Is Anti-Americanism Cool?

Originally Posted by SacredSturgeon

America is the only developed nation where being called atheist is considered an insult, or where many schools still consider creationism and "intelligent design" acceptable alternatives to actual science. America, quite simply, is way more religious than the rest of the developed world, and way more fundamentalist to boot. It's actually surprisingly different from the rest of the developed world.

Then there's the fact that America is way more right-wing than the rest of the developed world. If I recall correctly, it's the only Western nation that lacks universal healthcare.

So yeah, I'd say in many ways America is fundamentally different.



Having said that, hating a country's government or certain aspects of its society is a-okay with me. Hating its people, not so much. I can go really in-depth about everything about America that I hate (I won't, for the record. Can't be arsed) but it's people, well, they're just people, just like people elsewhere.

What I said had nothing to do with religion.

And of the what, 14 developed countries, we still share the same basic core ideals that give us all rights, and we've got mostly the same freedoms with some random exceptions here and there.

To try another spin on things, Andy, let's put it this way: America has a worse reputation than France does in England, and France is basically our ancestral enemy. As in a thousand years of on-off warfare. Face it, America has to be doing something wrong.

Oh god, that's just ****ing stupid, Tiroth. Every country is doing something wrong. A management system that supposedly keeps track of millions of people and pays for them and manages their lives and gives them all rights, and regulations too, and guards them and allows them all to have opportunity, it's literally impossible to do it perfectly and never fail.

All countries have many, many things wrong with them. America just seems like the place where the most opporunity is present. Consequentially, nearly every other developed country hates us.

By no means am I advocating that this great nation I live in is the best nation. There is no best nation, it would be impossible to choose, and that would just start wars. God knows we could lose several million people and be better off for it. And wars are good for the economy. They just tend to give bitter feelings towards all and we can't have that can we? I'm just saying that America probably should get more credit.

I think you should pay more attention to the English language, Andy. When someone says "they must be doing something wrong", they usually mean "they completely screwed up". Of course it's impossible for a government to be perfect, but the American government is doing much worse than other developed countries.

We shouldn't hate some country just because it's different (hmm.. What does different actually mean).

What does that have to do with me and the English language?

What exactly is it doing that's far worse than other developed countries, Turoth. Describe them to me and present a valid, sound argument that the things we do are worse than the things other countries do. Give an analogy.

Originally Posted by Andy

What does that have to do with me and the English language?

What exactly is it doing that's far worse than other developed countries, Turoth. Describe them to me and present a valid, sound argument that the things we do are worse than the things other countries do. Give an analogy.

Refusing to accept that Socialist policies will greatly strengthen this nation and not destroy it, even when we already have socialism (In general, the massive misunderstanding we have of it). That really, branches off to a ton of problems we have, that crumbled up trash that we call our health care system, perpetuating the underclass (which justifying, it's not completely about altruism at all), the idea that unregulated capitalism works very well are some.
This country is so rich, yet receives so much less benefits then others that have much less. Education and health being ones that stick out.


I'm not completely anti-American, it's just that I always find myself getting annoyed at so many people in this country that are so...dense. Sometimes it's hard to be so proud of this country like some people I know, I wish I could. Even then though, I don't like the idea of someone finding out I'm American, then shun me!

That, and I feel many countries know the clear problems we have and just make fun of it. Places like the middle east, I expect a bunch of people to hate us.

You just said that we refuse to accept socialism and are bad for it, and then in the exact same sentence you said "even though we already have it."

...wat?

Like I said. We're far from the best nation. We have some problems. But there's a lot of opportunity here and we could probably get a little more credit than we do. Honestly, I've lived here seventeen years and I get all the free healthcare I want from the state. I've been through the education and I find it to be far better than "just getting the job done." It's excellent even. Although we're faced with even more budget cuts and etc. the future doesn't look too bleak.

And guess what? We have the potential to make things better. How many countries have that? Not many. Personally I'm thankful for all the great things this country has done for me. I'm not exactly "OMG PROUD TO BE AMERICAN," and I would certainly love to live in Europe for a few years, I still will always hold a soft spot here because of the great things it's done for me.

Originally Posted by Andy

You just said that we refuse to accept socialism and are bad for it, and then in the exact same sentence you said "even though we already have it."

...wat?

Which is the worst part about it. People have the notion that it's terrible when they don't realize we already use some socialist policies.

Like I said. We're far from the best nation. We have some problems. But there's a lot of opportunity here and we could probably get a little more credit than we do. Honestly, I've lived here seventeen years and I get all the free healthcare I want from the state. I've been through the education and I find it to be far better than "just getting the job done." It's excellent even. Although we're faced with even more budget cuts and etc. the future doesn't look too bleak.

Of course there is opportunity, I never denied that. Something I feel we've just started doing with Barack Obama. But the thing is, you can wait for these changes, others can't. They need it now.

In your state, you have health care. But try telling that to the 46 million Americans without health care, that are too old or don't qualify for many state provided health care systems like Illinois' all-kids health care.

You're basing your argument by only your experience growing up in this country. There are so many people that aren't as lucky as you. Health care is treated as a privilege in most of this country. Especially with those having to depend on our privatized health care system. (which is the majority)

And guess what? We have the potential to make things better. How many countries have that? Not many. Personally I'm thankful for all the great things this country has done for me. I'm not exactly "OMG PROUD TO BE AMERICAN," and I would certainly love to live in Europe for a few years, I still will always hold a soft spot here because of the great things it's done for me.

That's perfectly fine, and again, I never said we didn't have potential.

I'll simply put this out there:

Patriotism is stupid. I won't take pride in being an American. I did not choose to be. It just happened. If I chose to become a citizen in another country, I'd take pride in it. I'm glad I was born into a decent country. Heck, America comes in my top 10 list of countries overall. Still, I don't take pride in being American.

Another thing I hate is propoganda, which is too common IMO. I'm not sure how many schools do this, but my school has the pledge of allegience over the intercom everyday, and the anthem every monday. I just sit through it. Honestly I find this to be a bit Nazi-esque.

More or less, I find I don't really like a lot of things about Americans. For one, we are obnoxiously loud. If a person is talking on a cell phone and I can hear them down the block, that'd be a problem I'd think. From what I hear Europeans have a bit less volume. Then there's the general lack of intelligence and following that is the general lack of care. Really, I believe that anyone who hates their own country is a misanthropic idealist who believes the grass is always greener on the other side.

Originally Posted by Citizen Snips

Which is the worst part about it. People have the notion that it's terrible when they don't realize we already use some socialist policies.

Well than that's the people in this country's fault for not recognizing socialism, not the country's fault for not using it.

Of course there is opportunity, I never denied that. Something I feel we've just started doing with Barack Obama. But the thing is, you can wait for these changes, others can't. They need it now.

Nothing significant has changed that allowed Barack Obama to become the president in recent times. We've had this kind of opportunity for a while now. He's just the one who took full advantage of it.

Why would you not be proud of your nation because were not a socialist country? Capitalism has worked for our nation. Just because were in a recession does not mean capitalim doesn't work. We've been in a recession before. And like we came out of it before, we will again. If you really don't mind letting the goverment take 60% of your paycheck, then maybe socialism is for you. Our nation has been fine without European influences. Sure, people get screwed over sometimes, but that could happen anywhere.We have done fine by providing aid to those who need it, and stayed away from socialism. Just because some people can't afford healthcare does not mean we need to become a socialist nation. I'm not saying that don't need fix the healthcare problem. There are many who do need it. But that's no reason to completley change our way of life.

You hear stories about US citizens who pretend to be Canadian when they go overseas. This disgusts me. It's an insult to your heritage. More than anything you should act as an ambassador to other nations, not pretend to be something you're not. I think (hope) most people of other nations realize that Americans are, for the most part, good people, no matter what our government does.

Why would you not be proud of your nation because were not a socialist country? Capitalism has worked for our nation. Just because were in a recession does not mean capitalim doesn't work. We've been in a recession before.

Except that, how does ur capitalism explain the 8 something trillion dollar dept, the money which are largely loaned from the Chinese.

L176, when you learn to capitalize things that should be capitalized and spell out completely the word "your," and structure your sentences properly we might actually take what you have to say seriously.

Originally Posted by Andy

L176, when you learn to capitalize things that should be capitalized and spell out completely the word "your," and structure your sentences properly we might actually take what you have to say seriously.

Ok, sorry for my bad English.

Nothing against you of course, but when you make a serious accusation and tend to generalize an entire country, it's much easier to not just laugh hysterically at it when you actually spell things right and use sentence structure.

If I were to say Spain was a terrible place and had no idea what they were doing or something along those lines, I would certainly brush up on my Spanish before saying such things. Not knowing the language well at all shows ignorance.

Sorry about that. I didn't want to offend (ur country still has a lot of dept).

Originally Posted by Andy

Well than that's the people in this country's fault for not recognizing socialism, not the country's fault for not using it.

Obviously, we're the ones that make up and run the country. Without people, there is no country. The government had a large part in it though, it's called the Cold War and propaganda.

Nothing significant has changed that allowed Barack Obama to become the president in recent times. We've had this kind of opportunity for a while now. He's just the one who took full advantage of it.

I doubt Barack would have been able to do as well in say... the 50s, 60's or anytime before that. It may not seem like it, but electing the first black president was a very big deal in the U.S.

If I were to say Spain was a terrible place and had no idea what they were doing or something along those lines, I would certainly brush up on my Spanish before saying such things. Not knowing the language well at all shows ignorance.

He wasn't the first to criticize a country for believing they were doing something wrong while not knowing their language, much less culture. Everyone does it, we can't learn every language. :/.

Why would you bother insulting another country in their language if you hardly knew it? That's an arrogant thing to do.

I personally feel that Kenya could be ran a lot better. Should I learn half of their dialect and try and say that what they're doing is bad, even though I can barely communicate?

I'm just saying, if you go out of your way to call on another country's problems in their language, you should uh, learn it better first.