Debate The land of the free.

I've been looking around the forums and I've noticed some feelings of bitterness towards America (to say it lightly.) What are your personal feelings towards the government versus the common man of America? Have they changed significantly during the last couple years or have you always detested the USA?

 

I must admit I have little patriotic spirit. That is due to many factors. I think that Americans don't really take their government seriously. We have no real feelings of loyalty to our leaders, unlike some countries. We put them in power, and we can take them out. Jobs in the government are usually poorly paid, and filled with all kinds of problems with constant changes in funding. In some other countries, people actually see a governmental job as a high status thing. I guess we see out government as something we have to deal with, and not as something that we rely on. My feelings have developed over a while, but I didn't ever really get to excited about the wonderful US of A.

 

Kaziglu, you should check out http://www.mangatoanime.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=8781 I'm not sure if you researched the subject first, because that thread and yours are basically the same topic.

 

I detest many aspects of American government, though the system itself I can't say I have a huge problem with. As Izzy says, there isn't really a better choice - not one which is as good in practice as it might be in theory, anyway. Human flaws and weakness tend to bring bad things into even the most ideal government concepts.

I think my perception of the American government has changed within the last four or five years... mostly because I'm almost 21, so I'm increasingly interested in politics and policy. I've never been much of a patriot, though. Patriotism all too often is practiced in the form of blind, unquestioning, aggressive loyalty, and that doesn't sit well with me in any context. It's just that over the last few years, I've become more conscious of specific flaws inherent in politics and of the individual failings of the people involved.

Bush, though... -_- I've detested him from day one.

 

Sorry. This is my first thread. I guess I didn't look far enough into the list.

 

No worries. It's still an interesting topic, and that thread *is* over six months old.

 

We're lucky enough to live in a country where we can spoof and make jokes about our government and not be arrested for it.

 

How does that pertain to the topic, Saiyan Chichi? Freedom of speech isn't a uniquely American thing - Your post applies to just about every country in the West and several others as well.

 

interesting that everyone who replied seems to be american...was that your intention KazigluBey?. personally i've got nothing really against the american pollitical system. i can't reply to the latter part of your post obviously, but i think mostly the feelings of anti-americanism in parts of the boards, (and elsewhere) is due to the way that america exerts so much influence over other countries affairs. When there's some sort of political or even social situation in any given country, america is nearly always first to stick their head in. Usually they have a vested interest in the situation at hand, which just makes the move all the more offencive. america is a VERY brash culture in almost every reguard and is kind of 'tasteless'. i think there could be a much worse super power, but unless you live in the super power, you kind of wish they'd butt out and let you run your own business.

 

Nope, I was hoping to get the opinions of "non-Americans", so thanks for yours. Although it is interesting to get the views of fellow Americans

I suppose I should give my own opinion on my thread. I would have to agree with you poom-poom, I think our government should keep its nose out of the business of other countries. Our government should concern itself with its own people before rushing into the affairs of others.

 

Here is the thing....i think that it is no longer "the land" of the free. It still is a land of the free but not the only one. In my opinion i think that the government is slowly crumbling down. For instance where was all the patrioticness before 9/11...it was hard to find. Secondly, countries really got out of turmoil by going towards that one man rules all thing. Notice how mussolini and hitler and that japanese dude in the 1940's all took out the turmoil out of thier countries...and how? Through terror and spies...thats how i see it in the long road.

 

the problem with america is.. you have so many people

there are alot of intelligent people in the states (although sadly, most of them are still incredibly ignorant of the outside world) but.. you just have so many bloody idiots.
it's overwhelming..

all you see from america is horrible low grade comedy, cops, jerry springer..
all we read about on the net is the stupid american redneck who did this, the stupid american redneck who sued that..
your tourists sadly.. do you no favours either. All in all, wonderful people the americans I've met in Ireland but.. ye gods.. keep it down and it's not bloody quaint, it's called culture.. you'll see what I mean in a few hundred years

then when you add on top of this image of bumbling idiocy the actions of your goverment.. it's not entirely surprising that people are getting angry but alot of them are confusing the goverment with the people.. they end up hating the american people over the actions of their goverment.. and blind anti-americanism is born.

and yes, t is mainly your foreign policy while the rest of the world might not agree with the way you do things, so long as we don't have to have it forced upon us.. I don't think anyone cares.

 

Oh, there are droves of idiots in every country. American idiots, however, have both the inclination and the means to be stupid on a very far-reaching scale... not to mention, they elect other idiots into government positions. Yay for democracy?

America has a very negative culture - that is, we're interested in scandal, crime, and dirty jokes on a level that I really don't see reflected in other countries. I mean, hell. America has FAR more gun crimes than other countries with similar gun ownership laws and numbers of guns in relation to people. And you all remember the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal? I really don't understand what the big deal with that was, it was a personal matter - but Americans in general like to take issue with things that really don't bear that much attention. *shrug* I think that's why our foreign policy is so invasive.

Thank you. I disagree with many, many recent policies and moral stances of our current government officials. Just because I'm in the same country doesn't mean I'm a war-happy religious-right hick. -_-; However, I don't subscribe to all the leftist views either - what people seem to forget is that America has it's good and bad points, freedoms and restrictions just like other countries. Likewise, its people are diverse.

 

Granted, that it doesn't seem like many ppl have replied to this topic in awhile i just came across it and thought i'd lend in my 2 cents... The people... well... i believe you can find that people aren't very different from country to country... it all depends on where you look. As far as the government goes... well it can't be a direct democracy because.. well... that only works for small city states best... i don't know... i don't know enough about politics because i guess i'm to caught up in trying to make it through high school and hopefully college soon.

 

has the american goverment ever apologised to vietnam?

http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/vietnamgenocide/Vietnam.html

and recently.. in iraq

http://forum.galeyisrael.com/forum/files/dontloot.wmv

i'm a little hazy on american law, but is the penalty for looting wood having your car crushed by a tank by armed soldiers?


and i'm curious as to the people here and their reactions to the pictures of the british/american soldiers and the iraqi prisoners... any thoughts?

 

I thought those pictures were absolutely appalling, but I've basically been against the war from the start, so seeing those only furthered my beliefs.

 

There is no perfect government. But if i had to choose. I would choose America.