Anyone else feel attacked by the word 'American'?

Question

Does anyone else from the United States feel attacked and/or threatened when other countries use the word 'American' in a sentence describing us? It seems like many times, when people from other countries talk about the US in negative ways, instead of blaming our government, president, or a select group of people, most of the time they just blame 'Americans'. Such as: 'how can Americans be so self-centered?', 'why are Americans so racist?', and ‘how could Americans have allowed this war in Iraq to continue’. So now I don’t feel bad for being from the U.S., but I despise being called an American (anyway, I’m a statesman, technically). Just curious, any one else flinch at the word?

Answer 1

no,

why?

what about when we use european? or african? or stuff like that.

and at any rate,

generalizations are terrible.

Answer 2

There are somethings to look at here. First of all yes, we as a nation are attacked, Secondly you should be proud to be an American. This is the main country in the world where people will fight for your rights.Rights to live as you want(an example would be the person who answered you Amiko/Gabriel, he is into trans gender counseling, yet he thinks that America is horrible, he would be hiding in some other countries, not voicing his opinion and practicing his life style), say what you want, vote and attempt to change things, work where you want to, wear what you want to(do you think a burka will be comfortable in the summer?). Yes other countries hate us and it is because they want what we have, freedom. If you don't think that you have freedom go to some third world countries and live for a while then come back here and tell everyone what you think. Be proud that you are an American and thank God every day that you were born in a country that allows you to be free.
Watch the television show Jericho sadly it is a very real depiction of what might be our countries near future.

Answer 3

What's in a name?

Answer 4

Now you have a clue as to how the rest of the world feels. Remember the whole Freedom Fries and anti-France farce? All because their government had a position re invading Iraq that the U.S.'s didn't like.

Those questions are legitimate. U.S. Americans are self-centred. Racism is far more common than most people want to acknowledge. And, yes, you have allowed the war in Iraq to continue for all of this time.

You value your 'freedoms' and your 'democracy.' Use them. Until then, the rest of the world has every right to criticize you all for not doing so. That's not blame, that's just sound observation.

Answer 5

I am proud of America and therefore very grateful to have been born in America and proud to be called an American. Other countries know only what their news media tells them. Many countries control what is reported so individuals know nothing about us except what their government wants them hear - usually untrue or slanted to discredit the US and it's people.
Many countries have been doing this forever. Lately, it is to invoke disdain for America and Americans. Many people want to blame us for everything wrong in the world. We are, in their opinion, greedy, money grubbing, cold hearted, ruthless, arrogant, very rich individuals as well as our government. It is our fault, they say, for global warming, for famine, for most every catastrophe in the world.
We are no longer given credit for supplying food, money, military and private help to most every country on earth at one time or another. We are commonly the first to go to the aid of another country in need; privately or via government programs or both.
Unfortunately, many of our celebrates shoot off their mouths in other countries about things they know nothing about and make the situation worse.
There was a time when America was known as the generous country that it is.
BUT, with all this bad press, people from all over the world are risking their lives to come to America and to become an American. I rest my case.

Answer 6

I'm proud to be an American! i was born here, I was raised here, and I will die here. America is my country, and I am an American.

Don't let them buttheads bother you, hunny! They are all friggin idiots, and honestly they do not know what they are talking about.

People from other countries that have never even visited America can sit back and say rude things to us and about us, but they really have no clue.

America is a free country, freedom of religion, freedom of speech. And they totally hate us for being so free, because they are NOT free.

I will never hate being an American, and NOBODY can make me feel like I am being attacked by calling me an American. Nobody can offend me by calling me and American, because I am one. And they can kiss my grits!

Answer 7

well, the reason why they can blame us as well as our government, is because systems of inequality and oppression can only opperate with permission. It involves the micro to macro theory that it all starts with you and I and what we allow to make it to the top. If you think about it, slavory was institutionalized discrimination, meaning it made its way up to our media, education, family, government, social justice etc (these are considered social institutions) because people allowed it to. But, over time, people decided not to allow it any more, and it stopped. I still see that Bush and Bush Admin are still in office. I also see people going about their daily lives willing to bicker about that very thing, but, they are hard pressed to be willing to do much else, so, they(we) are allowing our government to continue to do so, by not removing our permission. Removing one's permission is not a passive action, it is an action action. It means withdrawing all support,
Some ways that we are supporting their(our) reign of terror over the world are : financial (supporting the economy under the Bush admin, paying taxes to support the Bush Admin), legislative (voting for policies that allow them to take advantage of the world including ourselves)...

So, it really is our responsibility to clean up our government, not to expect them to clean themselves up. They, are a product of us, no matter how far removed from us we feel that they are, because even that, is us allowing it. We, the people, have given our permission for these Administrations (past and present) to take away our liberties, to give power to great corporations in order to gain financial support from them, to rape our neighboring countries of their economies, their right to a healthy world (thank you Bush Admin for our lovely anti environmental policies... our resources really aren't immortal, and it is a great amount of dissassociating from reality one must do in order to believe so..)

To answer your question: Yes, I do feel attacked, as I hope every other US citizen feels likewise. Perhaps we will be prompted from our apathetic state before we sit on our thumbs long enough to allow our government to terrorize another country to the point where the other country feels that its only recourse is to nuke us, or more considerately (for the rest of the world) send us a toxic virus, wipes out people in the US rather than releasing nuclear waste into the world to poison every country..

See, if that happens, if someone wipes out the US, its because we didn't get off of our apathetic butts and do something to keep it from happening. Its our job to protect the world and each other from ourselves.

Thank you for posting this question. It is one that needs more attention! People need to think about these things.

For the person above who says that people hate the US for being free, need to do a little deeper contemplating into how simplistically ludicrous their statement is. In fact, there was an entire book written to analyze the question "Why Do People Hate America" and to analyze why the statement "because they hate our freedom" just doesn't cut it as critical reasoning, or even as a viable truth. Link below to book. Is very inexpensive, very insightful, welll researched, and includes citations for an exaustive and highly credible list of sources.
Link below:

The fact is, that if any other country, had as much potential to harm us, as the US has the potential to harm other countries right now, and if we felt that whatever country had that potential to harm us was indeed harming us, i think we would react strongly to protect our loved ones and ourselves.
And, I gotta ask, what are we proud of if we ourselves are not doing anything to curb the violence our country has wreaked upon our own citizens and multiple other countries around the world? what pride is there in finding a safe place to watch the terrors wrought by our own country, rather than taking a stand and reigning in our own government? How can I be proud if I myself have done nothing to preserve the freedoms I claim to be so proud of, and if i have done nothing to ensure that US corporations and Governments do not respect others with those same freedoms when they/we step off of US soil. There is a reason why US corporations sell jobs overseas. Because WE are not demanding that US companies keep the same wage policies overseas as they do here at home. Rather, we allow them(ourselves) to exploit other countries citizens who are already at the nonexistent mercies of their own leaders (who also aren't protecting them from us, or themselves..)

I'm a US citizen, born and raised in the USA, I am not proud of my country right now, i'm not proud of myself, or many of my fellow citizens. I am ashamed, because I can do more to protect my freedoms and liberties, and those of my neighbors, both foreign and domestic, than i am doing right now.. =(

links:
1) Why Do People Hate America?"
2) Link to several articles about what the govt is doing in the US including information about Immigration, the Millitary Commissions Act of 2006, and Habeas Corpus

PS to person below, i'm not "he" or "she" and i'm not transgendered ^_~ and I know all too well the power of hate in the US against those who cross paths with the dominant western culture and don't conform...

Answer 8

no its about pride