Views on the USA

[Maria]

Originally posted by MrPromey
Ever consider working for a state controlled press? :lol:


I'm assuming you are joking due to the glaring omission of the second half of that sentence.
:lookaroun

I wasn´t joking! LOL
I omitted the rest of the paragraph because only that part sounded obnoxious. It sounded like " the world is asking us to be the only super power and to help everybody but we really do as much as we can then they complain when we do it, that we are invading their sovereignity (sp?) Who understands them? "

I wish you could hear me saying it! Then it makes sense! :animwink:

(That is not a "bored" or "embarrased" smiley... it´s a how do I explain it.... hhhmmm... "full of myself" smiley for me.) LOL :animwink:

 

[garyhoov]

Originally posted by wdwmagic
This is exactly the point. The middle east countries have vast amounts of oil, of which the people in power there are earning huge amounts of money by selling it to the West. The fact that these monies are not being distributed to the people in those countries is no fault of the West. It is up to the people in those countries to overthrow the dictators running their countries, and share the wealth of the oil amongst the people, not just the few in power.

Aaaaaaaah, you've touched on a very key point here. The Saudi Arabian leaders (as the most dramatic example) feed the distrust and hate that leads to violence against Israel, the U.S. and others for this very reason. They realize that if the frustration of their people isn't directed in that way, it could very well turn against them.

 

[dreamer]

Mr. Promey and WDWMagic

I agree with your posts. I agree with your comments to my post -- especially that Mid Eastern peasants are exploited by their own governments/countrymen more than by the West. I had a sentence to that effect at the end of my post but edited it out to stay more focused.

However, I don't believe the average Islamic Mid-Easterner understands much of what is really going on. He is raised to focus anger toward the West. That makes him more exploitable and easier to control. That is why I said I would focus my anger toward the West if I were in his position -- because I wouldn't know what I know in MY position here in the US.


I also believe that our affluence is going to do us in. We are all take and no give. We lose sight of the fact that everything has a price and that we all have to pay our share if we want to enjoy the benefits. Maybe we should increase the tax on gasoline to $2.00 a gallon and use that money to increase the pay for soldiers defending the oil.

It'd be great not to need Mid East oil any more. They'd all be living in tents again.

 

[MrPromey]

Originally posted by Maria
I wasn´t joking! LOL
I omitted the rest of the paragraph because only that part sounded obnoxious. It sounded like " the world is asking us to be the only super power and to help everybody but we really do as much as we can then they complain when we do it, that we are invading their sovereignity (sp?) Who understands them? "

I wish you could hear me saying it! Then it makes sense! :animwink:

(That is not a "bored" or "embarrased" smiley... it´s a how do I explain it.... hhhmmm... "full of myself" smiley for me.) LOL :animwink:

You only quoted half the sentence which is what threw me off…

I am sorry that you feel I am being “full of myself” in an apparent generalized American way.

Quite frankly, I take your response in a totally ungrateful rest of the world sort of way.

My point is that the world says they want us as a nation to be a certain way but when we do so, we are thought of as stepping on toes and getting into everyone else’s business.

Apparently to you, that sounds like I’m bragging. What I’m getting at is that we are in a catch 22. Either we aren’t doing enough or we are doing too much or we are doing both at the same time depending on which side of the mouth people are talking out of. According to this wonderful survey, we really can’t win for loosing. Apparently, the only way we can make the rest of the world happy is for our economy to fall into shambles and for all of our country to go third world. If that is truly how everyone out there feels – go right ahead and hate us.

I know that this post may be found offensive but I take great offense to the hypocritical ridicule that the country for which I am a citizen is constantly being bombarded with.

 

[CmdrTostada]

Originally posted by MKCustodial
In fact, many people don't like the US bexactly because of comments like this.

I said to myself I'd keep away from these kinds of threads, but...

Seriously, and I don't wanna get flamed, the US only cares to other countries when there's something of interest to them. And this is not wrong, obviously. But the country, and some of its people, need to stop thinking like the world revolves around them and that nobody does anything without consulting or worrying about them first. This may be true economically, but nobody spends the whole day thinking "Gee, I wonder if the US likes my country?"


Me, I love the US, and I really wish I could get to move up there one day. But I don't like Bush and the present government, I think he's not very good on international politics, and some of his decisions are baffling, like the whole Environmental issues he's been raising lately. He's about to meet with our president soon, let's see how that goes.

So, again, I don't want to offend anyone nor do I want to start a war here, but when I see comments like Turbo's that imply that EVERYBODY is jealous of the US? Come on! There's truth in his declarations, but you can't generalize.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. But I did not mean to sound like I was generalizing I meant that comment for only the people that said that they don't the USA. And yes there are other reasons they don't like my country right now but I personally believe that, that is a main reason.

 

[CmdrTostada]

Originally posted by Maria
I have to agree with you! Comments like Turbogames´s and Future Ceo´s: "true. we're rich their poor--plain and simple. Poor coutries will go with anything and follow anyone" just make me want to :hurl:

I did not say that. No offense to FutureCEO but if thats what he got out of my comment that is his opinion not mine. I believe that if anyone caught my drift it wasn't the fact that we were prosperous it was more the fact that we have a vast majority of people that are right of Lenin.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by Turbogames
I did not say that. No offense to FutureCEO but if thats what he got out of my comment that is his opinion not mine. I believe that if anyone caught my drift it wasn't the fact that we were prosperous it was more the fact that we have a vast majority of people that are right of Lenin.

I didn´t say you said it. I was too lazy to quote him the proper way and just copied and pasted. :animwink:

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by MrPromey
You only quoted half the sentence which is what threw me off…

I am sorry that you feel I am being “full of myself” in an apparent generalized American way.

Quite frankly, I take your response in a totally ungrateful rest of the world sort of way.

My point is that the world says they want us as a nation to be a certain way but when we do so, we are thought of as stepping on toes and getting into everyone else’s business.

Apparently to you, that sounds like I’m bragging. What I’m getting at is that we are in a catch 22. Either we aren’t doing enough or we are doing too much or we are doing both at the same time depending on which side of the mouth people are talking out of. According to this wonderful survey, we really can’t win for loosing. Apparently, the only way we can make the rest of the world happy is for our economy to fall into shambles and for all of our country to go third world. If that is truly how everyone out there feels – go right ahead and hate us.

I know that this post may be found offensive but I take great offense to the hypocritical ridicule that the country for which I am a citizen is constantly being bombarded with.

MrP.,
please don´t call me "ungrateful" generalizing for the rest of the world. I am sorry if I offended you with my comments, but I´m just telling you how it came across, at least to me, a non US citizen. I realize the americans are majority in this forum, and I have no intentions to make anyone upset or insult anyone, it´s just that as Rodrigo also said, us foreigners, see things in a different way. I have american friends (well... from the USA, because in reality, I am an american too) and I get along with them very well, and respect their country just as they respect mine too, so I read those comments differently than people from your country. I would do the same for mine, but I wouldn´t imply that the world revolves around us. (It might, but at least you don´t say it... because the results of the silly survey is what you get with them...)

Mexico´s economy is very much impacted by your economy, so I don´t really think we are expecting our neighbor to fall into shambles and go third world.... come on...

I hate when I get involved in these threads! I´ll never learn!

 

[Horizons38]

Originally posted by Maria
MrP.,
please don´t call me "ungrateful" generalizing for the rest of the world. I am sorry if I offended you with my comments, but I´m just telling you how it came across, at least to me, a non US citizen. I realize the americans are majority in this forum, and I have no intentions to make anyone upset or insult anyone, it´s just that as Rodrigo also said, us foreigners, see things in a different way. I have american friends (well... from the USA, because in reality, I am an american too) and I get along with them very well, and respect their country just as they respect mine too, so I read those comments differently than people from your country. I would do the same for mine, but I wouldn´t imply that the world revolves around us. (It might, but at least you don´t say it... because the results of the silly survey is what you get with them...)

Mexico´s economy is very much impacted by your economy, so I don´t really think we are expecting our neighbor to fall into shambles and go third world.... come on...

I hate when I get involved in these threads! I´ll never learn!

Maria, you 're a lot better at expressing yourself than i am ! That is exactly how i feel about Canada and i certainly get offended when those survey's supposedly speak about " other countries" and how we are feeling ! There has been a lot of Canada bashing in the media lately and i personally feel tired of it ! I know it's my fault for even trying to post in this thread but god i would like to sometimes make people understand others point of view ! I hate it when i get involved in these threads ! I'll never learn ! :brick::animwink:

 

[DisneyCP2000]

I know for one thing...this type of article and a show done on Oprah about the same thing has opened my eyes. I'm now commiteed to learning more about the world. for one thing it's kind of tough to get news from around the world when living in the US. I wouldn't know where to begin when come to searching the news. I'm not very happy with the news in the US. It's way to centered on just us and our enemies. It totally sucks. When I visited my sister in Berlin and watch thier news...it included all the countries in Europe and Africa. Now that's news! another thing that I noticed was how america treats our own friends/allies. While I was watching Oprah a couple of weeks ago, I learned that there was an terrorist attack in Austrailia, one of the worst in thier history. It was shameful to hear that Pres Bush did NOT send his apologies to the country. It's also sad to hear that when something bad happens to the US we expect everyone to show support for us. But when it's the other way around, we say nothing.

*now that i've said this I hope I don't get into a massive debate. :lookaroun

 

[MrPromey]

Originally posted by Maria
MrP.,
please don´t call me "ungrateful" generalizing for the rest of the world.

Just extending you the same type of courtesy that you extended me.

I still don’t understand how you adopted the attitude that you did from my statement which was a response to the information from that survey. Then again, what do I know? I’m just a U.S. citizen that is full of themselves walking around with blinders on having a hard time believing that the world doesn’t exist for any purpose other than to serve this country…

Whatever. I’m done with this thread.

 

[iluvepcot]

Its all so simple. This is the BEST country in the world. we are THE BEST, and will alway be THE BEST. we will NEVER let any sick Islamic radical to destroy our freedom, which is the exact thing that makes this country THE BEST. now until "canada" and all these other countries start doing anything compared to the USA and Britian to fight terrorism, shut up, because u have no room to talk. USA IS THE BEST

 

[Horizons38]

Originally posted by iluvepcot
Its all so simple. This is the BEST country in the world. we are THE BEST, and will alway be THE BEST. we will NEVER let any sick Islamic radical to destroy our freedom, which is the exact thing that makes this country THE BEST. now until "canada" and all these other countries start doing anything compared to the USA and Britian to fight terrorism, shut up, because u have no room to talk. USA IS THE BEST

I have plenty of room to talk ! Our troops have always been there to help every time as well ! Where do you think your planes were derouted on sept 11 ? Canada as always been a great friend of the US ! How dare you !

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by iluvepcot
Its all so simple. This is the BEST country in the world. we are THE BEST, and will alway be THE BEST. we will NEVER let any sick Islamic radical to destroy our freedom, which is the exact thing that makes this country THE BEST. now until "canada" and all these other countries start doing anything compared to the USA and Britian to fight terrorism, shut up, because u have no room to talk. USA IS THE BEST

Is this a joke? :veryconfu

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by MrPromey
Just extending you the same type of courtesy that you extended me.

I still don’t understand how you adopted the attitude that you did from my statement which was a response to the information from that survey. Then again, what do I know? I’m just a U.S. citizen that is full of themselves walking around with blinders on having a hard time believing that the world doesn’t exist for any purpose other than to serve this country…

Whatever. I’m done with this thread.

I see you are a gentleman...
I didn´t call you obnoxious, I said that what you said sounded obnoxious.

Whatever as well.


EDIT: I just re read my first post. I should have quoted you without the "it just makes me a little angry when" part. Without it, the part that I didn´t include is irrelevant as I thought.

 

[iluvepcot]

How dare me?? how about the canadian law which says any forienger is granted automatic asylum in canada? how about that aide that called Bush a moron? how about the 3,000 mile unprotected border(which is partly our fault), i could go on and on, but its that first one that is so scary.

 

[Horizons38]

Originally posted by iluvepcot
How dare me?? how about the canadian law which says any forienger is granted automatic asylum in canada? how about that aide that called Bush a moron? how about the 3,000 mile unprotected border(which is partly our fault), i could go on and on, but its that first one that is so scary.

I am not doing this anymore, you have offended me deeply. Blame Canada for everything that's fine, i am not gonna spend any more time trying to defend a stupid woman for making a stupid remark about Bush, our immigration laws do leave a lot to be desired but just for your information the Sept 11 terrorists came from Germany not Canada , and the laws will be changed it just takes time, and i also agree with the border situation which leaves a lot to be desired on both sides . There is a lot of Canadians that have sent help ( military and otherwise) on Sept 11 and afterwords. We are part of the UN as well ! I can't believe that the US sees us as enemies !

 

[SpongeScott]

Originally posted by iluvepcot
Its all so simple. This is the BEST country in the world. we are THE BEST, and will alway be THE BEST. we will NEVER let any sick Islamic radical to destroy our freedom, which is the exact thing that makes this country THE BEST. now until "canada" and all these other countries start doing anything compared to the USA and Britian to fight terrorism, shut up, because u have no room to talk. USA IS THE BEST

And with attitudes like this, is it any wonder that we are hated the way we are? Just be grateful that you have the opportunity to live here.

 

[Herbie53]

There are a lot of things that can be said in defense of the U.S.
There are a lot of things that can be said against the U.S.

The thing that everyone needs to remember is that the United States government exists to protect and serve ONLY the citizens of the United States. In the same way, the Mexican government only has the interest of Mexican citizens in mind, the British government cares only about the British, etc etc.

That having been said, people need to realize that the actions of the United States government do not necessarily represent the will of every U.S. citizen.

The U.S. media bombards Americans with reminders that we must not generalize or stereotype other cultures, nations, etc. This is understandable, as the only superpower we must tread lightly sometimes. Unfortunately all too often it seems that we are stereotyped ourselves. There is no typical American. I use the term "American" to label only citizens of the U.S. I do this despite having been reminded in the past that Mexicans, Canadians, Brazilians etc. all have equal claim to the term. It is these countries, however, who choose not to use the term. It is not the will of the U.S. that prevents them from using it. We use it because there is no other acceptable term to be derived from the name of our country. It is not a matter of U.S. exclusion of the rest of the western hemisphere. (sorry, that's just a pet peeve of mine)

As Americans, many of us do not take great interest in foreign affairs. America has always been an isolated country. For years it was the nature of our geography, and it remains our perogative today. That is one reason why 9/11 was so shocking. This is not a slight against the rest of the world. Many people like to think Americans see themselves as the center of the world. The truth is that most Americans just don't see the rest of the world. Americans are just happy being Americans (for the most part).

The fact that many of us as Americans enjoy a higher standard of living is not relevant. Much is said about how so much of the world's wealth is controlled by America, but how much of that wealth was created by America? Mercantilism has been debunked. Today we know that wealth can be generated. It is not a zero-sum equation. America's wealth does not prevent other nations from becoming wealthy.

People say that the United States exploits the rest of the world. Well, of course we use our position to our best advantage! There is not a single nation in the whole world that would do any different if in the same position. Governments exist to look after their own. The fact that the U.S has any social conscience at all is a blessing for this world. The United States is the first benevolent superpower in history. I think it is a remarkable thing that the American people have such a capacity to care for others. Can you imagine the Romans for example, or even Germany 60 years ago, liberating Afghanistan without claiming it as their own?

It is true that the U.S has made its share of mistakes. And we're never going to please everyone. But every nation has skeletons in its closet. In so many ways, we are just like everyone else.

I guess with the responsibility of world leadership comes criticism and backlash. This is just the cross we must bear until the next world power takes our place.

 

[Herbie53]

Originally posted by iluvepcot
How dare me?? how about the canadian law which says any forienger is granted automatic asylum in canada? how about that aide that called Bush a moron? how about the 3,000 mile unprotected border(which is partly our fault), i could go on and on, but its that first one that is so scary.

Before Sept. 11th, the United States was just as PROUD of having the world's longest undefended border as Canada was. It was a sign of peace and friendship. I don't think its fair to say there is any blame to be had for that.