Detroit border crossing. We have all the energy the U.S. will need for at least the next 500 years, and your government takes us for granted and kicks us in the ***. (almost all of your imported natural gas and much of your oil, and a substantial amount of hydroelectric power comes to you from Canada.). Better you get your oil from your "best friend" the Saudi Arabians(I quote Bush). Also President Chavez in Venezuela. (the first gang are crazy Islamists that hate your country and all its institutions, & freedoms), and the other is a Communist hole) Nice secure energy sources.
A few more years of Republican ballooning deficits & other mismanagement and decline will accelerate.
Guess who holds a huge amount of short term treasury notes (that finance the U.S. national debt.) China.
Good luck.

Answer 3

We are perceived in many countries as the ugly Americans. They think we have wealth but no class. We work too hard, and talk too loud and don't bother to learn about the countries we visit. GWB has only made this image worse. Although most countries like us, the Muslims resent our being allied with Israel and the French think everyone is inferior to them. What scares and hurts me is that since GWB, even allies like the Irish and the Greeks, have demonstrated against us when GWB visits them.

Answer 4

We saved their asses in two World Wars and then rebuilt their countries, and Japan. There isn't and wasn't any other country that could do that. They are jealous of the USA because after being around for only 230 years, we are the most powerful country in the world.

Answer 5

May be that they are Xenophobic and know very little about the rest of the world. History of colonialism could be another factor not to forget the influence of Roman Catholic and Orthodox church.The church was main factor behind Holocaust

Answer 6

There is a difference between hating American foreign policy, American government exploitation of it's people, American media, and Americans citizens.

I'm neither a liberal, a communist, nor a Mexican, who else have you been told to hate? Europeans?

I thought it was just AL Quaeda that was so extreme that they hated everyone except themselves.

Answer 7

you forgot to mention the rest of the world! or is it only about the anglo saxons?

Answer 8

Because we didn't give them enough cash and food when we rebuilt them after WWII.

Answer 9

because they can see us declining like they did themselves many years ago... and they realize it is too late to stop it again...