BF2S Forums How Do Americans Perceive Themselves on the World Stage?

If people are interested in other news information from other countries and maybe a look into how other western countries live, try a few websites

www.smh.com.au
www.news.com.au

These are Australian news paper websites.....
Tell us what you think.

Supermatt wrote:

My POV from living here: most Americans nowadays (mostly the teenage/20'sish crowd) have lost just about all values and morals that were standard and common a few decades ago and before then. Everybody tries to live for the moment, doing whatever they need to be 'happy' for the time-being. Nobody really appreciates the little simple things anymore it seems, like having dinner with your family every day at the table, saying grace before eating, etc. That's the way it looks to me, and I'm only 21. It makes me appreciate other nations a lot more and makes me curious about if this problem only persists here, or if it's a world-wide thing, or maybe the US *used* to be in it's prime, or what's all going on.

Its interesting.  From the Media you wouldn't realise from being an outsider that America is such a religeous country.

Australia is definetly not a huge religeous country.  We certainly have religeons and all, but it is not standard to say grace.  Though some people obviously do, and You don't pray in school, unless you go to a private religeous school.

Most of my friends do not practice religeon at all.  I am agnostic, and quite a few of my friends are athiests....

But we weren't  founded by religeous people trying to escape presecution... We were founded by convics and their guards

Last edited by IronGeek (2005-11-07 14:14:47)

I percieve us as a "good people." Sure we have our share of tyrants and dishonest people, but just like any other coutry you would visit. No one would like to admit it, but they are there and unfortunately they tend to spoil it for the rest of us.

I don't like us being the world police or big brother to everyone else. Why? Because if something goes wrong, and it always does, we get blamed and spit on. It doesn't matter if our actions were needed or not, or if there was an immense amount of good being done, no one will take notice of it. Everyone likes seeing the negative aspect. It makes for better news.
Maybe the UN should do more? No one it seems takes them serious anymore. I want it to be more of a global effort rather than a U.S. effort. More so than what it is now.

I don't recall which french digintary said it, but he coined the U.S. as not a super power, but a hyper power and there isn't another at the moment. Do a degree he is right, but it isn't a good title either. We do impose our immense political, financial and military might at times to bend the wills. I don't think it's right to do, but it's done, and we have our allies backing us up a majority of the time so the blame isn't solely ours.
I HATE watching the news, it's the same stuff all of the time.

As far as Bush goes, I am pretty sure we he came to term there was no plan for 9/11 and I doubt he was even considering something to that degree to ever happen. For his 2nd term, I didn't even bother voting. As far as I was concerned, both Kerry and Bush weren't worth my effort. Which was the lesser of 2 evils? That's is my opinion.

We are a charitable people. I gave money for Red Cross, the tsunami relief...etc. We do give a great deal of money to those that do need. I do feel that we are taken advantage of in that respect. Maybe we should stop aiding and funding other countries. We could use the money on our own home front. Hell we just had 3 huge hurricanes. The southern stats (Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana in particular) could use the money for rebuilding. It could go to a REAL education reform.
It aggravated me when the pope recently commented on the U.S. that "now the world can see that they are not the only ones."   Pardon me, but NO SHIT! Who said that we are not without our own disasters?? Kind of an assenine comment from such a profound religious leader.
Since we are on about the religion part too now, we have our own fair share of religious zealotry. I myself am not religious anymore. At one time I might have been, but churches are just as frought with squabbling and fighting and the government is. It turned me away from it.

I am from the south. South Carolina to be specific. Perhaps one of the most shafted state in the union. I am white. I am a guy and attended an all male military college, The Citadel and majored in Physics. I did however get a chance to meet several people from foreign countries. Taiwan, Jordan, Thailand and quite a few others. I lived with a GREAT guy from Jordan. He always noted that we do not realize how good we have it. I think he is right. We don't. Many of us do not get the opporotunity to travel abroad and thus we don't see how folks on the other side of the fence get along. Is it our own fault? Yes. Hey, those tickets cost a lot!!
I WOULD love to go to Europe. Hell I would love to visit Iraq one day. SOOO much history there and no one really notices. I would go to these places and more, but I do not think I would be welcomed regardless of where I go. Maybe that opinion is a little myopic, but that is the general concensus that I have and a lot of others have.

I do feel that the general american public knows little of other cultures and are ignorant of things outside of the U.S. Conversely, I feel that a lot of people outside of the U.S. are just as ignorant about us as well.

I'll have more to add and refined comments later. I'm at work right now and I bet the IT police are gonna come smack me around.

i think the US has some strange laws. like in some states you may buy a gun to protect yourself. i mean how easy are you going to make it for the criminals. i dont know if the number of murders is higher in those states but its why should you need a gun. we in europe dont own guns do we have problems? certainly there are murders. but no serials.
and I think it's ridiculus that there was so much going on about that hot coffee mod for GTA. i mean i saw it it was nothing. but what diffrence is it going to make. GTA is a game where you can Kill everyone. so what is the problem when a stupid mod comes aroud with sex and everyone thinks that game should be forbidden.

i saw on the internet a movie you should watch it before you read on
( http://www.kontraband.com/show/show.asp … words=army )
ok so you saw this movie.
i dont know if its a true issue but it is how i think about the Amerikans.
these people first just name the first country they can think of and then they dont even know where it is.
example 1 guy said US needs to invade France (ok there is some trouble there but not to the concern of the US no danger for the yanks ok?) the guy who holds the map asks him to put a flag in France and that idiot puts the flag in Australia. i mean also Australia is no problem to the US (they have troops in Iraq) and it is not even close to the middle east.

2nd issue: the Kyoto issue. as you all know the Kyoto is to safe our eviroment (to secure the northpole)
and what we also know is that the US makes a load of CO2. in fact there are allmost no country's that didnt sign Kyoto. but why the hell didnt the US sign. its also their world. The US allways know when an other country is wrong. but they can't see what they are doing. sure also here in Europe the car is our main transport. but at least we are creating all kinds of green power (produced with wind, water and sun)
but as long as the US is not going to help the rest of the world we clean up your dirt and the problem wil never be solved

so i think the US should calm down they dont run the world we did for millenia without them and the world wasnt destroyed in those millenia.
and what BF2 has put down is true I think the Americans will come into trouble in the middle east and with china. and then European country's can help the Americans out once more because you know where we are when you need us. but i will not join the army not for the current governement who claims we as a tiny country (smaller than a average state) need to help big america. NO WAY

but now i wonder what do the Americans think about the Europeans

(Holland founded New York it was New Amsterdam before the Brits traded it for Suriname )

Last edited by fdcp_elmo (2005-11-09 07:35:42)

Hakula wrote:

And my friend who where an exhance student there cuold not fiqure out why did you study basic math in high school.

Does your friend ride a short bus to school? Seriously, no offense, but if he doesn't know why you study basic math in HS, he isn't that advanced.

fdcp_elmo wrote:

i think the US has some strange laws. like in some states you may buy a gun to protect yourself. i mean how easy are you going to make it for the criminals. i dont know if the number of murders is higher in those states but its why should you need a gun. we in europe dont own guns do we have problems? certainly there are murders. but no serials.

Ok, where to start.

1st off, serial killers aren't created cuz they can get to guns. Most serial killers don't USE guns, they despose of thier victims in the same manner every time(usually gruesome), that is why they are CALLED serial killers. I don't think having access to a gun makes you mentally Ill(as is the case with most murders).

2nd, You may buy a gun in every state of the nation. It is a constitutional right for crying out loud. As for making it easy for criminals, they do background checks on you. It's not like you can just walk up, buy a gun, and have it that day. It's usually 2-3 week waiting period, if not more. As for europe not havin ANY serial killers, do any of these names sound familiar:  Charles Sobhraj, Slobodan Milošević(not a serial killer in the traditional sense, but he still fits the criteria)

and I think it's ridiculus that there was so much going on about that hot coffee mod for GTA.

It is ridiculus, but what do you really expect when a naturally conservitive country has not only congress but the white house as well controlled by conservitives.

i dont know if its a true issue but it is how i think about the Amerikans.
these people first just name the first country they can think of and then they dont even know where it is.

I am sure if i went to a large city in your country, stopped 200 people, and all asked them the same kind of questions, i could find aleast 10 people who would come up with the same kind of answers. Just because a few people are morons, doesn't mean an entire population is that way.

he Kyoto issue. as you all know the Kyoto is to safe our eviroment (to secure the northpole)
and what we also know is that the US makes a load of CO2. in fact there are allmost no country's that didnt sign Kyoto. but why the hell didnt the US sign. its also their world.

This has to do with something that many europeans don't know about our president. He is the biggest supporter of Big Oil ever to be president. Gives them HUGE tax breaks, and doesn't blink an eye. It is no shock to any of us here that he didn't sign it(unfortunetly). I am sure the next president will, as long as it's not cheney.

nk the US should calm down they dont run the world we did for millenia without them and the world wasnt destroyed in those millenia.

I don't see how this really matters, since the US hasn't destroyed the world either. What's your point?

the Americans will come into trouble in the middle east and with china. and then European country's can help the Americans out once more because you know where we are when you need us.

Personally, i think you are wrong. Have you seen the polls in america lately? Over 65% of americans disagree with the way bush is running the war. We want our soldiers home NOW. If he gets into another war, you will see his approval rating drop below 2%. Nobody in america wants another war. Not even the president. As for china, why would we start a war with THEM????? That doesn't make ANY sense. We have a better chance of starting with Iran or North Korea than China. China has actually been on our side with the talks with North Korea.

but now i wonder what do the Americans think about the Europeans

Honestly, i think alot of em are pretentious. They look down on America, but when they need a little money, they come running straight to us. Many i have met still think Europe is the center of the world's power and if europe cut off ties with america, America would crumble.(which could not be further from the truth, as a country, America doesn't need to import anything to truly survive) I would say over the past 100 years, we have done a lot more for europe, than Europe has done for us.

Hakula wrote:

True that if Europe would cut ties with America nothing would not happen possiply but if every middle-eastern country will cut all ies with America then something would happen. And 2nd Russia is the only country in the world that has everything and dosent need to import like America needs to. So if something would happen you would most likely have some kind of civil war with out importet goods.

The only thing we REALLY import to an extent (as far as necessities requirements) is oil. We have oil reserves, but use more than we produce.

Natural resources:   
coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, bauxite, gold, iron, mercury, nickel, potash, silver, tungsten, zinc, petroleum, natural gas, timber 
Irrigated land:   
214,000 sq km    Plenty of cultivated land for production of textiles...etc.

We could be if needed. But there is no need to be.

-=1stInF.|Slappey wrote:

So, outside of Oil, what imported goods does america NEED in order to survive, that we don't already create here?

How about a wealth of electronics that we don't make here, say... a bunch of shits that we use in our military systems?

Just so y'all Europeans (sorry, just had to) don't get too morally superior about Kyoto...

India and China, two of the biggest up and coming polluters in the world, did not sign the Kyoto agreement.  Furthermore, those nations in Europe that did aren't making their targets.  Pretty much the only nationto stick to their proposed reductions is Russia, and that's because the Soviet Union collapsed and their economy went to hell in a hand basket.

Even if the world sacrificed the trillions of dollars it would take to follow Kyoto, according to current models we would only be able to delay the rise in temperatures for six years or so.  There are much better ways that money could be spent. 

(That was a micro summary of The Skeptical Environmentalist, which lots of people have argued with.  Still, not a cut and dried argument.)

Badcomp wrote:

Aegis wrote:

-=1stInF.|Slappey wrote:

So, outside of Oil, what imported goods does america NEED in order to survive, that we don't already create here?

How about a wealth of electronics that we don't make here, say... a bunch of shits that we use in our military systems?

There are several U.S. companies that do build electronics for our military hardware, both private and government run companies. On the consumer level though we would feel the pinch.

I think you would see a possible rise in the making of electronics in america if that were to happen. Again, it's not like we don't have the resources to do it, it's just currently cheaper to buy them from japan and china.

Bogardanzero wrote:

Just so y'all Europeans (sorry, just had to) don't get too morally superior about Kyoto...

India and China, two of the biggest up and coming polluters in the world, did not sign the Kyoto agreement.

I'd like to explain why but you seem to me like a "It's my way on the highway" kind of guy, so I probably won't. You can't expect growing nations not to polute, everyone had their chances to grow industrial powers, you can't expect to polute and boost your economy, and then later impose the Kyoto treaty in order to limit polution to ALL countries. Poor countries would have poor industrious capabilities, rich ones would maintain abusive industrious capabilities. But apparantly, on this issue, the Americans prefer to continue like this, I would have forgiven them if it wasn't for them to be the world number 1 country.

Vartan wrote:

Bogardanzero wrote:

Just so y'all Europeans (sorry, just had to) don't get too morally superior about Kyoto...

India and China, two of the biggest up and coming polluters in the world, did not sign the Kyoto agreement.

I'd like to explain why but you seem to me like a "It's my way on the highway" kind of guy,

Just for future reference, the saying is "My way or the highway".

-=1stInF.|Slappey wrote:

Badcomp wrote:

Aegis wrote:

How about a wealth of electronics that we don't make here, say... a bunch of shits that we use in our military systems?

There are several U.S. companies that do build electronics for our military hardware, both private and government run companies. On the consumer level though we would feel the pinch.

I think you would see a possible rise in the making of electronics in america if that were to happen. Again, it's not like we don't have the resources to do it, it's just currently cheaper to buy them from japan and china.

You do import quite abit of electrcity from my country.