In your experience, do you find that people outside of America hate America?

Question

and Americans?

Well, maybe "Hate" is a strong word...but everywhere I go especially after 9-11...I always have at least one or two conversations with someone mistaken me for Condi Rice...
--all in my ear about what they don't like about American Foreign Policy
--all in my ear about how stupid Americans are. i mean come on now...America is the number one superpower in the world...if we're all so stupid, what does that make the rest of the world?
--Sometimes I sit there listening to people bash America (as they chow on their McDonalds while listening to their latest Beyonce CD) and I wonder...What in the WORLD do you expect ME to say? I'm American. I love traveling, seeing other places and meeting new people...but at the end of the day...

I asked 2 questions:
1. In your experience, do you find that people outside of America hate America(ns)?

2. What do people expect ME to say when they're bashing America AFTER finding out that I'm American?

And I don't go BRAGGING about being American to anyone; since it usually brings a lot of unwanted attention. I actually try to hide that fact. i do it quite well when I'm traveling in Africa or parts of South America; unless my ACCENT gives it away.

As I stated earlier, I definitely don't agree with a lot that some Americans and the American government do (HELLLOOOO, I'm BLACK), but at the end of the day, that's where I pay taxes, and its where most of the people I love live.

Answer 1

Yes, I am not a born citizen of the US but lived here all my life. I traveled to Argentina earlier this year, and continously i had foreigners give a comment when they knew i was from the US. All related to Bush and his decisions and how we think we think we are the best in the world. I had ppl tell me they dislike the US and would never even think of visitng.

Answer 2

Want a Canadian perspective?
We don't see Yanks as being a bad people on the whole. We just have issues with some of your governments foreign policy. I think that's true for most outside the States. People will stereotype what they see in a national symbol. Currently, your having a VP that shoots his pals, a President that isn't aware of geography and comes off on tv as a bit of a...well, dunce, influences peoples perceptions. It's a little difficult to take a Laurel and Hardy combination seriously as a legitimate governing power.
Declaring oneself to be the policeman of the world isn't exactly endearing to others either. Nobody likes "the man" to run their business in their own home and the same holds true in a global situation. It may come down to the American Gov'ts reluctance to work with other jurisdictions and instead act unilaterally.
I think also it's the notion that those of us outside America ARE constantly bombarded with " we are the greatest and better than you". It's fine to have national pride. It's expected. Nobody likes to have it blatantly shoved up their nose though.
I'm not suggesting that everyone does it, but it is there.
I've travelled with some Americans on a Nile cruise once. Great bunch, though a little nervous about being in the middle east. Once they left being American out of their heads, they had a great time enjoying another country's culture, but it didn't happen until they accepted that speaking english louder didn't make people understand any better, learning a little about local customs and respecting them went a long way and having a smile on the face was a sure fire way to get bargains, get invited into homes and have a blast.
Loosen up a bit and accept cultural differences, spend more money in the education system about the world as a whole and I think you'll find there may be a little less bashing going on and a more enlightened population.

Answer 3

America is just a nation of people like any other nation. Being world power doesn't give a country status that people will bow down too. The British Empire was far more powerful and had a bigger impact on the globe but through land occupation not aircraft carriers. But like all things nothing lasts forever.
Now America and United Kingdom work together in dominating the world in a political/military force that shapes the middle east.
Opponents like Al - Qaida try and even western countries are angry at the way America is pushing it's agenda globally over other countries and gets resentment but that is normal.

Answer 4

When I was in the Air Force, I lived in Spain for 4 years and traveled all over that country, Europe, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. Since then I've been on numerous islands in the Caribbean, Argentina, Belize, Guatemala, Japan and our neighbors to the north and south.

I have never found anyone outside of this country that is more critical of us then I am, and I am proud of my American heritage. We do some awfully moronic things and say we are saving the world from itself. The latest case in point is invading Iraq saying we are saving the world from terrorism. WHAT?? How is that?

Almost all of the 911 terrorists where from Saudi Arabia. Oh, we are there to save the people from the mass murder of the government..... Then why aren't we in Darfur, Somalia?

If we act like bullies, we are going to get the same kind of respect bullies get.

Let me off my soap box, I am getting my blood pressure up.

Answer 5

Some do, with good reason and also with bad reasoning. We meddle in the affairs of other countries for profit. For this, we have it coming to us while some hate America for it's successes and this is undeserved. Our governmental system is broken, we, the citizens have completely lost control (if we ever had control) and sadly, many are too lazy or afraid to wrest it back from the hands of the few who run it.

I read that America makes up 6% of the global population yet uses over 60% of the world resources and consumer goods. This can't go on forever...our government isn't acknowledging this...why? The rest of the world knows our greedy behavior, why can we not see it? I want my grandkids to have a decent life, how is it possible with this kind of (lack of) leadership?

Answer 6

I am an African American woman living in Paris France right now and have been American bashed for many reason. I am proud to be American, but don't wear it on my sleeve.We have overstepped our boundaries and expect other countries to agree with our polices. We run things for America, not the world.And for the record: Currently the euro is worth more than the dollar. So you might want to ask yourself one question. Superpower to what and to whom. Many countries contribute to the worlds economy. We were at one point a country in which many followed. Now I question, the power, as we invade and take over, when are where we see fit. If this were to happened on American soil have would we feel? Innocent people are loosing their lives abroad by the choices being made by our government. Be proud, but don't be misinformed. I have traveled and worked all over the world and sometimes it is better to remain silent, depending on America's current events, than to brag about being American. It just might save your life. The world looks to America for several reasons, but sometimes it is not always a positive reflection. We are not perfect and not eveyone wants what we have.

Answer 7

to be sincere, people outside america HATE america. yes, HATE. ur not the number one superpower in the world. u think u are but its because youve isolated urselves and dont know what is going on in the world. in an old national geographic it said americans were one of the least traveled people; less than 38% have been to more than 2 other countries. 2 dollar=1 pound. how can u say ur economy is better than that of england? self-deceptoon isnt very smart u know. u have one of the worst school systems in the world too. trust me, ive schooled in three different countries and conclude that ur education was the worst(the countries are nigeria, england and usa). why would i want to be an american? when i was going to come here, the embassy guys were just stamping peoples' passports like they were having fun, not even checking the forms or anything. they stamped the passports of light people and denied darker-skinned people.they even took my gameboy(i was a kid). thank God i have an american pasport( i was born here) or i wouldnt have been able to get here. in the shengen(scandinavian) and europian embassies they were friendly and listened to us and checked our forms and then gave us the visas. why would i wan to be an american, got to america or even marry an american? the other day in class we were talking about aborigines and one american girl asked if they were good for anything. why? do u think u are good for anything with ur racism and massacring of amerindians? why would i want to be an american? answer me that question and ill show u a green dog.

Answer 8

Most Asian countries like us plenty. Europeans in general have a negative view of American policies and our conduct as tourists, but there are plenty of individual exceptions.

Calling us stupid is, well, stupid since our top 10% are smarter and overachieve more than any other nation's elite, including China.

Answer 9

Yes, they think we're all arrogant and "too good" to learn the native language of the countries we visit. They love our culture, but not us. Hmmm. And let's not get into what many believe about minorities. Unfortunately, they judge us based on what they see on TV and hear in our music. Hmmm.

Answer 10

No.