Does anyone else feel that the US is becomming a very "ugly" country?

Question

We have had a reputation of fighting for "human rights" around the world, and denying countries status w/ US because of human rights violations. But now it is OK to torture people?? And I have heard the argument that we have to have some democracies/friends in the Middle East because the lack of them could lead to boycotts of oil to the US. (Oh! And we couldn't have that now, could we?) What have we been doing to Cuba for decades??
We have "pigged up" the resources of this country, kept half of the world in hunger that our wheat could have fed, and now demand (with the "punishment" being a war on your soil) that other countries make their (Yes, their) oil available to us!!!! If a child acted like this on the playground, we would discipline him. When the US acts like this we expect adoration????

To answer a few questions: I am 60 yrs. old this year.
I have been aware of the ugliness of this country for a long time, but, as my first answerer stated, I thought it might be a "blip" on an otherwise good nation. So much of the ugliness was in the past, and some only came to light years later, to the disgust of the typical American. So, I still had hope...
There was a wonderful movement, a swell of "morality/goodness" during the Viet Nam years--and I thought it might last. No such luck. (In fact, where are all my fellow peaceniks when we need you????)

Answer 1

In the late 80s, I had already served in the Army and was not active any longer. Saddam invaded Kuwait, one of our allies, and I called up the Army and requested to voluteer for active just for that war.

Why did I do this? Because I believed we were a country based on honorable values and beliefs. With Kuwait, a small country, being bullied by Saddam, I felt it was the right thing to do for an ally.

I had a great sense of pride and respect for the humane aspects of this country at the time.

Ever since 2001, after the 2000 election, when I watched quite a few election hearings on CSPAN which had witness after witness testifying how they were harrassed at the polls, etc... I began to lose faith.

I thought.. maybe this is just a blip in our time... you know.. just a bump in the road but surely we will get backon track soon.

Then came Dec. 2001 when Bush removed us from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. That is long range nuclear weapons. Alarm bells went off in my head and not soon after N.Korea announced it was restarting its nuclear weapons program. Can you blame them?

Then came Jan. 2003 when during Bush's address to the nation he announced N.Korea, Iran and Iraq were the AXIS OF EVIL. Not much longer after that did he invade Iraq. Many of us whom follow politics closely, knew he was making a mistake and not for one second did I ever believe there were WMDs.

Anyways, long story short, how do I feel today? I feel nausea. I feel sick to my stomach and in my heart that my tax dollars have paid for everything we have done.

We have used rendition to have ppl tortured yet we condemn our enemy for torture. We have sat back and applauded when insurgents are killed in Iraq when all those ppl are doing is defending their country from an invasion. We are responsible for over 130,000s civilian deaths in Iraq. We talk about nuking them and ending it as though they were not ppl with souls.

I could go on and on....

I guess the last note is how we have stained Christianity. With Bush declaring this as a War on Islamic Fascists, he has crossed over into an area that we can never undo. This reminds me of when the Christians slaughtered 1000s of Pagans during Constantines realm as Roman Emperor.

Yes, we are an ugly country today. I have no idea where my old country went. I suspect it never existed but in some fantasy I had in my head once upon a time....

The honest truth is that this is:
- not a War on Terror
- not a War on Islamic Fascists
- not a War on Islamic Extremists

It is the War of Christian Exremists.

Answer 2

I entered 17 countries in the last 12 months, who all by the way have a very tight immigration policy, and I can tell you from experience, there is no place as nice or good as the USA. You do not realize what your freedoms are until you travel to places that have few or none. So quit whining, go travel, then come back and tell us how bad the US is.

Obivously you need to broaden your horizons and quit reading propaganda, go see the world, go to some supposedly great places like France or the South Pacific and the go to some supposedly ugly places like Israel, Lebanon or Columbian and Venezuela. No matter where you go, I will guarantee you will be proud of being an American and happy to be home.

All of you who thing America is bad, my guess is you have not been to either any other country, or definitely not to the Middle East.

And please, all women who think like this, please go to the Middle East and tell us how you are treated.

Ridiculous question, sorry.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, it is not exactly a case of the US "becoming" an ugly country, but a question of maintaining its ugliness or becoming even uglier. While the White Estates of America may have started out with lofty ideals about "liberty" and "freedom", it must be noted that the guy who wrote so many of the pretty words this country seems to hold dear was in fact a slave owner. That got the ball rolling. We then proceded to quickly gobble up every bit of land to the west, murdering those people who lived here. We built a strong economy with slave labor, broke almost ever treaty we signed with the people who lived here first, and made commerce (at the expense of the people and the environment) our national religion. REMEMBER: America is ONLY about money!! Look at the war on drugs--we outlaw things that are often the product of poor nations with dark-skinned populations but ALLOW the use of cigarettes which KILL hundreds of thousands annually but MAKE MONEY for largely caucasoid corporations. And look at Cuba: We outlaw trade with a small island nation because of their communist leadership yet CANNOT wait to get into communist China's pants because there is a LOT OF MONEY TO BE MADE!! Such hypocrisy!! We ARE ALREADY an ugly country and have been for over two hundred years.

Answer 4

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, the USA has been an ugly country since forever. Let me see, genocide of Native Americans, Black slavery, gunboat diplomacy, direct interference in the affairs of emerging democracies to prevent them from becoming democracies to enhance US profits. Human rights is not your strong suit and never has been. The USA is the enemy of freedom. In the 19th century USA forced Japan to open its ports. Pearl Harbour was the payback for the humiliation of US invasion in the 19th century. Americans overthrew the legitmate native government of Hawaii and disenfranchised most of the population in the 1890s. They stole half of Mexico. The US murder rate is only topped by Colombia and Iraq (both countires with wars on and heavy American inteference) Etc etc etc. Read some Noam Chomsky. America is the archetypal ugly country. The biggest problem is most Americans don't recognise this because they are good at shifting the focus on to the "evil" other. But be careful, because what you say is a direct reflection of how you yourself truly are. American popular culture is ammoral, murderous and very low brow. Ugly America. The only way its ever been. This is how the rest of the world sees you. And I am an English speaking "white" person from an English speaking country normally friendly to America.

But hey you have some great bands & huge numbers of decent people too, so its not all bad.

But how's this for perverse? Saudi Arabia right? Real feudal, no human rights, only called Saudi after the ruling family and everyone else is sh*t. All women are sh*t. AL QAEDA started in (Saudi) Arabia as a democratic freedom movement designed to reform Arabia for the benefit of all Arabians (not Arabs which is transnational) and unseat the despotic Saudi family. Who is USA's best ally in the Arab world? The Saudi family. Who is fighting for civil rights in Arabia? AL QAEDA. They have become more highly religionised as a rallying point against insurmountable odds, if you have no hope of winning, you invoke your God to help you. Your beloved USA is responsible for its own war, and the Bush family and the Bin Laden family do business together. If you want to beat the guy with the best weapons you need supernatural backing. The US support of the Saudi dictatorship has allowed Bin Laden and his pals to radicalise under the banner of Islam, when really they should have been supporting Arabian democracy. But, they didn't trust the "common" Arabian people to behave and sowed the seeds for the current mess. In spite of popular US belief most AL QAEDA activity is directed at targets in Saudi Arabia and most operatives are Arabian. The fundamentalist angle has mostly been introduced by Egyptian influence on the Al QEADA network.

I feel sorry for you Kymanost... because everything you say is completely untrue and you have been duped by your environment. The USA is one of the few countries that refuses to pay its UN fees and is one of the few countries completely at odds with the UN. The USA can't even look after its own (NEW ORLEANS) so why would the rest of us want your help. Short answer we don't.

Answer 5

I can't imagine a world without the United States of America. Europe is one big escape artist forever dithering, Britain is not strong enough and China's not interested to rule the world.

America has more good than bad. I would prefer an "ugly America" where I can enjoy a life of freedom under the rule of law than an ugly world carved out for me by the swords of looney bins.

Answer 6

The truth is that that france russia and china are overflowing with jealousy of America and pulling their daggers while we are in time of need. When their is a disaster in the world what country is there first? United States. When there is hunger where there is war where there is need the United States is there first spends more than any other country American volunteers are always there in numbers to help where ever and when ever needed. Who finances most of the U. N.'s needs? The United States. I don't know where you get your propaganda but it is so typical of all of these countrys when they are down to except our help our people and our resorces but when someone comes like cowards in the night and kills 3000 inocent people in our country I guess we are supposed to lay down and play nice well guess again. Go back to our history and dwell on all of our mistakes and while your at it why don't you look at some atrocities in your own country or are you allowed to view the truth there. Apparently not.

Answer 7

I feel the US as designed by the framers is a beautiful country. Some of the wrong things weve done in the past have been ugly, but the things we've done recently are magnitudes more disgusting and immoral.

The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war. Sydney J Harris

Answer 8

No. We don't expect adoration. It doesn't matter if we are loved -- only that we are feared and respected.

And as far as that goes...

http://www.phillytalkradioonline.com/comment/usa.html
"..this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth... When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world?' Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes."

It's just as true today as it was then... maybe even moreso...

Answer 9

You completely disoprove your point. If we were indeed such an ugly country, we would have EASILY overrun Cuba many years ago. The fect that we havent shows the strength of out mercy. You are obviously a victim of propeganda. If you are well-traveled you would realize how beautiful America is. No, she is not perfect, but compared to other countries we have it made and they have no idea why we worry about such petty things.

Answer 10

i think after the fall of USSR, United States is now heading towards ugly country, repalcing HITLER. TODAYS Hitler is BUSH