For Americans wondering "Why the hate?", some answers from PBS

[Necx0]

I find it ironic that you accuse "a lot" of Americans of being ignorant and then go on to admit that your view of an entire nation is based on an episode of Top Gear.

If that were true it would be ironic, however my entire view of the nation is not based around an episode of Top Gear. It was a poorly worded post. America is an incredibly diverse nation so to brand an entire nation from the representation of a television would be most foolish and I'm sorry if my post put that across. Me judging Americans by the extreme religious sectors of Alabama would be as silly as Americans judging Australians by the actions of Steve Irwin.

However I am guilty as charged of being ignorant of a great deal to do with America. My knowledge is limited to basically geographically what is west and what is east aaannddd.....thats about it. Something I should endeavour to change.

Those poll results I believe are more a representation of the state of Europe than the state of America.

I happen to be writing an essay on cross-cultural differences as we speak, amazing that we are all so similar, yet all so different.

 

[GraemeH]

Well I don't take such a snobby view of America, and even I can say that the reasons outlined in the first post/the article are nonsense. They seem to have guessed at reasons, then rationalized them, rather researching and asking why some people have the attitude they do about America and getting the reasons that way.

I could rebut those reasons, or most of those reasons, one by one, or replace those reasons with some ones I think are more genuine as far as Britians view of America goes, but I'd look like I was anti-America or pro-Britain or something which isn't really the case.

 

[Scooby5]

^^GreameH, It all started to go wrong with the first point about how Brits feel upset about the loss of the "empire" :O

Given how long it's been since Britain even HAD an empire i would think 99% of the country has no idea how it feels one way or the other. Hong Kong was only lost in 1997 but even then how many people even knew the place existed before all the news of the handover and all the publicity surrounding it?

I have been to the US just one time and did have a fairly reasonable time there. I do believe that a lot of what we see outside the US does reflect worse on the place than is maybe fair...... and perhaps GWB doesn't do anything to help that case given well publicized cock-ups. All these idiot stories about how 1/5 of the country can't pick out the US on a map and the hype of Paris going to jail etc. also brings about the feeling of negativity.

It's like watching the news...... if you only watch the news you'd believe the whole world would die tomorrow because they only show the bad news.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

I don't understand the kids on this site that despise being from here. There location says "England hopefully" or something like that.

oh good they can trade places with me.... i want out. fast.

oh yeah this threads gonna spiral lol, the TG forum just seems to be americans getting riled at the brits doing the bashing and coming up with reasons why this should be so.

the OP's post will fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes) simply because no one from britain will care. i mean i havent read it, i dont care why you think i think its fun to bash the US, i'll continue to do it anyway.

we do the same for the french, the germans, the spanish....its not just you lot.

you could say that, yes britain was once the center of the world and now we are puny, you could say that this makes us bitter and twisted. well thats fine, but saying that is like one of those GSCE english exams where they ask what the author meant by doing such and such and they expect a lengthy, well thought out, over analytical answer about what they were trying to say in the passage of writing, when in all likelyhood the author just thought it sounded good and nothing more.

what im saying is, you are like the student writing 5 pages on why we hate you. when in reality, the answer might be a one liner: we hate you because its fun.

i mean i guess you lot dont see it this way, but i see it as what i will term.... "intercontinental banter", i.e. harmless. we have 3 blokes on TG laughing directly at you and your automotive efforts, and now, you have this program on PBS firing your volley of banter back only yours appears to be alot less juvenile.

personally i dont hate america, i dont agree with some things, i laugh at the horrendously stereotypical dumb asses i see on the news, and ill scoff at your horribly cheap interiored baddly engineered cars (whilst conveniently forgetting that BL and Rover ever existed) but having visited the US nigh on 20 times its a place i can see my self living in.

if i was asked tomoro if id like to come live in the US and work for a US engineering firm i wouldnt need to think twice, i'd have my suitcase packed before you could print out the contract.

so you could say.... as a brit ill bash america because its fun, but really i want to live there. its like making fun of the girl you like because you dont want your friends to get wind of the fact that secretly you really like her....i remember doing that when i was like 12!. probably a common human trait....make fun of the things you cant have/get in some sort of vain attempt to make them appear bad to yourself so that you dont appear to be hankering after them. sound about right?


EDIT: i guess im in the fortunate position of having visited the US alot, i know people who do think the US is just chock full of the people they see on the TV over here, when it just isnt. i know that must get on your wick, having a few dumb asses basically be the shining examples of the american nation, but at least i know thats not the case. for everyone who thinks the US is full of numpties, well its their loss really.

 

[IVIaster]

Oh how I like inferiority complexies

 

[otispunkmeyer]

One worrying thing for Americans tho'.

"Great Britain: A majority (57%) continues to see US influence in the world as mainly negative, while just 33 percent sees US influence as mainly positive?down slightly from 36 percent in 2006.

"France: French views of the United States remain quite negative, showing little change over the previous year after sharply worsening from 2005 to 2006. Seven in ten (69%) say the US is having a mainly negative influence in the world, only slightly greater than the 65 percent who held this view in 2006."

"Poland: The Polish, long the European public to express the most positive feelings toward the United States, have turned sharply cooler though a plurality is still positive. The number holding a positive view of the US has dropped from 62 to 38 percent and negative views from Poland also increased significantly, up from 15 to 24 percent."

European view of American influence - it's not improving is it?


One thing to remember when there is some fighting to be done and some lives to be lost which European country turns up to help and which one go and find a hole to hide in?

i guess all this negativity mostly stems from the war in iraq. i dont really care why they went to war, WMD's? oil? meh. i dont really know the history but i am under the impression that most hatred toward the US is brought on by the US themselves trying to police the world.

the intentions were good, i dont doubt that but just the way they execute some of these intentions doesnt go down to well. but in a world of 6billion your not going to please everyone are you?

who's to say that if the US kept its nebb out of the middle east that the people there wouldnt hate them anymore?

unless you visit the place you really cant have a serious view on what its like.... from the news mainly, heres what i think are the typical thoughts about other countries, everyone should try this, think of a country, then write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind

the US: fat, stupid, cheesy, couldnt find themselves on a map, crap cars etc

Russia: drunk commies who whilst they arent daft are too poor/drunk to do anything useful and living in a semi-democracy, whilst a select few reap in the billions at the expense of everyone else. i always imagine russian authorities to be brutal and probably use the human rights act as bog roll

germans: un-funny and anal about efficiency, great engineering prowess. would secretly like to take over the world.

french: pussies, but sometimes stylish pussies who eat wierd food.

Italians: achingly stylish and passionate, totally useless at actually getting round to doing some work, also.... the mafia.

Spanish: lazy bastards who still try to claim they are a poor country and need lots of money from the EU. Alonso is my main view of spanish people, he is a two faced whiny ****.

Small EU places that end in stan: poor people who live in squallor, with nothing modern like electricity

India: dirty and dangerous, but they love cricket

pakistan: they love cricket too, but live like mogli out of the jungle book

Australia: All off their rockers, run around after wild and dangerous animals, drink beer and have shrimp BBQ's every single night wearing kahki pants and a naff hat with corks hanging from it all after a days surfing with kangaroo's.

mexico: all drug dealers

columbia: all drug dealers and malitia's/guerilla's

Africa: poor as hell, infested with AID'S, run by the corrupt

S Africa: the complete opposite of the rest of africa

the Emirates: filthy stinking rich, more money than god, but with no real heritage.

Iraq, Iran etc : ethic-less and moral-less nutters hell bent on blowing each other up.

Japan: people who actually live 10 years in the future

China: uncontrollable, prolific copy cat'ers, if i want a fake of anything i will go there.

Canada: very clean place, expensive, less chintzy america with equally bad cars.

Alaska: no one has a car, snow is always 10ft deep, everyone drives a sled and huskies and lives in a log cabin.

Finland, Norway: they are all rally drivers, they live in sauna's, drive volvos and mostly live in the cold and dark.

Holland: Euthanising stoners who are all nymphomaniacs.

Belgium: europes control room

ill stop there.

now i dont doubt for one second, that all of that is 100% wrong. but from the news, media, tv shows....thats the view one might get of the rest of the world.

really, thats how i think the hate starts. views built up from small clips in the media, you get a stereo typical view as well becuase the media will show the same types of clips and news and you get the impression that everyone is like that.

you just have to remember they dont show "normal" people and "normal" way of life in the media because "normal" is uninteresting.

 

[Interrobang]

First of all, I don?t agree with you. There is no hate against America. Not on Top Gear, not in Europe. Not generally. Don?t be stupid and mistake "to have another opinion" with "hate". There are Places on this Planet where the USofA are hated ... but these are not in Europe.
And don?t you have any sense of Humor about yourself? Geez, between the USA and Great Britan, the differences are rather small compared what we Europeans tend to throw at each other. Ever noticed what insulting things are said on TG on other Europeans nations (especially France and Germany)? On those, you probably just thought they were funny Jokes ... or even fit the Picture. But when the Finger points to yourself, you feel insulted. Don?t do. Show some humor about yourself, don?t just make fun of others.

And second, this is no One-Way Street. It?s not Europeans dissing Americans and Americans loving Europe. By Far not. You?ll find prejudiced Opinions everywhere. Don?t try to make it look like French, Polish or British People are the only ones who have wrong ideas about other countries. I?d really love to see what Children in the USA would say about Poland, Great Britan and France ... i really would ... and I would find it FUNNY at the End and not supect some great Hate-Culture. And not just because I?m German and they are not talking about me

And talking about Stereotypes ...

You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.

 

[Narcolepsy]

^^GreameH, It all started to go wrong with the first point about how Brits feel upset about the loss of the "empire" :O

+1

National inferiority complex? Absurd.

So ensues the 2.4x10^27 thread we flame the tired issue with our own opinions, dealings, and biases.

Isn't it obvious - we are a powerful, prosperous country (800lb gorilla) - we're being cavalier with our power - don't intend harm (although harm often results) - plenty don't like it - stereotypes are mostly (but not entirely) false - we are a very diverse lot of generally normal humans (just like Europeans generally, the more appropriate comparison). Can we agree on that?

 

[thedguy]

i mean i guess you lot dont see it this way, but i see it as what i will term.... "intercontinental banter", i.e. harmless. we have 3 blokes on TG laughing directly at you and your automotive efforts, and now, you have this program on PBS firing your volley of banter back only yours appears to be alot less juvenile.

I think this is the part about TG many don't seem to understand. It's all in good fun. In high school we had a large variety of nationalities and a family of Russians. My Mexican friend who was an illegal was "beaner" and everything he owned was "the beaner [insert object here]". My Russian friend always went back and forth with pointless banter because I'd joke with him about getting Poland (I'm of Polish decent) stuck behind the iron curtain.

I never got the impression from anyone on here that they truly hated US, or we them. Although some of the children that take the word of JC more seriously than a Mormon and the Bible, seem to be a bit misguided at times.

I will admit that I think many Brits throughout history have been very arrogant because of their being British, but that attitude seems to have gone away for the most part with the guys in my age group.

 

[Mercury]

One thing to remember when there is some fighting to be done and some lives to be lost which European country turns up to help and which one go and find a hole to hide in?

I don't understand how that sentence relates to the rest of this thread...I agree the French are a bunch of chicken shit self involved sociopathic aristocratic wannabe turds , but how does it relate to this thread?

I think all the Anti-Americanism made me want to bash a country that actually deserved it :/

 

[otispunkmeyer]

I think this is the part about TG many don't seem to understand. It's all in good fun. In high school we had a large variety of nationalities and a family of Russians. My Mexican friend who was an illegal was "beaner" and everything he owned was "the beaner [insert object here]". My Russian friend always went back and forth with pointless banter because I'd joke with him about getting Poland (I'm of Polish decent) stuck behind the iron curtain.

I never got the impression from anyone on here that they truly hated US, or we them. Although some of the children that take the word of JC more seriously than a Mormon and the Bible, seem to be a bit misguided at times.

I will admit that I think many Brits throughout history have been very arrogant because of their being British, but that attitude seems to have gone away for the most part with the guys in my age group.

i agree.... its not hate

if we hated you i'd be on the next plane to washington with a bomb strapped to my face ready to take out you infadels.

it really is just jokey banter.... whatever the reason behind it, its not hate. id say some of it might even be envy, some people do make fun of the things they cant have/dont get/dont understand because thats the only way they can make themselves feel good about it.

i think the first point about the "empire" is quite rediculous.... i bet the majority of people wouldnt even know about our empire, theyre certainly not old enough to remember any of it and half of them arent even native brits, so really they dont have anything to feel bitter about because it doesnt really matter in their lives today, they have no reason to be proud of us once having an empire and no reason to feel inferior because we squandered it.

uk and the us really arent too disimilar now.... were just as fat, have just as many dimwits, frivolous lawsuits, jokers for politicians. even daily, random shootings of 11 year olds......its all the same. the only thing is the US spends more on guns and GM laugh in the face of green peace as they eeek out a few more hp from a 7 liter V8 and we dont have cops that go all trippy on a drug called power and our cars are better

other than that we are pretty similar

 

[Peter3hg]

They subconsciously take credit for everything American.

What a stupid point. How can they find out what we are supposedly subconsciously thinking?
There are also no ill feelings over having no Empire because most people can't remember when we had any form of Empire.

 

[watisdis]

Shouldnt this be in the Political section. Why is it on the Top Gear one?

 

[No Boss]

/lights the fuse....

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mCDZMWVWuc[/YOUTUBE]

/runs out of thread....

 

[Zwaplat]

First of all, Europeans' views of America is mainly influenced by America's habit of needing to have a say in every single bloody event in the world and dreaming up stories to back up it's ideas. Iraq being the most recent example.

On the question of individual people in America: yes, of course there are intelligent and civilized people living there. I've met quite a few on the internet and I did have a good time talking to them.
On the other hand you have to admit that there ARE a lot of moronic and/or excessive (thin line) people in America. Name one other developed country where they're still trying (with some succes, alas) to ban the evolution theory in favour of some dreamed up story in a religious book ?

So, what I'm saying is, don't see it all black and white. Anything told in the media is spiced up. It's boring otherwise, and wouldn't sell. But you can't have smoke without a fire...

 

[Mark355]

Eh, let 'em say what they want. I honestly don't care what the English or anyone else says/thinks of America. The shots at the U.S. by TG are funny and I'm laughing with everyone else. The truth is that everyone secretly loves us--our music, movies, and television shows; they happily feast on our culture. Yum!

 

[thedguy]

First of all, Europeans' views of America is mainly influenced by America's habit of needing to have a say in every single bloody event in the world and dreaming up stories to back up it's ideas. Iraq being the most recent example.

The sad part about this is the American people themselves don't really care. Most of the individuals would rather stick to themselves, that used to be our foreign policy... once we beat the Mexicans out of California anyway. Our fear of communism has lead this country in an entirely wrong direction, and now it seems we take all the old excuses for fighting communism, and merely scratch out communism and scribble in terrorism.

The only reason why anyone (in the US) even remember Iraq existed is because of Bush and anyone else involved got an itch up their ass and wanted to go after him, rather than take care of Bin Laden and be done with it.

 

[MattD1zzl3]

All we need to do is get rid of the current executive political leadership, and make at least a half assed attempt to clean up after ourselves...


Fast forward 5 years, and i'm sure that things will be just peachy.


The fact of the matter is, we're damned if we do, and damned if we dont. If we keep to ourselves, we become isolationists, cowards who avoid the problems of the world. If we interfere, we are imperialist morons. We just need to (aside from my above suggestion) tell the world to shut the fuck up and mind their own, and do the same ourselves.

Isolationism > Interventionism

Let Hitler 2 take over whatever he wants, defend america D-day style, and it will all work out. (And unlike western europe, i dont see a land war going well for invaders in the US, we are quite big and well armed )

 

[Ice_warmer]

i think all the movie and music mania that came from the american market was due to the pc, if i am correct it was only sold in one language ,english and beeing such a great item everybody was forced to learn english to come to use it.

i'm sorry but i'm not up to date with "why some people hate america" and don't know very much about the history of all this, so i'm leting the people who know, talk

 

[Necx0]

otispunkmeyer, that epic post was sensational, utterly brilliant and spot on.

and I agree a lot of this anti-american sentiment comes from Bush-bashing, it will be interesting to see what happens when the next leader takes the reins.