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Short term strategies & long term suffering

Because it is a symptom of being a young, yet powerful, nation that many of the US's military techniques do not appear to be planned with long term humanitarian effects fully taken into account.  

Downwind from Nagasaki, people still die from cancer.

Long after the USA left Korea, Landmines still kill people.

The damage done by pollution takes decades to recover. Emitting 25% of the world's pollution, the USA has not only left it too late, but appears to going for a world-wide after-effect this time!  

Heavy handed commercial aggression  

Some British and Europeans complain that the USA uses its media influence and commercial domination as a method to force goods, such as produce and foods, into foreign markets.  

Patriotism & Self Righteousness  

There appears to be something about the very language employed by Americans that causes resentment and rejection.  

For example, the recent attacks on America were hailed as attacks on freedom and democracy. Although not democratic, the sequence of targets, the American symbol of power and commercial trade, the Pentagon, head of the military and the Foreign Policy offices, do not show an attack on Democracy but a very specific attack on America.  

To hear American's claim that any such attack on America is an attack on freedom itself is to claim that America is synonymous with freedom, which is enough to make any non-America cringe and wonder if the speaker has ever even left his country. The targets attacked were not icons of democracy, they were pillars of American commerce, American military power, American government (failed attack) and American foreign policy.

"Mr Bush said the US had been "awakened to danger" and "called to defend freedom"  
BBC News, 2001 Sep 21

The attacks are wrong, misguided and desperate, but they are not an attack on freedom. Potentially coming from a country that has been fought over, bombed and attacked by American power for over 30 years, the attacks are more of a desperate attempt to strike back at America in particular, in any way they can rather than any poor attempt at attacking freedom itself.  

The language employed stinks of a kind of patriotism akin to complete indifference to the rest of the world and ignorance of America's own problems. There is a very showy, macho, self-gratifying kind of righteousness in American speech about themselves which people either assume is intentionally ironic and over the top, or they are shocked and end up thinking that American's actually think like that. Even I would be shocked if I thought they mean to communicate things in the way they do, sometimes, I like to put it down to differences in our usage of English, rather than think that President Bush really feels that America has been "called to defend freedom". The amount of self loving literature in American culture is assumed by many to be an indication that America's population deep down feel bad about their country.

World War 2: America is self glorifying?

would rarely consider this a point of hatred, but it is enough to cause many Europeans to verbally attack USA over its own opinion on its activities during World War 2. People curse, shout and argue at great lengths with seemingly unmovable Americans, and complain bitterly that America's late arrival in the war is not something they should boast about.

It continues, for example, in the film Saving Private Ryan (based on a true story of a British expedition to rescue British prisoners), where an all-American ground force takes on Germany; whereas America sent very few soldiers into war. America only began to send men into the war against Japan after Pearl Harbour, and the numbers and aid that America put into the world are pale in comparison to the massive war efforts conducted by Russia (who crushed Germany with 20 millions of ground troops), France (for its bitter, endless and determined self defence) and the UK. The UK's air force and special forces were consistently very brave and effective (even though some of ground invasions of Germen held territory were ludicrously ill fated).

America did supply vast amounts of material goods, but it did not throw itself, or its soldiers, into combat wholeheartedly. America's most consistent aid was against the Japanese, and not until Japan attacked America directly, and even then America eventually resorted to the massively indiscriminate nuclear bombs rather than "waste" men on resolute Japan.

The USA appears to be very self-glorifying, and there are multiple generations in the UK, France and Europe who upset and angry at America's rewriting of history. Russia's men, France's entire population, and UK's air force, were the principal opponents of Germany, aided by American equipment (which for example was loaned and leased to the USSR, not merely given), for which the allies were grateful, but not tricked that the USA did not have its own interests at heart, like all countries in the ideologically-charged political atmosphere of the time. USAs entry to the war was forced, not chosen, their motives were self-defence not world-wide good such as was the case with UK, and their effort was slow and half-hearted, public opinion only turned in favour of the war at a very late date.

In his war memoirs Churchill boasted that only in July 1944 did the British Empire yield to the United States in the number of divisions engaging the enemy. [...]The British and the American effort was dwarfed by the Soviets, who were then engaging about 70 per cent of all German divisions, something Churchill neglected entirely to mention."
"The Army and the Home Front 1939-1945" by Alex Danchev
Essay compiled in the "Oxford History of the British Army

The Final Truth is that without any of the allies, the war would have been lost. without material aid from the USA, Russia and the UK would have taken many more years to finally defeat Germany - if at all. USA bombers and UK fighters (Battle of Britain) were the only serious returns we made on Germany other than Russian ground forces. The much repeated phrase that "USA saved Europe" is very much untrue, and completely dismissive of the intense war that actually occurred far from the USA and for years without USA involvement. Russia saved Europe, so did the UK, so did France and the other allies... for any country to claim that it is more of a benefactor than the others is untrue and shows an emotionally disturbing lack of empathy. I would reckon that historically only the poor, suppressed Russian civilians and soldiers could claim to have saved anyone.

Obesity

Amazingly prevalent in the world's richest nation, obesity is a cause of disgust. In a country with just as many social divides as any in the West, Americas obesity levels are embarrassing to absolutely everyone, especially those trying to defend commercialism and TV, of which America is definitely king, or even Emperor. The UK is next in-line, although slowly catching up we still have many years to go before we get to American levels of obesity.

America is experiencing an obesity epidemic. In 1999, sixty-one percent of Americans were overweight and twenty-six percent were obese. The definition of overweight is having a body-mass index (BMI) greater than 25, and the definition of obesity is having a BMI greater than 30. BMI is calculated by multiplying body weight by 705 then dividing by height in inches squared."
2001 January 4
"America's Obesity Epidemic (Family Health Focus)"
Richard Lutes, MD - OAFP Member

America is frequently ridiculed for its inhabitants unwillingness to walk rather than drive. And although the criticism is short sighted, it is at least common with the theme that America is not perceived as a healthy or wise nation by many.

Many people consider it a shocking symptom of Western indulgence and neglect that the richest nation has the highest obesity levels and still has problems with illiteracy, homelessness, etc. Although it isn't possible to get rid of such problems (and don't forget that legal immigration skews the figures), there are countries in the West such as the Netherlands and Canada that have a poverty exit rate of over 40% [Source], and although rich countries, they are not as rich as the US. The assumption that just because you are rich means you have all the factors required to fight poverty is short sighted, I feel, but many people see a fat-or-poor aspect of America.

UN criticism of the United States' Children's Rights

Code:

[On the failure of the USA to adopt the "Convention on the Rights of the Child"] " The United States has some of the best programs and laws in the world to protect its children but, as UNICEF has pointed out, the U.S. also has one of the highest rates of the industrialized countries for poverty and hunger among children and also for child mortality. A recent story in the Washington Post noted that "despite this time of record prosperity, one in every six American children is poor; one in three children of color. No other developed country has anything approaching U.S. child poverty rates " United Nations: Address by Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner on 'Reconnecting America and the United Nations'

Rape and violent crime statistics - the highest in the modern world?

"Nobody disputes one phenomenon disclosed by the crime statistics - the exceptionally high level of violent crime that occurs in the United States as compared with other industrialized countries, including Britain (though not compared with some third world countries). There are more reported murders each year in Detroit, with a population of just over one-and-a-half million, than in the whole of the United Kingdom, which has a population of just over fifty-eight million people. Viewed in this context, the United States is a culture in which crimes of violence flourish. Why should this be? The answer is sometimes given as the widespread availability of hand-guns and other firearms. This is surely relevant, but cannot on its own be the full answer. Switzerland has very low rates of violent crime, yet firearms are easily accessible. (All males keep weapons, including rifles, revolvers, automatic weapons, plus ammunition)."
"Sociology" by Anthony Giddens, p185

WASHINGTON -- The United States is "the most violent and self-destructive nation on earth," a congressional report said Tuesday.
..."In 1990, the United States led the world with its murder, rape and robbery rates," the report said. "When viewed from the national perspective, these crime rates are sobering. When viewed from the international perspective, they are truly embarrassing."

The report noted that the murder rate in the United States was more than twice that of Northern Ireland, which is torn by civil war; four times that of Italy; nine times England's and 11 times Japan's. Violence against women in America was even more pervasive, the committee said. The rape rate in the United States was eight times higher than in France, 15 times higher than in England, 23 times higher than in Italy and 26 times higher than in Japan...

...based on raw FBI data and preliminary statistics for last year, based its comparisons on Justice Department statistics for industrialized nations. Crime reporting standards vary in those countries, and crime rates for less-developed Third World nations generally are either unavailable or unreliable. But the report made clear that violence in the United States has no equal among the world's developed nations. Nor did 1990 have a modern equal for violence in America "

By Tim Weiner, San Jose Mercury News, 1991 Mar 13

With the wealth and material power behind the USA (they are the world's richest nation), why are these statistics so bad? It is puzzling. It is easy to say "low moral standards" and even to correlate this to "80% of all Americans call themselves Christians", but what is the cause of this low level of morals?

Is it the result of rampant commercialism, simple lack of caring in the community? Is it the result of the topography of the country? Is it the same commercialist attitude that leads to wealth, but also to crime and a low quality of society?

It is hard to say why, and this essay is looking at reasons why people hate America, so thinking about why the USA is like it is is something I leave up to the reader!

Foreign Aid: USA is stingiest of the 22 most developed countries

The USA claims to be, in absolute terms, the world's biggest giver and this is true. However, as a proportion of its wealth the USA gives least when compared to all 22 of the worlds' most developed countries.

[Americans] are regularly told by politicians and the media, that America is the world's most generous nation. This is one of the most conventional pieces of 'knowledgeable ignorance'. [...For example Japan gives more even in absolute terms...]
Absolute figures are less significant than the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP, or national wealth) that a country devotes to foreign aid. On that league table, the US ranks twenty-second of the 22 most developed nations. As former President Jimmy Carter commented: 'We are the stingiest nation of all'. Denmark is top of the table, giving 1.01% of GDP, while the US manages just 0.1%. The United Nations has long established the target of 0.7% GDP for development assistance, although only four countries actually achieve this: Denmark, 1.01%; Norway, 0.91%; the Netherlands, 0.79%; Sweden, 0.7%. Apart from being the least generous nation, the US is highly selective in who receives its aid. Over 50% of its aid budget is spent on middle-income countries in the Middle East, with Israel being the recipient of the largest single share."

"Why do people hate America?" by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies, 2002. p79

Not only that, but according to one source cited by Sarder & Davies, 80% of that aid itself actually goes to American companies in those foreign countries.

Support of obnoxious regimes

In 2002 the USA returned to Afghanistan to kill and destroy the Taliban under the lead of Mullah Mohammed Omar, and the Al-Qaeda under the lead of Osama Bin Laden (who the USA called a 'freedom fighter' in the 1980s, but a "terrorist" now, however his actions haven't changed, only their target). In 2003 the USA also returned to Iraq to destroy Saddam Hussein. Returning to Cuba, the USA has fought Fidel Castro and in Vietnam it fought 'Ho Chi Minh and his successors'. The single most outstanding thing that all of these enemies have in common is that they were created by American interventionism in the first place. The result of all these USA borne monsters has been heavy oppression of the people and widespread resentment of the USA. During the Bosnian war (1992-95) multiple Islamic militants were similarly supported, trained and armed. The Nicaragua terrorists, amongst other varied and colourful enemies of humanity for various reasons; and still, the thing they all have in common is that inhumanity reigned and monsters were created.
[...] Winston Churchill said, "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results..." and this virtual truism should perhaps should inform the greatest question the world should ask: What IS the United States after that justifies such terrible results?

The USA may have learned some lessons (finally?), as in the 2003 Iraq invasion, it specifically did not grant masses of military equipment or funds to the allied Northern Kurdish forces - the USA seems to be learning that the more weapons you put out there and more factions you turn into monsters, the worse the fighting becomes and the less democratic the governments.

Disclaimer! - the USA is not alone in this behaviour.
All countries have succumbed to the same unfortunate tactics as the USA from time to time and I am not saying that the USA is unique in its misadventures. What I am saying, simply, that the extent to which the USA has engaged in these practices has caused a widespread hatred of the USA amongst the populaces of the countries that have suffered from these regimes.

"USAs support of obnoxious regimes" by Vexen 2003 Nov 15

Osama bin Laden: Some of his "justifications" from 1998

We however, differentiate between the western government and the people of the West. If the people have elected those governments in the latest elections, it is because they have fallen prey to the Western media which portray things contrary to what they really are. And while the slogans raised by those regimes call for humanity, justice, and peace, the behavior of their governments is completely the opposite. It is not enough for their people to show pain when they see our children being killed in Israeli raids launched by American planes, nor does this serve the purpose. What they ought to do is change their governments which attack our countries. The hostility that America continues to express against the Muslim people has given rise to feelings of animosity on the part of Muslims against America and against the West in general. Those feelings of animosity have produced a change in the behavior of some crushed and subdued groups who, instead of fighting the Americans inside the Muslim countries, went on to fight them inside the United States of America itself. [...]
The Americans started it and retaliation and punishment should be carried out following the principle of reciprocity, especially when women and children are involved. Through history, American has not been known to differentiate between the military and the civilians or between men and women or adults and children. Those who threw atomic bombs and used the weapons of mass destruction against Nagasaki and Hiroshima were the Americans. Can the bombs differentiate between military and women and infants and children? America has no religion that can deter her from exterminating whole peoples. Your position against Muslims in Palestine is despicable and disgraceful. America has no shame. ... We believe that the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans. Nothing could stop you except perhaps retaliation in kind.[...]"

1998-May
Interview with Osama bin Laden
ABC reporter John Miller is asking the questions
Information posted to me via an Islamic Message email list.

There is strong feelings throughout most Islam nations that America suppresses them. Although ordinary, peaceful citizens do not suppose as much, or feel hatred (in the same way American's should not hate all the middle-East because American embassies are bombed), it is normally the strongest and loudest voice, the most extreme, that the Western world comes to see as representative.

Israel

Israel, which receives over 3 billions dollars military support from America, is very much hated amongst the Arab world. Perhaps the West, America in particular, thinks that Israel is a stronghold, or a stabilizer on the middle East, but its presence and its continual conflicts with its neighbours such as Pakistan have caused Israel to become to be seen as another Satan, a state controlled by America.

"...Arab nations have lost three wars against their arch-foe - and America's closest ally - Israel. A sense of failure and injustice is rising in the throats of millions.
Three weeks ago, a leading Arabic newspaper, Al-Hayat, published a poem on its front page. A long lament about the plight of the Arabs, addressed to a dead Syrian poet, it ended:

"Children are dying, but no one makes a move.
Houses are demolished, but no one makes a move.
Holy places are desecrated, but no one makes a move....
I am fed up with life in the world of mortals.
Find me a hole near you. For a life of dignity is in those holes."
It sounds as if it could have been written by a desperate and hopeless man, driven by frustration to seek death, perhaps martyrdom. A young Palestinian refugee planning a suicide bomb attack, maybe. In fact, it was written by the Saudi Arabian ambassador to London, a member of one of the wealthiest and most influential families in the kingdom that is Washington's closest Arab ally.

...From one end of the region to the other, the perception is that Israel can get away with murder - literally - and that Washington will turn a blind eye. Clearly, the US and Israel have compelling reasons for their actions. But little that US diplomats have done in recent years to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians has persuaded Arabs that the US is a fair-minded and equitable judge of Middle Eastern affairs.

Over the past year, Arab TV stations have broadcast countless pictures of Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinian youths, Israeli tanks plowing into Palestinian homes, Israeli helicopters rocketing Palestinian streets. And they know that the US sends more than $3 billion a year in military and economic aid to Israel. "

"Why do they hate us?" by the Christian Science Monitor
2001-Sep-27

 

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This are some reasons why America is hated by some countries. It is quite long so I think its only appropriate to post this here. Well none of above is my words, but I do wish this piece of resource will shed light on some extremists. Peace.

And also, after have enjoyed some of the causes, you sure like to see some effects.

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Westerners
On a personal and individual level, Americans and Europeans get on, individuals and parties are not hindered by politics. Frequently, in most sane people, all this is just politics and not something to take on a personal level with Americans. And rightly so, the solution is not in bickering or loss of friendship!

Terrorism
If a person outside of American culture is a hateful person, they may actively hate and verbally attack America. If the person takes this to include a hatred of American's themselves, they are foolish and inconsiderate and have become a fool. If a person like this is brought up by people with vested interests in attacking America (and there are many), a person can be driven to take his opinions to a violent level. It is of utmost importance that we do not blame "Islam" or "Afghanistan" as a concept for the actions of such people, in the same way you would not blame all North American's because some American companies openly fund the IRA. Generic hatred is not solved or soothed by adding more layers of hatred.

Racism
I have a massive disgust for those in the Western world who have recently assaulted someone because they happen to be a Muslim. It is equal to violent racism. And on that note, it is the same inhumanity that allows the reasons above to amount to a individual hatred of Americans.

How do people see America?
Westerners see America as just another nation, the most commercially successful one, with a poor pollution record and other bad things. Also America is seen as a Police figure, although the UN's decisions are much more respected, it is frequently the US that has the required military power. America is a required nation, a stabilizer on the world.

Hatred becomes action - the cause & Conclusion
Hatred becomes action not due to apathy or indifference, but when a person wishes to act. When people are willing to kill themselves for a cause it is not due to a whim or immature persecution complex, there must be much stronger factors involved. People willing to go this far... and to maintain that mentality for periods of time to organize an attack and carry it out have got more of a grudge than a mere shallow hatred of success or jealousy.

When bare necessities are short, and the Western world still imposes sanctions and aid is unpredictable and scarce, people will always look to their oppressors as the enemy. When the chances arise, they will lash out at their perceived oppressors because it is the final attempt to free themselves from poverty.

Now, it is very true that they do not understand fully why the West, symbolized by America, appears to be suppressing them. They receive government propaganda and biased media all their lives, it is not their fault that they have been misled. Which I believe many of them have. It is the governments and leaders that are to blame. But more often than not, there is simply no available options to remove and replace a government without causing even more hatred amongst the populace.

American foreign policy and the issues listed in the list of criticisms of America serve to cause many nations to lose sympathy with America, and causes developing countries under fanatical leaders and poor governments to be easily convinced that America is The Great Satan (which has been the term given to America for many decades by the developing world). The reasons above all serve as instruments to convince people that anti-American hatred is correct, intellectually justified.

There is a belief and hope that if enough nations oppose America, the American people will realize what their government has been doing and will overthrow them. This hope is misguided, as anti-American actions are causing the opposite; they have been causing increasing hatred in return of Islamic or otherwise theocratic nations.

So there is a cycle, where neither side understands the other. The potential for chance lays in the ability to remove the propaganda that allows the Criticism-of-America issues above to be turned into hate.

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I sincerely wish that this topic would shut someone's mouth. Well wish is a wish, we have to face it.

Now solutions:

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America's self perception needs to change, to be brought back to Earth. To be made more modest. And therefore will regain respect and sympathy from the world

Theocracy needs to be removed from 'rogue states'. It may be that war, although causing more extreme anti-American hatred, is the only practical method as the governments have far too much and rabid support in their countries

America needs to understand (if it doesn't) that the populace of these countries are not to blame

The populace of Afghanistan, and other countries, need to learn that America is a scapegoat, and that their government uses it as a rallying method, to control them and pacify them

America should no longer use the method of supporting terrorism or armed conflict in one country to remove its present government. This has always backfired. All arms sold to the world, are arms that later need to be confiscated

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And also, to prove that I am not a Anti-America:

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But do not forget about sympathy
The whole world does not hate the USA. The masses of the world in the most part see it as imperfect, often an oppressor, often a humanitarian country, often wrong, often right. The hatred of America does not match the hatred of the United Kingdom 100 years ago.

The USA has done terrible things too. The key is in apologizing. Although the government seems far from making any concessions, showing any humility or even the faintest sign of modesty, the world understands that the American people are hurt, and the world is sympathetic and caring. People in most nations know that American people are no less human than anyone else, trying their best. Governments and massive organisations, however, are frequently the last to realize when such Human emotions need to be brought to the forefront.

The USA has a child as a government, a young country which is only recently learning that actions last forever, something that plagues older nation's embarrassed leaders. The dislike of America is not as great as people's dislike for terrorism, its atrocities and oppression not as bad as Imperial England.

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Special thanks to Punkrocker 1992, its him who triggered this topic. And Google, without it, I wont make it.

For those who like to read:
Becket and Chandler, David G (Editors)-
"The Oxford History of the British Army", essays compiled in 1994. Oxford University Press. Quotes taken from the 2003 reissue of 1996 edition.

Giddens, Anthony-
"Sociology", 1989. Quotes from hardback third edition, 1997. Published by Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Kegley & Wittkopf-
"American Foreign Policy". Charles W Kegley, Jr, Uni South Carolina and Eugene R. Wittkopf, Uni Florida. 3rd edition 1987.

United Nations-
"Our Global Neighbourhood: The Report of the Commission on Global Governance", 1995, Oxford University Press, original edition.

Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english /world/europe/newsid_2001000/2001187.stm
http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/ United_States/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Issues/Foreign_Policy/

Post edited at 2:10 am on Nov. 27, 2007 by Clergyboy

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A man is not justified by the works of the Law,
but through faith in Christ Jesus. [Rom 3:22; 9:30]