Why do people dislike Americans?

[Phantom]

I go on the internet. Thing is, away from the poor spelling, porn, and pictures of cats, I see one thing about people from other countries that they all have in common. Their general hate towards America and that they treat Americans like trash.

Now I know the U.S. isn't perfect, in fact far from it; politically and economically we're a mess. Plus, our military sticks it's nose where it doesn't belong.

That's our country, but what about our people? Not all Americans are shotgun wielding rednecks, gangsters, Jersey Shore rejects, military pushers, or wannabe starlets. Most of us are working class people with families and work hard for what we have. That said, also, not all of us are uneducated.

From what I've seen from many forums and social groups/sites is a general dislike and mistreatment of those who decide to 'out' that they are American. The most common insult I hear about Americans is that we're unintelligent. It's actually true that, on some sites, I avoid saying where I'm from.

So I want to know, since this forum has quite the international representation, why is there all the hate? And if you're so much smarter, why do would people blame or treat the individual for the wrongs or actions of others?

Also please use no derogatory terms. IE 'yankee' or 'yank'. I will take offense.

 

[Zero Moment]

Everyone else is just jelly :P

But no, seriously, I have no idea why people hate us in the US. It doesn't make much sense, and I haven't heard any hate towards other countries, either.
Also, "yankee" is an insult? I honestly had no idea.

 

[Ether's Bane]

I would say that it's your personal experience. I don't think you've been hated for being American at this forum, for instance.

 

[Datura]

Because Americans have an insatiable victim complex.

 

[bulbasaur]

Macleans had an issue with "DAMN YANKEES" as its headline, apparently because some Americans or something claimed something or another about the War of 1812. Generally, though, here, as far as I know, we don't hate Americans too much (mainly because of our economic relations - if the US goes, we're gone). This is as far as the hate goes, in Canada anyway.

Personally, I think that the US is a great place, for its higher education and its developed infrastructure. One thing I don't like, though, is the attitudes of some people there, especially in some big cities (every one I've visited except what I heard about New York)

 

[Scohui]

Not Portugal, or at least I can't remember why.

 

[Phantom]

Yankee as a derogative... I suggest you check 5.2 and 5.3.

 

[goldenquagsire]

most serious anti-American hate is either from trolls, angsty children or self-deprecating Americans. pretty much everyone who isn't an idiot recognises that American politics and the actions of a few deranged individuals are unrepresentative of the greater majority of the American people.

the impression I've had of American people based on travelling through a few cities and a bit of the southwest (bearing in mind that there's only so far you can take generalisations about a huge, diverse country like the US) is that they're much more talkative and hospitable (at least towards WASPs) than people in, say, Germany or the UK.

 

[Autumn]

That said, also, not all of us are uneducated.

speaking as an american, though, i can say this has some basis in reality. we're not uneducated in general but in worldly affairs we certainly are, which is bound to piss off people on the internet that hail from other countries and as such constantly facepalm when americans express things like "WAIT WHAT YOU GUYS DON'T CELEBRATE FOURTH OF JULY/THANKSGIVING?!?!?" or constantly use the terms "republican" and "democrat" to refer to America-specific ideologies or assume, as it's all-too-easy for people in our first-world country that is still touted by too many of our inhabitants as "the land of opportunity" to do, that we are the only country worth living in because we're the only free country or we're the only country with this kind of developed technology.

Yes, these kinds of people exist in other countries, just like people exist everywhere. But just from my personal experience, I can say that the non-Americans on this forum (and others I've visited) have a much, much greater general knowledge of American politics, culture, geography (and, often, the politics and culture in the various regions of the country) than I do of non-American countries, sad as it is to say. This seems to be a consistent thing. 'Cause here in America very little attention is paid in public school to understanding anything about places outside America, and this isn't helped by a lack of emphasis on learning foreign languages; thus we all get the impression that America is the only place to be and if you're not in America you simply don't count.

Also, the fact that it kinda gets beaten into your head that democracy is the best way to live and because of the conflicts we've had with other countries (when we learn about American history early on in school, we tend to get the impression that it was King George III, not Parliament, that was immediately responsible for all the things that led up to the American Revolution), monarchy and communism and whatever else there is is WRONG and democracy is RIGHT and everyone has a VOTE which is GOOD BECAUSE PEOPLE NEED TO BE HEARD

and it's not until we get older that we realize - if we ever realize - that American democracy and concept of freedom is deeply flawed and results in things such as gay marriage and abortion being disputed despite the whole, hey, gay people and pregnant woman kinda deserve freedom more than people who are unrelated to them!
Additionally Americans tend to not realize (due to lack of education on the affairs of other countries) that we were the last developed country to abandon slavery, and it took a war to beat that into people's heads. The problems that resulted took until the 1960's until people thought "Oh hey maybe people with a darker skin tone are actually equal to us and not inferior!" Thus we also have a reputation for unfair and almost racist treatment of minorities.

So when someone comes on the Internet and defends this country as being the best country with the best government it can demonstrate a stunning lack of knowledge about worldly affairs. "Best country"/"best government" are subjective, true, but even simple research should show that there are other countries whose governments are more stable and have less internal problems than America's does.

 

[Tailsy]

Well, when they ask me for directions, they always walk away in the opposite direction I lead them in...

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

(when we learn about American history early on in school, we tend to get the impression that it was King George III, not Parliament, that was immediately responsible for all the things that led up to the American Revolution)

It presumably says a lot that this is the first time anyone has ever told me this information directly and clearly.

 

[Phantom]

TEEEEEEXT

Still, none of this is reason to treat someone poorly because of it. When will the world be able to function and base people as an individual rather then assume things about them because of where they're from.

 

[Zero Moment]

Still, none of this is reason to treat someone poorly because of it. When will the world be able to function and base people as an individual rather then assume things about them because of where they're from.

Maybe in a hundred years?

I usually imagine that everything of this sort is better in a hundred years (unless there's a nuclear winter or another world war or something)

 

[Dannichu]

Not entirely true; most of the Western world also thinks Japan is completely crazy.

the impression I've had of American people based on travelling through a few cities and a bit of the southwest (bearing in mind that there's only so far you can take generalisations about a huge, diverse country like the US) is that they're much more talkative and hospitable (at least towards WASPs) than people in, say, Germany or the UK.

This is my experience, too, except I was in the northeast. So together, we've got it covered, and can conclude that Americans are, in fact, lovely :3

 

[M&F]

I'm from not-USA, I've argued with people who blanket-hate Americans before, so I have some experience in the subject.

Mostly, it's plain stereotype. Sometimes it's from hearsay, sometimes it's from "personal experience" (three people I asked up for directions in New York were rude to me, Americans are all rude!). Even among the less uneducated, there's a factor of historical slights, mostly imperialism. Illogical as it might be to hate the people for the politicians' actions, and even though we're all well aware that we wouldn't want to be judged as our own shitty politicians. The stereotype most likely derives from the historical slights, so, they still hold as much responsibility as the "personal experience".

The catch about this is that, while hating America is popular, the grand issue is that liking any country (aside from maybe your own) is faltering.

 

[ultraviolet]

I don't know, I think it's pretty harsh on everyone non-American to put forward that everyone hates America; most non-Americans I know online don't really give a shit about America. I do know that America gets a lot of contempt from other countries for not having a national healthcare system (because seriously, what the hell), and American culture has penetrated pretty much every english-speaking country and many other non-english-speaking countries. No offense, but Americans are kind of everywhere - your movies are the ones that become blockbusters, your TV shows are the ones that don't get cancelled if in competition with non-american shows, your fast food chains are pretty much global, and you sort of make up majority of the internet. What other contemporary culture has gotten this far? Japan certainly has a cultural influence, but it's largely derivative; you're not likely to see Japanese shows on American TV unless they're anime. :B
The people who don't like America are always going to be in a whopping minority anyway, and I've found that most people who do are... kind of not the people you want to talk to anyway if they're going to judge an entire country like that. :I

 

[M&F]

The people who don't like America are always going to be in a whopping minority anyway, and I've found that most people who do are... kind of not the people you want to talk to anyway if they're going to judge an entire country like that. :I

That kinda depends on where you are; over here, the people who don't hate America are the minority.

Also, most people I know don't give a shit about americanized culture in spite of their opinion of America. There is a significant cultural subset that attempts to create a purely national culture, but they're usually not exactly blockbusters.

 

[Minish]

No offense, but Americans are kind of everywhere - your movies are the ones that become blockbusters, your TV shows are the ones that don't get cancelled if in competition with non-american shows, your fast food chains are pretty much global, and you sort of make up majority of the internet.

I think this is mostly it. When there's 'dislike' for Americans, I find it's mostly a light cultural resentment of how Americans and the USA are EVERYWHERE. When I was younger, 'being too American' was a thing adults often tried to quash out of kids, from what I remember, and maybe that's fair since adopting an American accent when playing around was just a thing kids did in my experience, an American accent was the voice of TV/films/games/everything! I can imagine how that'd get a little annoying/alarming for parents. Like, this wasn't 'an American voice', it was just a default 'fighter' voice or a default 'hero' voice because those were the voices of fighters and heroes. Most of what kids culturally ingest, in the UK at least, but also I'm pretty sure lots and lots of places over the world (certainly every single English-speaking one) is American, certainly before Doctor Who was brought back, and I remember beginning to think "who are these guys with these accents?? why does no-one sound like me!!" while watching TV as an older kid. As a younger one, I didn't even notice! It was just, there's the voice you have, and the voice of the movies) Also, if you're already under-represented on TV, i.e. female, of colour, not straight, not cisgender, the 'white cisgender able-bodied American dude' typical dashing protagonist is going to help that resentment.

Also, considering that the arrogant, self-entitled American is not just a stereotype - this is... kind of something your education system/politics/culture helpfully pushes all of the time, then sure. I know my dad in particular, and a lot of old British people tend to be pretty loathsome of that since it's kind of threatening! I mean obviously the old types lamenting their old falling empire can just deal with it, but just feeling angry at American culture gradually being everywhere feels fairly understandable to me.

Also also, pretty much everyone has genuine experience with a couple of Americans being bewildering, so it just sort of doesn't help. The reasonable ones tend to have a lot to criticise about the USA themselves, but given that most people are like that about their countries... because we have stereotypes about the USA, when someone does fit them it's like "! hey we were right! god, those Americans" whereas when not, it's like "... well. well I'll just wait until the next one to make sure." so, there's that, too.

Basically, the world has to have someone to be annoyed about, and considering a lot of places have very rightful lingering resentment over the USA, and because the USA is still pervading everywhere all the time in the most unapologetic way, it sort of makes sense why it has to be you guys. Sorry, I guess!

 

[Coroxn]

In Ireland, the whole being too American was something that is frowned upon. There isn't a whole lot of hating, in my experience, just the blatant use of stereotypes (ALL Amercians are rude, ALL Americans are stupid, ALL Americans are fat, that last one actually being pretty funny, because Ireland has a higher percentage of Obese people than America,) but they're not limited to America. People I encounter, especially the kids in every school I've ever been to, believe every fucking stereotype there is, all Muslims are towelhead terrorists, all homosexuals are freakish and weird, all English people are arrogant and want to take over Ireland. In fact, England hate gets in the way of America hate over here. England is our America, its culture is seeping in pretty damn fast.

 

[Saith]

I don't know man, I'm too busy burning the Jack to bother with y'all across the pond.

Honestly though, I don't hate America the place. I don't hate Americans the people. I do hate America the country, though. It's, like, everything that's wrong with the Western world, distilled into textbooks, songs, and national holidays.