Why Hate America?

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

Don't the Irish hate Britain because it systematically crushed their souls with poverty and hunger?

Oh yeah, and that.

OLIVER FUCKING CROMWELL! 

I am getting an Irish passport for the exact reasons Cain described.

I can have 2, so, yanno...

[Cain]

Anyone who can get another passport (barring Israeli or American ones) to travel abroad with, and yet still chooses to travel on their British one, is stupid enough to deserve every bad thing that happens to them as a consequence of that.

[BadBeast]

You poor bastards should have killed us all when you had the chance.

But we're not really as such big ol' bastards as you think, or we would have done!

There's a lot of really top stuff going on in America, and it's produced some of the finest people I can think of. I have met many Americans, and I can honestly say, that I've never met one I didn't like. Individually, I think Americans are pretty reasonable people. Once you get past the disproportionate sense of Nationalism many of you have, and the oversensitive knee-jerk reactions to criticism, there is much similarity between the Americans and the British. And I'm sure we can work something out, to improve your International image.
Like tweaking your Foreign Policies to include things other than War, and exploitation. After all, 250 years ago, our own Imperialism was the scourge of the World, pretty much like yours is today, but we adapted, and changed our shit, and now everybody loves us!  (Don't they?)  

No, everyone pretty much still hates your guts.  I don't use my British passport when travelling abroad and I get treated much better.

As for British bastardry, you don't think racism played into that any?  Lets play "compare how the, white, Christian, American colonists and the brown, Buddhist Sri Lankans were treated":

The mercenaries the Brits sent to crush the Kandyans were Malays, Muslims from SE Asia who didn't need a lot of pep talks to slaughter South Asian Buddhists (and steal their chickens). That was life for the Brits back then, at the top of their game: picking up pieces from one part of the world and dropping them where they'd do the most harm, half the world away. "Ah yes, let's ferry some Malay mercs to Kandy, that should give the bloody idol-worshippers something to think about!"

Destroying Buddhism was a big part of Brit policy. The Buddhist routine, the temples, begging monks, long boring prayers–it was the glue that kept Kandy together. So the Brits decided to destroy it. They even said so, in private memos to each other. They weren't shy in them days. Here's the Brit governor in 1807: "Reliance on Buddhism must be destroyed. Make sure all [village] chiefs are Christian."

[...]

The "Wasteland" policy was smart and mean at the same time–another sure mark of the Brit Imperial Touch. It was designed to deny the "rebels" support in the short term, but in the long term it was pure punishment, taking away the land, livestock and other assets of all the Sinhalese who were even suspected of being "rebel"-lovers.

And it worked. To this day, 200 years later, the Sinhalese castes who backed the rebels are dirt poor, and worse: they're hated by everybody around them and they even hate themselves. And nobody even remembers who did it to them, poor lab rats. They think it's their own fault, that there's something wrong with them.

There's more, and worse, but to tell the truth, this is making me sick. I've tried to tell this story a dozen times and nobody wants to know. You just end up vomiting battery acid all night, and pigs like Mister Jeremy Brown of the Times of London never lose one second of sleep over all those bodies, and all those lies and sheer nastiness. What's the use? I'll just fastforward through a couple of highlight shots. Take reprisals. You know, like those bad ol' Nazis used to do after a "rebel" attack? The Brits were there way before the Nazis. They took revenge for a half-assed Kandyan revolt by killing one out of every hundred Sinhalese. Like, at random. To keep it fair, you know, not play favorites.

And then the nastiest CI weapon of all, the demographic bomb. This was a Brit specialty all over the world (see Fiji for a weirdly similar case). The Brits ran India, so they had total control over millions of obedient Tamil peasants who were starving, desperate, and ready to go anywhere, just pile into the hold of a ship and get out to cut cane or plant rice in some place that may as well have been on the Moon for all they knew.

So along with the massacre/reprisals, the Brits came up with one of their classic two-birds-one-stone plans: to neutralize the Sinhalese, let's import huge hordes of Tamils from India! They're cheap and docile and they'll give the Sinhala something to keep them busy even after we have to leave the island, haw! And meanwhile they'll drive the price of labor down even further! Brilliant, chaps, absolutely brilliant!

Its amazing how Brits are so entirely ignorant of their colonial history.  Just how do you think Britain got to rule a quarter of the globe?  By asking nicely?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending or condoning the actions of the past, I'm just as horrified as you when it comes to the abuse of power the British Empire committed, and if I could change the past, I would. But I can't. I can't even change the present way we back oppressive regimes, and maintain overseas business interests with military force. Now, as always, the power is out of the hands of the man in the street. I try not to be complacent about what is done by our Government, nominally on my behalf,
but I really have very little say in it. I know it goes on, but I can't actually do much about about it.

The Government of Britain are as much an enemy of the British people, as any so called "Terrorist threat". Our so called elected representatives sit by (as always, with their snouts in the trough) as our civil liberties are systematically stripped away, and any civil dissent is met with a disproportionate show of Jackbooted thuggery.
I was actively involved in at least half a dozen violent clashes with riot Police and bailiffs in the 1980's, whilst in the process of being "evicted" from unused wasteland, or festival sites, and have had my front doors kicked off at the crack of dawn more times than I care to recall, on some pretext or another, so I know first hand how oppressive and brutal the State can be when you step over the line of the Law. I have been beaten, cuffed, and incarcerated, I have fought and lost, and bled, and fought again and again against Police thuggery, but all it ever got me, was arrested, maced, and imprisoned. These days, being older, and wiser, I refuse to hate them for it, (more for my own wellbeing than any spiritual or moral reason) but I still won't give them an inch.

In those days of Imperial colonisation, I know I would have been hanged, or transported, as much a victim of the Empire's oppressive brutality, as any colonist. So I refuse to feel any misplaced guilt or shame at Britain's shady past. I didn't do any of it, wasn't responsible for any of it, and utterly reject any accusations of tacit collusion, or shame at any present day actions of the elected Pirates in Parliament. I have never taken part in any Democratic process, never paid a penny in Poll tax, never paid any of the fines I have incurred, preferring to serve Prison time, than submit to the bastards. So I do have the courage of my convictions, and I am NOT AT ALL ignorant of Britain's colonial past. If my previous post suggests otherwise, (and re-reading it, I can see that it does)  it's only because I was deliberately being   contentious, and a bit of an arsehole. (for which I make no apologies) I'm allowed to be a bit of an arsehole from time to time, as is everyone else, but I do try hard not to make a habit of it. And I meant what I said about America, and Americans. There really are many things I admire about America, and also lots that I despise. But there's too much shit going down this side of the pond to start hating another Nation. It's all I can do to stop myself hating my own country, without starting to blame the USA for being pugnacious, and Imperialist. So I hope this has made my position a little clearer. It's my own fault for mis-representing myself, and being a twat, so try not to hold it against me. I'm only (just) Human.  
           
             

[Triple Zero]

There's a lot of really top stuff going on in America, and it's produced some of the finest people I can think of. I have met many Americans, and I can honestly say, that I've never met one I didn't like.

IRL, I gotta say I got the same experience [with maybe one or two exceptions that I can't recall right now].

Individually, I think Americans are pretty reasonable people.

But I don't think it's due to this.

It's more that the Americans that take the trouble of coming all the way to Europe are pretty reasonable people.

I'm pretty sure that when I come to the USA (I will one day, honest), I will meet those horrible zombies and fundies and fat blobs and all those.

I mean, there's enough native people and tourists/travellers alike that just do not think. That's a generic trait amongst all humans. I'm probably guilty of it too, often enough. So, not counting those.

Once you get past the disproportionate sense of Nationalism many of you have, and the oversensitive knee-jerk reactions to criticism

Funny how even the perception of "how Americans are sometimes slightly weird/tedious/annoying" varies from culture to culture

Most Americans I met were highly critical of their country, sometimes almost apologetically. And knee-jerk to criticism, I dunno, well I suppose most Dutch are simply happy they can practice their English with a native speaker [even though I gotta say I prefer the Scottish English accent].

Like tweaking your Foreign Policies to include things other than War, and exploitation. After all, 250 years ago, our own Imperialism was the scourge of the World, pretty much like yours is today, but we adapted, and changed our shit, and now everybody loves us!  (Don't they?)

Just a little tweaking. Yeah.

[Triple Zero]

Well, almost everyone. There's the Irish, (Who only hate us, because we're the closest geographical fight, but we always kicked their arses)  and the French, (because we held out for longer than 10 minutes against the Nazis, sinking their Navy in the process)   

Are there any neighbouring countries that do not hate eachother one way or another?

It's gotten much less (in my perception) over the past 20 years or so, but of course we hated the Germans [because they stole our bikes] and made fun of the Belgians--we make jokes about them because they're supposed to be dumb, probably as revenge from them starting making jokes about us being cheap. In fact I just read on Dutch Wikipedia that indeed many neighbouring countries make these kind of jokes about eachother and that, in fact, they are often the same jokes

However there seem to be different categories. As far as I can distinguish from cultural jokes, there's jokes about dumb nations, greedy/cheap nations and poor (often immigrant) nations. Any more?

(is this getting OT?)

[BadBeast]

Well, almost everyone. There's the Irish, (Who only hate us, because we're the closest geographical fight, but we always kicked their arses)  and the French, (because we held out for longer than 10 minutes against the Nazis, sinking their Navy in the process)   

Are there any neighbouring countries that do not hate eachother one way or another?

It's gotten much less (in my perception) over the past 20 years or so, but of course we hated the Germans [because they stole our bikes] and made fun of the Belgians--we make jokes about them because they're supposed to be dumb, probably as revenge from them starting making jokes about us being cheap. In fact I just read on Dutch Wikipedia that indeed many neighbouring countries make these kind of jokes about eachother and that, in fact, they are often the same jokes

However there seem to be different categories. As far as I can distinguish from cultural jokes, there's jokes about dumb nations, greedy/cheap nations and poor (often immigrant) nations. Any more?

(is this getting OT?)

I don't think it's getting off thread. Us English have been clanking swords with the French for over 1000 years, and they hate us more than we hate them. Even between neighbouring British countries, there is no end of old jokes, and insults. Especially between the Scots and the English. It's a complex relationship, and  far deeper and more complex than it appears. The Scots rag on the English, almost as matter of courtesy, and whatever English people say, about Scots frugality, or alcohol consumption, it's meant to be taken with a pinch of salt. Even though the Scots, and the English have spent centuries attempting to beat the buggery out of each other, the English have loads of respect for the Scots, we know they are formidable foes, and they have always fought us with honour, bravery, and typical Scottish ferocity. And since the Union, they have always fielded some of the best Troops into the Army, whilst still retaining their indomitable Scottish identity, and pride. I think all of England's neighbours especially Scotland, Ireland and Wales, have a pretty unique and two way dynamic going with England. I know I mentioned the Irish earlier,
in a less than complimentary way, (I am half Irish myself, BTW) but since the post uprising years, of Republican Action and bombing campaigns, the English man in the street, always had great respect for the Irish man, on an individual basis. And even at the height of hostilities, the IRA  (with one or two notable exceptions) never targeted the British Public, and always rang a warning in, on their mainland bombing campaigns. As a result, the public never really felt threatened by the IRA, and I'd go as far as to say that a significant minority of the populace, sympathised to some degree with their cause, if not their methods.
And when they almost took out the whole Conservative Party, during their annual conference, I'm pretty certain that lots of people suddenly felt a whole new measure of respect for them. And now, the Irish and English (apart from a few diehards who don't know when to stop) are settling down to a much more convivial and neighbourly relationship. After all, the harder another country fights, or fought us in the past,
the more respect and courtesy we seem to have for them, on a National level. For this reason, I think the Brits have more respect for the Germans than for the French, purely on the grounds that they made formidable Enemies, in Wartime. Similarly, the English seem to have more time for the Scots, than for the Welsh, due to the (perceived) amount of fight they have put up in the past. I know the Welsh are as valid a part of Britain as any other, and have also fought tooth and nail against the English, but the English seem to be a lot more sneery, and snide about the Welsh for some reason. Probably because their own rebellion was over, a lot longer ago than the Scottish. And their reputed habit of only speaking Welsh, when there is an Englishman present, and for having a language that is notoriously lacking in vowels, and difficult to pronounce. I dunno, but there is an extremely complex dynamic between the member countries of Britain, with England, (you don't get same dynamic between the Welsh, and the Scots, or even the Welsh and the Irish) The Irish, and the Scottish have always had their own thing going on, regardless of their status with England, but then there has always been a lot of hopping backwards and forwards across the Irish Sea, between Ireland and Scotland. Scotland is even takes it's name from an Irish Tribe, the Scoti.  Scotland also has a larger Viking influence, than Ireland or England, having been under Danish rule for a time. Ireland fought off the Danes at Clontarf in 1014, and Brian Boru, united the whole of the Country, for the first time, from a loose confederacy of Pagan Tribes, into a Unified Kingdom, under a Christian High King. Which is over 600 years before the other British Isle got it's shit together.
And the Irish Diaspora to America, during the Potato famine, was one of the last large influxes of immigrants to (the largely Protestant) USA and was an extremely significant dynamic to America. Am I going a bit Off thread here?  Probably, so I think I'll wind me neck in before I get from "No, everyone pretty much still hates your (Britain's) guts", to  "No, everyone pretty much still hates your (BadBeast's) guts".