Opinions about america, NOT A PISSING MATCH BETWEEN PRO AND ANTI

Viscount Stanthorpe

My personal take on the US is that its got one of the highest potentialities of any civilisation that's so far come about - but as its also got higher standards of expectation, they're lambasted for not living up to them, which is unfair because those powers that don't even come close (eg the Soviet Union at its height of its tyranny) can still find flaws & flay them in the media.

As a generally pro-American Brit (albeit one who thinks that friends should be the ones who can say 'No' without causing offence), I think that the US is one of the most vibrant places there is; yes, its got huge (and to my mind, disgraceful) variances between rich & poor; yes, its got a myopia about how good life is the US is comparison to other nations & yes its got dumb-ass political parties (but hey, who hasn't?), but the main 'crime' that anti-Americans point out is that the US is so big that it can easily forget that there is the rest of the world out there. Aside from that, its basically a force for good in the world, and the world would be a poorer place if the US lost its position as top power.

People who go on anti-American tirades & indicate that 'the US is the source of all evil in the world' from 3rd world debt to Islamic militancy to environmental problems indicate that they're not – to my mind - particularly well versed in the world. Yes, the Americans have caused problems in the world, but the bulk of these stem from the fact that they're a Great Power, and occasionally they have to engage in Realpolitik to do unpleasant deals with nasty regimes, demonstrating that (institutionally) they've got a dose of common sense.

Good on you guys. Yes, you've got some problems that I'd like to change if I was temporarily put in charge, but I hope you solve them & I'm confident that you will. Overall, I rate the US as somewhere between a B+ and an A-; some areas to improve on, but basically good.

Background: A upper-middle class male Briton, 35, who lives in the Netherlands.
 
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birdy

zhqaat said:
The USA has been a complete ass of lste. The U stands for Under acheived education. The S is for Stupid, acting like a retarded child who has gone " I think you're a bad man. Opps I sorry for what I did " A is for Acne, Aremica is still young ans she needs to learn the ways of the world
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:rolleyes:- This place seems to be getting disturbingly similar to Youtube as of late:(.

My opinions about america are mostly good, i've never been there but i have the impression that the people are essentiatly decent and public spirited to a degree i'd like people in Britain to be. I think the world would be worse without them as a superpower (Britain and France etc support dictators too).

I like their history of accepting large numbers of immigrant- something else i hope Britain and Europe emulate, as well as their cultural diversty and thier scientific and technological accomplishments.

The small fact of being essential to the defeat of Nazism and Communism is also appreciated.

Only issue i have is the belief among some that the USA is and always has/will be better then other countries in and disregarding the contributions of other countries- for example calling our troops cowards etc.

I suspect they represent a minority though and plenty of non americans do such things.

Background

23 yr old British male
Middle class student, born working class.
Part British, Part Irish.
 

karl2025

As an American, enjoying history has been really depressing to me in regard to the United States. I see all the great strides America took up to promote freedom and effort it took to push the boundaries of what's possible and then I look at where we are now and...

We just forgot about the moon. We say we're going back someday but we're going to delay that longer than it ever should have been, our freedom is being diminished because of actions taken by our government like the Patriot act, and I just have no faith in the economy.

That being said, we're still one of if not the free-est nations, we still have a vast amount of wealth and even if we didn't we've shown we can get through hard times because we are pretty industrious. And while our government doesn't always pick up the slack, the American people have consistently been shown to donate more of their per-capita income than any other nation.

So I guess my main complaint is there's too much potential we can't measure up to and that's always going to make people upset.

Background:
Student
Parents were upper-lower class and lower middle class moved up to lower upper class.
American.
 
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Dean_the_Young

birdy said:
Only issue i have is the belief among some that the USA is and always has/will be better then other countries in and disregarding the contributions of other countries- for example calling our troops cowards etc.

I suspect they represent a minority though and plenty of non americans do such things.
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The closest I know of any serious disrespect for foreign soldiers I know by anyone who has basis for knowledge (other than French-baiting, but that's mutual) is contempt for the NCOs of countries with structure of the Warsaw Pact, and that's more professional than personal.

You'll get the talking heads, but what do they know? And when did they speak for the US as a whole?
 

birdy

Dean_the_Young said:
The closest I know of any serious disrespect for foreign soldiers I know by anyone who has basis for knowledge (other than French-baiting, but that's mutual) is contempt for the NCOs of countries with structure of the Warsaw Pact, and that's more professional than personal.

You'll get the talking heads, but what do they know? And when did they speak for the US as a whole?
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Its more the kind of thing you see on Internet flame wars that i'm thinking about, i know its not a common thing just the only thing negative thing about the US that comes to my mind- and by no means is is an exclusivly american thing, the British do it too.
 

Admiral Brown

You could talk about this for pages and pages. I believe it has very good points, and añso rather obscure ones. And the fact that it's the superpower and has the ability determinate what happens elsewhere (up to a certain point, of course) means that it will be carefully examinated by everyone. Not everybody has a formed opinion about Denmark, New Zeland, Mali or Ecuador, let alone Kirguistan or Buthan. The News only occasinaly refer to these places (at least where I live). But almost everybody in the world will have something to say about the US.

One think I found surprising (in a positive way) abourt this country is the ability to criticize itself in its own TV and home-made films. I mean, outside the "hiper-patriotic films" like "Black Hawk down", there are also films and TV series which make fun of the "dark points" of the country itself.

In my country, you could find many films in which someone is criticised (the bankers, the military, the politicians, the Judges, the police, the famous actors, and even the Church). But not one in which the "average Argentinian", or the "Argentinian society" is made fun of. That's probably the only thing "sacred". We have nothing like The Simsons or South Park, which somehow make fun of society as a whole. You'd never see something like that (about us) on our primetime national TV.
 

Dean_the_Young

Admiral Brown said:
In my country, you could find many films in which someone is criticised (the bankers, the military, the politicians, the Judges, the police, the famous actors, and even the Church). But not one in which the "average Argentinian", or the "Argentinian society" is made fun of. That's probably the only thing "sacred". We have nothing like The Simsons or South Park, which somehow make fun of society as a whole. You'd never see something like that (about us) on our primetime national TV.
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How can you not have the Simpsons or South Park? Or even Family Guy? Those are basically just twenty-five minutes of separate skits linked by a vague "plot".
 

Gonzaga

Admiral Brown said:
In my country, you could find many films in which someone is criticised (the bankers, the military, the politicians, the Judges, the police, the famous actors, and even the Church). But not one in which the "average Argentinian", or the "Argentinian society" is made fun of. That's probably the only thing "sacred".
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Interesting, I always considered that the main difference between Argentinians and Brazilians, when talking about their own people, is that we are much more pessimist about our society, while the "average Argentinian" is generally proud and optimistic, even in bad situations.
 
Prestonian

Prestonian

I've never been there, although I have met Americans before.

Social background - I'm British of English,Welsh, Irish and French ancestry (mostly English and Irish).

Economic background - Working-class

Political background - I'm an Anarchist-Communist. My family have been Labour supporters for generations.

Government - Terrible. You Americans need a revolution, fast!

Culture - Some of it is trashy, some of it is just rubbish. However, some of your bands and tv shows are the best in world. And Diet Coke is great.

Language - What did the letter U ever do to you? Also, why do you need to simplify spellings for?

Sport - Its ironic that a country that has influenced the world so much plays sports that hardly anyone else does, such as American football and baseball.

People - They are pretty good people. Most Americans I know tend to be warm,friendly people. America has its far share of idiots, religious fundies and nutters, but they are a minority.

Overall, I love the Americans, but hate their government and their obsession with celebrities.
 

Admiral Brown

Gonzaga said:
Interesting, I always considered that the main difference between Argentinians and Brazilians, when talking about their own people, is that we are much more pessimist about our society, while the "average Argentinian" is generally proud and optimistic, even in bad situations.
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:D:D:D
(For everybody: the joke is that it's the other way round)

But still, even if you certainly will find a lot of Argentinians talking bad and pesimistically about the country and at its people, you don't have a TV series in Argentina that depicts the "average Argentinian" as The Simpsons depicts an "American family" (analogously, I mean, highlighting our defects). Not in prime time TV. For example, you won't see a series in which the main character proudly brives a police officer when he recieves a fine; which unfortunatly, is something quite a few Argentinians do.:(

That's what I found strange about the US: even if they are extremly proud of their country (which sometimes makes them overlook its negative points) they make some films and series in which the characters appear with all the negative characterics outsiders associate with them.
 
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Paul Spring

Admiral Brown said:
:D:D:D
.........

That's what I found strange about the US: even if they are extremly proud of their country (which sometimes makes them overlook its negative points) they make films and series in which the characters appear with all the negative characterics outsiders associate with them.
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I think that many people in the USA really dislike criticism from people who are not from the USA, but are perfectly willing to make similar criticisms of their own country. In that respect, the USA is kind of like a giant but close-knit family of over 300 million people - within the national "family", people feel free to criticize and make fun of each other constantly, but if an outsider comes in and criticizes the USA, a lot of people tend to close ranks and will defend things that they would condemn if they were talking to a fellow USAian.
 

Ian the Admin

Administrator
Donor
zhqaat said:
The USA has been a complete ass of lste. The U stands for Under acheived education. The S is for Stupid, acting like a retarded child who has gone " I think you're a bad man. Opps I sorry for what I did " A is for Acne, Aremica is still young ans she needs to learn the ways of the world
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Hm... given that for a two-weeks registered member, you have an opinion of episodes... posted in the Hall of Infamy no less...

zhqaat said:
Yeah his espiodes are decent. Nice reading but I want to see more writing from him.
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Banned, sockpuppet troll.
 

Flyfishing

First of all, thank you Ian! Sockpuppets are truly annoying.

Secondly, I'd like to relate aomething that came as a bit of a 'Culture Shock' to me personally.

Background: My wife and I ran a store in the Midwest for some years. One day a British couple walked in our door while on Holiday. The first question
from them was, "How BIG IS this country?" They had landed in Kansas City with the intent of 'driving' to some undefined 'tourist spots'. They wound up, driving, and driving, and driving, and driving, etc. When I asked where they had planned to go, the answer was tentitively, Chicago. I pointed out that they were about five hours away from there at this time.

The husbands impromtu answer is what threw me into a minor 'culture shock' mode. He said, "Good Lord, one can drive clear across our nation in five hours." This statement, brought on one of those WTF moments, as I tried to wrap my mind around his point of view. 'The Old Neighborhood' really is HUGE! Holy mackerel!

The point of all this being, that I, along with every other American I know, tend to think of 'our home' in terms of neighborhoods, or sections of a city, or possibly a minor size city at the largest. We never think of 'our home' as the USA. Perhaps this is because of the communications network. I certainly don't know the root causes for this mindset, but I do know that it's there at the bedrock of every one of us.

I think I'm done rambling for now. Thanks for listening. :D
 

Karlos

Well, first I really don't like that they appropiate the name America. America is a continent, with some countries on it. A mexican, a brazilian, a canadian, also live in America.
 
MrP

MrP

Banned
Flyfishing said:
First of all, thank you Ian! Sockpuppets are truly annoying.

Secondly, I'd like to relate aomething that came as a bit of a 'Culture Shock' to me personally.

Background: My wife and I ran a store in the Midwest for some years. One day a British couple walked in our door while on Holiday. The first question
from them was, "How BIG IS this country?" They had landed in Kansas City with the intent of 'driving' to some undefined 'tourist spots'. They wound up, driving, and driving, and driving, and driving, etc. When I asked where they had planned to go, the answer was tentitively, Chicago. I pointed out that they were about five hours away from there at this time.

The husbands impromtu answer is what threw me into a minor 'culture shock' mode. He said, "Good Lord, one can drive clear across our nation in five hours." This statement, brought on one of those WTF moments, as I tried to wrap my mind around his point of view. 'The Old Neighborhood' really is HUGE! Holy mackerel!

The point of all this being, that I, along with every other American I know, tend to think of 'our home' in terms of neighborhoods, or sections of a city, or possibly a minor size city at the largest. We never think of 'our home' as the USA. Perhaps this is because of the communications network. I certainly don't know the root causes for this mindset, but I do know that it's there at the bedrock of every one of us.

I think I'm done rambling for now. Thanks for listening. :D
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Yeah, I got irked by having to drive 4-5 hours every week or two in one direction and then 4-5 hours in the other direction to reach Wales to see my ex during her final year. In America this seems to be considered normal.

You're all bonkers! :p ;)
 
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