Why are a lot of Americans so arrogant and believe they can do no wrong?

[95thrifleman]

so what's Britian's biggest threat?

Basicly the left consider Israel and America the biggest threats to world peace, the right consider Russia and the EU the biggest threats.

The average British person doesn't give a about iran to be honest.

[conon394]

Basicly the left consider Israel and America the biggest threats to world peace, the right consider Russia and the EU the biggest threats.

The real problem is a single question with one answer.

Sure I would say top of list US and Russia if you can start a war that nukes the world back to the stone age (or worse), then you are threat to world peace. Maybe the cats and roaches can argue about it on their internet. Add in both have a proven recent record of playing fast and loose with international law/norms or just not caring.

Certainly next would the list of powerful military states with a hard core ideologies and a willingness to use force and sitting on the edge of nasty conflicts - China, India, Pakistan Israel, Iran... Any could provoke a major regional war with the possibility of it spiraling out of control. Oh and of course the House Saud and fellow oil rich gulf prices who fund radical Islam.

This is why pollsters hang up on me because I argue of the nature and set of questions

note: I exclude North Korea because I honestly think their nuclear program is just trying to avoid regime change (a logical choice) and in fact without Bush Jr's Iraq war I image some version of the deal Clinton put together would be in play now. Kim looks a little too comfortable and pudgy to want to become a nuclear blast shadow or have China march in to decide his fate he just want the gold standard of regime insurance..

[Roma_Victrix]

The fact that the OP is citing QUORA as a source for the common attitudes of Americans says basically everything you need to know about the OP.

That and his quick and defensive posture when Russia was brought up in the conversation. I wonder why that is? Gee, I wonder why criticizing Russia rubbed him the wrong way.

[Just answer the question]

The fact that the OP is citing QUORA.......

It's not just Quora but a lot of other sites... didn't I say that?

https://www.salon.com/2014/11/28/eve...aligned_other/

That and his quick and defensive posture when Russia was brought up in the conversation. I wonder why that is? Gee, I wonder why criticizing Russia rubbed him the wrong way.

Because the topic is America, not Russia, not Germany, not WW2, just the US!

Feel free to criticize, berate, hate on the Russians.... I don't care.

[conon394]

Because the topic is America, not Russia, not Germany, not WW2, just the US!

Feel free to criticize, berate, hate on the Russians.... I don't care.

But that means you are not willing to accept any context and just want an I'm looking for people to bash america just like I want to type. The Slate article is amusing if she really got flack about Snowden from Canadians - charter members of 5 eyes. Sort of the pot calling the kettle black there.

Why are so many Chinese so arrogant that think they own the South China Sea? I sorry to say history tends to show that states that are powerful are arrogant and to certainly be perceived as such by others. consider it the human condition. What you have yet to logically construct is some scale of states and empires at their most power and than an arrogance metric. Is the average American more arrogant than say the average UK bloke when the sun never set on the British empire, more arrogant than a Chinese resident of the Han Dynasty, An Athenian citizen in the era of Pericles (high mark to beat for certain), A Roman In Hadrian's day, A believer at the height of the Caliphate, A Spanish conquistador for Charles V. The citizens of any of the Imperial powers that drove Europe into WW1?

[Pontifex Maximus]

One could argue that one of the good things Trump has done is to make us less war-hawkish. I used to be somewhat of a war hawk myself but if we haven't learned any lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan then we're just as stupid as the average chain-smoking French taxi driver thinks we are.

[AqD]

One could argue that one of the good things Trump has done is to make us less war-hawkish. I used to be somewhat of a war hawk myself but if we haven't learned any lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan then we're just as stupid as the average chain-smoking French taxi driver thinks we are.

What lessons?

Afghanistan was invaded by foreign Talibans backed by Pakistan, an US ally. They wasn't home of any terrorists. The world did nothing, watching it became a hole and the aids came too late. Iraqi government could have been removed after the gulf war, or talked into some sense.

If anything, the western power is not helping those secular governments such as Bashar . Their biggest friends in ME are all crazies and the rebels they support are no less crazier.

[Pontifex Maximus]

The lesson is that our capability of toppling and destroying governments should be more moderately contemplated. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of my country being able to topple, destroy and puppet any nation that deigns to strategically oppose the goals of my own nation. I just want to make sure it is a measured response. Essentially, I don't want too many of my countrymen to die to ensure your nation bends to our will if we require it.

[95thrifleman]

The lesson is that our capability of toppling and destroying governments should be more moderately contemplated. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of my country being able to topple, destroy and puppet any nation that deigns to strategically oppose the goals of my own nation. I just want to make sure it is a measured response. Essentially, I don't want too many of my countrymen to die to ensure your nation bends to our will if we require it.

The problem America has is it's obsession with democracy. When the British empire toppled a regime they replaced it with one that suited the local culture. We didn't fill India with parlimentary democracies for instance, they became a democracy on their own after independence.

If America would drop that their arrogant belief that the world would be a better place if everyone copied their democratic ideals and be bloody realistic for a change, they would have a much more effective foreign policy.

[Just answer the question]

The problem America has is it's obsession with democracy. When the British empire toppled a regime they replaced it with one that suited the local culture. We didn't fill India with parlimentary democracies for instance, they became a democracy on their own after independence.

If America would drop that their arrogant belief that the world would be a better place if everyone copied their democratic ideals and be bloody realistic for a change, they would have a much more effective foreign policy.

Why oh why did WW2 had to happen?

[AqD]

Why oh why did WW2 had to happen?

Hitler was democratically elected.

[95thrifleman]

Why oh why did WW2 had to happen?

Because the British and French crippled Germany after WW1. The Americans you hate so much where against those stringent reperations.

[Just answer the question]

Because the British and French crippled Germany after WW1.

Oh I see, so you doomed yourselves?

[95thrifleman]

Oh I see, so you doomed yourselves?

Are you interested in a history lesson?

[conon394]

The problem America has is it's obsession with democracy. When the British empire toppled a regime they replaced it with one that suited the local culture. We didn't fill India with parlimentary democracies for instance, they became a democracy on their own after independence.

If America would drop that their arrogant belief that the world would be a better place if everyone copied their democratic ideals and be bloody realistic for a change, they would have a much more effective foreign policy.

You got a point there if the US had simply picked a another General to replace Sadam and say enforced autonomy for the Kurds and left a stiff note too keep human rights abuses out of sight, the Iraq war would likely have been a quick affair now over a decade forgotten.

-----

Oh I see, so you doomed yourselves?

Depending on how you mean doomed, no because they were you know on the winning side. And really it was France who doomed them by lacking spine and then folding like a wet taco. Yes I know some Americans like to make French jokes but in this case the French government more or less single handily let the allies down in a dramatic fashion that was unprecedented in its own history.

[Pontifex Maximus]

The problem America has is it's obsession with democracy. When the British empire toppled a regime they replaced it with one that suited the local culture. We didn't fill India with parlimentary democracies for instance, they became a democracy on their own after independence.

If America would drop that their arrogant belief that the world would be a better place if everyone copied their democratic ideals and be bloody realistic for a change, they would have a much more effective foreign policy.

Yes the UK is a beacon for de-colonialism.

This laughable assertion aside, I don't disagree. I don't care if some Islamic state in the middle of nowhereistan wants to establish an Islamic caliphate. They should just be on warning that the moment they pursue policies geared towards the destruction of American culture, we will make their cities radioactive. Live and let live, until those idiots decide they no longer want to live.

[Just answer the question]

Are you interested in a history lesson?

No, I get it.

You were the most powerful nation in the world and then WW1 happened, you made a bunch of wrong choices which made WW2 happened and you were no longer powerful, the end.

[Condottiere 40K]

America is/was folllowing it's geostrategic interests, in what is/was the Age of Oil.

I think that what's really underlying the Neoconservative's concerns about Venezuela is more about Russian and Chinese influence in their backyard, rather than securing really expensive to extract oil deposits whose infrastructure is in need of massive and sustained investment.