What do you dislike about the US?

[ooflendoodle]

I'm curious to understand more about the hate.

[Descensus]

Government. Oh and country music.

[Seroquel]

An American girl broke my heart.

[Darkmatters]

[Original Poster]

Fuckin Sarah Palin, everything she stands for and all who stand behind her.

[IAmCoder]

[Tranquil Toad]

Disliking an entire nation of people is the same as racism. There are many, many diverse groups of people within the U.S. Unfortunately, the overly patriotic yet uninformed ones often have the loudest voices, and this tends to piss of people from other countries. Basically the equivalent of some dude yelling about how great he is. No one likes that.

[Darkmatters]

Unfortunately this represents far too many Americans:

[Invader]

What dislike I have centers around how the media is used to divide people, and promote content that may prove more destructive than beneficial. The latter is up to interpretation, but television programs like "My Sweet 16" and "Jersey Shore" aren't exactly what most of us would consider enriching (or even neutral) shows. I've seen more negative, spiteful comments come out of these than positive. Why create hostility... (I already know the answer: it makes money)

[Xei]

Well, the foreign stereotypes include arrogantly parochial, ignorant, xenophobic, nationalistic, zealous, backwardly religious, socially illiberal, aggressive, paranoid, materialistic, superficial, uncultured, unintelligent, and fat. I'll add more if any come to mind.

[louie54]

We apparently don't give a shit about other countries. A lot of Americans (if asked) may be able to name all the Kardashians, but then when asked who the President of Mexico is, they'll most likely get stumped. Stuff like that. We're ignorant but still pretend to be superior. I'm basically just repeating what I've heard. I don't mind living in America.

[MatthewOlson]

"Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious." - Oscar Wilde No need to get it twisted. I love living in America. ... Being called an American, on the otherhand, is a huge love-hate ordeal, because there are SO MANY THINGS about this country that put shame to the name, and in the end, while privileged to be raised in a nation founded upon and thus publicizes principles of good intentions, it's also a nation that has rode the political and economic 'shit-roller-coaster', ending up far down the tubes since its inception. Three points: 1) Media brainwash Fact of the matter is, what once was true about America is only half true today. Some would say none of it is true. America is not truly a free country. It has come FAR from that! ... Aside from that, our ability to defend freedoms and make real progress in the sight of the people (of whom the nation was founded) is diluted, because of how desensitized and dehumanized by the media we are. We're so used to seeing the Caucasian heroic story play out over television shows, and products being sold to us constantly, and ideas being oversaturated, that our moral and practical judgement regarding world events and our own well-being as a nation is one huge fog of 'I wonder who's going to win American Idol tonight! etc etc etc', making it so easy to be misled by media figures, like faulty politicians. There is a famous scene from Network that perfectly explains this point. ... "Network" 1976 -- Turn off your TV! [combined with today's news] - YouTube 2) Capitalist overindulgence Truth be told, I'm not a purist. There is nothing purely wrong with Capitalism, but America is the perfect example of capitalism gone horribly wrong, and completely unregulated. A good number of people over here believe that the big baddie is government regulation,... and big government in general, and while it is at the center of most things gone wrong, big business is just as wicked a deamon. While the 'Free Market' is intended to level itself out, the amount of greed that has been allowed to manifest has even tampered with the Free Markets functioning, to the point where the idea of a 'Boom and Bust' system (huge economic expansion followed by huge economic recession/depression, generation after generation) has somehow become normal, and when things go really bad, what do we learn? "Burn the house down with taxpayer money, walk away rich as hell, and let the rest of the nation/world collapse. HELL! We can just buy up their shit, find a new market, and start the cycle over again!" ... I don't know about you, but I feel that setting the bull loose was a truly fucked up idea. 3) Ultra-conservative I am not against conservatives, or Republicans. There are plenty of ideals and policies on the right end I don't think are all that bad. Some of them make up for what deficiencies on the left, and vice versa (you can tell I am a moderate). ... but for God's sake, the number of people here that believe that America is number 1, and that patriotism is almost higher than the will of God (or an even more dangerous a notion, ... it IS the will of God!) just makes me want to punch a baby! The ones screaming loudest into the microphone at Tea Party conventions, and those more radical clowns on Fox News who like riling up angry people and frightening them into hating other countries like China, ... people who are usually riddled in negative traits despite all the 'piousness', like racism, extreme fundamentalism, and advocating of political and religious fears... like we're still living in the Quaker/Victorian-era America... are the people I can't stand. ... I mean, I'd feel bad about calling any one type of people out, but... kinda hard to feel bad when the hate is already placed against you for not following along with it. ... Not to suggest that America has tons of them, like they are a majority or anything,... but... the loudest, most annoying ones always get heard I guess. ... Those are my three points. Fairly rough, but ... you get the point now.

[Descensus]

2) Capitalist overindulgence Truth be told, I'm not a purist. There is nothing purely wrong with Capitalism, but America is the perfect example of capitalism gone horribly wrong, and completely unregulated. A good number of people over here believe that the big baddie is government regulation,... and big government in general, and while it is at the center of most things gone wrong, big business is just as wicked a deamon. While the 'Free Market' is intended to level itself out, the amount of greed that has been allowed to manifest has even tampered with the Free Markets functioning, to the point where the idea of a 'Boom and Bust' system (huge economic expansion followed by huge economic recession/depression, generation after generation) has somehow become normal, and when things go really bad, what do we learn? "Burn the house down with taxpayer money, walk away rich as hell, and let the rest of the nation/world collapse. HELL! We can just buy up their shit, find a new market, and start the cycle over again!" ... I don't know about you, but I feel that setting the bull loose was a truly fucked up idea. Serious question: Do you actually know what the word "unregulated" means? It's gotten to the point where I'm starting to actually question people's understandings of the words they use when they talk about subjects like this. How can one possibly and honestly say that the U.S. has a free market when the economic history of the U.S. is steeped in obvious interventionism? You don't even have to be a free market supporter in any sense to acknowledge the fact that the U.S. does not operate in a free market system. The only way one can possibly come to the opposite conclusion is if they ignore historical facts. I think you should learn the definitions of the words you intend to use. You cannot honestly attack the free market system, for it isn't used in the U.S. You have to attack the blatant corporatism that is at the root of the problems you pointed out.

[MatthewOlson]

Serious question: Do you actually know what the word "unregulated" means? It's gotten to the point where I'm starting to actually question people's understandings of the words they use when they talk about subjects like this. How can one possibly and honestly say that the U.S. has a free market when the economic history of the U.S. is steeped in obvious interventionism? You don't even have to be a free market supporter in any sense to acknowledge the fact that the U.S. does not operate in a free market system. The only way one can possibly come to the opposite conclusion is if they ignore historical facts. I think you should learn the definitions of the words you intend to use. You cannot honestly attack the free market system, for it isn't used in the U.S. You have to attack the blatant corporatism that is at the root of the problems you pointed out. Before you gather the masses to riot, perhaps you should consider that I did not accuse of the Free Market of being unregulated. That would be like calling water wet. ... I accused Capitalism in America of being unregulated. Capitalism is an economic system of production consisting of two sets of people; owner and worker, which promotes private ownership. It deals in production and profit, as compared to the Free Market, which is what determines the prices of goods and services based on supply and demand. Both Capitalism and Free Market, in historical terms, have been intertwined in their functionality, but they are NOT the same thing, and to accuse one of being unregulated (Capitalism) is not an accusation against the other (Free Market). The Free Market is supposed to be unregulated. Capitalism, on the other hand, is very dangerous when it is unregulated, and that type of Capitalism has been eroding the middle class since the 80's. The majority of the economy's growth since the 80's has gone to help the rich get richer (specifically the top 10%, as Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor stated in a recent Wall Street Journal article, September 13th 2011 ... I know cause I read it while at work today.). The progress on the other classes has only been evident because of the trickle down from the capstone of the income pyramid, and it is the capstone belongs to Executives and CEOs of major corporations, not to mention the finance-crazy jerkoffs who push economic bubbles to the breaking point as the bust swoops down and knocks over the middle class like dominoes. ... There is nothing wrong with supply and demand as the Free Market is made for,... but there is something wrong such things as... laying off masses of people for short term profits, rewarding people who plunder natural resource benefits and beauty from the countryside for their own commercial gains, and letting corporations grow so large that they become like governments all their own, pulling strings in media and politics in their facor with no real concern for social responsibility. As you mentioned, it is blatant corporism. While in the Free Market it is normal for inefficient firms competing against competent ones to go under, if you add in unregulated Capitalism, the larger corporations possess so many resources and so much power that it is almost impossible to compete, and since it is purely financial, it is near impossible for firms to compete unless their central and most 'bled-for' goal is to maximize profits, thus only creating more 'blatant corporism'. ... And even in the redeeming case where two or large firms of the same industry are competing, and thus their products are becoming cheaper via competition, price fixing is really not that uncommon an event in our corporate world. ... This is what I mean by unregulated Capitalism 'tampering' with the Free Market. Free market has existed in the US, but since the early 1980's, such is no longer true due to the said interventionism of policies such as Reaganomics. If you are willing to present some examples of prior interventionism, I am all ears. Also,... whatever here doesn't directly apply to the subject is for further explanation of my stance on point #2 of my love-hate relationship with America. ... Tl;dr ... 'Unregulated Capitalism' bad. ... 'Free Market' good, but non-existed recently (within the past 30 years).

[Descensus]

I did not accuse of the Free Market of being unregulated. That would be like calling water wet. ... I accused Capitalism in America of being unregulated. Capitalism is an economic system of production consisting of two sets of people; owner and worker, which promotes private ownership. It deals in production and profit, as compared to the Free Market, which is what determines the prices of goods and services based on supply and demand. Both Capitalism and Free Market, in historical terms, have been intertwined in their functionality, but they are NOT the same thing, and to accuse one of being unregulated (Capitalism) is not an accusation against the other (Free Market). The Free Market is supposed to be unregulated. Capitalism, on the other hand, is very dangerous when it is unregulated, and that type of Capitalism has been eroding the middle class since the 80's. The majority of the economy's growth since the 80's has gone to help the rich get richer (specifically the top 10%, as Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor stated in a recent Wall Street Journal article, September 13th 2011 ... I know cause I read it while at work today.). The progress on the other classes has only been evident because of the trickle down from the capstone of the income pyramid, and it is the capstone belongs to Executives and CEOs of major corporations, not to mention the finance-crazy jerkoffs who push economic bubbles to the breaking point as the bust swoops down and knocks over the middle class like dominoes. ... There is nothing wrong with supply and demand as the Free Market is made for,... but there is something wrong such things as... laying off masses of people for short term profits, rewarding people who plunder natural resource benefits and beauty from the countryside for their own commercial gains, and letting corporations grow so large that they become like governments all their own, pulling strings in media and politics in their facor with no real concern for social responsibility. As you mentioned, it is blatant corporism. While in the Free Market it is normal for inefficient firms competing against competent ones to go under, if you add in unregulated Capitalism, the larger corporations possess so many resources and so much power that it is almost impossible to compete, and since it is purely financial, it is near impossible for firms to compete unless their central and most 'bled-for' goal is to maximize profits, thus only creating more 'blatant corporism'. ... And even in the redeeming case where two or large firms of the same industry are competing, and thus their products are becoming cheaper via competition, price fixing is really not that uncommon an event in our corporate world. ... This is what I mean by unregulated Capitalism 'tampering' with the Free Market. This makes no sense whatsoever. Capitalism is essentially private property ownership. How can you speak of regulating capitalism? What would that even entail? Regulating who owns property? If you begin to regulate capitalism, you destroy the whole notion of capitalism itself. And if you remove private property ownership, you destroy the notion of free markets, which are predicated on private ownership and voluntary transactions. You can't half-ass capitalism. Either people can own property or they can't. If they can't, and you regulate who can own property, you end up with a quasi-socialist system where a select few a the top own everything and everybody else gets the shaft.

[Spartiate]

I dislike America's constant meddling and coercion in the internal affairs of foreign nations most of all. Obnoxious seems to be the most common description for the average American. Many Americans still display an innate sense of superiority regardless of their personal accomplishments and even though their country is quickly tumbling to the bottom rung of the developed world. Just like the big loud bully in high school, you can't help but feel like putting them in their place. On a more personal note I feel like a large part of American culture seems fake and manufactured, which is extremely unappealing to me. Capitalism's ugly consequences ran amok.

[Zephyrus]

Hollywood pisses me off to the highest degree. Sure, it does come out with some good movies, but it is all so Americanized. Give the rest of the world a chance to make movies, Let every culture bring out some uniqueness. For example, American teenage movies do not apply to anywhere but America (if that). We can not identify with them at all. Things such as school cafeterias (we don't have them), elementary, middle, sophomore, freshmen, junior and senior (we have a completely different education system), Christmas in winter (we don't have that), no school uniform (we don't have that either), the list gos on. Yet the only teenage movies come out from America, where is our films? Sci-fi and actions are also heavily American Cliched, it just gets so annoying seeing the typical evil CIA, talking to the president, going around Manhattan, new York, where ever, Let's see something new and something Non-American. Harry Potter did well because it was British, Lord of the rings did well because it was New Zealand (thank god Hollywood didn't steal the right to film the hobbit in America) etc etc Just stop being so greedy in the movie making industry!

[Xei]

Hollywood pisses me off to the highest degree. Sure, it does come out with some good movies, but it is all so Americanized. Give the rest of the world a chance to make movies, Let every culture bring out some uniqueness. For example, American teenage movies do not apply to anywhere but America (if that). We can not identify with them at all. Things such as school cafeterias (we don't have them), elementary, middle, sophomore, freshmen, junior and senior (we have a completely different education system), Christmas in winter (we don't have that), no school uniform (we don't have that either), the list gos on. Yet the only teenage movies come out from America, where is our films? Sci-fi and actions are also heavily American Cliched, it just gets so annoying seeing the typical evil CIA, talking to the president, going around Manhattan, new York, where ever, Let's see something new and something Non-American. Harry Potter did well because it was British, Lord of the rings did well because it was New Zealand (thank god Hollywood didn't steal the right to film the hobbit in America) etc etc Just stop being so greedy in the movie making industry! lol wat They're not being greedy. They're making as many movies as people want to buy. If people want to see movies from a wider base, let them buy the movies made by such people. It's not Hollywood's problem. Oh the irony of being called arrogant by Xei... I wasn't calling anybody anything; I was saying what the British stereotype is.

[Raetin]

I agree with all the post above, though I hate how people from other countries start to stereotype all Americans, people have to know that all people are different. Edit: Oh, and Australia sounds like a nice place to live.

[Darkmatters]

Oh the irony of being called arrogant by Xei...

[Unelias]

I think people did a good job to sum up what I think. I have American friends and I don't doubt it is a great place to live. Like many others. Still.. this is kind of hard to explain without offending anyone, but I guess I am glad I did not born American. I just.. could not feel any national pride with country that has done such actions in the past, in the present and most probably in the future if nothing is changed. I understand patriotism is a great word for Americans ( for most of them I guess ), but somehow it differs what people here call patriotism. Also, being a vast country there is a great chance that I would have been raised to one of those individuals that represent the USA how we others see it. Let me explain a bit further. It is completely fine to feel national pride of your heritage and of your land. But by doing so you cannot be picky. That pride must last even when you take account all the "bad" things that has been done because of it. Compared to America that is vast, populated and full of different states, cultures, races and such, our tiny country is a lot more tightly knit together. As a rule of thumb, the smaller the community is the more likely they will have stronger bonds to each other. Somehow the sense of absolute superiority and arrogance some Americans represent is far from pride in my book. Also, I hate it when American influences turn our youth into something awful. Our language is changing rapidly, filled with slang words from English ( most American english naturally ). Politeness is gone, the generation is pretty much corrupted and I don't know what will happen in the timeline of 10 years. Pretty much is blamed on American influences, I am afraid. Spoiler for More to the issue. Spoiled for rambling: I can talk about this way, because I think the way I and the large amount of my countrymen see patrionism and national pride is somewhat more accurate than the flamboyant way most Americans show it. I am ready accept that it is not so and I do not know the way an average American sees this matter, but this is how I feel. Our pride comes from the ancient history we have as an old land and old people. It comes from the suffering between the rule of Sweden and Russia, enduring it all and keeping our culture and people strong. It comes from the blood that has soiled our land in those many wars when we defended it. Just to stay free and away from oppression. Living at the border of Europe under the everlasting threat of Russia, later the Soviets, now again Russia. Fighting a desperate war against Soviets that united the land and people who were torn apart by civil war and ideological differences. Even after losing, we kept our freedom. We payed a heavy price, yet again. Still, we began to develop our economics and industrial. Balancing politically between the east and the west in a way that most people cannot understand, we kept Soviets from attacking and occupying us. Now later, when the cold war has ended, there are still sources of national pride. A distinct and rich culture and language of just 5.4 million inhabitants, most cities in other countries have more people than that. 80% willingness to defend homeland, which is one of the highest in Europe. Many little things that define who we are and remind us what we have suffered to be what we are. This particular comment will most likely offend someone, but I am ready to take the punishment. When was the last time an American soldier defended his homeland from invaders? When was the soil of his land red with his blood? Just something to think about. This is my ramble. I can admit, I am patriotic in this sense. I love this land, even though it is rough, cold, poor and some would say totally insignificant. But I would gladly die any day to defend it. That is also what I have sworn as has almost everyone. Oh my it seems I have revealed quite a bit of myself. I must be losing my edge.

[Darkmatters]

Very well said Unelias!! I've come to hate the word patriotism... I guess because of the way most Americans use it. The pride they talk about is the kind that comes before a fall. So often I hear people strutting around talking about their pride and I realize it's actually arrogance and not pride at all. True pride, as you said, is based on accomplishments and abilities. But the people throwing their chest out and announcing "Nobody insults me! I'm a bad ass son of a bitch! You fuck with me and I'll fuck you up!" don't have any real pride at all. Just bloated egos. Patriotism based on that kind of "pride" is not only empty and hollow, but is just bullying, and tends to separate people and set them against each other for no real reason.

[Kuhnada29]

I agree with AustralianFire that the movie industry has declined a lot..I mean movies these days are so cliched and predictable..I don't even get excited about movies coming out anymore except a few movies I am looking forward to. I think people don't care about creativity anymore, what happened to new ideas and movies that have never been done before? There are some movies that still do this, but most don't. I think the whole thing is that Hollywood is just making movies to entertain people now, rather than express the writers imagination and creativity..they just make some random movie with mindless action, boring plot that will cater to the masses short attention span lol It's not only movies though, I think it's music too. Thank god the indie scene is getting bigger...in this day and age you don't have to have tons of money to make an indie film, game, or album

[Darkmatters]

They're not even really making movies to entertain people, just to rake in massive megabucks. Moviemaking is big business now. They don't care at all about artistic integrity or message or anything like that - just hand over fist profits. New ideas aren't profitable, neither is art. No corporation spending tens of millions of dollars on a single project is going to risk long shots like that - they want only the safest bets. Also, independent moviemaking these days is massively expensive too. Most of the independent film studios are now backed by major studios. What passes for 'independent' these days is what used to be big-budget a decade or two ago. Long gone is the true spirit of independent low-budget filmmaking from the 60's and 70's. That spirit can still exist, but unfortunately it's mostly only in basement studio productions from people who re totally amateur and can't get professional actors or cinematographers etc.

[Kuhnada29]

They're not even really making movies to entertain people, just to rake in massive megabucks. Moviemaking is big business now. They don't care at all about artistic integrity or message or anything like that - just hand over fist profits. New ideas aren't profitable, neither is art. No corporation spending tens of millions of dollars on a single project is going to risk long shots like that - they want only the safest bets. Also, independent moviemaking these days is massively expensive too. Most of the independent film studios are now backed by major studios. What passes for 'independent' these days is what used to be big-budget a decade or two ago. Long gone is the true spirit of independent low-budget filmmaking from the 60's and 70's. That spirit can still exist, but unfortunately it's mostly only in basement studio productions from people who re totally amateur and can't get professional actors or cinematographers etc. You have to admit though that Indie Film Makers have more creative freedom on the films that they want to write. Where as Hollywood is just focused on money like you said, and even the special effects on Indie Films are getting better ( maybe because their backed by major studios like you said also ) Music and video games are on a whole new level now because of the internet...gone are the days where you need a major record label to produce a album and keep creative control. Gone are the days where you need to thousand dollar studio equipment to make a quality album. GONE are the days where you need a 50 million dollar budget to produce a hit game. Indie games are now approaching mainstream quality. Take a look at this game..this is an Indie game. Indie is the future. The ability to be creatively free AND make money is here. I'm currently composing music for a small indie game now to be relased for xbox live and windows 7 phone. I'll Post the game here when it's done.