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Originally Posted by Splitter
Just to set the record straight, a quote you attributed to me in your last post was a post from someone else that I quoted  . |
Fixed.
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If you look around, there is a LOT of US bashing going on...
And when I say there is a lot of hatred in the western world for the US, you know there will be a bunch of people who read it and think, "the US brought it all on themselves". Some may even type that if they were openly honest.
The crud we endure on pretty much any forum (or the world stage for that matter) is no different than "bigoted", ignorant statements that could be made about any nationality. Yet, it seems ok to the bash the US even when such statements about other nationalities would not be tolerated.
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I think it's a viscious circle (lots of generalisations to follow, all IMO only of course). The US are unfairly criticised so much that many Americans are permanatly on the defensive, and don't readily accept the bits of criticism that are justified. Not accepting fair criticism makes on-lookers feel that Americans are arrogant and believe they are better than everyone, and have a given right to police the world etc.
Most Europeans that criticise the US are aware that generally what the US stands for is good. For example, in the World Cup in 1998, the US palyed Iran, and our pubs were packed with people (including me) supporting Iran. That's because it's funny, and we like supporting the underdog. But don't mis-interpret that into thinking we agree with Iran's values more than the US's.