Views on America

I love the States, but their military interventions in places where they have no business being (Iraq, Afghanistan, tons of bases all around the world) rub a lot of people (including me) the wrong way.
For some reason most of the wars the USA wages to "bring democracy" seem to be located in places where there's a lot of oil in the ground.

Yeah, we call it a heap of different things. And we do call it pissed, if you get drunk, which is probably where it comes from.

I'm Australian, and I have quite a few American friends (irl)... I love them, they are beautiful, smart, funny, and always awesome fun to go out with!

And I'm not going to make any generalizations about the whole of America, as anything I would say would pretty much be just a few stereotypes of what some people think about Americans, and is not generally true. Like 'all Australians do is drink pi**' which is only kinda true haha!

Drink Pi ss? HUH? I never made THAT stereotype!!

It means alcohol! I'm sorry haha! I should probably change it before everyone thinks we drink our own urine

our craft and microbrew beer has gotten better. unfortunatly, people still think all we do is drink coors light and budweiser. i won't touch that stuff.

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.

^^^ so well said and so true! How can such wonderful people allow these things to happen?

It's getting harder to find someone to vote for here too- but the scenarios are not as drastic!

It's getting harder to find someone to vote for here too- but the scenarios are not as drastic!

Before Santorum pulled out, I'd offered my living room to a handful of friends. I couldn't make them stay in a country with him at the helm!

There isn't much choice anywhere right now. I figure you just have to go for the 'Not Crazy' one.

And here in the UK, you don't vote for some one that looks like Wallace (from Wallace and Gromit)

I like shopping in the states does that count?

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:

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

our craft and microbrew beer has gotten better. unfortunatly, people still think all we do is drink coors light and budweiser. i won't touch that stuff.

Here in the UK, Bud is seen as *the* American beer; my ex-boss, an American, put me straight on that!

People assume we Brits are polite, but last summer I had the greatest time in Southern California; people were so friendly and helpful to us as tourists - not just workers, but passers-by. I live near Oxford, a popular tourist destination in the UK, but you just wouldn't get locals here going out of their way to welcome visitors the way the Californians did.

So the bad rap you get is unjustified, and from an international point of view may be down to the previous administration's foreign policies. :noway:

So, I've *never* met an unfriendly American. (Not been to New York yet, tho )