This thread reminds me of this passage in David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day" about how Americans view the French and vice versa.
" My understanding was that, no matter how hard we tried, the French would never like us, and that's confusing to an American raised to believe that the citizens of Europe should be grateful for all the wonderful things we've done. Things like movies that stereotype the people of France as boors and petty snobs, and little remarks such as "We saved your ass in World War II." Every day we're told that we live in the greatest country on earth. And it's always stated as an undeniable fact: Leos were born between July 23 and August 22, fitted queen-size sheets measure sixty by eighty inches, and America is the greatest country on earth. Having grown up with this in our ears, it's startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans of their own, none of which are "We're number two!"
The French have decided to ignore our self-proclaimed superiority, and this is translated as arrogance. To my knowledge, they've never said that they're better than us; they've just never said that we're the best. Big deal. "
I see little to worry about as well. Anti-americanism in Europe is the product of leftist elites and a few Muslim radicals, which find very little support in the mainstream population. We have yet to witness American flag-burning demonstrations in the streets of Paris, Berlin or Bern and massive boycotts of Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Hollywood movies. It is important to keep things in perspective. Criticism of one's foreign policies should not be equated with xenophobia.
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Agreed there - however, as I currently live in a country where the government takes taxes from its citizens incomes in order to give the church, I reminisce on a country I used to call home that had slightly better separation, even if it wasn't perfect.
Mods: Please delete my post above. I've decided that what I typed was emotional and more likely to be interpreted negatively, and rather than wait till someone happened to read my message and take offense, I chose to take short-term corrective action. Please delete it at your discretion.
Why is it against forum rules? It should surely be everyones right to edit their post and what they've written? I've never seen a forum say that isn't allowed before... weird.
Are you saying in Switzerland that income tax is used to finance churches/religion even when you have stated that you are not religious and do not pay church taxes ?
im not trying to argue with you but i used to be a bmw mechanic, and gotta say id take a german machine for all purposes, there actually built for it, the tires, the suspension, the sporty but comfertable feel, was designed for long and short distances, and cruise at 140 mph comfertably.
i will admit im upset about our car companies selling out though, why is hummer going to the chinese, fiat buying chrysler, gm and ford are now government motors. the international thugs have taken over, the americans want " america" back, with our consitution in tact! but as the world knows our libraries are full of tears .
Well, with enough money, you can buy your car manufacturers back. The reason they're in or about to be in foreign hands, if you remember, is because they're bankrupt.
I'm just happy to live in a place where I don't hear "god bless X" and where they indoctrinate children into pledging allegiance to a flag...under god. I can choose to pay church tax or not.
****, yeah its true were all bankrupt, foriegn assets are buying everything in america, even state parks, i almost want everything to collapse so people would wake up and realize thier not in candy land anymore, and shut the banks like the fed down
No one should be responsible for someone else's mistake or action. I don't see any reason why you should be sorry or apologetic for anything you haven't done.
people who don't differentiate between governments and normal people are the ones with a problem. you can't just bash a whole country because of a single perosn's (or party) decision or action.
I am personally not a very big fan of US foreign policy. But at the same time I dont expect every single American citizen to be working in the white house and carry the same views , I even think that the majority of Americans are more concerned about internal problems like Economy and Health Care than issues like Middle East, Iran, and North Korea.
cause thier broke and want everything for free, and let these gangster thugs do all the bad deciding for them. and they have no idea whats going on in the middle east, just one of the many greastest crimes the world has ever seen
This is a **** take right, because you're not a yank? According to most 'educated' people the first really successful flight was by a Brazilian, the Russians went around the moon (didn't land) before anybody else and of course the Europeans fought alot longer than the GIs, but didn't have any Atom bombs to drop on Japan.
America has some great things, such as the 'can do' attitude, but unfortunately many Americans think that they have the right to 'can do' on somebody else's turf. And don't forget that the greatest advert for capitalism borrows 2 billion dollars a day from the Chinese.
Of the Americans that I have met and worked with, I can honestly say it was a good experience and these were good guys, but they don't match the stereotypes or it seems the views of the US government.