How does the World view America these days?

The US usually thinks of itself as the world, look at our media, it's always about " me me me". Well yes there are other countries on earth, and they don't always see eye to eye with our vision of ourselves.

So WATMM, a lot of you are from everywhere else, what say you? How full of ourselves are we? Do we appear to be the gun toting, race war baiting, waterboarding, overweight, loudmouths that out media portrays us to be?

I'm really curious about your opinions, so much of the media is US focused, a lot of global news and issues get lost in the noise.

  On 12/17/2014 at 9:54 AM, Rubin Farr said:

So WATMM, a lot of you are from everywhere else, what say you? How full of ourselves are we?

A lot, but that's not your fault. Your govt and media are awful. Like... depressing awful. And I'm not even talking about your foreign policies. HNNNG

Would not live there. Not for anything ever.

But that hasn't really anything to do with people. Most americans are quite nice actually, I like them.

They are the best alternative for world police that we have so thank you

  On 12/17/2014 at 10:12 AM, Perezvon said:

 

  On 12/17/2014 at 9:54 AM, Rubin Farr said:

So WATMM, a lot of you are from everywhere else, what say you? How full of ourselves are we?

A lot, but that's not your fault. Your govt and media are awful. Like... depressing awful. And I'm not even talking about your foreign policies. HNNNG

 

Would not live there. Not for anything ever.

 

But that hasn't really anything to do with people. Most americans are quite nice actually, I like them.

 

Americas is the country, they freed the black people, invent alot great things, like coca-cola and automatic wheelchairs...way to go pall,

what diminishes my opinion of a particular nation or race of people the most is when I get the hint that they consider themselves superior to everyone else. it doesn't matter who they are or what they've done, I just have absolutely no time for that attitude.

therefore, there are lots of Americans I've met who I don't really get along with because they still bear vestiges of the old American exceptionalism. it makes me dismissive of them. I don't set out to be so. I mean, some of them are good people. I've had good times with them. but I just can't tolerate that attitude.

this problem is not exclusive to Americans though, in fact the US is just the latest in a long line of civilisations that consider themselves top shit. I get superiority-complex vibes from a lot of Chinese people too, for instance. Arabs are notorious for it. they say it's ingrained in the Scandinavian mindset as well. probably every mob does it to some degree. it's a plague.

Knowing that breaking my arm or having some kind of illness could earn me a life ruining amount of debt would be awful. Same with going to college. So yeah, YUROP all the way.

This is not what the thread is about though, is it? USA is a bigass country and the most important one, so it makes sense to be self-centered I guess. The news and media in Spain is Spain-centered, I dunno. I agree with usagi too

America to me feels like the logical conclusion for rampant capitalism. When I was a kid I used to think it looked so cool, everyone seemed rich and happy, in comparison to my grey British Adrian Mole lifestyle. Now though, it comes across as a nation full of ignorant spoiled brats with an unwavering sense of superiority. I realise that doesn't apply to everyone and you're basically governed by corporations - but yeah, it's the last place I'd want to live now.

  On 12/17/2014 at 11:34 AM, arvy Ictal said:

 

  On 12/17/2014 at 10:12 AM, Perezvon said:

 

  On 12/17/2014 at 9:54 AM, Rubin Farr said:

So WATMM, a lot of you are from everywhere else, what say you? How full of ourselves are we?

A lot, but that's not your fault. Your govt and media are awful. Like... depressing awful. And I'm not even talking about your foreign policies. HNNNG

 

Would not live there. Not for anything ever.

 

But that hasn't really anything to do with people. Most americans are quite nice actually, I like them.

 

Americas is the country, they freed the black people, invent alot great things, like coca-cola and automatic wheelchairs...way to go pall,

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

no seriosly it's still better than to eat frogs, weirdo!!!!

 

 

  On 12/17/2014 at 11:59 AM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

Knowing that breaking my arm or having some kind of illness could earn me a life ruining amount of debt would be awful. Same with going to college. So yeah, YUROP all the way.

 

This is not what the thread is about though, is it? USA is a bigass country and the most important one, so it makes sense to be self-centered I guess. The news and media in Spain is Spain-centered, I dunno. I agree with usagi too

Yeah, I wouldn't want to live there. Eurosocialism is working fine for me, thank you very much.

As for the people there's obviously all kinds of people in America as is everywhere. I haven't been there myself but I have seen Americans elsewhere. If I had to make a sweeping generalization I find Americans about as equally annoying as French or Brits.

All joking aside, you should look at the person, not the nationality.

occasionally makes some films and tv shows that i enjoy watching.

other than that basic consumerism it's irrelevant to me.

I think they talk funny.

Great nation, new Roman Empire. For every disgusting behaviour there is something wonderfully marginal.

When I lived in the UK there always seemed to be a latent anti-Americanism - nothing to do with the revolution but more to do with exceptionalism, religiosity, insularity, disgust over healthcare, the World Policeman role etc. Those can be reasonable-enough points to get annoyed about, but you can't stereotype such a huge country in that way. And I found that a lot of people did. It's especially stupid considering how big and internally diverse the US is.

I find Canada is a lot more reasonable in attitudes to the US. Actually IMO the border is hardly relevant really, I find that I have a lot more in common with people from the northeast US than I do with people from western Canada

best country on earth with some fixable flaws.

  On 12/17/2014 at 11:42 AM, usagi said:

what diminishes my opinion of a particular nation or race of people the most is when I get the hint that they consider themselves superior to everyone else. it doesn't matter who they are or what they've done, I just have absolutely no time for that attitude.

 

therefore, there are lots of Americans I've met who I don't really get along with because they still bear vestiges of the old American exceptionalism. it makes me dismissive of them. I don't set out to be so. I mean, some of them are good people. I've had good times with them. but I just can't tolerate that attitude.

 

this problem is not exclusive to Americans though, in fact the US is just the latest in a long line of civilisations that consider themselves top shit. I get superiority-complex vibes from a lot of Chinese people too, for instance. Arabs are notorious for it. they say it's ingrained in the Scandinavian mindset as well. probably every mob does it to some degree. it's a plague.

i think you shouldnt take the american slogans seriously. americans dont think that way in general. we are just ignorant. :-)

sick nation facing intractable problems end of western civilization is IMMINENT etc etc. I love Americans though! Friendly good humoured, friendlier than most people you'll meet in Sydney.

There is pretty much no observation about this country that's too ridiculous to be true.

On a more serious note I think this is a good quote:

  On 12/17/2014 at 12:10 PM, westhead said:

America to me feels like the logical conclusion for rampant capitalism.

The thing is Europeans can be pretty ignorant about the underlying economics of things, it's like they assume a welfare state can just exist, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of cohesion in society. Europeans aren't very sensitive to the diverse nature of an immigrant nation like the USA. It's not as easy to pass laws like this when you have such diverse groups of people. I like the USA because they are so extreme about the ideals. In the US, you can take an opponent of your ideology, and use it to strengthen your own opposition and ideals which leads to a kind of pure form of those ideals. I think to really succeed in a debate over there, you generally need to be very technical and have fully comprehended the underlying structures, while in Europe it's more about emotions and "common sense" type of thinking. It seems like the US has big problems with cohesion to the point where you wonder if they can even have a functioning federal government, but there is something to be admired about the technicality and purity of a lot of that.

Bottom line is I just can't muster respect for europeans in general because I think their criticisms of the US are flawed and lacking in substance, and being from europe myself I see it in people I talk to all the time. So yeah to the ops question, there is still a lot of usa hate, but it doesn't seem to be as public as it was a few years ago. I still hear it in conversation, hating the rich, the inequality, the war machine, the greed especially, and that they are "crazy" and extreme etc.

  On 12/17/2014 at 11:42 AM, usagi said:

it's ingrained in the Scandinavian mindset as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante ;)

My economics teacher in high school told us we were living in Pax Americana, but that would be replaced in the 21st Century by the Pax China. He was like fucking Nostradamus.

don't know if this adds anything to the conversation, but I like it.

[youtubehd]j2zlPNGuPbw[/youtubehd]

also