What do Europeans dislike most about America?

Question

Is it the government? Military? Culture? I am curious to get a firsthand perspective. Since we generally get lots of love from the Asians, I'm curious as to why so many Europeans have negative attitudes toward Americans.

Answer 1

i'm an american, but i think i can answer that: arrogance. americans treat everyone as foreigners, even when visiting a foreign country. i was in europe three years in the air force, and i was ashamed at the way most gi's behaved over there.

Answer 2

America is a great country with a beautiful diverse culture and is looked upon as a beacon of democracy world wide. It is blessed with nearly everything a country would wish for save for: (a) its foreign policy and (b) its crime rate.
America's foreign policy smacks of double standards and this is mostly evident on its Israel and Palestinian issues. The middle east turmoil has gone this far without a solution in sight because of America's intransigence with the Palestinian people. Most world wars are usually instigated by the CIA with Washington's blessing. Whilst no one liked Sadaam, his removal was carried out covetously yet the crux of the matter was oil. Now the Iraq's are far worse than they were under Sadaam.
The crime rate has been exacerbated by America's gun culture coupled with its domestic policy.It is obvious to the most casual observer that reducing the prevalence of guns will reduce the prevalence of death and injury. Then there is the drug crime which also brings much conflict with the citizens and the law authorities.
Come clean on these two issues, and America will be respected by the Europeans and everyone else world wide.

Answer 3

The main thing I dislike about the US is it's foreign policy which seems to be
"We're free to mess you about and do what ever we like in the name of promoting our glorious democracy. You stinking horrible terrorist..."

Democracy being synonymous with freedom and peace in the language of the US government. But in actual fact you can have a democracy ruling your country and still be a war-like religious state filled with inequality, as US style democracy is nothing more than a system used to put people in power.

I also dislike the US environmental policy, the attitudes of many US citizens I've met when visiting poor foreign countries ("don't tip them as they'll expect more next time") ,Creationists (science is not just a theory people) and the thought-less, baseless, hate filled partisanship of some.

But other than that America makes nice (large) people, tasty (if unhealthy) food stuffs, fun (incomprehensible) sports and funny cartoons (animated by Koreans).

Answer 4

I would say it's more a love/hate relationship.
Well, European people watch American films, love American writers, are kind of attracted by the American culture.
But they also see the American people as arrogant because of their foreign policy, especially since Bush came to power. You can't say he is so keen on listening to his allies, can you ? They also see the success of some aspects of the American culture in Europe as a threat for their own cultures .
But don't you think some Americans also have negative feelings towards Europeans ? And some Americans are fond of Europe. That's the same thing

Answer 5

I don't think that arrogance is the reason. There are fewer cultures more proud than the French/English. The main problem that I have with Americans is that they are ignorant. (obviously not all of them) Their knowledge of Geography and history is terrible. They also seem to think that any other culture/system/way of doing things is wrong, have little time and understanding for it.

Asians see America as what they want their countries to achieve. Europeans have similar economic strenght, modernised lifestyle, but without the American Ignorance.

Answer 6

Read Grumpy's answer - succinct and to the point! And Capt Paul's reply is also a telling response. Indeed, the Americans who are answering your question are being very honest!

As some one with an American family and many American friends, who has visited the country many times - even at one time temporarily living in New York, I have come to the conclusion that there are two main types of American... the ones who stay in the USA, and the others who travel.
A large number of the latter, just like Capt Paul describes, expect overseas countries to be 'mini Americas' so that they do not have to adapt, in any way, to 'foreign ways' - including learning a few simple phases of a country's language. .
Thus, when overseas turns out not to be America, they make their feelings known by complaining loudly and thereby alienate their hosts.
I recall being in Stockholm a few years ago when an American family came out of a restaurant in a beautiful and quiet part of the old town. But the tranquility of scene was sooon shattered by the father complaining, in stentorian tones, about the price of eating out in Sweden. It was very embarrassing to behold, and marked him out as a fool for not to realising the implications of the Swedish tax system.
Recently, an American relative of mine spent two weeks on vacation in Ireland, and resolutely refused to go into a pub for a drink and bar snack with his father-in-law (also an American), because the pubs did not sell hamburgers! No they don't, buddy, you're in a village in Co Cork, not in downtown Brooklyn!
On the other hand, when you visit the States you find that Americans are, in the main, the most welcoming and generous of hosts. Perhaps it is something to do with feeling secure when in their own environment, a feeling that deserts some of them when overseas and makes them adopt a 'we are a superior nation' to compensate. Who knows?!

Answer 7

I don't think Europeans know very much about the average American. What they do know is the impression that's left by American media and American foreign policy. Those things conspire to make America look like a country of nationalistic dolts and patsies for big business interests. American propoganda is mostly mindless drivel to people growing up outside the USA, and it's beyond us how Americans continually buy into it.

But the average American on the street? My experience is that they're decent people who have been victimized by nationalistic and business interests. And that's not to say that there aren't many very enlightened Americans working to bring greater social relevency to American life.

Answer 8

What annoys us the most here is when Americans sincerely believe that if something worked for them it will work for anyone and anywhere else. It just seems impossible to an American to believe that there are other ways of dealing with issues. We dislike the American enthusiasm for fighting wars (Europeans prefer to negotiate: it takes more time, but it's more acceptable for us), the bad movies they put in our movie theaters, the bad food they try to sell us (in fast-foods, OGMs, etc), their arrogance, their lack of respect and knowledge for our many cultures (please note that Europe is not one culture, it is a puzzle of cultures), the fact that they don't learn foreign languages and that they are shocked to learn that something they liked in the US doesn't exist on the market in Europe (like their favorite brand of candies). Add superficial discussions and a passion for religion hard to accept in some areas of Europe, there are just too many elements we dislike to put them here!

BUT we also know that there are some great Americans out there, open-minded, educated and simply a pleasure to be around them. If only we would get to see more of them and less of your governement on TV!

Answer 9

I am assuming these are mostly opinons derived form the information fed by the media.

Personally, as a European living in America - Americans are some of the friendliest and most welcoming people I have met. True they are incredibly loyal to their country and proud of it - which is not a bad thing, but can be misunderstood as arrogance. Many of the comments relate to the military, and I guess due to the size and technological richness of the US forces, they use different tactics to many other nations which can cause resentment. I lost family memebrs to American fire in WW2, but am still incredibly thankful for the role they played as one of the Allied nations.

Perhaps we should meet each other before judging - and going off what the media decide to tell us today.

Answer 10

Europeans dislike American attitude. I have traveled the world and I am always embarrassed by the conduct of Americans abroad.

I was in Rome on business. I was eating my evening meal at an outdoor tratoria. Seated near me were two American couples. One young "lady" asked the waiter for garlic salt. She was in Italy speaking in English. The waiter was an Italian, living and working in Italy. Believe it or not he spoke Italian. Well he did not understand the lady. He tried and tried to help her. It turned out that Italian restauants will give you garlic or salt or both. But they have never even heard of the American invention of garlic salt.

This lady was becoming more and more rude by the minute. She was loud and obnoxious. But most of all she was ignorant. She was as the Euro's say a "dumb American".

Unfortuneately I can tell stories like this for hours about the same behavior from Americans al over the world. But in our own country, we get mad when we are in line and we have to wait behind some foreigner that can't speak English. At least most of the visitors here try to speak English. We are so arrogant we don't even try. We expect everyone around the world to learn English as a second language just so they can cater to our wishes while visit them in their own country.
Hmmm, I can't imagine why they dislike us.

Answer 11

There are many factors, but I think it's sort of fashionable to hate America right now.

Some jealousy may influence some people; we have a lot of land, a lot of resources, a huge military and some pretty nice universities.

One the other hand, though, American foreign policy is just bullying, our education system sucks, our media doesn't cover global issues -forget the individual networks- except when it'll scare someone, more than half of all Americans are overweight and we've got some major problems right now.