First, the background, one of many surveys of world opinion of the United States:

Anti-Americanism in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which surged as a result of the U.S. war in Iraq, shows modest signs of abating. But the United States remains broadly disliked in most countries surveyed, and the opinion of the American people is not as positive as it once was. The magnitude of America's image problem is such that even popular U.S. policies have done little to repair it. President George W. Bush's calls for greater democracy in the Middle East and U.S. aid for tsunami victims in Asia have been well-received in many countries, but only in Indonesia, India and Russia has there been significant improvement in overall opinions of the U.S.

http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=247

and

There is a widespread agreement that America will remain the world's largest economic power.

This is underlined by the 73% of British voters who say that the US now wields an excessive influence on international affairs, a situation that 67% see as continuing for the foreseeable future.

A majority in Britain also believe that US democracy is no longer a model for others.

But perhaps a more startling finding from the Guardian/ICM poll is that a majority of British voters - 51% - say that they believe that American culture is threatening our own culture.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/viewsofamerica/story/0,,1327568,00.html

How much production of culture comes from the state of California and how much is it responsible for the extreme negative reactions from the world towards the United States as a whole?


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It is a good question. What with the hollywood and tech industries spewing their smut....

probably alot.

It is a good question. What with the hollywood and tech industries spewing their smut....

Well, how much American culture is produced in say...Montana?


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Exactly. I am agreeing with you.

The hatred our young IRA friend shows for California is indicative of how little that state has to do with our alienation from the rest of the world. For all of its hedonism and high tech, California is something the rest of the world feels they understand. Culturally, California has more in common with both Europe and Asia than the American "heartland" does. It's the Bible Belt that the rest of the world sees as a dislikable lot of arrogant anti-intellectual bigots. Whether they're right to see it that way or not, that's how they do see it. Look at the attitudes that the Pew report identifies as underlying distrust of the US, and ask yourself where in the US those attitudes are most prevalent. Look at where the politicians and pundits that the rest of the world considers most offensive come from, and/or where they find their largest audience. It won't be on the west coast, I assure you.

The hatred our young IRA friend shows for California is indicative of how little that state has to do with our alienation from the rest of the world. For all of its hedonism and high tech, California is something the rest of the world feels they understand. Culturally, California has more in common with both Europe and Asia than the American "heartland" does. It's the Bible Belt that the rest of the world sees as a dislikable lot of arrogant anti-intellectual bigots. Whether they're right to see it that way or not, that's how they do see it. Look at the attitudes that the Pew report identifies as underlying distrust of the US, and ask yourself where in the US those attitudes are most prevalent. Look at where the politicians and pundits that the rest of the world considers most offensive come from, and/or where they find their largest audience. It won't be on the west coast, I assure you.


Exactly, it's red states that are supportive of things like our foreign policies and imperialism, Texas is probably the most hated place on Earth right now.

Texas is probably the most hated place on Earth right now.you say that like its a bad thing.

California , besides having one of the worlds largest economies , also produces much of American Pop Culture ... the countries largest export

I've been to 40 other states and the only other one I would seriously consider living in is Hawaii

We should be our own country

I can't wait until it falls in the ocean. :|

Not gonna happen.

We're rising, not falling. Eventually, one may be able to walk from San Diego to Los Angeles in about 30 minutes, but we're not going to fall into the ocean.

Also, I agree with PlatyGuy.

I didn't think it really could but wishing never hurts.



I really don't hate California that much but I still do hate it.

California is the bomb, period.

The few times I went straight from my grandparents' place in San Diego to school in Oklahoma, all I could think when I talked with people there in OK was "Why aren't you committing suicide right_now?"

The few times I went straight

:eek3:

(it had to be done. :p )

According to the articles cited, the focus of peoples' low opinion of the USA is on GW Bush and his foreign policy, not on culture. It looks to me as if our propensity to use violence for political objectives (i.e., the "war on terror") is the issue; in other words, America is perceived as a threat to peace.

also produces much of American Pop Culture

Yea, that's kind of the problem

California is something the rest of the world feels they understand.

Well, not really

Analysts say America's image problem is pervasive, deep and perhaps permanent, an inevitable outcome of being the world's only superpower.

But there is worse news. In the past, while Europeans, Asians and Arabs might have disliked American policies or specific U.S. leaders, they liked and admired Americans themselves. Polls now show an ominous turn. Majorities around the world think Americans are greedy, violent and rude, and fewer than half in countries like Poland, Spain, Canada, China and Russia think Americans are honest.

"We found a rising antipathy toward Americans," said Bruce Stokes of the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which interviewed 93,000 people in 50 countries over a four-year span.

The dislike is accelerating among youths, Stokes said. For instance, 20 percent of Britons under age 30 have an unfavorable opinion of Americans, double the percentage of 2002.

The problem, Stokes said, "is Americans, not just (President) Bush."

Stokes and his colleagues at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan public opinion group in Washington, found that fewer and fewer people see the United States as a land of high ideals and opportunity. More than half of those asked in France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Britain said the "spread of American ideas and customs" was a "bad thing."

Beyond a growing antipathy toward American policies, people reject the American lifestyle portrayed in films and television.

Asked where to find the "good life," no more than one in 10 people recommended the United States in a poll conducted in 13 countries, Kohut said. More popular: Canada, Australia, Britain and Germany. Only in India did the United States still represent the land of opportunity, he found.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/114784645160150.xml

Hmmm...

*ideas
*customs

now where would someone in Timbuktu get their information about American ideas and customs from.....

The question has to be asked: Why should I care about the image of my country around the world?

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I suspect Washington DC is a large source of what it is that fuels much of the world's dislike of America. Since those in Washington are put there by the American people, there's going to be some enmity towards those that put those policy makers and enablers there...

Perhaps the attitudes of people around the world in relation to the US is just another symptom of what happens when a country stops practicing what it preaches.

The hatred our young IRA friend shows for California is indicative of how little that state has to do with our alienation from the rest of the world. For all of its hedonism and high tech, California is something the rest of the world feels they understand. Culturally, California has more in common with both Europe and Asia than the American "heartland" does. It's the Bible Belt that the rest of the world sees as a dislikable lot of arrogant anti-intellectual bigots. Whether they're right to see it that way or not, that's how they do see it. Look at the attitudes that the Pew report identifies as underlying distrust of the US, and ask yourself where in the US those attitudes are most prevalent. Look at where the politicians and pundits that the rest of the world considers most offensive come from, and/or where they find their largest audience. It won't be on the west coast, I assure you.

Spoken like a typical, arrogant yankee.

More than half of those asked in France ... said the "spread of American ideas and customs" was a "bad thing."


These are the same people who rioted in the streets at the suggestion that they could be fired for doing crappy work :not:

The only reason that America is the world's economic powerhouse is our capitalist economy. If other countries think America should have less say in the world's affairs, they are free to switch to capitalism and grow their own economies. China's already doing it.

China's already doing it.

are you saying we should copy China's economic model? ... I agree ...

no, i'm saying China is copying ours. and it's working.

Does California really create that much of the US's culture? It seems to me that we're in the middle of a domestic war between two cultures, and the one that California represents doesn't seem to be the one that most of the world (excepting a few radical Muslim prudes) has a problem with. It's the other culture, of loud but insincere religion and guns as the solution to everything, of "spewing smut" and "arrogant yankee" poo-flinging, that makes the rest of the world wary of us. That culture comes from Utah and Texas and Alabama, not California (or Massachusetts).

Ask yourself, seriously, if it came down to a civil war between the states that represent those two cultures, would the rest of the world be more likely to support California or Texas? I think the answer is pretty bleeding obvious.

The question has to be asked: Why should I care about the image of my country around the world?
-As long as you agree with what our goverment is doing, you shouldn't care what the rest of the world thinks. If you disagree with what the government is doing, then do something to change it. Listening to the rest of the world is a nothing but an excuse to bitch and polls are all nonsense. Get some backbone or move.

Ask yourself, seriously, if it came down to a civil war between the states that represent those two cultures, would the rest of the world be more likely to support California or Texas? I think the answer is pretty bleeding obvious.
a civil war between tx and ca, one could only hope...

It would, in all probability, be the coasts vs. the inland states.

And even then, demographically, it's the major cities vs. the rural areas.

Considering the yuppy pansies, metrosexuals, and three-piece suits that currently inhabit the cities, I wouldn't hold out much hope for the cities' victory in that case.

Unless they somehow figure out how to do a corporate hostile takeover of a family-owned farm, they're doomed.

Cali and Texas have some bad things in common.Texas has a lot of the same superficial tinsel...
The East coast at least seems to realize there's a big wide world out there...

That's not true, Bruce. New Yorkers all think that the world revolves around them too.

The East Coast does have actual seasons, though. I do envy them that. but so does Northern CA, so...yeah.

Yeah but New York has the different cultural inputs-I know LA has a lot of those groups but a lot of the Californians I've met dont seem to know who they are-I could be wrong-noone is as bad as Texas though...

a civil war between tx and ca, one could only hope...

Our Mexican Brigades would kick YOUR Mexican Brigades butt.

(see they would be doing the jobs Amercians don't want to do--get it?)

Don't use L.A. as a basis for judgement on all Californians. A Californian from Bakersfield and a Californian from Los Angeles are two totally different types of people.

It's a big state, we're not all the same.

Don't use L.A. as a basis for judgement on all Californians. A Californian from Bakersfield and a Californian from Los Angeles are two totally different types of people.

It's a big state, we're not all the same.

I agree. You ever been up to Yreka? Or some of the Northeastern counties?

(sounds of banjos playing). (note that you still use a SoCal paradigm {Bakersfield** to demonstrate the differences).

The fact is that LA IS the public face of California, for better or worse.

I used two SoCal areas to demonstrate that even with only 50 miles or so separating county lines (I have no idea what the distance is, that's just a random guess) the two areas have totally different types of people.

The fact is that LA IS the public face of California, for better or worse.

It's for worse.


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Ask yourself, seriously, if it came down to a civil war between the states that represent those two cultures, would the rest of the world be more likely to support California or Texas? I think the answer is pretty bleeding obvious.

the answer is that they'd hope and pray that both sides end up killing each other.

california is no different from alabama. you have to be delusional to think otherwise.

the answer is that they'd hope and pray that both sides end up killing each other.

california is no different from alabama. you have to be delusional to think otherwise.

Light years different. Are you kidding? California is like a different planet. You're from the south, you should understand this.

Light years different. Are you kidding? California is like a different planet. You're from the south, you should understand this.
I thought that he was from Denmark. :confused:

Light years different. Are you kidding? California is like a different planet. You're from the south, you should understand this.

He's still recovering from the "Lacrosse" incident :rolleyes:

If other countries "hate" the US it has much less to due with popular culture and much more to do with foreign policies and a history of propping up dictators

I thought that he was from Denmark. :confused:

Says Virginia under his name.

I love California. :) Like Javaman said, the only other state I'd probably consider settling down in is Hawaii.


btw, I'm a native californian and I can tell you, there are plenty of normal people there... it's not all fruity nutty liberals. :b

If you speak with the majority of people who have a bad opinion of America, outside of France, their assumptions come from our TV shows.

They see shows like COPS and the trashy, self indulgent dramas which Hollywood and Vancuver pushes out and form their opinions from there.

Many people point to America and think that most of it is a crime-riddled mentropolis filled with gang-banging thugs who rob, rape and murder at will.

That is where this idea is coming from, they only see and hear about the low end of our society.

I love California. :) Like Javaman said, the only other state I'd probably consider settling down in is Hawaii.


btw, I'm a native californian and I can tell you, there are plenty of normal people there... it's not all fruity nutty liberals. :b

I don't hate Californians,Sugar,but let's face it,it ain't just the left that's looney out there..

The hatred our young IRA friend

Hatred?


You are hyperbolic at best.


shows for California is indicative of how little that state has to do with our alienation from the rest of the world. For all of its hedonism and high tech, California is something the rest of the world feels they understand. Culturally, California has more in common with both Europe and Asia than the American "heartland" does. It's the Bible Belt that the rest of the world sees as a dislikable lot of arrogant anti-intellectual bigots. Whether they're right to see it that way or not, that's how they do see it. Look at the attitudes that the Pew report identifies as underlying distrust of the US, and ask yourself where in the US those attitudes are most prevalent. Look at where the politicians and pundits that the rest of the world considers most offensive come from, and/or where they find their largest audience. It won't be on the west coast, I assure you.


I find it hilarious that people will make the argument that it is our policies that are causing Islamic mutants to attack us, but then try to say that our cultural smut exports have nothing to do with it.

Even when the Islamic mutants have said that it is exactly that, that they find soooo offensive!!!!

I don't agree with them obviously, but if the libbies are going to try to tell us that we need to look at our policies towards these people, then our cultural policies, in the form of the smutty exports should also be examined.

Hatred?
You are hyperbolic at best.


Alpine County is the eighth smallest of California's 58 counties. It has no high school, ATMs, dentists, banks, or traffic lights.



I find it hilarious that people will make the argument that it is our policies that are causing Islamic mutants to attack us, but then try to say that our cultural smut exports have nothing to do with it.


Reputed to be the most corrupt politician in Fresno County history, Vice-leader Joseph Spinney was mayor for only ten minutes


Even when the Islamic mutants have said that it is exactly that, that they find soooo offensive!!!!

California is the first state to ever reach a trillion dollar economy in gross state product.

I don't agree with them obviously, but if the libbies are going to try to tell us that we need to look at our policies towards these people, then our cultural policies, in the form of the smutty exports should also be examined.

The first person to personally receive a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood was actress Joanne Woodward. She received it in 1960

One of the loudest expressed concerns for Mutant islamics is that we export our smut.

How come that is never a policy that the libbies want to address?

One of the loudest expressed concerns for Mutant islamics is that we export our smut.

How come that is never a policy that the libbies want to address?

Ill address it ...

Who the hell cares what concerns "mutant islamics" ??

So-effing-WHAT if suicidal jihadists are offended by women wearing what they want to wear here

Are you trying to say the west should adopt insane fundie muslim dogma so we don't offend the mentally-deranged islamoterrorists ?

Those guys are nuts because they cannot get laid ... and that is not smart-ass rhetoric ... that is demonstrable truth

The only reason that America is the world's economic powerhouse is our capitalist economy. If other countries think America should have less say in the world's affairs, they are free to switch to capitalism and grow their own economies. China's already doing it.

Erm, it has nothing at all to do with your plentiful natural resources and cheap land of course ;)

hugs

lilnymph

The only problem I have with America, and Americans, is a touce of arrogence, In generally not having a great grasp of the rest of the world, but thinking they know everything, and a tendancy to try to re write history to make them look like they saved the day allthe time :)

hugs

lilnymph

The only problem I have with America, and Americans, is a touce of arrogence, In generally not having a great grasp of the rest of the world, but thinking they know everything, and a tendancy to try to re write history to make them look like they saved the day allthe time :)

hugs

lilnymph

Well, we kinda' have saved the day a few times, but not without help from people of other nationlities who were just as brave and heroic as any American. It could be argued that they were even more so, because of the greater disadvantage on their parts.

The main military advantage we have had historically are our vast resources and capicity to produce weapons on a massive scale. That's what ultimately won the WWII, and the cold war.

Churchill knew that when the US entered WWII, it was over for Hitler. Again, that doesn't take away from the incredible sacrifice that England and others suffered under the Nazis, but the fact that we were able to arm the allies made all of the difference. The Soviet T34 tanks were also a huge factor, among other things. They actually moved their entire factories to avoid german detection, and kept cranking out those vehicles as fast as they possibly could.

I'm just thankful that things worked out that way, because it could have turned out differently if just a few circumstances had been different.

Some Americans are arrogant about the whole subject, but no single country could have beaten Hitler's war machine, not even the US (before the bomb that is). Thankfully, we have an ocean between ourselves and Europe, and no long range bombers existed at the time which Hitler could have used to attack us, so we were very protected by distance.

Had Hitler been given enough time, that may have changed. Their flying wing, which was the precursor of our stealth bomber was designed specifically for that purpose, but was never deployed.

Sadly, many Americans don't know their own history, and I would say that this is what produces the arrogance. many think that we just showed up and beat the nazis all by ourselves, but there was far more to the story, and millions died along tha way.

Hehe this isn't he place for it, but while Britain possibly couldn't have defeated Germany without the US (a very debateable point, but there it is), there is no realistic way germany could have defeated Britain either (due to the Germans inabilty to invade Britain, and their inability to resupply overseas due to the Royal Navy's control of them). While Germany may have prevented Britain liberating Europe, Britian had germany contained there.

What people usually forget is that Britian of that time isn't the same as the UK now. It was the Worlds foremost superpower, It had the largest Navy, And controlled about 1/3 of the World. If She had used those Resources to the Full, She would have been pretty much unstopable. However to use them in that way she would have had to make some very big changes.

Hugs

lilnymph

Does California really create that much of the US's culture? It seems to me that we're in the middle of a domestic war between two cultures, and the one that California represents doesn't seem to be the one that most of the world (excepting a few radical Muslim prudes) has a problem with. It's the other culture, of loud but insincere religion and guns as the solution to everything, of "spewing smut" and "arrogant yankee" poo-flinging, that makes the rest of the world wary of us. That culture comes from Utah and Texas and Alabama, not California (or Massachusetts).

Ask yourself, seriously, if it came down to a civil war between the states that represent those two cultures, would the rest of the world be more likely to support California or Texas? I think the answer is pretty bleeding obvious.

Mr. immigrant, you could have saved yourself the typing and simply wrote that the world hates conservative Christians in the heartland becuase they shoot and eat animals, dislike queers, and actually have a moral fiber that doesn't tolerate the kind of entertainment decadence produced by the obviously superior cultures in Los Angeles. :rolleyes:

The only problem I have with America, and Americans, is a touce of arrogence, In generally not having a great grasp of the rest of the world, but thinking they know everything, and a tendancy to try to re write history to make them look like they saved the day allthe time :)

hugs

lilnymph


If the cold war is any example we did, but it's the post cold war vaccuum that really ticks you off. All the dirty tricks, propped up dictatorships that were employed by the U.S. government to keep commies from goosestepping across your front lawn. People would do well to remember that.

The top states visited by overseas travelers in 1999 were: California, Florida, New York, Hawaii, and Nevada. Nine states/territories hosted over 1 million visitors in 1999.

Favorite destinations for overseas travelers in 1999 were: New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, and San Francisco. Ten cities hosted over 1 million visitors in 1999. Top Activities of overseas travelers in 1999 were: Shopping

http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/analysis/keyfacts99.html

It looks like the world likes California a lot more than our other states.

Good news indeed. We don't want foreignors in the heartland anyway.

If the cold war is any example we did, but it's the post cold war vaccuum that really ticks you off. All the dirty tricks, propped up dictatorships that were employed by the U.S. government to keep commies from goosestepping across your front lawn. People would do well to remember that.

Indeed yes, I mean, Britian just stood cowering back during that whole period, thankfully the big America was there to protect us :rolleyes: I mean, the British Army wasn't on the front line of the cold war in germany, Britian didn't fight the only successfully conflict against a communist guerrilla force..........

See what I mean ;)

*EDIT* By using Britian in this post, I am not trying to say that only britain did anything in the cold war, or britian was responsible for saving the world, or that britian was more powerful than America during This period. Its just I have more knowledge of what britian was doing than any other country, and I was trying to show that other countries had a huge impact in this period, and if America had been alone they would most probably have lost the cold war.

Hugs

lilnymph

Indeed yes, I mean, Britian just stood cowering back during that whole period, thankfully the big America was there to protect us :rolleyes: I mean, the British Army wasn't on the front line of the cold war in germany, Britian didn't fight the only successfully conflict against a communist guerrilla force..........

See what I mean ;)

*EDIT* By using Britian in this post, I am not trying to say that only britain did anything in the cold war, or britian was responsible for saving the world, or that britian was more powerful than America during This period. Its just I have more knowledge of what britian was doing than any other country, and I was trying to show that other countries had a huge impact in this period, and if America had been alone they would most probably have lost the cold war.

Hugs

lilnymph

I tell you what, you dig up the numbers of dollars spent during the cold war add them up Britain vs.USA or the rest of the allies combined for that matter and let me know who shouldered most of the burden mmmkay.

Hugs

Andrew

LOL, you dig up the figures on the Napolionic wars, and lets see who shoulder the burden there. Or the figures for world war two, or World War 1 ;)

hugs

lilnymph

I find it hilarious that people will make the argument that it is our policies that are causing Islamic mutants to attack us, but then try to say that our cultural smut exports have nothing to do with it.

Even when the Islamic mutants have said that it is exactly that, that they find soooo offensive!!!!


Any evidence of this, or are you making things up again?