Why do people hate America?

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Dox47, I can't begin to tell you what is wrong with your statement. American poor are in no way better off than the wealthy of other nations, Europe is not a single nation, and what cause to be jealous of America? Where do you get that from? American TV? Yeah, that'd be an unbaised source...

...People will go to great lengths to find reasons to hate us...

what I meant to say is, that the collapse of America and the image and prestige it has lost is not due to th Bush dynasty alone, you have to look much further than that. he is only accountable for what happened in the last 8 years

This on top of the billions of dollars in foreign aid that we simply give away every year, and still people hate us.

Well, your opinion goes against that of most (maybe even all?) historians. Napoleon's downfall was in his invasion of Russia. If you seriously want to argue that, you'll end up looking pretty stupid, so maybe you should just cut your losses at this point. I'm a history major and I've yet to see any serious academic dispute the notion that Napoleon was defeated as a result of invading Russia.

I dont hate America nor its citizens, but I do dislike the political entity that the USA is. The people cannot help it (?? who voted for those idiots in charge??) but the country to me is politically one of the most repulsive ones in the world, amongst the pleasant company of Saudi Arabia and Iran amongst others.

Reasons why I dislike the USA politically:
- the death penalty
- the social security is a total joke, maybe ask Cuba for advice as they have a good network for their citizens
- country turning into a religious totalitarian state step by step
- invading countries randomly where the US has nothing to search and where they have no rights to interfere with local business
- trying to constantly force its own values onto the rest of the world, not realising most other nations (including the European ones) are no longer having that American Dream. Most here in Europe see the States as a bit backward in some ways.
- corporate politics
- did I mention the death penalty already?
- Guantanamo Bay and several other serious violations of human rights
- not recognising the Tribunal of The Hague while meanwhile still demanding a leading role in UN and NATO (either you recognise the club entirely or you stay out if the club membership rules dont appeal... you cannot have both)

Other than that, the people seem very influential by the media, and most mass production on cultural level is of very low level (the average Hollywood movie and the idolisation of celebrity life as sad highlights). But those are not such a big issues.

I dont hate the USA nor its people. I only hate its politics. In a different way than the way in which I hate the politics of my own country. Maybe if the death penalty would be abolished (a very sensitive issue for me) I would be more forgiving for their other violations. Basically I think the USA fits in the same category as the likes of Iran: corrupt government with absolutely no respect for human life.

... they'll hate us for internal policies that have no affect on anyone else, they'll hate us for our culture, they'll hate us for our values, they'll hate us for our freedoms, they'll always find a reason. In some places, hating America has cachet, like hating Walmart or Microsoft, even some Americans like to hate America! No one likes the top dog, I just wish people could be a little more honest about their reasons.

That sounds like paranoia, Dox47. I think you take it all too personally. People have many reasons to be critical of your country, but I wouldn't say that amounts to hate of it. I expect most accept that as imperfect as the current situation is, it could be much worse if the US wasn't the dominant economic and military force it is.

You know, the hardest thing I have coming to terms with, is how the populist politics of your nation allow the ignorant, insular, and relatively-dim majority to dictate prosperity or penury, even life or death, for millions of people across the world.

To be fair, much of that money is really disguised subsidies for US farmers, sailors, etc, and much of the aid is, for example, military aid to relatively prosperous countries like Israel and Egypt. There's a big difference between the price tag taxpayers pay and the actual aid Third World poor receive. This is true of aid in general and not just of US aid in particular, the thing is in terms of aid as a percentage of GDP the US is one of the stingiest developed countries around (which is probably why France is more popular in Africa than the US).

On the other hand, the idea that lots of people around the world hate us for our freedoms doesn't hold much explanatory power. When we did the Marshall plan, Europe and most of the world cheered. When we twisted arms to get countries to join the 'coalition of the willing', people around the world said snarky things, even if their governments put on a smile and repeated the coalition's slogans. Likewise, for most of the past 50 years, America was seen as an 'honest broker' in the Middle East - that changed with Bush. Policies do matter.

What I was talking about was more that whenever another country has a disaster, we're the first in line with aide to help.

Anyone offer to help us out with Katrina?

We are a generous people, and continue to give even when there is no reciprocity and little in the way of gratitude.

As far as the popularity of France goes, remember that these are also the same people who sold Saddam nuclear technology and helped him circumvent the oil for food project, when they're involved in the third world there's going to be a quid pro quo involved, whether it's out in the open or not.

Well, as a few examples, European far leftists don't like our freedom of speech, many Muslims don't like our equality for women and unchasteness of our culture, countries like China certainly don't like our political freedom. To these people, we are an example of things that they hate that not only works but works very well, and thus present living contradiction of their dogma. That is what I meant by people hating us for our freedoms.

If you want to put it in those terms, if some other country legalized kiddie porn and drugs, we would hate them for their 'freedom' .... the Europeans get touchy about things like nazi memorabilia and hate speech, and their idea of political freedom should sanction such activities.

Ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel harass women that they think are wearing unchaste or immodest clothing... many religious conservatives in this country rant against Hollywood and they picket against adult entertainment. That type of stuff is not new, not a surprise at all.

Mexico sent in humanitarian aid to New Orleans right after Katrina - not just offered it, actually sent it, and personnel to distribute it. Other countries may have done as well, Mexico's the only one I know for a fact did. Also, Mexican authorities provided various help to Americans stranded in Mexico just after 9/11, when no planes were flying in US airspace.

Canada did in both circumstances. Our wonderfully Newfoundlanders hosted tens of thousands of people stranded after 9/11.