'Americans are Cruel, Vulgar and Racially Divided' Feel Britons

[The Straight Story]

London, Jul 4: Britons see America as a cruel, vulgar, arrogant society, racially divided, crime-ridden, obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president, according to a newspaper poll published on Monday.

As Americans prepare to celebrate the 230th anniversary of their independence on Tuesday, the Briton's opinion about them has touched an all time low.

Only 12 per cent of Britons trust Americans to act wisely on the global stage, The Daily Telegraph poll revealed. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.

A massive 83 per cent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks.

US President George W Bush fared significantly worse, with just one per cent rating him a "great leader" against 77 per cent who deemed him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.

More than two-thirds who offered an opinion said Americans are essentially an imperial power seeking world domination. And 81 per cent of those who took a view said Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=23659&n_tit='Americans+are+Cruel%2C+Vulgar+and+Racially+Divided'+Feel+Britons+

[RB TexLa]

1. I thought that was how everyone views us

:shrug:

[pooja]

2. vulgar, cruel, arrogant...hmmm I think that can describe a # of britons

[The Straight Story]

3. Would have to agree with that one :)

The same might be said of a few other countries across the pond as well.

I guess we are the country people love to hate.

[Erika]

4. That says it all.

America under W is corporatism. Maximum profits to the rich while abandoning the working class. We are the only industrialized nation which doesn't guarantee health care to all. Only the affluent here can afford health care.

The world sees this. But we have some idiot president saying all should have health care. We are paying for Iraqi universal health care. W calls our own who don't have health care as rejects and it's their own fault, just let them and theirs die. They are only Americans, after all.

[The Straight Story]

5. I agree with the health care issue, but have a question on it

Since we are broken into states and counties are there any (d or r controlled) that have fixed this issue?

I would like to see one state find a fix and be a model for all others. We have some heavy D states, and I hope to hell they push this there and show how it can be done so that other states and feds get off their asses and make it happen.

[Erika]

16. We have a GOP controlled Congress, Court, & Presidency

Don't you think they have some responsibility for our health care? They are taking our money.

[ContraBass Black]

6. How is this different from how Americans see America?

[Andromeda]

7. A lot of Brits are snotty, supercilious and crude too.

The U.S. doesn't have the monopoly on rude. The British have been peevish ever since the Revolution. They couldn't hang on to all their colonies because they overreached a bit.

They really shouldn't throw us all into the same pot, you know. Americans take better care of their teeth and the food in the U.S. tastes much better.

Kidney pie, yuck!

[Erika]

8. But they have universal health care

like every industrialized nation in the U.S. They also offer dental care, we don't.

[Erika]

9. Delete Dupe

like every industrialized nation in the U.S. They also offer dental care, we don't.

[Andromeda]

19. Then why don't they have better teeth?

[PATRICK]

10. By design or other

a lot of the foreign chat rooms have ugly freepers constantly taunting and preaching to other nations. I can think of no other prupose than these jeering isolationists want to bereak off the healthy dialogue with people outside our borders- or throw our dimnance game against them in their face.

Then decent Americans take them on and the native chatters just want the Americans to go away, and then start throwing all the ideologues into the same basket.

Our blighted media gives representation of us just as bad a face with protest documentaries fanning the flames and proving many of the points. Our infantile TV shows may be popular but likewise degfrade our image thanks to the common denominator genre solely(as with the news) for the purpose of advertising products and lifestyles.

Everyone identifes the "world's greatest democracy" with its leadership. It may not be right but it certainly is fair and easy.

We are behind the Media Curtain and no one even knows the plight of the people so duped they never protest, or if they protest are never heard, or if heard are considered the exception that proves the rule. So the lie works both sides of the oceans.

[Erika]

11. We are the only industrialized country to not have health care

The Japanese carmakers say they profit over American firms because they do not have to pay for employee costs for pensions and health coverage. Their government pays for this.

Republicans, wake up!!!

[U4ikLefty]

12. .....and??? n /t

[Greeby]

13. Anyone mind if a Briton chimes in?

Maybe the problem comes when we see the following:

The continued use of the death penalty (illegal in our country for 45 years now)

Ten of millions of people without healthcare

Spending half of a trillion dollar budget on weapons (I know we have an incredibly militaristic prime minister right now, but even he would never get away with that kind of military budget)

Religious fundamentalists in control of government and allowed to be part of the mainstream, instead of being marginalized

Policy which keeps so much of the rest of the world in grinding poverty. And murdering and overthrowing anyone who comes along who might stand up for his nation's poor. Hell, that goes double for the POTUS.

The wars (yeah, I know, our military has always been there too. But seriously, Falklands aside, can you think of a war since WWII that was actually our idea?)

And the biggest reason to hate America? Allowing the continued existence of the Republican Party, let alone allowing them to be in power.

Oh, and the teeth thing was below the belt, I'm sure I could find worse examples in the Deep South. That is, if my big mouth didn't get me lynched

[blonndee]

14. You are totally right

I would address everything else but it's nearly 4 in the a.m. and I'm tired, so let me just apologize for the absolutely stupid "teeth" thing. I live in Oklahoma, USA, which is known for a "teeth" problem, and it's just a stupid way that people make themselves feel better about themselves.

As far as your other points go...like I said, I wish I could address them individually but as I always like to say, England has been around a HELL of a lot longer than we have. They probably can give us some good advice as to how to make it and stick around for a while.

[Erika]

15. Thank you so much

All America has to do is to look at its growing minority to see that dental health is non-existent except for the upper class in America. The Katrina victims showed it as mouth after mouth shown was in dental decay.

That is America today.

[Duncan Grant]

17. Please ignore the defensiveness of some Americans.

Apparently, the truth hurts. :hi:

[Swamp Rat]

23. "I'm sure I could find worse examples in the Deep South."

Do you mean Sussex or Wessex? :D

[Duncan Grant]

18. This should bring our freeper moles out of the woodwork.

:popcorn:

[Andromeda]

20. This is to all of you who hated the "teeth"

comment in my posts. It was a joke, probably not a very funny one, but a joke nonetheless. It was my attempt at irony. I'm sure most Brits have lovely teeth and may even hate kidney pie so please forgive my offensive remarks.

What I don't understand is why Brits feel free to make fun of Americans and condemn ALL of us because of the actions of our government. I didn't vote for the asshole and I hate to be blamed for what he does. We do have our share of cretins in the U.S. but the Brits have Margaret Thatcher, so there.

I do enjoy the British wit and they can be sharp-tongued too but I usually take it with a grain of salt. Naturally I underestimated the degree of reaction to the "teeth" comment but I should have realized it might be a touchy thing considering that others and I, myself, don't have dental insurance.

I'm also getting sick and tired of Americans who downgrade their own country. The U.S. is not perfect and there are a lot of things that need fixing but I'm getting tired of the constant criticism from fellow Americans and others who seem to think it's okay to bad-mouth the U.S. and blame the U.S. for all the ills and woes in the world. We've done some bad things but we're not alone and there's enough blame to go around.

We are racially divided, unfortunately, but many of us are working on that and trying to make things better. Every country has its racial problems and in some parts of the world it's much, much worse than it is here.

I DO care what the rest of the world thinks about us and I believe when we have a Democratic administration things will smooth out and we'll be better received in foreign lands.

That little Texas turd is really giving us a bad name. Look at the polls---Bush is not popular; he is an embarrassment to most of us in the U.S.

[lynne]

21. No need to apologize. Quite honestly -

- I was thinking the very same thing with regard to your teeth comment! I was thinking that they might not be the best advertisement for a national dental program if their teeth is any example of its success. Your attempt at irony was dead on as it IS ironic - even if its not Politically Correct!

No, the US isn't perfect and never has been and probably never will be. No country is, for that matter. As far as the Brits are concerned, we've been fighting for and against them for about 300 years. It's a "Love - Hate" relationship and I think that there will always be some animosity towards us. Don't forget, we're the "uppity-colonists" that broke away from the mother-land and some of them are still stinging from that all these years later!

[magellan]

22. Well, this is quite a shift from a decade ago

When I moved to the UK in the early 90s, that sneering supercilious attitude was what I expected from Brits towards me. Guess what? It was hogwash, mostly conjured up by American films and tv shows and history lessons. With few exceptions, every Brit I met and got to know was incredibly kind and good-hearted, and very interested to hear about where I was from. Yes, my friends would wind me up sometimes, especially during the 4th of July parties we threw (my husband still likes to tell me the Brits didn't lose the war, they made a strategic retreat to let us develop the land so they could return later and buy it up from us!!), but they were never cruel and never did anyone assign blame for US politics to me. They were very saddened by 9-11 as everyone knows. I have some great friends back there still, and of course my husband is British. There aren't nicer people on the face of the planet than the Brits.

If their view of Americans has changed, it's a very sad thing indeed. And just one more thing we have to thank Bush** for.