How does the world feel about the USA?

[Sherry]

I'm not going to mention my nationality, for the simple basis that people might find me biased.

I'll be blatant. I don't like the US, it's foreign policies and the way they treat people who make an effort to visit the country. I'm not saying I don't like the people, because most Americans I've met have been downright nice. That's not to say that most of them are intelligent, because most people I do see are horrifyingly ignorant. They have no knowledge of what goes in the world around them. There have been people who I've talked to in Los Angeles, and when I've mentioned that I'm from Singapore, they said "Did you drive from there?" W T F?

What they've done in Iraq is inexcusable, by turning an already bad country, into something much much worse. The question here is, what gives them the permission to even meddle in other countries' affairs? They should be looking at the shambles that are existent in their own country before looking to 'fix' the world.

The patriotism that exists in the people of America is unbelievable. Fine, you're proud about your country, but there's no reason to actually be violent about it. What is there to be proud of any way? The crazy gun control laws which is the basis of the problem of all those shootings that have taken place. The racism that exists, or the fact that there is so much unevenness in the whole country. There are State that are obviously different than other states.

The fact that the DHS thinks that all people entering the country are either: future illegal immigrants or terrorists. There is something that is known as courtesy which most immigration officers at entry ports lack. A smile really does go a long way. If you want to question me, sure, at least be nice about it. I understand it's your job, there's no need to be an ******* about it.

I won't even go in to the uni system and absurdity of the SATs, as well as the way they don't actually understand IB at all.

That all being said, I've highlighted the bad points. There are some good things too, such as Apple or The Apprentice, or Hollywood or some really good TV shows.

That is a bit harsh isn't it. You are stereotyping all Americans to be ignorant which is not necessarly true because guess what 18 of the 25 noble peace price winners were from America. Just because you met some ignorant Americans does not mean that everyone is stupid and self observed. Also with the issue in Iraq. you think it is okay for the super power of the world to allow mass killings of a an ethnic group. We had a moral obligation to fix the situation in Iraq and as you can see we have as they held their first free election in 2005, the sectariam violence has dropped significantly and we are helping them to build infrastructures so that they would not have to be very dependant on their oil. If you consider that wrong then your definintion of right and wrong is different from popular views

[Abu]

That is a bit harsh isn't it. You are stereotyping all Americans to be ignorant which is not necessarly true because guess what 18 of the 25 noble peace price winners were from America. Just because you met some ignorant Americans does not mean that everyone is stupid and self observed. Also with the issue in Iraq. you think it is okay for the super power of the world to allow mass killings of a an ethnic group. We had a moral obligation to fix the situation in Iraq and as you can see we have as they held their first free election in 2005, the sectariam violence has dropped significantly and we are helping them to build infrastructures so that they would not have to be very dependant on their oil. If you consider that wrong then your definintion of right and wrong is different from popular views

That's the problem with Americans who are as ignorant as you, you've just proved my point. Look at my post, I've never said that all Americans are ignorant, I've said most. 2 out of 10 in the last 10 years were awarded to Americans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_Laureates), like to see where it says 18 out of 25. You're the one that's actually generalising because you've taken 'most' to be 'all'.

Iraq - Everyone has their own views. Show me a figure that under Saddam Hussien, the rate of death per year was close to 250000 (innocent Iraqi civilians) (Source: http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=78) Suicide attacks still happen under the 'free elections', people are still dying and I'm sure at a heightened rate than before your 'moral obligation to fix Iraq', because believe me no country has a moral obligation to do that, the US did it for their own personal benefit.

[deissi]

Well seeing as Israel is our only ally in the middle east, i don't think that we have much of a choice. I mean sometimes America's foriegn policy is over the top but it is kind of hard to give support to other countries that hate our guts

You are:

correct [ ]

mistaken [x]

How bout Qatar, Saudi Arabia, ...

[Guest Philippe Arni]

Well, it is a tuff question to answer... The US for sure is nothing like it used to be. I mean, I love American ppl they are one of the nicest ppl in the world. However, I feel disgusted by the government and the way the country is ruled...Following the issue in Iraq, Iraq was at least stable when Saddam Hussein was there... You did not need to fear entering a bus and feeling that it was about to blow up... YES he killed a huge amount of innocent people, but like I said the country will never be what it has been before, the country Iraq cannot be split up otherwise countries such as Iran and Turkey will claim some land and it will create more problems. Therefore, be careful (talking about ppl who are in favour of the war) with what you say....... Dn't get brainwashed by republicans... Read your HISTORY correctly! And you will understand the truth about the Iraq war.

BOTTOM Line, The US is gone unfortunetely, the Land of Opportunity is not there anymore.. Look beyond, for example in China where the future is. America is the past, Europe is the present and Asia is the future.

[Leen]

Also with the issue in Iraq. you think it is okay for the super power of the world to allow mass killings of a an ethnic group. We had a moral obligation to fix the situation in Iraq and as you can see we have as they held their first free election in 2005, the sectariam violence has dropped significantly and we are helping them to build infrastructures so that they would not have to be very dependant on their oil. If you consider that wrong then your definintion of right and wrong is different from popular views

Living conditions were better under Saddam Hussein than after the Iraq War.

The original excuse for going into Iraq was "they had nuclear bombs". As soon as they found out there was none, the excuse changed to "Iraq is a dictator!"

Dictatorship has never stopped America before... Cold War anyone?

"Free elections".. yeah sure, a coalition government tends to go down the drain after a political vacuum. A transformation from totalitarianism to 'democracy' is often hard, tedious, and takes quite a long time.

I'm going to be annoying here and bring in TOK => The West lives under a paradigm that is very much different than the Middle East, so please.......

Infrastructure..... yeah, the words "tied aid" ring in my mind..

School of Political Thought would disagree with you there..

I'm not posing my opinion, but you need to keep an open mind.

[Guest Philippe Arni]

Living conditions were better under Saddam Hussein than after the Iraq War.

The original excuse for going into Iraq was "they had nuclear bombs". As soon as they found out there was none, the excuse changed to "Iraq is a dictator!"

Dictatorship has never stopped America before... Cold War anyone?

"Free elections".. yeah sure, a coalition government tends to go down the drain after a political vacuum. A transformation from totalitarianism to 'democracy' is often hard, tedious, and takes quite a long time.

I'm going to be annoying here and bring in TOK => The West lives under a paradigm that is very much different than the Middle East, so please.......

Infrastructure..... yeah, the words "tied aid" ring in my mind..

School of Political Thought would disagree with you there..

I'm not posing my opinion, but you need to keep an open mind.

More or less what Ive been trying to say lol

[Ash]

well it depends what u mean by saying USA like thats really general. If u mean like their actions...then i would say USA has been trying to play a leadership role except they have not been very successful in doing so...

[wafa1253]

I think that especially now the US has a very bad image amount people all thanks to George Bush. he has gone through 2 wars and a depression in just 8 years.

Hopefully Obama can change the image of the USA but it wont happen overnight. Maybe it will take Obama 1 term to get started and another term to start fixing the economy.

[goldenarcher]

First off I am a US citizen and I live in Utah (I know I know - I'm not at all a Republican just FYI).

Our state legislature has tried to ban IB. The idea is that it has a United Nations agenda. Which I find really funny considering the sway that the US has in the UN. But the students and teachers came out against them, there is a really strong community for IB (at least in Salt Lake). I think that what people have been saying about ignorance is absolutely correct. And yes, ignorant people are bothersome no matter what nation they come from. But can you really blame them for being ignorant. Most people are just trying to get by in the world and they have opinions only because they think they should. Take southern Utah for example. There are areas where there is no water for most of the year and still people live there. There are places in Colorado that are essentially ghost towns, places where you only stop because you're starving and there is a Wendy's or something. Most people simply don't care. All they want to do is protect themselves and their families and when some smooth-talking Texan says that the best way to do that is to invade Iraq, they agree because they don't know any better. And they don't look for reasons to believe he lied because that upsets the dangerous balance of their lives. If he lied then they aren't safe.

I apologize if I trod on any toes. Just thoughts.

[moneyfaery]

Also with the issue in Iraq. you think it is okay for the super power of the world to allow mass killings of a an ethnic group. We had a moral obligation to fix the situation in Iraq and as you can see we have as they held their first free election in 2005, the sectariam violence has dropped significantly and we are helping them to build infrastructures so that they would not have to be very dependant on their oil. If you consider that wrong then your definintion of right and wrong is different from popular views

Oh puh-lease. You know the US is only in Iraq because of their oil. You wanna talk about 'moral obligations'? There are tons of countries far worse off than Iraq but ohhh... they don't have any valuable resources. Pity, guess they won't be helped.

[Sunflowerr]

Poland

Generally the stereotype ,at my school ,for an average American teenager is either

A) stupid, blonde, like, yeaaa, *lol omg i dn now aneething omg wtf lol* generally , dumb blonde

B) obese rednecks

Nobody liked bush (including me)

I personally don't think that badly of the people there. It's not your fault your education system is awful, and doesn't teach you anything about the "outside world". I mean, here's a conversation between me and and some American that I had recently

-where do you come from?

- Poland

- Oh , what state is that in?..... and that's happened to me a few times before that time too! And some of those people had already finished high school ...

but you know, every country has a few people like that

[Zeph]

Mexican

My opinion might be of use since I don´t only live in the country below USA but in a city relatively near the border. ( 6 hours to San Antonio, Texas) Most people here, including me, dislike real ignorant american and mexican people. I´ve talked with some of them and just simply hate the way the think that USA is the only country that matters and that stuff... those are the kind of people that make some mexicans (ignorants too) hate them. I´m friend of americans, the respectable, non-cultural ignorants and we get along very good.

The most important thing that makes mexicans hate some american is the fact that they think that war will solve all their problems, almost all mexicans dislike war since we´ve only been about 200 years without one. Bush really made USA look bad to all our country, but people who actually think know that not all americans are like that just like there are A LOT of mexicans who simply don´t know anything.

Don´t get me wrong, I like americans and their country specially cities like New York and Chicago they are amazing. I also like their culture but nowadays the first thing we think when we hear "americans" are people who simply don´t know anything about other cultures. I hope this changes, atleast in Mexico.

Edited December 4, 2008 by Zeph

[bohan.t]

Canadian.

I have only been into America twice, so I don't know a great deal from personal experience, but one thing that happened to me there shocked me in a big way.

I went to Subway, and after the guy working there gave me my sandwich, I said "Thank you". He looked extremely surprised, and told me that he doesn't hear that very often.

Since then I've been thinking a little bit differently about America - there are many things about America that I do not particularly support nor agree with, and most of them have already been mentioned here. But if the simple courtesy of "thank you" is not commonplace, I do think that there is something seriously wrong.

[IBStuck]

Canadian.

I have only been into America twice, so I don't know a great deal from personal experience, but one thing that happened to me there shocked me in a big way.

I went to Subway, and after the guy working there gave me my sandwich, I said "Thank you". He looked extremely surprised, and told me that he doesn't hear that very often.

Since then I've been thinking a little bit differently about America - there are many things about America that I do not particularly support nor agree with, and most of them have already been mentioned here. But if the simple courtesy of "thank you" is not commonplace, I do think that there is something seriously wrong.

where were you? taht seems odd to me coz i say thank you all the time and so do all the people i know. i wonder if was jsut where you were. i mean if someone opens the door for you you say thanks and if someone gives you food you should say thank you...

i guess that you don't hear it as mcuh as you used to czo i think that a lot of americans thik that "well i odered the food therefore i should get it and it is there job to provided me with what i am paying for so i don't need to say thansk coz they have to do it coz i am paying them."

[bohan.t]

I was in Bellevue, Washington.

[IBStuck]

you used to hear thank you all the time. i was trraised to say it to everyone when it was necessary but looking on some of the new generations here.. it isn't taught to children like it was when i was a kid. i think that parents are getting more lax here.

when i was in high school my class said it when we had to, but looking down at eh freshman class (and i was a senior) they had no respect at all, and acted rude, childish and immature. i know you might say that it is just coz they are at that age, but my class didn't act like that. we were taught to respect our teachers and those other employees at the school.

parents need to pay more attention to thier kids, and teache them what to do in society.

with laws chaning and you now can get into a ton of legal issue with just spanking your kid and i think some paretns are afraid to disapline thier kids coz they don't want someone to report them for child abuse. (happned here not to long ago... the woman had her kid taken away from her and then was sent to jail for spanking her kid in public).

[Abu]

bohan.t, if you think that Americans are bad in customer service, you should come to Singapore or Asia in general. The worst customer service ever! And mannerless people all around. Once, I kept a door open for a woman and she just stared at me?! The US is leaps and bounds better than Asia will ever be!

[IBStuck]

bohan.t, if you think that Americans are bad in customer service, you should come to Singapore or Asia in general. The worst customer service ever! And mannerless people all around. Once, I kept a door open for a woman and she just stared at me?! The US is leaps and bounds better than Asia will ever be!

i don't think america has that bad of customer service do we? when i worked at that resturant i worled so hard on my customer service coz i think it iso important. my job was to memorize the regular customer names,a nd i was good at it... so good that some of the customers had my name memorized.

[Abu]

i don't think america has that bad of customer service do we? when i worked at that resturant i worled so hard on my customer service coz i think it iso important. my job was to memorize the regular customer names,a nd i was good at it... so good that some of the customers had my name memorized.

Nicole, I said that American CS is really good.

[IBStuck]

Nicole, I said that American CS is really good.

apparently i can't read....

oh i9know why i comented now... it seems so long ago now... you siad that asia's was worse.. you never said that america's was good... maybe you did.. i am gonna be the "lazy american" and not go back and read.

but i do think it is funny coz we were talking about this today, in the US at both of the IB schools that i went to they used to always tell us don't show that you are american in your essays, so we would ask if we should use the british speelings for words, and they would tell us not to but just not to sound like we were american.

and there are lots of americans when they travel abroad pretend that they are from canada.