Do Americans care that the rest of the World views them as cold hearted, self interested, war mongers?

Question

People in this forum accuse those who are socially aware of being weak or 'liberal'. Do Americans really love money that much? n.b. money doesn't love you back.

Please note the question is: do Americans care? It is not intended to stimulate debate about whether the 'view' is true or not as there is pretty much nothing to debate. Most countries believe America only helps itself whilst claiming it is helping others. Whether or not you agree is not the question. Just wondering if Americans care that the World (which has suffered far worse than 9/11 please get over it!!!!) views them this way or not?

To The_Cricket, I already gave you a thumbs up for a good answer before but thanks for the extra info. It is an antagonistic question but at least you understood it, unlike most other replies so far. I should add though America must be mostly Republican mustn't it, as you have a Government elected two terms in that field? If there are many moderates then they could form a new political party perhaps? That's a democracy for you :-)

Hdean45, Australia here so thanks for no handouts. If you recall we were at WWI and WWII from the beginning, unlike America who waited. America showed no interest in helping Australia (three States bombed by the Japs and Japs were in Sydney Harbour) until American soil was attacked. Unlike America Australia did not profit from WWII. We suffered terrible losses. Australia also helped America in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Answer 1

The obvious answer is no, we as a whole don't. I do, but how I came to be this way is a long story, which reflects early conversations in my home that produced a turn on mind that looks way out--around the world and way back in time.

America is so large and so self-centered (not quite the same as selfish) that many of our citizens don't care what Americans 400 miles away think, much less what citizens of other countries think. Their lives go on pretty much the same either way.

When rampant individualism is mixed with a narrow education and diminishing faith, which used to restrain the worst selfishness and promote self-consciousness in the areas of behavior and others' views, we get what we have now.

Answer 2

No, I really don't care HOW people view Americans. They have no right to judge anyone any more than anyone else has a right to judge them.

And Yahoo Answers is REALLY not a good indication as to how most American adults view the world. There are people on here who pretend to be conservative when they're liberal, and vice versa; there are people with multiple accounts; there are people who aren't even old enough to vote.

Most Americans are not conservative OR liberal. Most of us are moderate.

Edit: As a sidenote, yes, most of our citizens DO care what goes on in other parts of the world. It isn't our fault that many of our politicians DON'T. The problem with our government is that it's been steadily declining since right after the Civil War. Everything they do is about MONEY.

There is one more thing to consider though: No matter what we do, it's wrong. If we get involved with something, we're "meddling." If we don't, people wonder why, and they condemn us for it. Darned if we do, darned if we don't.

Answer 3

War Mongers, well that's a pretty rough statement, agreeably, the US involves itself in other people political/holy wars but it's been a while since the US fought against the US. Other country's cause the wars, not the US, those country's are already waging war and they did it on their own.

And, as far as the self-interest statement, if the US were only interested in ourselves then why do we always find ourselves trying to help other people in other country's because their government failed to help them.

And cold hearted, damn straight, to some degree...especially when people criticize all the good work the US has done for other country's and people, as you say, the rest of the world, still have negative opinions about us.

And as far as money, most of the people who say things like 'money don't love you back' are usually the people who haven't had enough money to truly test the theory.

Seriously, stop criticizing and become proactive and do something positive.

Answer 4

Most Americans don't care what the world thinks of them.

IMO we should realize the world doesn't like us and we should take action to withdraw from foreign entanglements, such as:

The United Nations should be moved out of the USA and we should stop funding it.

Troops should be pulled out of virtually all international locations except for those nations who formally ask us to stay.

All foreign aid should be put on hold for 5 years and we will see who comes back to us begging for assistance.

VISAs should be tightened up an very few people should be allowed to enter the country for any extended time.

If the world hates us so much, lets see how they do without us!

Answer 5

Some Americans care. Most don’t, since they have more immediate concerns in their lives, instead of having to care what people thousands of miles away think of them as a people.

It all depends on what you mean by “socially aware”. If you see a person addicted to crack, are you socially aware by: 1) giving him more, 2)forcing them to rehab, 3) letting them choose that lifestyle as long as they don’t harm anyone else? By picking one of those to be “socially aware” you will be condemned by the other 2 for not being “socially aware”.

Yes we love money that much. Money is not evil, and it gives people options. For example, without money you must rely on what is given to you by the government or others. With money, you may take what is given by others, the government, or buy whatever you believe is worth the money that you have earned.

Answer 6

I care you never know whom you may have to ask for help. This seems to be a bad period we are going thru I am hoping that we will bounce back in 2008. This war has cast Americans again Americans, and we do come across as cold hearted. But Americans are very warm and friendly people. We have leaders at this time who have ego problems and we are trying to get thru this. Your right if you dont agree they call you all kind of names. They for get its our right not to agree. We still are Americans

Answer 7

you set up a straw man here.

you force people to agree with your view that the World views Americans by... so you are a cheat and a hack by definition

quiet frankly, it isn't true that.... the world sees Americans as......war mongers.. GW Bush overall isn't liked most places-even in America.

Venzualian dictators isn't .."the World"
Cuban dictators isn't the world
European media lackeys isn't the world.
the morons that listen to them are not the world
iran isn't the world

USA media lackeys shouldn't be listened to.

Americans do care that the president is a war monger... and we do care that certain allies are drawn away by the president's actions...

better question:
does the world care.... that they let a slimy lil rich kid doop them on all fronts?

cause that's what happened....

sure america elected him.. but w and his daddy's buddies have been doing big time buisness with the whole world for over a century. it takes two to tango.

sold weopons in the ww2 to both sides
been in on oil...
installed the shaw
supported suddam

we can go on and on... the bushes and their friends have done business with everyone...

this is a global problem... and it's prolly gonna take a global answer... before it gets a nuclear one.

this thing isn't black and white and no one country gets to white wash their fences.

Answer 8

Nope, why should we care what any other country thinks ?

Just look at europe,

They killed 80 million people in the 20th century.

They still have genocides.

But were supposed to care what those barbarians think?

I'm still waiting for anyone to tell me any country on earth, that looks out for some other countries interest and not thier own self interest.

Answer 9

Not Americans but the government.

Answer 10

When the news is preempted by status reports of Paris Hilton (whom I hold no ill will towards), I think we are in a sad state in terms of our values. I liken the U.S. of A. to a young 19 year old sticking out its chest and disrespectfully challenging its elders ,... arrogant, know-it-all,and ridiculous seeming.