Whats your opinion of America?

[sdjenkyn]

After reading some threads here I find there is an interesting perspective of America from those abroad. I would like to hear what ya'll think of America and her place in the world pro or con and why? And if it is only how you feel ,why you feel that way ,too. Im not pro or con myself but I am a citizen and think there are some misconceptions floating around out there. Have fun try to be civil.

[SickBoy13]

I'd rather have my current residence still be:
1) Yerevan
2) Jerusalem
3) Tabriz
But, in the U.S.'s defence:
1) More diversity
2) Less religiously divided
3) Acess to better music
4) Better Skills
5) Better Military
6) Richer
We live much better here than anywhere else, despite the fact that my parents and in a year, me, have to work on not so good jobs.

[green tea]

I visited the US once and was surprised that there live normal, intelligent people with which I could discuss and laugh. There are many prejudices.

But, really: I think the actual Government needs some better PR-managment regarding their behaviour to every other country- to say it in polite words.

[Jan Taihwo]

I'm probably biased when it comes to USA. I would like to visit it sometime, and then stay for a period of time. Then I would probably be more "knowledgeable" about how american cultur is.
But I have one question:
Is the rate of crimes in USA higher than other countries or is just the police over there is better at "finding" crimes. (or maybe it's just the media)

[Caelius]

or is just the police over there is better at "finding" crimes. (or maybe it's just the media)

Combination of the two.

[danzig]

I'm probably biased when it comes to USA. I would like to visit it sometime, and then stay for a period of time. Then I would probably be more "knowledgeable" about how american cultur is.
But I have one question:
Is the rate of crimes in USA higher than other countries or is just the police over there is better at "finding" crimes. (or maybe it's just the media)

Crime rates are higher but not by alot (except of course gun related ones) and depends on the crime. For example UK has a much higher robbery rate per cap than the US (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...ies-per-capita) but the US has a higher murder rate per cap (rank 24th compared to UK ranking 46th). Alot of course depends on the area, you'll have more total crimes say here in New York because the sheer size of it but our police force is so large it could be its own military unit keeping the crime rate per person *very* low compared to say New Orleans (pre Katrina). Just like anything if you go to another country as a tourist you need to exert common sense because of ourse always going to be people who prey on tourist lack of knowledge but you are as safe here in the US as you are anywhere else in the world.

As far as total crimes, the US is right there with most of Europe (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...es-per-capita).

I must say it is a destructive mentality that believes its nation is the policeman of the world. But I see what US cops are like on TV...and I guess that if your citizenry copes with that without too much complaint....then how the hell are any other countries who fall foul of the US meant to speak up?

I hope you dont mean shows like Cops Remember things like that only show the very 'dramatic' footage as it generally focuses on the very worst of US society.

[Hells Bells]

Is the rate of crimes in USA higher than other countries or is just the police over there is better at "finding" crimes. (or maybe it's just the media)

its because their not allowed to just beat em up and skip the paperwork like in other countries.

[k995]

I'd rather have my current residence still be:
1) Yerevan
2) Jerusalem
3) Tabriz
But, in the U.S.'s defence:
1) More diversity
2) Less religiously divided
3) Acess to better music
4) Better Skills
5) Better Military
6) Richer
We live much better here than anywhere else, despite the fact that my parents and in a year, me, have to work on not so good jobs.

Have you ever lived anywhere else?

Er why exactly were you sent to a religious private school if by from your post you dont have much faith in 'religion'?

because in a lot of cases they are good schools?

If you attend any religious based school and you have little use for the religion well then the results are going to be the same regardless of the country.

Not at all , here in belgium most private religious based schools have dropped most of the religious stuff, simply because belgian society isnt interested anymore in religion.

[danzig]

because in a lot of cases they are good schools?

Not at all , here in belgium most private religious based schools have dropped most of the religious stuff, simply because belgian society isnt interested anymore in religion.

Well then they arent really a religious school anymore are they? I just failed to see how the comment fit into this discussion at all.

Anyway nice to see alot of you non Americans can look past all the stereotyping nonsense that comes from the few nutjobs we have here that seem to attract most of the media attention and realize we just people not evil, oil hungry warmongering religious zealots set on a new Rome and world domination.

Also I think there is alot of crime but it's magnified by the media ALOT and by some entertainers.

I also think America is close to having some of the most brilliant minds and highly skilled sports stars, look at Bill Gates and Tiger Woods. I think Baseball is a good sport you have however calling it a "World Series" when it's only America who play in it isn't really fair :p

Pfft Gates was in the right place at the right time And yeah crime here isnt really a major thing thru out most of the country sure in some cities it is but its not a major issue plus the problem is when we do have crime its usually on a level that makes you go "holy crap" like some nutcase shooting up his office building or something...hence inventing the term to "going Postal". Yeah yeah we know the World Series thing ticks off people sorry! Not really our fault when sport was new they wanted to sell it as somethng big and came up with the name to imply some major event and its too late to change it now. From a self pov our biggest asset and our most tragic flaw is almost stubborn refusal to think anything is impossible to do. Sometimes its fantastic like the US rush in the space program to surpass the Russians and land on the moon and sometimes its not when we fail to wonder whether SHOULD attempt to do it in the first place ie see Iraq for an example of this.

[k995]

Well then they arent really a religious school anymore are they? I just failed to see how the comment fit into this discussion at all.

Yes they are, state sponsered non religious schools are different.

Pfft Gates was in the right place at the right time

yep

And yeah crime here isnt really a major thing thru out most of the country sure in some cities it is but its not a major issue plus the problem is when we do have crime its usually on a level that makes you go "holy crap" like some nutcase shooting up his office building or something...hence inventing the term to "going Postal".

Not quit, the US is one of the most criminal societies of all western democraties. Crime rates are high, most likely the result of a very unequal devision of wealth .

From a self pov our biggest asset and our most tragic flaw is almost stubborn refusal to think anything is impossible to do. Sometimes its fantastic like the US rush in the space program to surpass the Russians and land on the moon

Hmm thats more likely winning the media war. Russian did almost everything first if it comes to space except land on the moon, and that is the one point western media always make to being a victory.

[danzig]

Not quit, the US is one of the most criminal societies of all western democraties. Crime rates are high, most likely the result of a very unequal devision of wealth .

Stats I posted on crime rates above say otherwise, the US has far more crimes because it has more people but on a whole the US has a comparable crime rate to most European countries with the sole exception of course being gun related deaths.

Hmm thats more likely winning the media war. Russian did almost everything first if it comes to space except land on the moon, and that is the one point western media always make to being a victory.

The point was the US was far behind the Russians and in a short span closed the distances and reached the moon first.

Bad analogy, most "euro's" warm before the turn.
When the warning gets ignored , the person makes the mistake and doesnt want to admit he made a mistake in the first place, its kinda annoying.

Touche...except the Euro is yelling that you are probably going to make the wrong turn 2 miles away from the turn and doesnt bother to say which turn he thinks it is Seriously though the problem comes down to arrogance on both sides of the Atlantic...too many Americans think our way is the only way to do it and too many Euros (judging from these forums) simply think the American way is the wrong way and have no idea which way would be better. It comes down to it would be nice if more people on both sides of the ocean bothered to listen to one another and actually have the conviction to come up with solutions.

They just wanted to warn America before it made the same mistake.

Sorry that is blindly naive, European countries act out of their own self interest and not some fuzzy, warm concern for the US making bad choices. A more accurate statement is Europe doesnt want to be impacted by US actions mistakes or otherwise. Wonder how amusing it would have been if FDR had simply told Churchill sorry you guys made a mistake not containing that Hitler guy and just went home....

PS: Bill Gates is just a filthy thief.
But Steve Jobs, the guy he robbed, is also an American so it shouldn't matter to this debate.

Pfft no he isnt well rather they both are...ever see the movie Silcon Valley? Great fictional exchange between Gates and Jobs that goes like this
Gates:"Your just mad that while you were attempting to break into the house I was walking out the backdoor with the tv"

They both robbed Xerox Gates was lucky to be in right place at right time and he ended up simply beating Jobs.

[Warmaster]

Let me start off by saying that im from New Zealand, but i lived in LA for a few months when i was younger.

On the national level, i think you'll understand that i dont exactly approve of the USA. As the sole superpower in the world, i'd like to think you would act a bit more responsibly, but alas the Bush administration has ended up doing things that puts you guys in a bad light. Also, the way that the USA doesnt ratify the Kyoto protocol and other things of that nature doesnt help. On the positive side, New Zealand and USA have always been friendly (the decades long dispute over nuclear power, which you may or may not know about, isnt really that big an issue IMO) and I personally hope it stays that way. At its core, USA basically does the right thing, and is a damn sight more responsible country to hold the reings as the superpower than, say China, as an example. I'll never understand why you elected (then re-elected!) Bush, but thats your choice of course.

On the individual level most the Americans i've met are intelligent, funny, nice people. its that simple really, because americans arent really any different from Europeans or Kiwis/Aussies. of course, personally i think you're far too patriotic (but you're entitled to be, if anyone is) and also too christian for my liking. But regarding the christian thing, im not really anti-christian, but the fact that the individuals are so religious means that some important (to my mind) things are sidelined or ignored. Eg stem cell research should be given a much higher priority, because USA is the best equipped to make discoveries regarding it. Oh, and on a personal note: i hate it how your airport staff are so much ruder following 9/11, everyone used to be so much more polite, nicer and happier back when i was living there than compared to now.

Anyway, im sure some of you will read this as a bash: Its not intended to be. Im trying to be completely honest from the point of view of an outsider who has spent some time living in USA. Oh, and if i didnt make it clear, i actually quite like America, thats about all i have to say

[danzig]

Eg stem cell research should be given a much higher priority, because USA is the best equipped to make discoveries regarding it.

Just sidenote, the vast majority of Americans support stem cell research it is simply our President who refuses federal funding of such research...remember the research isnt illegal just no fed dollars into it. Of course there are religious nutcases who run around screaming but hey they run around screaming anytime some american male jerks off too so.......

My personal concern with stem cell is absolutely dead fast against attempts at human cloning beyond therapeutic cloning, no, no and no...we humans screw up enough things as it is from the enviroment to lung cancer frankly I dont trust us..mankind as a whole to mess with such things.

[Warmaster]

Just sidenote, the vast majority of Americans support stem cell research it is simply our President who refuses federal funding of such research...remember the research isnt illegal just no fed dollars into it. Of course there are religious nutcases who run around screaming but hey they run around screaming anytime some american male jerks off too so.......

My personal concern with stem cell is absolutely dead fast against attempts at human cloning beyond therapeutic cloning, no, no and no...we humans screw up enough things as it is from the enviroment to lung cancer frankly I dont trust us..mankind as a whole to mess with such things.

That's fair enough, i can appreciate that its not the entire population that is against my example, and I didnt mean to imply that i thought otherwise. My meaning was that the reason that stem cell research gets sidelined only because of religious interference. It's aimed at the USA because it seems to me that christianity and the US government seem to be fairly entertwined at the moment.

And with regards to cloning, i wholeheartedly agree with you. Humanity definately hasnt matured to a point where we should be dealing in that sort of thing in my humble opinion.

[boofhead]

I'm Australian and have a strong cultural memory of US/Aus alliances and shared battles and hardships so I'm definitely pro-US. We do things differently but we are brothers.

I think the US goes WAY TOO FAR to the economic right with the almost unrestrained capitalism.

And the US has inhaled the intoxicating "Superpower" gas so quickly since the supposed fall of the USSR that one must wonder why the Russians don't want that distinction.

I must say it is a destructive mentality that believes its nation is the policeman of the world. But I see what US cops are like on TV...and I guess that if your citizenry copes with that without too much complaint....then how the hell are any other countries who fall foul of the US meant to speak up?

[Cataclysm]

But I see what US cops are like on TV...and I guess that if your citizenry copes with that without too much complaint...

Sorry if this has been said before but its late and I'm too tired to read the rest of the thread.
You have to remember that its not news when something went down without a hitch. The only time things get on TV or in the news is when they go horribly wrong.
Theres more people here than a lot of places (#3 in the world last I heard) so theres more to go wrong, I suppose.

Good:
-Movies
-Landskape
-Freedom and democracy

Bad:
-Religious
-Crime
-Too focused on them selfs
-Trying to sell the american dream to everyone else. Even by force.
-Again too focused on them selfs and how good they are.
-Unfortunately above is not true
-Many countryes have more freedom and democracy

Wait, what? I know more people of different religions than you could shake a stick at and none of us have any problems with each other. And what does that second part mean?

Some things I dont like here is the horrible corruption in the government. Its ridiculous, politicians are just in it for money and will gladly break their promises if some ubercompany pays them to.

[DariusEG]

Is the rate of crimes in USA higher than other countries or is just the police over there is better at "finding" crimes. (or maybe it's just the media)

Well, our rate of homicides is pretty high. Mainly involving guns, of course.

[Kamos]

Being from America and not having left the country yet I'm more than likely biased but after everything I've seen so far online people give us more crap than we deserve although we've earn some as well.

Also keep in mind most people who can afford to go to different countries are considered dicks in America to.

[humvee2800]

Living just north of america and frequently travelling within it I have to say i find most americans in the nothern states pretty much like canadians and those in the south a bit more nationalistic but still as nice as anyone else.

[Crimson Scythe]

As I live in Canada, I find the US to be very similar to my own stomping grounds (Toronto), especially the north east.

I find Americans to be friendly, but more direct than Canadians (make of that what you will). They're also a lot more naive and idealistic (not to be confused with ignorance) than the people I'm accustomed to dealing with, which a lot of people wrongly interpret as arrogance. All in all, I like them on the whole, though I find New Yorkers to be a bit crude (not to say that that's a bad thing, mind you ). There's a little more of a 'community' feel in the US than there is in Canada, which to me is reminiscient of my other home country (Turkey).