Who Hates the USA?

[Naci Sey]

This is always an interesting complaint: "Worse, let's not forget all those who don't vote at all and yet moan about the result." What do you suggest to people who do not approve of either candidates? What should they do on election day?

It is 100% guaranteed that one of those candidates will be elected. So I'd tell the non-voters to do their homework, suck it up, hold their noses, and vote for the least objectionable candidate - which is what a good number of voters end up doing.

[Charles Anthony]

Hmmm... I will try to be a little less subtle..... I want to understand the condemnation of people who do not vote....

After the non-voters "do their homework, suck it up, hold their noses, and vote for the least objectionable candidate" have they bought the right to "moan about the result"?

You call them non-voters. I call them people-whose-views-are-not-represented-by-the-pre-selected-candidates or people-who-will-not-sell-out-to-the-phoney-politicians. There other moral reasons not to vote but that would go off topic.

Keep in mind, that non-voters have won the majority of the past few federal elections in both Canada and the U.S.A. Our democracies are SEVERELY deficient.

[Riverwind]

You call them non-voters. I call them people-whose-views-are-not-represented-by-the-pre-selected-candidates or people-who-will-not-sell-out-to-the-phoney-politicians. There other moral reasons not to vote but that would go off topic.

People who fall into that category should show up to vote and spoil their ballot. A large number of spoiled ballots won't change the result but they would send a message that a lot of people are not happy with the choices. Refusing to vote at all just sends a message that there are a lot of lazy deadbeats who takes their freedoms for granted. There are absolutely no moral reasons for refusing to at least be counted by spoiling a ballot.

[newbie]

Now that we all agree I think we should send the Canadia Army into the US and help them develop a democratic state. It won't be easy at first...and we will have to teach them to spell properly let alone pronounce words properly. Trying to teach an American to say car instead of CAH won't be easy. They also have this thing about guns. Could be so many of their citizens feel insecure about the size of their pee pees.

They also are a tad confused. They consider John Wayne an icon. Bug tuff guy but he walked around like someone was a bit too friendly with him while his back was turned. Likewise, George Bush tries to sound all tough, i.e., "bring it on!" when he talks about the iraqi insurgents but we know he got that line watching a chearleader movie with his daughter. Very confusing country to say the least. Then again this is a country that loved having someone with Alzheimer's Disease run the country. They love politicians who use words like God Bless America. They act all suprised when non Americans do not agree with their views as to the world. Its not that hard to disagree. Most Americans have little awareness of what happens outside their city or town or American Idol, nor do they care. So all this talk is just fine but the bottom line is Canadians don't hate Americans anymore then Americans hate Canadians. There are just as many disagreements between Americans over the same issues we Canadians disagree with Americans over.

As for the hockey game and idiot fans booing the American junior team, the point? How many times have Americans booed the Canadian anthem? Each country has its share of idiots. Many Canadians used to boo when the anthem was sung in French. Ignorance does not mean you hate Americans,

Here is what I say to Americans who come to Canada-Get over it. Spend your money here and of course we will love you. Duh.

You know, if you changed that rant to something against, say, Mexicans or Frenchmen or Nigerians everyone would call you a racist and bigot. And rightly so.

You know, if you got that pole out of your kiester you might just realize Rue's "rant" was a light hearted satirical view of America. And largely true I might add.

[gc1765]

I think many people (myself included) don't hate American people, they just hate the american government (specifically bush...and the people who voted for him).

[Johnny Utah]

I think many people (myself included) don't hate American people, they just hate the american government (specifically bush...and the people who voted for him).

There are many people who just hate the United States, Bush being President gives them their excuse. When Bush is no longer President they will be looking for other reasons to hate the United States..

[PocketRocket]

Well, I will weigh in on THIS particular matter.

I strongly dislike GWB.

I think his campaign wins are the greatest victories for public relations since the Romans sold the Christians on the idea that meeting the lions would be a good thing.

The United States of America?

A great country, no doubt.

I have no problem whatsoever with the country.

I have no problem whatsoever with ANY country.

However, a country is not good or bad.

It's the government of any given country that can cause problems.

[SirSpanky]

Probably been said before, but by and large most Americans have the same values as us, especially in some of the northern states. I find how America represents itself to the world to be offensive sometimes, but that is government. Our government has it's problems too. We are in no position to tell them to "fix" their system, with all of our problems.

I wonder sometimes how Canada would behave if we were the size, and had the economic weight that the US does. I doubt it would be to different.

[uOttawaMan]

That's odd, I could have sworn Diefenbaker played the anti-american card in 1963 big time.

Anti-americanism is not new.

[Pliny]

That's odd, I could have sworn Diefenbaker played the anti-american card in 1963 big time.

Anti-americanism is not new.

We could go further and say human emotion is not new. There are always those that like to see the big guy get taken down a peg.

Unfortunately, the American government is doing more to fuel the anti-american rhetoric than win friends.

I can understand how Rue thinks America is a confusing country - a little too diverse for his liking.

Americans lack standards and sameness. Just a little "light-hearted satire" but mostly true.

[Liam]

I think many people (myself included) don't hate American people, they just hate the american government (specifically bush...and the people who voted for him).

As my earlier posts have suggested and as an avid reader of non-US news media, I am fascinated by the views others in the world have of us here in the US. It shocks me when people around the world treat American citizens with a greater degree of rudeness or even scorn just because of the actions of the US federal government. I can understand that as an representational democracy the citizens of this country are ultimately responsible for the government it gets, but Americans are from being a monolithic group and a minority of citizens elected Bush (51% of the 60-some % of eligible voters... roughly 30-33% of eligible voters cast ballots for Bush in 2004).

It would never even dawn on me to be disrespectful of a Russian visitor to the US because I thought Putin was a terrible leader who sells out the West by sometimes protecting and enabling Iran's nuclear program, or a French tourist because Chirac is duplicitous and borderline criminal, or Canadians because of Harper's militaristic threats against Americans. (Just checking to see that you're still awake. ) As it is, I can only say that I love France. I don't attribute the actions of the French leader to the French people -- that's simply irrational. Yet there are an ample number of people the world over who think it is okay to be (sometimes) openly hostile towards Americans because of Bush.

Foreigners who criticize Americans for choosing to be so isolated do have a point and I think it is vital that Americans develop a greater understanding of the world out there. However, if when planning a trip to Paris, friends tell you of the awful experiences they had with the locals or when in Berlin, a coworker got berated for US foreign policy, you might think to yourself, "who needs this? Let's just go to the Grand Canyon this year instead."

I think Americans need to open up more and to be better diplomats when out in the world, but as long as there is a sense that overt anti-Americanism is around the corner, I don't expect the latter to happen anytime soon.

[Darth Buddha]

As an American, I am a real fan of my neighbors to the north. If the Republicans retain control of the government in 2009, I will undoubtedly be looking to emigrate there, as I am not fool enough to stay here if the country continues to pursue the path to totalitarian fascism.

I would like to reiterate a key fact to any Canadian reading this: Bush didn't have popular support (as in winning the popular vote) in 2000 and even in 2004 the number of people NOT support Bush and the neocons was only a few percentage points behind in the General Election. I'm fairly sure those who didn't support Bush DON'T have any issues with Canada. The problem is that with the government currently dominated by neocons in all three branches of government that the nearly half of Americans who don't see things as neocons do have far less impressive bully pulpits to preach from.

So just remember, almost half of Americans aren't neocons, and of those I'm sure the bulk DO NOT buy into the Canada bashing of the far right majority leaders, the president, and the nutbag talk radio shows that so many neocons substitute for individual reasoned thought.

We're probably more annoyed with their smear attacks on allies than the average Canadian is.

[Chakote]

This is always an interesting complaint:

"Worse, let's not forget all those who don't vote at all and yet moan about the result."

What do you suggest to people who do not approve of either candidates?

What should they do on election day?

Unless the specified induhvidual is a complete idiot who is devoid of democratic responsibility (in which case they shouldn't even be living in this country; or the US), they should be able to choose which candidate they think will do less damage to the country. Kerry was a complete buffoonish idiot but I would have gladly cast my ballot for him to keep the madman Bush out of office.

[no1important]

I don't hate the people in the USA just their government. Actually I hate most governments of the world.

[Topaz]

I think most Canadians don't HATE America, I think they dislike George Bush more and his govt by going and invading another country for their owns reasons and putting the world in a mess today! After Nam, people craved peace in the world and although there's been bombing against the US ( I wonder why), the world have been a peace mostly. Now, Bush went and invaded a hornets nest and now will peace ever return to this world. What gets me more, is this guy could have gone to Nam himself to defend his country but did he NO! So now he's president and sends other were HE wouldn't go!! I hope American can get it's respect back and I can't wait until his redneck is gone back to Crawford!

[killjoy]

I don't hate the USA. I just wish I could turn their volume down. They're noisy neighbours.

As an American, I am a real fan of my neighbors to the north. If the Republicans retain control of the government in 2009, I will undoubtedly be looking to emigrate there, as I am not fool enough to stay here if the country continues to pursue the path to totalitarian fascism.

1/3 of your cheque taken off every time. 7-15% on every purchase. Then the end of the year, if you've finally got that promotion and another $10-20k anl., you can start to calculate what you really owe.

Just a neighbourly warning. Canada; It's beautiful. It's expensive.

.

[jbg]

I think the main objective is to identify WHEN this anti-U.S. originally first started and gradually became more progressive.

I suspect hard core anti-U.S. sentiments in Canada is actually quite low and is often confused by the media with some Canadians disliking U.S. foreign policy as opposed to hate and animosity being associated with anti-Americanism.

I suspect that the sentiment started as early as 1774, when many Loyalists began to flee to what's now Canada, then apparently just non-rebelling provinces, from New England. There were many who had literally zed interest in seeing what would happen in a brand new country, a republic. Worse, it wasn not even known if it was going to be one country, or 13, or many more countries. So anti-Americanism is an essential element of the pieces that made up Canada. As the years have gone by the excuses have changed. First it was our aggression, later Viet Nam, now Iraq.

I know for a fact there was never any outright anti-Americanism in this country until the Liberals started heavy immigration from Islamic countries followed by vocal oppositon mainly from Quebec.

In April 1973, when I was 16, I spent a weekend at the home of a nice North York family, on a band exchange program. I was told then, when I asked if Canadians regarded their relations with the US as brotherly or close, they said "not really". I received similar feedback at a Yonge Street bookstore.

[jbg]

The really blatent anti-Americanism started when the US invaded Iraq - I noticed a disturbing change in the public discourse around that time. The same thing happened in almost every democratic country in the world which suggests the change was not caused by something unique to Canada.

This is exactly the change I noticed around the time the Iraq war started. I agree that being hostile towards an entire country because of the actions of a near lunatic chief executive is not called for. However, Americans should ask themselves, if their foriegn policy can provoke such a reaction in a culturally similar country like Canada then it is should not be surpising how people react in the Islamic world.

First of all, Bush is not "near-lunatic". It is of vital importance to fight radical Islamism (really the successor to cold-War communism) on their turf rather than ours. While concededly Saddam was not involved in the 911 attacks, and may not have gotten that far along the nuclear road, there is no question that both the geographic centrality of the country and the presence of a largely educated population made it a prime candidate for regime change.

Eventually the methods of the colonial era must inevitably be restored; local control on local matters, with a liberal smattering of Western bases. That part of the world is too important and too dangerous to allow it to be so badly misgoverned.

[windyman]

After 12 years of liberal rule, who wouldn't hate my Conservative country in Canada?

[Justin]

I dont hate the US either, but i just wish the would stop saying all this bad stuff about us

:angry: :angry: :angry:

[jbg]

I dont hate the US either, but i just wish the would stop saying all this bad stuff about us

:angry: :angry: :angry:

Well I don't.

[US Citizen]

As far as 2004 goes, you have to remember that over 55,000,000 Americans told Bush they wanted him gone. That's twice as many people as live in all of Canada. 55 million people essentially gave him the finger, and yet through some form of lazy thinking out there in the world, we're all accused of being Bush-disciples.

I caution you not to engage in the kind of generalization you talk about elsewhere in your post.

Re the 2004 election, anyone whose head wasn't in the sand knew there was a risk that GWB would be voted in for a second term. Yes, 55 million USians voted for other than GWB. But what else did those 55 million people do, other than not vote for him? Political activity can involve more than just voting. If citizens see a risk in so-and-so being elected, then they should do more than simply fill out a ballot on election day.

My argument goes equally to the people on this side of the border. We now have a minority Conservative government, put into Ottawa with 36% of the popular vote. What did the remaining 64% of voters do beyond presenting themselves on election day? I'm one of those voters and ask myself: Did I talk enough to acquaintances about the issues? Did I write enough to the various politicians and candidates? Did I send enough letters to the editor? I can't help but think that if I and the other 64% of voters had done more, we would have had a different outcome, one that in fact reflects the majority.

This is my first post on this forum. I signed up for this forum because I wanted to get a feel for how my northern neighbors felt about the way things are shaping up for the North American Union. I chose a user name just off the top of my head. I hope it won't give anybody a prejudice against me from the get go...

I wanted to address this post because I agree with it. I have written, called, faxed every elected official I can get to on the issue of illegal immigration. I have tried to plant seeds of thought with just about everybody I come into contact with. The results of all this effort by myself and MANY, MANY others are still out. Even after our upcoming election, we shall wait and see.

From what I have been reading here, I hope you won't label me as a "bigot, racist" or whatever. It has NOTHING to do with racism, but EVERYTHING to do with the sell out of our country by our government to corporate globalization. They are coming after you, too. I just wanted to get a different perspective.

Please be kind. Thanks for having me!

[US Citizen]

And this is a country where the American Idol gets more votes than the President.

I didn't vote for Bush, but you better believe I POWER VOTED for Taylor Hicks!!! I will be seeing all the Idols in concert later this summer...and I am 53...keeps me young, I guess.

Soul Patrol....whoooo hooo

sorry...back to topic!

[jdobbin]

Please be kind. Thanks for having me!

Welcome to the forum.

[yam]

I dont think Canadians hate the US . . . yet.

However many Europeans do. Albeit those in favour of free market, corporations and those in favour of US invasion with its coerced democracy. Thus we are speaking of over half the US population. US invasion is what is found apalling since many do read world history and can identify the many lying excuses he US uses to cover its ass. It insists upon re-writing history especially since the gulf war to justify rolling in the tanks all over the mid east. However, the worst offender has been the US accusing whole nations of harbouring terrorists withoue any proof. Look at iraq - An incredible embarrasment to many first world countries let alone the weight of the horror.

Gore would have been a far better choice. Though of course he would have been pressured by the large internal Jewish lobby group, right wing think tanks and more to compromise his stand point. I dont know if he could have stood the pressure - then. The majority of the US citizens are at least honest enough to vote for a lieing cowaboy hick to lead in the hijaking of the world!!! No gushy liberal, heart rendering speaches for them!!

Still, i do feel sorry for those that happen to be lumbered in America's blood bath of a melting pot serving its authoritarian democracy.