Why is the rest of the worlds opinion of the US negative?

[HansNZ]

I also feel that free enterprise will do it better, faster and cheaper than government, but also believe in some govt. regulation of industry, particularly when it comes to enviromnemnt... etc etc

It is interesting that this opinion still continues to reside in the recesses of the American psyche. This attitude was popular outside the USA in the 1970s and 1980s, but has subsided somewhat (except in the US obviously).

The endless line of privatised industries that have been an absolute disaster are a testiment to this. Just two prominent examples: here our largest city was without electricity for several weeks because of the greedy profiteering of a privatised utility. Our government had to bail out our national airline after a series of disasterous choices made by its owners. It cost our taxpayer 1% of GDP, that would be the US equivalent of $100 Billion to fix the problem.

Sometimes the government runs things better.

 

[HansNZ]

Also guys remember that we ARE a nation of immigrants so the fact that these things came out of America may be more relevant than the ethnic backgrounds of their authors...

This is a good point. The USA has benefitted greatly from circumstances. It has received the exiles from the world's trouble spots and these people have gone on to achieve wonderful things while living in the USA - Einstein is one.

But so many of the USA's achievements are the result of good luck rather than being exclusively because of characteristics specifically American. Having a large and resourceful landmass, being isolated from the world's trouble spots, i.e. not having invading armies cross their lands, and often benefitting from the misfortune of other countries has been greatly to the USA's benefit.

The world is changing, so this is becoming less and less true. And it is also true to say that American civilisation is declining. The USA's natural advantages are being squandered to a certain extent. The 20th century may have been the american century, but I doubt the 21st will be.

As the USA's relative power declines other countries won't HAVE to be its friends. Much of the arrogance and presumption of the USA is only tolerated because foreigners have to pretend to like it. Once this changes we might find that the USA is deserted en-masse unless its attitudes evolve with the times. Sadly there is already a legacy of anti-americanism that will have to be worked through first.

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

Well where I can agree with you to an extent Frack , I do think that some of the technology was blatently stolen , if I do pioneering reearch in America is that work therefore American? What if that work was done in a different country but working for an American company (Viagra/Pfizer comes to mind)? But I do agree , the line is somewhat blurred when multinational projects are concerned. That is why I was concetrating upon singular nations/empires efforts in my comparison. I'll tell you what , I think Edison and Henry Ford were pretty good , with the light bulb (or at least it'S mass production) bein a pretty decent achievement.

yeah, the hater thing was a joke. There aer people who come on here and try to discredit American things...when in reality, around the world, people are pretty much just people. They act in their own self-interest, seek power, and aggrandizement. If they can't get those, they will make others look bad.

It would be a really long thread to break down a lot of the historical reasons.

 

[cccp]

Shit, I'll tell you why everyone is angry: because US is abusing its power. If that's the way it's gonna be, and the bigger countries gonna dictate their rules to the weaker countries, all the political stability will be shot to hell. Sovereignty of a country has to be untouchable.

Also, the way Bush said it to Saddam: you have 48 hours to leave Iraq! WTF?!!! It's the same as telling someone to get out of their own house.

It's bullshit, IMO.

 

[Frackal]

That 48 hours thing was ridiculous. That was basically a personal thing IMO.

 

[atlantabiolab]

Mandinka, being a mathematician, I would have expected you to understand that knowledge builds upon itself, and not generally related to one man. Men of learning "learned" from the knowledge of others, and then used this to further the wealth of knowledge for future generations. To try to place ownership to one nation or ethnicity is ridiculous. Ideas of science are not stolen, they are promulgated allowing for further innovation. Science is the study of reality, and no one owns reality.

Also, the Curies did not invent vaccinations or antibiotics, they were French physicists. Edward Jenner, an Englishman, showed the process of vaccination using smallpox, over 100 years before the Curies were born.

As for Imnotdutch, are you retarded?

 

[***]

i'm an american, but ashamed to be one. i don't consider myself anti-patriotic because i will die defending my country. our foreign policies are so flawed i don't know where to begin. all the "good" and "humanitarian" efforts we provide to the world all have other political or economical agendas behind them. it's pitiful.

 

[atlantabiolab]

It is interesting that this opinion still continues to reside in the recesses of the American psyche. This attitude was popular outside the USA in the 1970s and 1980s, but has subsided somewhat (except in the US obviously).

The endless line of privatised industries that have been an absolute disaster are a testiment to this. Just two prominent examples: here our largest city was without electricity for several weeks because of the greedy profiteering of a privatised utility. Our government had to bail out our national airline after a series of disasterous choices made by its owners. It cost our taxpayer 1% of GDP, that would be the US equivalent of $100 Billion to fix the problem.

Sometimes the government runs things better.

Really? From what I read in your New Zealand Herald, it seems that the low hydro-power output is mostly to blame.

As for government efficiency, here in the US, the Transportation and Security Administration, in its first year is 3.3 billion dollars over-budget. Last year, the General Accounting Office stated that they could not account for and estimated 14 billion dollars. Will anyone be held responsible? Will anyone be placed in jail for this travesty? No. You can only do that to private sector individuals, not government.

 

[Mandinka2]

yeah, the hater thing was a joke. There aer people who come on here and try to discredit American things...when in reality, around the world, people are pretty much just people.

Never a truer word has been written on this board - which is why many find the relative valuation of people's lives based on nationality so objectionable.

 

[Frackal]

worth of civilian life inversely proportional to the darkness of their skin