Why does the world hate the U.S.?

[Shaoyuan]

No one with a clue "hates" America. Its just cool/trendy/political correct in any country or social setting to pick on America, in the same way picking on the dominant culture in a society is always socially acceptable.


You can always throw rocks at the big kid on the block.

Why not hate America? Your foreign policy is despicable and you can't even look after your own citizens right. But hey, your arms and oil corporations are some of the biggest around!

[Gothic Space Empire]

The fact that Americans like the OP refuse to admit that their country can have any problems is part of why people don't like the country.

Americans seem to forget that the ethics of your actions determine your overall ethics, instead believing that because they have designated themselves the "good guys", that any action the country takes automatically qualifies as good.

[President Mathias]

The fact that Americans like the OP refuse to admit that their country can have any problems is part of why people don't like the country.

Americans seem to forget that the ethics of your actions determine your overall ethics, instead believing that because they have designated themselves the "good guys", that any action the country takes automatically qualifies as good.

You sir, are an idiot. Have you read none of the post? Multiple times I have pointed out that the U.S. has it's faults.

[Galonica]

as an Arab i hate USA for: bullying on us
invading our land
killing civilians
torturing our brothers,
Guantanamo,
abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan,
random drone attacks which kill more and more civilians
backing Arab dictators who have been fucking us for a long time
supporting that apartheid state next door which is called Israel in ethnically cleansing the Palestinians
supporting Israel almost blindly in any thing it does
double standards
etc.......

I'm an American, but I'll tell you that I'm not a big fan of Israel for the reason you stated. There are cases where Israeli soldiers detain Palestinian civilians for no reason, bind their hands behind their back, place something in their hands, and if they drop it, they get shot. At the same time, though, Israel has the right to exist, and Arab organizations have confirmed Israel's right to exist. The GITMO atrocities are commited by angry Republicans that are in the closet, same with the Abu Graib incident. Most of us, though, just want what's best. By the way, everyone's done double standards, and blame Europe-especially England- for the issues in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

[Marcurix]

People dislike America for a variety of reasons that vary from person to person. Not all that many hate the US like you claim, rather a lot of it is eye rolling and head shaking from most.

The USA is a unique country in all reality, there is not country like it on the planet. Its aggressive individualistic culture is a stark contrast to its other more community minded Western counterparts. It's far more pushing in aspects of views, religion and so on and has so many "unique" ideas that it leaves many European nations looking on in bewilderment.

Likewise the US is aggressive on the world stage, it pushes its interests heavily, whether the country is friend or foe and its willingness to use hard power has led to a decline in its reputation.

[Grave_n_idle]

People dislike America for a variety of reasons that vary from person to person. Not all that many hate the US like you claim, rather a lot of it is eye rolling and head shaking from most.

The USA is a unique country in all reality, there is not country like it on the planet. Its aggressive individualistic culture is a stark contrast to its other more community minded Western counterparts. It's far more pushing in aspects of views, religion and so on and has so many "unique" ideas that it leaves many European nations looking on in bewilderment.

Likewise the US is aggressive on the world stage, it pushes its interests heavily, whether the country is friend or foe and its willingness to use hard power has led to a decline in its reputation.

I think that, ultimately, the US has a bad rep for the same reason the British Empire had a bad rep, and the same reason the Roman Empire had a bad rep. The idea that, if you want something, you just roll in and take it, just doesn't sit well with people. Now, maybe the US model is a little different to the British Empire, since it tends to be strategic/political rather than strategic/economic - but it basically feels the same to the people getting rolled over.

[Mikoyan-Guryevich]

People dislike America for a variety of reasons that vary from person to person. Not all that many hate the US like you claim, rather a lot of it is eye rolling and head shaking from most.

The USA is a unique country in all reality, there is not country like it on the planet. Its aggressive individualistic culture is a stark contrast to its other more community minded Western counterparts. It's far more pushing in aspects of views, religion and so on and has so many "unique" ideas that it leaves many European nations looking on in bewilderment.

Likewise the US is aggressive on the world stage, it pushes its interests heavily, whether the country is friend or foe and its willingness to use hard power has led to a decline in its reputation.

I think that, ultimately, the US has a bad rep for the same reason the British Empire had a bad rep, and the same reason the Roman Empire had a bad rep. The idea that, if you want something, you just roll in and take it, just doesn't sit well with people. Now, maybe the US model is a little different to the British Empire, since it tends to be strategic/political rather than strategic/economic - but it basically feels the same to the people getting rolled over.

Except the US hasn't taken anything, they have just rolled in and fucked off at a later date.

[Grave_n_idle]

I think that, ultimately, the US has a bad rep for the same reason the British Empire had a bad rep, and the same reason the Roman Empire had a bad rep. The idea that, if you want something, you just roll in and take it, just doesn't sit well with people. Now, maybe the US model is a little different to the British Empire, since it tends to be strategic/political rather than strategic/economic - but it basically feels the same to the people getting rolled over.

Except the US hasn't taken anything, they have just rolled in and fucked off at a later date.

Indeed. My especial favourites are the way we disentangled ourselves from all the European outposts, divested ourselves of our investment in Japan, and got the hell straight out of the Middle East.

Except, you know, the bits mentioned.

[CREEEEEED]

By the way, everyone's done double standards, and blame Europe-especially England- for the issues in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

I'll agree with the whole Africa thing - Britain and France pretty much raped that continent a few hundred years back. Asia not so much - large chunks of it are doing really well economically - the only fuckup really is burma. And the Middle East... to be honest, you gotta blame that one on the Mongols - They burned the shit out of baghdad, dumped all of it's written knowledge into the tigris (for those who want to mock, that's pretty much the accumulated social, scientific, and philosophical knowledge of about 2000 years of human history, much of which was irreplaceable), until the river ran black with ink, and red with the blood of the scholars responsible for it. They blocked up the irrigation system which made mesopotamia (iraq, parts of syria, turkey and iran) the breadbasket of the ancient world, turning the whole lot into desert. 760 years later, Baghdad, and the middle east in general, hasn't recovered.

But yeah, back to america.

No one with a clue "hates" America. Its just cool/trendy/political correct in any country or social setting to pick on America, in the same way picking on the dominant culture in a society is always socially acceptable.

You can always throw rocks at the big kid on the block.

Why not hate America? Your foreign policy is despicable and you can't even look after your own citizens right. But hey, your arms and oil corporations are some of the biggest around!

Firstly, if you're the "big kid on the block", then act like it and stop having a hissy fit every time someone throws a rock. And stop giving everyone else so many excuses to throw rocks.

Plenty of people with clues hate america, and for good reason. You get up on your high fucking horses about human rights all the time, and quietly ramble about something else whenever someone mentions GITMO or Abu Ghraib. You talk about "liberty and justice for all" while you let millions of your own people die in poverty and homelessness, from easily preventable diseases because... what? Housing, feeding and providing medical treatment to ~40-50 million people and creating more jobs to help them contribute usefully to your society is just too expensive for the richest 5%? The same richest 5% who control 95% of all wealth in America? Where's the justice, or liberty, in that situation?

The founding fathers you look up to so much would turn in their graves, and their hearts would shatter like glass, if they could see what their beloved Republic has become. Big businesses buying politicians through election donations (don't act like it isn't true, either - corporate lobbying is one of the biggest influences on the way senators and representatives vote for or against your bills). You've made up the pledge of allegiance to indoctrinate your children, and constantly claim yourselves to be a christian nation (you're really, really not. virtually all the founding fathers were atheists, and they gave you freedom of, and freedom from religion, in the hope that most would choose the latter).

If you want the rest of the world to look up to you, America, then give us a reason to, because all I see is a country operating on a policy of personal greed, utterly without regard for humanity as a whole, abusing the power it made for itself, rather than using it to really help the world.

[Lelf]

The few Americans that portray themselves to the rest of the world as fat, rude and wealthy people. That is all that the rest of the world gets to see, so they have no other idea of Americans.

[Scientific socks]

The few Americans that portray themselves to the rest of the world as fat, rude and wealthy people. That is all that the rest of the world gets to see, so they have no other idea of Americans.

Not at all. You just have not bothered to open your eyes. Less than a week ago an American girl started chatting to me in Australia and she asked if there were any other Americans around only to find there were two sitting at the table next to us.

i have been to far too many places to pay attention to accents. I had no idea but there seems to be quite a lot of Americans in the mining companies. The Americans I have met in the past few years have been plesant and sociable peope without exception. The only group that I have had bad uniformly bad experiences with in Australia are the British but fortunately I know better as i have been to Britain and am technically British.

Deliberately being ignorant to dislike a group is racism. I suggest everyone accepts that America as a country has its good points and bad just like every person on this Earth.

[Islamic Hazarastan]

Oh, look! Yet another reason!

[NNWO]

That nation is full of fat, corrupt, rude people. They think America is so great so they get cocky at EVERY turn. They know their government is sucking the life out of them but they do nothing! A pathetic people.

[CREEEEEED]

The few Americans that portray themselves to the rest of the world as fat, rude and wealthy people. That is all that the rest of the world gets to see, so they have no other idea of Americans.

Not at all. You just have not bothered to open your eyes. Less than a week ago an American girl started chatting to me in Australia and she asked if there were any other Americans around only to find there were two sitting at the table next to us.

i have been to far too many places to pay attention to accents. I had no idea but there seems to be quite a lot of Americans in the mining companies. The Americans I have met in the past few years have been plesant and sociable peope without exception. The only group that I have had bad uniformly bad experiences with in Australia are the British but fortunately I know better as i have been to Britain and am technically British.

Deliberately being ignorant to dislike a group is racism. I suggest everyone accepts that America as a country has its good points and bad just like every person on this Earth.

The vast majority of americans are perfectly nice people - on an individual basis. As a nation, well, you've seen their foreign policy over the past decade. I do agree about us Brits though - we can be tremendously rude as tourists, although I've generally found that Americans and, for some reason, the French are even more so. Obviously that's a generalisation, and there are exceptions, but by and large they both seem to be very rude groups of people. Sort of like BMW drivers, except I generally put the American and French tourists on the "lacks understanding of local custom/culture/manners" list, as opposed to the "deliberately being an absolute cunt" list that BMW drivers belong on.

Also, "deliberately being ignorant to dislike a group" is not racism. Discriminating against a group based on their race is. This can be good or bad (for example, certain medicines have superior action in black people compared to white people, and vice versa. I think we all know the bad parts), but it's still racism regardless.

I don't view Americans as a race, simply because they aren't. They're an amalgamation of various European, Asian and Afro-Carribean cultures, with different 'racial' aspects all round.

Also, I hate America for Justin Bieber. Seriously, he's your fault guys. (Yes, I know he's Canadian, but his music career was started by Americans, in the US)

[North Calaveras]

That nation is full of fat, corrupt, rude people. They think America is so great so they get cocky at EVERY turn. They know their government is sucking the life out of them but they do nothing! A pathetic people.

What nation are you from?

[CREEEEEED]

That nation is full of fat, corrupt, rude people. They think America is so great so they get cocky at EVERY turn. They know their government is sucking the life out of them but they do nothing! A pathetic people.

What nation are you from?

Where he's from doesn't matter. Americans have created an arrogant, corrupt, obese reputation for themselves - the rest of the world didn't just decide to apply this to you for no reason. Like all such things, it's a generalisation - I'm pretty sure that the french don't all wear striped shirts and berets, while smoke cigarettes and eating garlic, but thats the image you get when you think of a frenchman. Same thing for americans, except instead of the above, it's obese people wearing awful hawaiian shirts, eating a bucket of KFC.

The government life-sucking comment doesn't really belong, since it applies to most of the western world, including the US. We all need to really do something about our governments, because here in Britain we don't even get majority-elected governments - a party only needs to get about 35% of the vote in order to win, which is fucking absurd. We bring it on ourselves though - we just voted no to electoral reform which would have made our system legitimately democratic, but hey, people want what they want, and apparently this means British people want to keep getting fisted by the right wing.

[Arumdaum]

Same thing for americans, except instead of the above, it's obese people wearing awful hawaiian shirts, eating a bucket of KFC.

That's what you think of when you think of Americans?

[North Calaveras]

What nation are you from?

Where he's from doesn't matter. Americans have created an arrogant, corrupt, obese reputation for themselves - the rest of the world didn't just decide to apply this to you for no reason. Like all such things, it's a generalisation - I'm pretty sure that the french don't all wear striped shirts and berets, while smoke cigarettes and eating garlic, but thats the image you get when you think of a frenchman. Same thing for americans, except instead of the above, it's obese people wearing awful hawaiian shirts, eating a bucket of KFC.

The government life-sucking comment doesn't really belong, since it applies to most of the western world, including the US. We all need to really do something about our governments, because here in Britain we don't even get majority-elected governments - a party only needs to get about 35% of the vote in order to win, which is fucking absurd. We bring it on ourselves though - we just voted no to electoral reform which would have made our system legitimately democratic, but hey, people want what they want, and apparently this means British people want to keep getting fisted by the right wing.

Actually it does matter, if hes going to call Americans fat, corrupt and rude people I wanna know what stereotypes i can use against his people.

[New Sharmania]

Because we're annoying and won't leave anyone alone when we should.

[7185514]

The simple answer is that they're probably jealous, we the straggling nation have somehow become a superpower in half the time of most and we have yet to lose even a tiny war that would not matter in the end. We are able to conquer any nation we so please but we have enough restraint not to, so we decide, we'll defend, from YOUR country.

So, everyone hates because we have a big military ready to kill and they don't, simple.

[SovietSovietRussia]

Why does everyone hate America?

Japan just plain had it coming to them.

Well this would be a good start. Americans have built up a reputation as rude and inconsiderate.

How would you feel if something like pearl harbor happened in your country

[Cameroi]

if you had a "friend" who not only robbed from you, but did so in such a way as to keep you from ever being able to not be dependent on them, would you love them?
oh yes, and he/she was also orders of magnitude stronger then you, and then claimed the pretense of moral superiority?

i don't think its a mater of hatred, but one of practical, reasonable, realistic, distrust.

[Tekcirb]

[Austa-scotia]

The reason no one likes America, is because, Americans just dont seem to conceive why anyone would hate them. (Very similar to the English in that respect)

[Raksalla]

I'll admit, America has massive flaws. But I would argue that Britain and France, and indeed, much of Europe is MUCH more fucked up then we have ever been, even with our massive debt, screwed-up healthcare, and ineffective, warmongering government. And why don't people hate them? Because they aren't as big, or as tough, or as "hey, there's a problem, let's go fix it" proactive as the USA. You call it unnecessary interference, I call it seeing a problem and trying to deal with it. At least you Europeans are finally starting to pick that up, what with Libya.