Views on America

xASHYxSMASHYx

Well I can tell you, I am an American living in Australia. Until I moved here, I had no idea how much people hate and judge America. Everywhere I go when someone realises where I am from they feel the need to go on an endless rampage about what's wrong with America. I get sick of it. I just wish people wouldn't judge places they have never been. Or even if they have been, maybe realise that we are just like other countries and the views and decisions of our government don't necessarily reflect the views and wishes of all the people living there.
Also for the people who like to say that Americans are all fat and lazy..... I would have to say that there are people like that EVERYWHERE in the world. Just another stupid stereotype.

Fridaydalek

I've also had almost every single foreign person that I know who has visited the US, say that, no matter what city they visited, Americans are some of the friendliest people they have ever encountered. Our customer service is superior to most places and just hospitality in general is above the call of duty.

This was something that just floored me on my US trip, and it's an American characteristic that I'd love to see the UK adopt.

lbelfrey

In my experience there is both good and bad in America, and like anywhere you get really nice people and horrible people. I could write many points, but the big ones that spring to mind right now:

GOOD
Love the amount of space available in most places.

Lots of products are relatively cheap - gym equipment, clothing, cars etc


BAD
Healthcare can be a nightmare, sad that (not all but many) people think that poor people are there through their own fault and deserve no coverage etc...

Work culture is like slavery (high paid slavery) the hours expected from people are immense and the amount of vacation time is minimal. Employees have minimal rights.

Blind patriotism - There is a lot of good stuff that is American, but sometimes others do it better, it's ok to admit this, but yet there are a fair few people who believe America is best at everything. This also leads to the same people perhaps having a blinkered view of the world.

Food - processed crap is everywhere, cheap and in large portions, proper food is much harder to come by and more expensive.

Wow! Where do you live? Sounds like you have a good eye on things.

peachNpunkin

I have a lot of friends in America. I love them to bits. As individuals they're amazing women.

But, err... (damn it, I hope I don't offend anyone right now) monitoring your political situation scares me so bad. Religion has no place in politics and I'm fortunate to live in a country which has separated Church and State.

I just can't get over that you don't have Universal Healthcare.
I can't get over the abortion bill in Virginia.
I can't get over the fact that the bill to allow employers to pick and choose what healthcare to cover only marginally got kicked out (we're talking like 4 votes between them).
I can't get over the fact that someone like Rick Sanitorium could run for president and spread his hateful views on gays, coloured people and women, and name it all as a religious virtue.
And although I love Barack Obama, I can't get over the fact that your President acts more like a celebrity than he does as a ruler of a country.

But your people. I love your people. For the most part. Everywhere has bad eggs. Just your politics I cannot abide.

This! There are lots of individual Americans who are lovely, but the system itself just seems so messed up.

As someone from a "1st world" country, it actually seems completely barbaric that you have to pay for health care in America. I have never in my life met anyone that thinks paying for healthcare is a good thing. In Scotland, and presumably the rest of Britain, the NHS (national health service) is one of our most valuable things.

Also, the guns thing, that is **** scary. I'd never seen a gun in my life till I went on a school strip to the American embassy in London, and it terrified me, can't imagine living somewhere where the police all carry guns and people can actually buy them legally.

And the uber religion - Americans always seem to be terrified of the dangers of fundamentalist Islam yada yada, but don't seem to realise that fundamentalist Christians probably do more harm - as far as I'm aware, the muslim religion doesn't affect laws on a daily basis.

I never met a racist person until I was 16/17, I have yet to this day meet a real homophobic person (beyond ewwww that's gross in highschool), and yes our laws (at least in Scotland, I understand it's more entwined in England) are LAW and not RELIGION. The religious argument has no place in politics.

I think the reason America is so internationally disliked is that it always seems so "big headed", marching into national affairs and acting like king of the world, when it's still internationally regarded as er "stupid". Again, not individual americans, but the stereotype of the dumb american is still very very much alive, and I dunno why, if it's the system, or if it's the steady stream of "only in America" stories (ie people suing mcdonalds for getting fat etc).

It's like, I get it, you're uber capitalists, but you need to find the balance between socialism (GASP! OMG I SAID IT!) and capitalism - when you have people in the ghetto starving and turning to real proper dirty crime for money, or people literally dying of illnesses because they can't afford health insurance, the capitalism has gone too far. If you want your world where you can chase your dreams and become rich, you need to understand it is not possible for EVERYONE to do this - there will always be waiters and street sweepers and people on minimum wage with no health benefits - and to have a truly complete society you need to take care of these people.

Massive rant there, I just have quite strong views, and I wanted to put them carefully so I didn't offend any of the good Americanos :P

And finally, my biggest issue with America... THE PHRASE IS COULDN'T CARE LESS! COULDN'T! COULDN'T!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw

I am an American, and I totally agree with both of you except the gun thing. I have had guns all my life. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. I've never had a gun misfire, I've never shot anyone, although I have pulled my gun on a couple of people in self defense. I never ate meat out of a grocery store until I moved to the city. If we didn't kill it and clean it, or get it from the butcher in town, we didn't eat it. I have a lot of friends that have never eaten meat out of the grocery store. We hunt for your food down here (I live in South Texas). That was our way of life for a long time. Now everything is so commercialized. Oh and we don't call 911 either. If you are dumb enough to walk into someones home in the country around here, you are dumb enough to be carried out.

But as for everything else that y'all said, I totally agree.

Eleanorjanethinner

Wow, I'm impressed at how civil and balanced the comments have been!

Another thing I'd throw into the mix, is that America's international politics are very similar to that of any country that has been one of the pre-eminent world powers. Look at how Britian behaved when it was top dog, tromping about invading other countries with a mission to 'civilise and Christianise' the natives! And Spain was ridiculous in the 17th and 18th Centuries.

Look at how Russia behaves to smaller neighbours, and China... (the Chinese are doing some good stuff, but they're also oppressing neighbouring countries and their own people).

I'm a believer in a smattering of history and current events to help keep a balanced view... I do think the US would be better off if it looked more at how other countries did things to find out what actually works (but then that's true of most countries, New Zealand's social policy is currently almost entirely driven by politics, not by evidence of what works! Britian seems to be in a similar cycle.)

Anyhoo, it's an interesting thread, hears hoping it stays civil!

HelloDan

Wow! Where do you live? Sounds like you have a good eye on things.

Live in the UK at the moment, have lived in America in the past.

Wife is an American, so we've covered this topic a lot, as we can very easily live in either place. At the moment, UK is winning, but in the future, who knows?

Reminded me of one other big point too, bizarrely despite the US claiming to be the meritocracy, we find the UK to actually be better for social mobility too.
The US appears to have become obsessed with paper qualifications, and it almost seems like you need an MBA to just flip burgers, where as in the UK I know a lot of professional corporate people with no qualifications who made it there on merit. Add into that mix how expensive further education is in the US and it's very hard for some people to make a better life.

To be fair university in the UK has got a lot more expensive (£9k a year now (~$15k)) but its paid for up fron by the government, and you only pay back the loan when you are earning above a certian threshold. The payment is collected through tax and is something like 9% of any pay above the threshold. If you fall into unemployment, you don't rack up payments and if you work for about 20 years, whatever is left unpaid gets written off. So whilst expensive, it still gives less fortunate people some chance.

peachNpunkin

In my experience there is both good and bad in America, and like anywhere you get really nice people and horrible people. I could write many points, but the big ones that spring to mind right now:

GOOD
Love the amount of space available in most places.

Lots of products are relatively cheap - gym equipment, clothing, cars etc


BAD
Healthcare can be a nightmare, sad that (not all but many) people think that poor people are there through their own fault and deserve no coverage etc...

Work culture is like slavery (high paid slavery) the hours expected from people are immense and the amount of vacation time is minimal. Employees have minimal rights.

Blind patriotism - There is a lot of good stuff that is American, but sometimes others do it better, it's ok to admit this, but yet there are a fair few people who believe America is best at everything. This also leads to the same people perhaps having a blinkered view of the world.

Food - processed crap is everywhere, cheap and in large portions, proper food is much harder to come by and more expensive.

Totally agree with you. Expecially the Blind Patriotism and the food.

hennyben

I've only been to the States once but I've met lots of Americans here in Ireland, and they were all great people; enthusiastic about everything!, really friendly and definitely you all seem to have a very positive attititude towards life in general. Also I think Americans are probably the most hard working people in the Western world.

America as a whole comes across to the rest of the world as pretty arrogant. Your politicians talk about how it's the greatest country in the world but it's got more social problems than most other 1st world countries. I think that's what people don't like about America as a country, the refusal of your leaders to admit its problems and say "Yeah we need to fix a few things"

kehowe83

bump

Classalete

*arms crossed* **** Yeah! /Enough said.

42kgirl

Yeah I'm a Yuengling guy myself. Just became available in Ohio about 6 months ago. BOMB!!

I quite like it as well. Plus, their reps send the best tshirts!

angieleighbyrd

My honest opinion will probably get me kicked.


Without going into detail, no I don't *hate* it here, nor can I say I love it. I'm not exactly proud of this country or to be in it. It's not what it used to be and I'm pretty sure George Washington is rolling over in his grave.

I would love to leave, honestly I would.

Before I got married, I researched gaining citizenship in Canada. If I wouldn't have met my husband, that is probably where I would be right now.

But I can't be selfish, I have 3 kids and a husband who I know would follow me anywhere, but my kids are really close with their grandmother, and I wouldn't wanna take that away from them.

elelat

America? OOOOHHH you mean The United States OOOFFF America!!!

USA politics are nauseous. The funding Fathers are crying of democracy sakes!

Why in the world would I want to life in the USA?! No health, over priced food and necessities. I lived 6 months in the Midwest, it was good. Life was safe. But overall, capitalism and neoliberalism are killing USA and they are spreading the virus all over the world.

American dream? You have to be asleep to believe it!

margeauxhunt

I left 6 years ago. I moved back for a year last year and couldn't wait to get out. I will never live there again.

margeauxhunt

America? OOOOHHH you mean The United States OOOFFF America!!!

USA politics are nauseous. The funding Fathers are crying of democracy sakes!

Why in the world would I want to life in the USA?! No health, over priced food and necessities. I lived 6 months in the Midwest, it was good. Life was safe. But overall, capitalism and neoliberalism are killing USA and they are spreading the virus all over the world.

The conservatives are doing a pretty good job, too.

42kgirl

absolutely love Oregon, good friends there and I have found the people I have met very friendly and helpful.

on a side issue I believe Matt Groening has revealed where he based Simpsons Springfield.

Springfield Oregon :happy:

Nope. In the Behind the Laughter episode it was revealed to be a small town in Kentucky. It was later changed to Missouri and references to landmarks in Springfields all over the states are made throughout the series.

kayleesays

I have a lot of friends in America. I love them to bits. As individuals they're amazing women.

But, err... (damn it, I hope I don't offend anyone right now) monitoring your political situation scares me so bad. Religion has no place in politics and I'm fortunate to live in a country which has separated Church and State.

I just can't get over that you don't have Universal Healthcare.
I can't get over the abortion bill in Virginia.
I can't get over the fact that the bill to allow employers to pick and choose what healthcare to cover only marginally got kicked out (we're talking like 4 votes between them).
I can't get over the fact that someone like Rick Sanitorium could run for president and spread his hateful views on gays, coloured people and women, and name it all as a religious virtue.
And although I love Barack Obama, I can't get over the fact that your President acts more like a celebrity than he does as a ruler of a country.

But your people. I love your people. For the most part. Everywhere has bad eggs. Just your politics I cannot abide.

As an American, I can say that I can't get over these things either. They're terrifying! I love where I live, and I want to see it thrive, but I look at these things and think, "honestly? How does this happen?!"

ZombieChaser

As a Canadian, I have no quarrell with Americans...just their politics.

Oh, and to everyone else: We're not "just like" our American neighbours. We have our own cultural idiosyncrasies (sp?) which make us uniquely Canadian, eh?!

jlewis2896

Bump.

I love this thread, thanks!

TimWilkinson101

Love the place having been there a couple of times and the people are really friendly. Heading there again in July.


Cant say that I particularly cared for either of the Bush's and the mess they helped get the world into. Iraq was a mistake that I was sadly dragged into (ex Royal Air Force) and I dont feel good being part of something that resulted in so many deaths... and Afghanistan is a nightmare.

That aside I am glad they are (currently) the pre-eminent power in the world as there are some alternatives out there that could have done a hell of a lot worse.