Do you think the average Australian hates America/ns and if so why? (3 Viewers)

[katie_tully]

I find many people base their opinions of Americans on the Bush administration... but I've always found myself persuaded by the antics of Springers guests....

 

[loquasagacious]

Well as far as whether an australian student comes into contact with european history that could depend on the school's faculty.

In years 7-10 I studied the ice-man, the bog bodies, pompeii, medieval europe, native american indians, and WWI, plus usual civics stuff.

In geography through teh same period I studied the amazon and other jungles, deserts around the world, demographics of several countries plus non relevant (in this case) weather patterns, environmental issues, bush-fires, intruduced species and civics.

I was referring specifically to degrees as the broader nature of these will tend to bring a student into contact with global issues much more than say doing electronics at a college of some sort.

 

[0Jade0]

You know what i hate.
Countless times i have heard people say in my presence "I hate all Americans" "Americans are stupid". Then I say "I'm American".... You should see the the look on their faces... and them explaining "oh not you, I like you". You know what fuck that. You say Americans are ignorant, apparently you have met everyone of them.... that is ignorance. You want to blame all Americans for political issues.... I'm sorry but have you forgotten all those that didn't vote for Bush? Don't fucking blame me (a democrat, for what that moron has done). If someone said "I hate Australians for what Howard has done" How many of you would be happy with that? Funny how it's different when the shoe is on the other foot. And should we be burnt at the stake for the 2 years of mindless boring bullshit that was Australian History? I have been to American schools.... And yes we learnt about other culture etc. In other countries around the world Australia rarely gets mentioned. I have heard more comments about riding kangaroos from Europeans than Americans. I also know many Australians that have never been overseas, complain when we learn about other cultures. But no... this problem is localised in America....
ok now i'm tired... and rambling... so ok...

 

[roadcone]

i am not saying that all americans are ignorant to issues outside of those that effect them.. but from my dealings with people in the usa (been there several times and lived there for a period of time when i was younger) i believe that a vast majority of them are.. i personally hate being referred to as british everytime i speak because australians are meant to speak like that moron of a crocodile hunter and am of the belief that very few of them realsie that the whole world and operation of the world does not revolve around them.. my other comment on the usa would be that for a country that prides itself on being the wealthiest country in the world the underclass and level of poverty is incredible, so much to the point that it becomes almost embaressing to walk down the street and have so many people coming up to u asking for money so that they are able to eat, i no this is a problem aust has also - but not to the same extent

 

[loquasagacious]

Roadcone you are correct expressed as a percentage and comapred to other western nations the USA does indeed have the highest percentage of the population living below the poverty line and the highest percentage classed as the working poor.

For economics students out there, the USA's lorenz curve is certainly a bit away from being an equal society.

 

[paper cup]

Becuase they're arrogant gits who think that A) they are the greatest nation on Earth and B) because of this, they are allowed to do whatever they want - bomb who they don't like, interfere with whoever they want, etc - and expect us to all bow down beofre them for saving the world.

yeah I think that's why...it's all to do with the way Americans think...Jason's exaggerating just a little but they are very arrogant...and ignorant...some of them...OK most of them...I haven't met many, but that's the general impression
I dislike Americans but it's a bit more personal - recalling my sign in name some months ago...

 

[frenchie]

Adding to the point regarding poverty levels in the US


*The official poverty rate in 2003 was 12.5 percent, up from 12.1 percent in 2002.

*In 2003, 35.9 million people were in poverty, up 1.3 million from 2002.


--- source: US Census Bureau

However the UK has approximately 17% of population below poverty line...

 

[Iron]

They're the most powerful country the world's ever seen. The only superpower. It's not surprising that some of the vocal ding-bats are a tad patriotic and arrogant about the rest of the world...The Brits were like that for centuries. Who cares? I like the fact that countires like ours (+N.Z, Canada etc.) can detach ourselves from our great and powerful friends, but still benifit from them in countless ways.

 

[Li0n]

The ammount of people that 'hate' 'america' is proportional to the ammount of power that america posses over the world.

- Osama, 2005

 

[Grobus]

You know what i hate.
Countless times i have heard people say in my presence "I hate all Americans" "Americans are stupid". Then I say "I'm American".... You should see the the look on their faces... and them explaining "oh not you, I like you". You know what fuck that.

Haha - I bet they would, the ignorant pricks.

 

[loquasagacious]

Adding to the point regarding poverty levels in the US


*The official poverty rate in 2003 was 12.5 percent, up from 12.1 percent in 2002.

*In 2003, 35.9 million people were in poverty, up 1.3 million from 2002.


--- source: US Census Bureau

However the UK has approximately 17% of population below poverty line...

I stand corrected.

 

[VonDavis]

Prove it. Prove that all Americans are dumb. Otherwise don't make such statements which quite frankly make you look 'dumb'

LOL ... I was being silly I am American I moved over here in October 2004. Notice the Irony.

Americans are really Dumb ..... LOL.

 

[mr EaZy]

Adding to the point regarding poverty levels in the US


*The official poverty rate in 2003 was 12.5 percent, up from 12.1 percent in 2002.

*In 2003, 35.9 million people were in poverty, up 1.3 million from 2002.


--- source: US Census Bureau

However the UK has approximately 17% of population below poverty line...

my teacher gave me a stat once about 20 million homeless yanks out there. its a big figure. i dunno if i believed him or not - i think i did- but ur figures certainly put things to perspective

thanks

not surprising though, whenever u have rich blokes, u must also have poor blokes
thats the way it is! this is where "social responsibility comes in"

call me a lefist if u will (yes u addymac ) but its the truth mate
[by the way , im only slightly a "left" not a winger or extremist]

 

[Xayma]

I think the average Australian dislikes the average American (or what they percieve to be the average American) as they seem to be up themselves and unknowing of the rest of the world, the bible belt doesn't help.

It isn't just Australians anyway, a Canadian friend of mine finds Australians much more friendly than Americans (he lives near some snow fields), and an Australian friend when in Canada on cadet exchange was spoken to in French by some shop owners where upon he said "Look Im not American" and they then spoke near perfect English to him.

 

[mr EaZy]

They're the most powerful country the world's ever seen. The only superpower. It's not surprising that some of the vocal ding-bats are a tad patriotic and arrogant about the rest of the world...The Brits were like that for centuries. Who cares? I like the fact that countires like ours (+N.Z, Canada etc.) can detach ourselves from our great and powerful friends, but still benifit from them in countless ways.

id love to see the day when Australia becomes the worlds superpower,

it'll be fun to have 50 other countries sucking up to us

 

[VonDavis]

.It isn't just Australians anyway, a Canadian friend of mine finds Australians much more friendly than Americans (he lives near some snow fields), and an Australian friend when in Canada on cadet exchange was spoken to in French by some shop owners where upon he said "Look Im not American" and they then spoke near perfect English to him.

Australians are alot nicer then Americans. Australia is such a non-racist country compared to America. I think Americans have found a detrogatory term for each nationality. That to me is not human.

 

[loquasagacious]

No Mr Eazy I would not have called you a leftist for that statement . I will however point out that in economics we use the lorenz curve and the gini co-efficient to represent how fairly wealth is distributed in an economoy. When expressed like this the US is a more inequal country than most other western nations.

Of course it is virtually a practical impossibility to have an equal society (at least on anything approaching a large scale) however America is more inequal than the norm.

id love to see the day when Australia becomes the worlds superpower,

it'll be fun to have 50 other countries sucking up to us

It would be more likely that the citizens of 50 other countries would hate us.

I'm sure tattoed guy could tell you that among australians at least one person has a derogatory term for evry nmationality - him.

 

[White Rabbit]

They are arrogant gits. I work at the airport, meet alot of them and they really seem like they think they're above the rest of us lowly beings. So, I always ask em if they're heading home to Canada - shits them to no end Makes me laugh.

But the average American is probably just like us - unfortunatly, it's the gits we see mostly, rather than the average american.

For economics students out there, the USA's lorenz curve is certainly a bit away from being an equal society

The USA's Lorenz curve is more of a 90 degree angle rather than a curve

 

[berghousemaa]

I could give a large list of derogatory and racist terms for every ethnicity in the world. It comes with going to a private school and playing sport.
I think most countries could. Anyway just because there are terms for every nationality or race doesn't mean that they'rer all hated. All it means is that atleast one person dislikes one other nation and another dislikes a different one.

 

[Grobus]

They are arrogant gits.

You do realise the irony of calling a nation with over a quater of a billion people, most of which you will never meet, "arrogant"?