Yes, but only if Americans support what their governement is doing at said time. But if they don't, then by all means people can dislike the government or it's actions and yet not hate those it governs.

Case in point: I often don't care for or agree with decisions the Canadian government makes, and there have been times when I've downright hated their actions on or during certain issues. That doesn't mean I hate my country or all Canadians or that I'm anti-Canadian.

I'd like to think I can voice some dissention when I disagree with something the US gov't does without people thinking I automatically dislike Americans.

But its comments like this that shows that many of you are willing to accept no amount of critizism for some of the fucked up shit your governmenthas done.

If it's hard for us living outside the US, imagine people who live within its borders. You are labeled as anti-american, someone who does not support the troops, a traitor, a commie, and/or terrorist sympathizer.

Now that shit I do fucking hate.

I should have said the millions of Americans that are voters and elect the leaders of the government. And the popular vote does elect the leaders of Congress which is an entire branch of the three branches of Government and in addition the popular vote does elect the President (other than in an extraordinary circumstance/very close race) in the sense that the electoral college cast their votes towards the popular vote of their states.

Well you didnt say that. So that pretty much obliterates your argument that you cant hate the government without hating its citizens. And before you ask me, I dont hate all republican voters either, I'm simply amazed at their stubbornness.

this thread is dumb..

As usual the voice of reason. I do not mind critisism of my governement...I would be high on the list of being critical of my government...and I frequently make my congressman aware of my critisism. What I do mind is "bashing" my government by...what I consider to be for the most part...short sighted...unintelligent people. BTW...the leaders are elected to ultimately protect what is "perceived" to be in the best interests of America...and not what is in the best interests of any other country.

I dont hate them at all, but they sure are one strange constellation!

theking is right in one respect though. There are several here on GFY that have posted negativity about the US government, and that in and of itself isn't necessarily a bad thing. But several of them load their posts with ridicule for the entire country and, it often seems, all of it's people, like all Americans are "retards", or "stupid" or something.

In fact the same sort of ridiculous ridicule gets thrown at Canada and Canadians too (and a lot of times it's by Americans, oddly enough).

Fact is no one who has any pride in their own country likes to read posts where some foreign idiot is cocking off at them and running down their country. I can't fault theking for speaking up against such idiots, I know I would... and have, and likely will again.

So if that means invading a country and killing thousands of people, most of the m civilians, so be it?

With that line of thinking any savage action can be justified. And also, what in your mind makes you think that the government is ever acting on what they think is in the best interest of America, as a whole, and not their own individual interests?

Once again the voice of reason.

So if someone agrees with you they are "the voice of reason"? You're a funny one.

So the rest of the enlighted world was impressed with Al Gore? John Kerry? Give me a break.


.

I think they act in what they "percieve" to be in the best interests of the country because I think it is total bullshit that they would do anything to harm the country to line their own pocket book. Dick Chaney...for example... gets accused of lining his own pockets because he was once associated with Haliburton. Dick Chaney no longer has ties to Haliburton other than his retirement package from them and in addition Dick Chaney gives most of the millions that he earns per year to charity.

Pffft, it's just the vodka and pineapple-orange juice I'm drinking.

Wonderful stuff.

Politcal corruption must be an illusion then.

CDsmith is and has been a voice of reason on this board for years...about most subjects that has been brought up on this board...even though he and I have had our disagreements...thank you very much.

Some politicians are corrupt just as some people in every walk of life are corrupt...so no corruption is not an illusion...but if you say it is an illusion...I suppose in your mind it is.

:1orglaugh ok ok :thumbsup

Well I would like very much to have a Bloody Mary...but for reasons of health I had to give up drinking.

So then what makes you think the ones in office are not corrupt? Especially with all the strong indications that stare you right in the face. Bush family ties to oil and oil companies and Saudis, the very shady fist election when thousands of blacks were not allowed to vote, Enron, your presidents drug and alochol problems, the Bin Laden relatives that were allowed to leave the US after the attacks, Halliburton, and the list goes on and on...

Right on, you don't like my country? you don't live here? shut the fuck up
The only one who can bitch about something is the one who faces it.

I don´t hate Americans.

Ok, so if you don't live in the US you cant complain about their foreign policy? You cant complain about thousands of people dying? You cant complain about unjust invasions, lies, torture, etc? Only Americans have the right to complain about that then? We all live on one planet and we all have a right to bitch and do something about it.

btw I voted for "I dont hate Americans"

I put in my point before, don't try me with demagogy..

All the world is the same - the stronger dog fucks more than the weaker dog. Some dogs can do it, some don't, but all would want to.

The only thing we should all care about now is so that America gets economically well and the massive consumption continues.. We all would be doomed if there was not this huge super consuming nation called US.

I am off for today. check my thread about Redtube by the chance

That wasnt demagogy, it was common sense. Your stronger dog theory is the reason why the US is allowed to get away with what it does. And finally, the world existed before the US, it will continue to exist after the US.

I have already explained by thinking on this subject to you...but I will also state because I am not a conspicacy nut. As for elections...all elections have their problems and always have had and probably always will have. If anything I think elections are currently better regulated then in the days of the back room political bosses. As for the President having drug and alcohol problems. To the best of my knowledge he never had a drug problem although he is accused of it by some no proof has came forward that I am aware of. To the best of my knowledge he gave up drinking about twenty years ago and there has not been any proof presented that he has fallen off of the wagon.

i've seen a lot of this. americans have no idea how ignorant they act and how offensive it is... and don't care. its embarrassing. its why i avoid americans when i travel or live out of the country. whats really interesting is to travel and speak another language entirely and never have anyone realize your american and hear people vent and talk shit.

but on the other hand... there are few things more fun than to be in paris than to ask a waiter or someone with a retarded southern accent "hey, do you speak english" or "hey buddy... does all the food in this country suck?"

You completely dodged all the important points. Fine. Lets agree to disagree then. I respect your way of thinking. The theme of the thread (stupid as it is) is "why do you hate Americans" and I don't.

peace and love man :D fuck it i quit

In my opinion you did not make any important points...but regurgitated the same old bullshit that has been regurgitated by so many. I will repeat...I am not a conspiracy nut.

Don't get me wrong, when my country (Canada) does something to deserve criticism I'm often the first one to step up and dish it out, and I don't fault anyone in any other country who wants to dish it out either. People are entitled to their opinions.

But the US is in a bit of a unique position, in that much of it's foreign policy actually does affect the rest of the world, thus I find it hard at times to fault non-US citizens from offering up their opinions on certain US-related issues.

The voice of reason :)

there is another side to "america" that the rest of the world fails to grasp much in the same way americans can't seem to grasp much outside their own borders. its that they have an opinion about america for a lot of reasons. for good or bad, better or worse, people in the world have a great deal more exposure to "america" than america does to the rest of the world.. whether its bush's next embarassing speech, propaganda, coke commercials, economics/the Dollar, international tensions, isreal, NATO, movies, music, levis or incessant reports about britney spears every bowel movement or whatever.

americans don't see 20-30-40% of the news on their own tv stations being about every country in the world... but every country in the world has news about america daily. i lived almost a decade in russia and traveled extensively through europe and the world and always found it very odd that there was so much news about "america" everywhere. even in russia, probably 30% of the news is about "america", celebs, music, politics etc. americans just don't get that same exposure to everywhere else.

thats particularly true of Canada.. even more so than anywhere else probably. i used to live right on the Canadian border and watch a lot of Canadian tv and always thought it was odd that Canada reports a lot of news in the US... almost as if its local news... i.e. "a woman in las vegas today did a funny thing......." but you will never see US news reporting on Canada unless its something thats truly an international news story.

As I stated critisism is acceptable to me..."bashing" is not. Much of the critisism is about the invasion of Iraq. As you should know...as I have stated it many times...I think the invasion of Iraq should have taken place within the first year of the cease fire accords that Iraq agreed to and immediately began to ignore. When the invasion of Iraq finally took place...it was to establish long term strategic positioning and is for the benefit...not only to the US...but to all of the Western countries...but many are to short sighted to realize this or have political motives within there own countries not to openly recgonize this to their citizens.

My only bone to pick about the invasion is that it was entirely mismanaged from the word go. We pussy footed around from the very beginning and this lies at the feet of Rumsfeld. General Tommy Franks told Rumsfeld he wanted 480,000 troops and Rumsfeld offered him 70,000. General Franks said he would not go with less than 400,000. After some explosive talks General Franks was basically told if you will not comply we will get another Commander so General Franks settled to go with 160,000 but then one of our Divisions was not allowed to go in through Turkey in the North...so we went short one Division. It was a risk but it worked well and the Iraq military and Baathist government was defeated in 24 days. Because of not enough boots on the ground chaos ensued though. And the chaos has not been corrected since...once again because of not enough boots on the ground.

BTW this little surge of 30,000 troops is a fucking joke even though it has proven that more boots on the ground can make a difference. An interesting point about the surge is...it is Condi Rice's idea...and the clear and hold policy is also hers and she is one of the primary players in getting rid of Rumsfeld.

If things had not been mismanged from the beginning Iraq would now be on its way to becoming a Jewel in the mideast.

"They hate us for our freedom." -George 'Ass Clown' Bush

It's a bit overdone. Incredibly so. Didn't like your food? Fine. Maybe take a little bit off of the check. If it was truly fucked up, deal with it.

People here are trained that if they yell loud enough, they can get anything they want - from a very early age. I feel very sorry for people in foodservice. If you don't get my order 100% correctly, or don't refill my drink every 4 minutes, unlike the rest of my country, I don't think having a tantrum in front of you (and your boss) is going to make my meal any more pleasant, or free. The majority of US culture does. It's incredibly obnoxious.

BTW...I really do not like the Secretary of State (Rice) but she deserves credit where credit is due. She was not a fan of Rumsfeld from the time he was selected by the VP to be Secretary of Defense and of course approved by the President.

And I love my world with America in it, you guys should really call me something as an ambassador of good will of GFY.

My reaction was targeted to the art called bashing, it's something else to bash in a truly ignorant fashion than to criticize with a bit of sense in it and knowing the background of the problem, as we can see on this board frequently.

If you call a thread "why do you hate Americans" and put there things like "Because George Bush is their president" something is not entirely ok with it, and it will most likely gather all the grunt basher views.

Thanks god and thanks America, that we have sensible people on this board who avoided it, by putting in some sensible input, so they scared most of those scary monsters off from posting their retarded input..

Btw. the "stronger dog" is not a theory...