I am an American, but I have lived abroad for over the past year, and I am constantly meeting people from other countries that have nothing but negative things to say about America. I have been an international traveler for many years, and in years past most people were either curious, envious, or neutral about America. But now, thanks to Bush, IMHO, most of the world seems to hate us. Are most Americans aware of how bad it has gotten ?? Does Bush have any clue as to how negatively much of the world views America ???
One thing I’ve noticed is that many Americans take pride in this fact. They have the “We’re America and we do what we want no matter what the world thinks” attitude.
I think most people have an idea that America isn’t at it’s peak of popularity right now. It’s just a question of how much people care.
Is this true ? That many Americans really don’t care about how we are thought of by the rest of the world ? That seems really clueless or arrogant to me.
I’ve been around a while, and I can recall American being pretty much hated in quite many places, including right here — especially in the 1960s.
You know what? I don’t care. We’re not in a popularity contest.
I wonder how much of the hatred=jealousy?
Ivylass “You know what? I don’t care. We’re not in a popularity contest.”
Ivylass, I am guessing that you have never travelled abroad. America is just a small part of this world. Plus, do you think attitudes like that increase or decrease terrorist acts towards America ?
Ivylass. “I wonder how much of the hatred=jealousy?”
Yep, there’s the arrogance…
Do you not care that people are becoming more reluctant to purchase American products?
Does it occur to you that this arrogant attitude is making the situation worse?
Anyway at least over here, very few people are jealous of Americans. I think most of them pity the Americans for the violent crimes and lack of cultural history. (I don’t, of course.)
I acknowledge that there are a lot of hardcore anti-Americans around the world whose attitudes are simply racist, and who would never be happy with the US - a stance which I abhor.
However, I believe the vast majority of us foreigners, in Europe certainly, dislike the current US leadership and its appalling foreign policy, while simultaneously liking the US and its people. If you’d have asked the same question during Clinton’s era, you’d have had a substantially different response.
Where it comes to certain American individuals, there is a certain arrogance - as evidenced by Ivylass’s misguided assertion about jealousy - that is disliked, as well as a sometimes jaw-dropping worldly ignorance, which is mocked. These are stereotypes, and as with all stereotypes, do not reflect the majority.
So really we like you guys, and we have good reason to. The bozos in the White House are screwing your global popularity at the moment, but since some of you don’t give two hoots, what of it?
While most Americans look at Japanese popular culture and are amazed to discover that we’re actually not the most culturally deprived nation in the world! 
I, for one, am glad we don’t live our lives worrying about what others may think of us. I think it’s more as case of "Here we are, here’s what we do - if you like it fine - if you don’t, we don’t really give a rat’s a**. It makes no difference in my day to day activities.
Well, The Ugly American was published in 1958. Not much has changed.
I’m another one that’s not losing any sleep over the world’s opinion of the U.S. Things have been this way for a long time, and will continue to be so.
There are a lot more people in this world that want to move to the ‘States than want to leave it. I think that’s a good measure on things. Proof of the puddin’ and all that.
Not to denigrate what you’re saying, but I don’t think this particular assertion backs up your argument. More people want to move to every stable democracy - even France! :eek: - and some non-democracies (e.g. Singapore, Hong Kong), than want to leave. Furthermore, (IMO) it is foreign policy that drives most of the dislike; how the US treats immigrants is thus irrelevant.
Aware? Yes.
Give a rat’s ass? No.
Arrogant? Indifferent.
I suppose a reason to give a rat’s ass isn’t really any kind of boycott of US products, which is just a spit in the ocean, attacks on McDonalds et al notwithstanding.
It’s that a globally unpopular US regime makes it much more difficult to garner support for US foreign policy initiatives by the governments of key allies. France, Germany, and latterly Spain have borne this out. Blair’s stance re. Iraq was in defiance of extreme protest, and provoked the largest protest in the history of the UK, which isn’t necessarily something one wants on one’s résumé (I tentatively predict that his support for the Iraq war will lead to his eventual downfall).
The effect of all this is to further isolate US foreign policy, causing future actions to tend towards further isolationism, leading to a spiral of even deeper unpopularity.
I’ve been an ex-pat for nearly 10 years and have seen attitudes change greatly. I arrived in the UK when Clinton was in office and the world was relatively peaceful. People couldn’t believe I chose the UK over the US. My stock answer is that the beer is better here 
The day after 9/11 I was at the pub and someone put their arm around me and said in effect “sucks what happened to you”. These days the US administration is seen as the biggest threat to world peace ever. People I know wouldn’t even consider going to the US on holiday, mainly due to being treated like criminals at the airports. However, I’ve never met with any personal hostility. It’s kind of like “hate the sin, not the sinner”, with “hate the government, not the people”.
You say that like it’s a bad thing…
Again, a large % of the American public does not give a rat’s ass about what France, Germany, Spain, etc. think about us.
For what it’s worth, a lot of us yanks share the world’s opinion that our country is run by idiots and greedheads. However, the Americans who have made such a bad impression on you were not me. I don’t get out of the country much, and it’s unlikely you and I will ever meet. There’s nothing I can do to change your opinion, so I’ll just shrug and go on with my life. Maybe, someday, you’ll meet an American nonjerk.
Much of the bad impression is caused by the people you elected. You can change it by voting for candidates who you think will improve America’s image. If you think it’s an imprtant issue, that is.
My foreign travel recently has been to Canada, a country I really like. Unfortunately, I have not been anywhere else since the early-'80s when I did the “post-high-school-backpacking-through-Europe” thing. To put things in perspective, Reagan was in office. The Soviet Union still existed. The Cold War was still on. There was real fear that there would be a Superpower conflict in Western Europe, and there were protests against nuclear weapons in West Germany.
One thing I noticed, and which was commented upon by some Europeans, was that American tourists all seemed to want to know, “What do you think of us?” and “Do you like us?” Of course, these Americans were the ones who actually left their cocoon of America to experience other countries. Still, Americans do seem to “give a rodent’s rectum” about what people think.
Now the Soviet Union is no more. Instead, we have terrorists. Unlike the USSR, which is a place with a definite seat of power and which had a rational government, terrorists are spread out and have no central command structure. While they cannot launch an attack that will kill millions of people like the USSR could, they are more dangerous because there is no diplomatic dialog with them. How do we fight them?
For one thing, we need to have support from the people of other countries. Most people would agree that terrorist attacks are a Bad Thing; but many people are starting to think that the U.S. is getting what we deserve because of our foreign policies. Many people blame U.S. policies and actions for terrorist attacks that take place in their own countries. We need people to thing, “We’re all in the same boat”; not “If the U.S. weren’t causing trouble, the terrorist wouldn’t be attacking us.”
This is why we should care what people think of us. We should not be alienating our friends.
Americans have an ideal of Justice and Fair Play. We have definite parameters outlining Right and Wrong. We tend to like visitors, and I think most Americans are curious when we meet foreigners. But…
America, as a whole, is a Christian country. We have the Bible Belt. I think most Americans have not been exposed to other cultures, and so do not understand them. When confronted by other beliefs, they sometimes take them as attacks on their own beliefs. Take abortion or homosexuality as examples. When someone says that abortion should be safe and legal, or that homosexuals should be afforded the same spousal rights as heterosexuals, it’s tantamount to saying to those in the Bible Belt, “Your beliefs are wrong.” Nobody likes to be wrong, and they don’t take kindly to having it pointed out. Putting one’s fingers in one’s ears and shouting, “La! La! La! I can’t hear you!” is one thing. Becoming belligerant and saying, “You take that back, or I’ll knock your block off!” is another.
And now we have been attacked. We don’t have a specific target like Moscow (or, to take actual historic instances, Berlin and Tokyo) against which to retaliate. So we attacked Afghanistan, which was demonstrated to have been supporting those who attacked us. But when we didn’t catch the Big Bad Guy, Americans looked around and said, “Hey! You promised we’d catch Osama! Why haven’t you done it?” So the American government said, “Hey! Look over there!” and attacked Iraq.
Attacking Iraq removed a Very Bad Man from power. Unfortunately, it only gave the terrorist groups more ammunition. It also demonstrated that the U.S. would not abide by international rules. If we didn’t get our way, we’d go our own way; and to hell with the rest of the world. We said, “We don’t care what you think; we’ll do what we want.” And now the world hates us. Yes, there were many people that hated us before; but now, people on the street who were friendly to us also hate us. Can we count on their governments’ support when we need it? Do you think the Spanish people will support their government when we ask for a favour? I don’t think so.
IMO this administration has done so much harm to the American reputation, that it may be irrepairable for decades. If we don’t “give a rat’s ass” what everyone else thinks, then how can we rebuild our international reputaion? Even if you don’t care about our reputation, you have to admit that a good reputation is valuable when it comes to international trade agreements. And remember that we want people to buy our stuff. We want to get all of the oil we need. We want Japanese and European automobiles. International trade is a good thing, and it behooves us to be thought wwell of.
I care what people think. I think caring is part of being a good citizen. I’m ashamed of the way our government is acting.
A large % of the American public doesn’t make policy and aren’t aware of just how much allies are needed in our day-to-day operations. A large % of the American public doesn’t give a damn about much of anything except what’s on TV, when’s the next ballgame, and who’s got the beer? A short sighted group, one could say. You might consider that if we don’t keep the French, Germans, Spanish, ect. on our side, they might team up with some other country and eventually establish a coalition of the willing----willing to burn us to the damn ground. You really should pay attention to what is going on around us, compare that to the historical record, and draw some realistic conclusions----but I don’t expect that you will.