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How does the world feel about the USA?


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somethings in the US are just strange, you can take drivers licence at 16 but are not allowed to drink untill 21... i am srry but to me being european this is just wierd.

At the age of 16 most people have not developed enough mentally (and some parts physically) to be considered to be able to drive well. In sweden 18 is the limit which i think is quit fair, even so drivers between the age of 18-24 are overrepresented in driving accidents due to varies reason. Does anyone know how the statistics are for US teens driving?

Also drinking 21 ?? common, seriously, to what effect? people still drink in highschool don't they? (atleast the ones i have spoken to who come from the states)

It seems just plain wierd, as in holland where i was born you can buy beer at 16 and in most of europe you can atleast booze at 18.... so why is the US 21?

yes we are a strange people. :(

alcohol laws vary from state to state (just to make it more confusing!) years ago the drinking age also varieed fropm state to state. for example while the drinking age in Missouri was 21 in Kansas the drininking age was 18. all the states noiw have the same drinking age of 21. but there are exceptions to the rules! :) . you can drink for religious ceremonies (i.e communion in the christian and catholic religion). and in some states you can drink in your own homw if your parents are present and they are the ones who gave you the alcohol, but in other states you can't. you can posses alcohol as long as it is in a seal, never been opened before container, but again, only in some states. i am sure there are other crazy ones too.

they have talked beofre about lowering the drinking age, but it always just talk. they are afraid to lower it because ther are afraid that it will cause a larger drinking problem, and then around a much youger crowd too, but a lot of people underage drink.

as for drinking in high school... if some one told you you couldn't do something... wouldn't you want to at least try it? there are a lot of parties that the sole purpose of them is to drink, drink, drink, and nothing else, and hoonestly... they are quite lame... epsecailly if you are the one of the few sober people present.

driving at 16: you get you learners permit at 15, and depednig on the state you have to have that for anywhere from 6 months to a year (Florida it is a year while Missouri you only need it for 6 months), then you take a simple test (again they vary form state to state), and it is very very simple. in Florida (at least the few cities i lived around) you never left a parking lot for the exam, while in Missouir you had to parallel park, and you went on an actual road, but you never really left a subdivision.

a lot of accidents happen to 16 year olds but i don't know the statsistics. they are easliy distracted, and they usually have to many peopl in thier car. in missorui ther is a law that you can pnly have opne passanger in you car the first 6 months after reciving you drivers liscesns, and then i think it move to two passangers, and then when you are 18 and recieve you full drivers licsncse you can have as many peopl in your car as there are seat belts. there are a some drivers at 16 that can be resposible, but ther are a lot that cannot. i waited unitl 6 months before my 18th birthday to get my license.. and then i only rode with friends taht i really really trusted, and then i wouldn't always get int he car witht them then.

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Guest dragonb111
yes we are a strange people. <_<

alcohol laws vary from state to state (just to make it more confusing!) years ago the drinking age also varieed fropm state to state. for example while the drinking age in Missouri was 21 in Kansas the drininking age was 18. all the states noiw have the same drinking age of 21. but there are exceptions to the rules! :punish: . you can drink for religious ceremonies (i.e communion in the christian and catholic religion). and in some states you can drink in your own homw if your parents are present and they are the ones who gave you the alcohol, but in other states you can't. you can posses alcohol as long as it is in a seal, never been opened before container, but again, only in some states. i am sure there are other crazy ones too.

they have talked beofre about lowering the drinking age, but it always just talk. they are afraid to lower it because ther are afraid that it will cause a larger drinking problem, and then around a much youger crowd too, but a lot of people underage drink.

as for drinking in high school... if some one told you you couldn't do something... wouldn't you want to at least try it? there are a lot of parties that the sole purpose of them is to drink, drink, drink, and nothing else, and hoonestly... they are quite lame... epsecailly if you are the one of the few sober people present.

driving at 16: you get you learners permit at 15, and depednig on the state you have to have that for anywhere from 6 months to a year (Florida it is a year while Missouri you only need it for 6 months), then you take a simple test (again they vary form state to state), and it is very very simple. in Florida (at least the few cities i lived around) you never left a parking lot for the exam, while in Missouir you had to parallel park, and you went on an actual road, but you never really left a subdivision.

a lot of accidents happen to 16 year olds but i don't know the statsistics. they are easliy distracted, and they usually have to many peopl in thier car. in missorui ther is a law that you can pnly have opne passanger in you car the first 6 months after reciving you drivers liscesns, and then i think it move to two passangers, and then when you are 18 and recieve you full drivers licsncse you can have as many peopl in your car as there are seat belts. there are a some drivers at 16 that can be resposible, but ther are a lot that cannot. i waited unitl 6 months before my 18th birthday to get my license.. and then i only rode with friends taht i really really trusted, and then i wouldn't always get int he car witht them then.

Agreed. I'm not allowed to get my license until I'm fifteen. But you're right. We are very easily distracted (with phones and all that.)

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  • 1 month later...

I think American people are great. But republican politicians arent. I think generally the whole country didnt like Bush. When he came to Tanzania there were small scale protests but after Bush announced he is donating 500 milliion $ to the country everyone went quiet.

I was really happy with his campaign on malaria. Malaria kills almost 150,000 tanzanians yearly :o .

So I think generally the views are mixed but a gain the reality is majority of people cant be bothered to worry about US when they themselves are struggling just to get food in their plates. Although from my view I think US is great. I just visited once though.

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United Kingdom. Generally people are anti-american in a political way here, not as in the people. People feel like we were dragged into the Iraq war and Afghanistan by the US, and both wars are very unpopular here and lead to the mass, hatred? maybe too strong, of Blair. Thats not necesarily my personal opinion just generally from people i know and things. Tony Blair did tend to follow the US and it led to us feeling used as a sidekick by the US.

We aren't anti american in other ways, if i meet someone i'm not like ooooooo your American.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Overall there is a little bit of intolerance for American politics. especially about George Bush and the american campaign. Personally, i'm out of it, because i don't watch tv. Generally australian view of America consists of either skinny hollywood stars, obesity and extra-large maccas & George bush.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Indian/Iranian Not anti-us. I dislike bush, but i dont hate my nation. Many of our policies over the las 8 years are ridiculious and i want change. but prior to bush, Clinton was a great president. I cant wait for this election, i can finally vote and have a say in who my president is.

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The U.S is a great place but some of our policies are bogus and they hurt other countries. Many countries in the world such as Russia, Nigeria, Venezuela Cuba, All of the middle east and some hate the United States. Because they believe that we are hypocrites, we say they can't do something but then we turn around and do it. Example Guantanomo Bay. The United States gave invaded so many countries because of Human rights violations but we then turn around and do the same thing

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I think that nowadays it's just cool to be anti-american.

I really do agree that alot of the world is beginning to just dislike the United States, saying they dislike Bush etc. without actually knowing alot about it. I've lived in Morocco for three years and I think that the country is pretty split. Half the people I talk to hate hate hate everything American, without alot of reason, but I think more out of resentment for the lifestyle. They also have a very different family system there, and there look at disdain with the prefect all-american family represented (though I often think these are the ones who are jealous of them). However there are also alot of people here who still hold on to the American Dream fantasy, and concequently have an unreal love for it (there are generally poorer people, who have had little contact with Americans, unlike the upperclass ones at our school who think the first thing)

Personally I think no country is perfect. The US is like a celebrity, we all have our (sometime similar) flaws, but theirs is in the spotlight all the time due the fact that they are such a superpower.

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It's important to note that I am not against the people, I'm against the country and the way it does things. I specifically do not like the I am better than you, and I have the final word attitude that the U.S. exudes. This is not only with Bush, so I won't say that I have resentment against Bush only.

I don't like capitalism, I don't like the universities system for undergrads, I don't like that ridiculous pride that we have, that we are the top gun, and I don't like the fact that the U.S. controls or has a very firm word in international affairs such as the UN.

I agree 100%. I couldn't put it in better words. (Except maybe about the undergrad issue, I know nothing about it) And as a Palestinian, I hate the fact that US gives so much support to Israel. All it's doing is killing my brothers and sisters and causing more political chaos. (Even between Arab countries.)

Edited by Anonymouser
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  • 4 weeks later...

Being from the United States, I agree (mostly, not completely) with many of the above comments about America, however it must be considered how our country was founded and the pride that many Americans find in that.

I personally think our country is having severe problems economically and politically that may not be resolved any time soon and I want to move out of the country...to Australia actually.

I'm glad to hear though that many of you don't hate the people, you just don't like the government. Yes there is a great number of ignorant Americans, however not ALL of us are and we don't like to be grouped with those who are.

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Being from the United States, I agree (mostly, not completely) with many of the above comments about America, however it must be considered how our country was founded and the pride that many Americans find in that.

What's so special about it, if I may ask. You fought a war and won it.

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I think that nowadays it's just cool to be anti-american. XD No offence but it's a bit like how fashion fall in and out of season.

Well no, it's not 'cool'. People generally root for the underdog and since America is the opposite of that, people tend to be anti-american in the political sense.

Anyway, as a Palestinian, I generally don't like USA. They should stop interfering and spreading their oh so american thought of freedom, democracy, and so on, which imo may not necessarily be the same thought for the natives they seem to invading (coughiraqcough) and make the situation even worse.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I agree 100%. I couldn't put it in better words. (Except maybe about the undergrad issue, I know nothing about it) And as a Palestinian, I hate the fact that US gives so much support to Israel. All it's doing is killing my brothers and sisters and causing more political chaos. (Even between Arab countries.)

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

Well no, it's not 'cool'. People generally root for the underdog and since America is the opposite of that, people tend to be anti-american in the political sense.

Anyway, as a Palestinian, I generally don't like USA. They should stop interfering and spreading their oh so american thought of freedom, democracy, and so on, which imo may not necessarily be the same thought for the natives they seem to invading (coughiraqcough) and make the situation even worse.

I find that interesting because many Americans believe that many citizens in the middle ease want freedom and democracy. But I understand that the way America is handling things in not necessarly the right way, as i said before, i hate our foreign policy but i guess it comes down to the age old rule, one rules with their self interest in mind

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Self-interest is NOT okay when it involves killing innocent people.

Theoretically, the US went in there to liberate a country from an oppresive militaristic dictator. I'm sure many people would find that okay, considering the atrocities that were committed under his rule. However, the actual outcome and other motives made what would have otherwise seemed to be a noble purpose in to something else entirely. The question I would pose would be "how would the Iraq war have been different if the US had not had self-interested motives?"

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Theoretically, the US went in there to liberate a country from an oppresive militaristic dictator. I'm sure many people would find that okay, considering the atrocities that were committed under his rule.

This is a war that has been met with widespread opposition right from the beginning. And it's not hard to understand why: the war was preventative and not justified.

The original reason for the invasion was not to liberate the country; it was because the US administration and war hawks in the congressional body claimed he had weapons of mass destruction which, with those weapons in dangerous hands, were a threat to national security. Once people saw through the bull****, then the administration pulled out the liberation card.

The question I would pose would be "how would the Iraq war have been different if the US had not had self-interested motives?"

Well the simple answer would be that there wouldn't have been a war in the first place.

Saddam Hussein was an oppressive militaristic dictator, yes. But hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have died from a war that wasn't justified. I think the questions we ought to be asking are "Did the end justify the means?" and "Could there have been a less destructive way of dealing with him?"

Edited by Mr. Shiver
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