# Worlds most hated \[country - U.S. (ed. title)\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 9, 2006, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981 "2006-08-09T09:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/1 "2006-08-09T09:01:09Z")
In the Sunday Telegraph last weekend a columnist stated that America is the most hated country in the world but he didn’t say why. So I ask the question. I don’t dislike Americans at all, I find you guys friendly and helpful. I’ve been to the States a number of times and never had any nastiness directed at me. Has the world forgotten the debt it owes the USA?. Without the bulwark of America, the former USSR would have steamrollered over most if not all of Europe. Have these countries forgotten all the billions of $$$s given to them in all sorts of aid. Have they forgotten that when a natural disaster strikes, America is usually the first country to offer assistance to help the stricken country. Or have they just forgotten…until they need help, then out will come the begging bowl held in the direction of the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/2 "2006-08-09T09:18:41Z")
I think “most hated” is probably correct simply because they (with the British as probable rivals) are the most _known_ by people outside their borders, and that’s a reflection of their economic ties to just about everybody. Heck, Coca-Cola alone is effectively one of their biggest ambassadors. If you’re known by a million people, you’re going to be more hated (and more loved, and more admired and more just about everything) than some guy who’s only known by a thousand people. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/3 "2006-08-09T09:19:49Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Has the world forgotten the debt it owes the USA?. > > . Oh, a lot of people haven’t forgotten that they owe the US…something. From Central America to Iraq, I don’t think they’ve forgotten at all. Also, this America is not the America that fought the Cold War, any more than Putin’s Russia is the USSR of Krushchev. Times change, people change, the world moves on. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/4 "2006-08-09T09:23:58Z")
We in Europe owe the United States a vast amount, and we should never forget it. However, because someone saved you and your family from a housefire twenty years ago doesn’t give them a free pass to have sex with your dog today. \<= Feel free to insert your own inappropriate analogy here. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/5 "2006-08-09T09:40:19Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > We in Europe owe the United States a vast amount, and we should never forget it. > > However, because someone saved you and your family from a housefire twenty years ago doesn’t give them a free pass to have sex with your dog today. \<= Feel free to insert your own inappropriate analogy here. Indeed; after all, America seems to have managed the disconnect from its moral debt to France (I understand the French provided a bit of help in some skirmish or other a while back) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/6 "2006-08-09T09:48:00Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Indeed; after all, America seems to have managed the disconnect from its moral debt to France (I understand the French provided a bit of help in some skirmish or other a while back) Surely it was the French who disconnected after failing to back the… erm… little skirmish in Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/7 "2006-08-09T10:38:07Z")
I would be wary about taking things like that at face value. Sometimes it is handy having people outside the tent The French are a bit wary of the USA, but they know a lot about Islamisism. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/8 "2006-08-09T11:59:42Z")
Problem is that most people do not meet ‘real’ americans, they just see the behaviour of the USA government and representatives on TV news. If people were to travel to the USA and meet ‘real’ americans, I am sure they would have a completely different opinion. Oh **chowder** , … can you provide a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/9 "2006-08-09T12:14:58Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > Problem is that most people do not meet ‘real’ americans, they just see the behaviour of the USA government and representatives on TV news. If people were to travel to the USA and meet ‘real’ americans, I am sure they would have a completely different opinion. I’m sure you’re right, but how can there be such a disparity between the character of the American public, and the character of the American government, given that the latter is supposeldly _of the people, by the people, for the people_? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/10 "2006-08-09T12:21:55Z")
> [@antechinus](#): > > Problem is that most people do not meet ‘real’ americans, they just see the behaviour of the USA government and representatives on TV news. If people were to travel to the USA and meet ‘real’ americans, I am sure they would have a completely different opinion. > > Oh **chowder** , … can you provide a cite. No my friend I don’t have a cite…just a memory which may or may not be slightly addled. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/11 "2006-08-09T12:39:15Z")
[Britons see US as vulgar empire builder](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/03/nyank03.xml) …perchance they see the British Empire and themselves as refined empire builder? ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/12 "2006-08-09T12:59:36Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Has the world forgotten the debt it owes the USA?. Maybe the USA has forgotten how to conduct itself in a way that conveys respect and admiration. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/13 "2006-08-09T13:16:39Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > [Britons see US as vulgar empire builder](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/03/nyank03.xml) > > …perchance they see the British Empire and themselves as refined empire builder? _Reformed_, perhaps. We’ve given most of it back now. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/14 "2006-08-09T13:19:53Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > However, because someone saved you and your family from a housefire twenty years ago doesn’t give them a free pass to have sex with your dog today. I swear, the dog seduced me! Seriously, I think the reason American is _most_ hated is that it’s most known. And I think the reason it’s hated at all is a combination of the genuinely blameworthy things it has done in recent years, its perceived (not entirely unjustly) arrogance, other people’s envy of it, and unwarranted hatred toward the USA that has been stirred up by various leaders, troublemakers, etc. around the world for their own political/ideological reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/15 "2006-08-09T13:32:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > _Reformed_, perhaps. We’ve given most of it back now. ahh. well you know the old saying. Nothing so dreadful and self-righteous as reformed empire builders. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/16 "2006-08-09T14:32:47Z")
Do I love the police officers who rushed into burning buildings during the WTC collapse? Sure. Do I hate the police officer on the side of the freeway with his radar gun who pulls me over in a speed trap. Sure. These surveys measure nothing in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/17 "2006-08-09T14:35:53Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > ahh. well you know the old saying. Nothing so dreadful and self-righteous as reformed empire builders. Oh, quite; like reformed smokers. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/18 "2006-08-09T14:40:17Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > ahh. well you know the old saying. Nothing so dreadful and self-righteous as reformed empire builders. I think we’re secretly jealous. Either that, or we reckon we did it better. ---
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/19 "2006-08-09T14:50:49Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > Surely it was the French who disconnected after failing to back the… erm… little skirmish in Iraq. France disconnected much earlier than that, they [pulled out of NATO](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nato#Early_Cold_War_-_Crisis_with_France) in 1959 when they were unhappy with the way that the US and UK were treating them. ---
**Author:** ![Generic\_American](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@Generic\_American](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Generic_American)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981/20 "2006-08-09T15:07:51Z")
To slightly hijack this thread: Are there any Americans who have been ‘dissed’ while traveling abroad lately? Care to share the experience? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-most-hated-country-u-s-ed-title/367981.md?page=2)