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Comment by CalChris | Hacker News Reader

You said US Government. Both America and the US Government are actually held in some regard around the world.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-image/

I'm travelling in Asia and have just been in Europe and something very different is happening lately. When I meet Americans, young and old, the majority of them tell me they're ashamed or embarrassed of being American, some of them tell me they usually tell people they are from Canada!

I don't hear people from anywhere else doing that to be honest.

It's really weird because even people with dictators will say they are proud of their country even if they hate the dictator or the poor conditions of their country.

You don't get many Haitians saying "I'm ashamed of my country" or Russians saying "I'm ashamed to be Russian" It's predominantly a section of Americans who feel that way. I've met Mexicans who have become citizens of the US who still consider themselves "Mexican" in every way --except that they live outside Mexico, while they decry the corruption and lack of opportunity back home --but never ashamed.

Maybe it's because the US used to have such a stellar reputation. It used to be the leader of the free world, was founded on important liberal principles that have inspired the world. Around international conflicts, the US used to insist on lofty principles that they now trample at every opportunity. The world got used to holding the US to a higher standard than Russia or some petty dictatorship.

The US itself definitely helped to paint this image of being better and more noble than other countries, even other freedom-loving western countries. And now they're falling so far short of that ideal, that it is really embarrassing to everybody who can see what's been happening.

I'm not even American, and I'm ashamed of the US.

I guess... but there also aren't many Spaniards, or French, or Belgians (citizens of countries presently with democracies but with colorful pasts) who are ashamed embarrassed of their countries. They might be opposed to some policies and disagree with some of their past history but seldom are ashamed. Imagine a Chinese person or Japanese person saying they are "shamed". It's a very hard thing to come by.

Some people are ashamed of some things their countries have done. But none of them were ever the champion of freedom the way the US used to be, and few slid down as hard as the US did while still claiming moral superiority.

Though I can imagine Belgians having been pretty ashamed in 1908.

In 2015 almost half of Germans disliked the US, you do that poll again after we have received millions of Arabs and I can guarantee you that 75% of Germans dislike (or hate) you now.

Saying anything pro US today will make you a social outcast.

In ten years from now the EU will be run by the far right and you guys wont even be able to visit us out of fear from being attacked by random people on the streets. That's how popular the US foreign policy is.

It will be like visiting the Middle East, only that we have nuclear weapons.

It turns out Pew found the opposite in their 2016 poll of global opinion of the United States. Favorability of the U.S. increased from 50% favorable to 57% in Germany from 2015 - 2016, while unfavorable views declined from 42% to 38%.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/06/28/americas-international-i...

Great, then everything must be fine! Continue arming Jihadists and keep creating a mess in the Middle East so we receive more of these fine people! It will only fasten the process I described before.

I hereby nominate "Europe blaming the US for the state of the Middle East" as the new "pot calling the kettle black".

At least they have the "they tried to conquer us first" excuse.

Maybe you should inform yourself better. Germany refused to help their so called "ally" 2003 in the Iraq war, Germany refused to help their "ally" in the Libyan war, Germany refused to support any side during the Syrian civil war. Germany is the main reason that sanctions against Russia during the Ukraine conflict were weakened to the point of irrelevance (the US actually wanted a full blockade - LOL) as the government understands that it's really the US that caused this conflict.

The only US war that Germany viewed as legitimate and thus supported was the Afghanistan war of 2001.

It was more a reference to the whole "History of the Middle East, 1870-1960" thing, wherein Europe got its empire building thing on, redrew national boundaries, set up new governments, and generally made a hash of things before deciding it wasn't fun anymore and abruptly exiting the region, leading to the power vacuum the US stepped into in the 1950s.

Which doesn't change the fact that the US had no business invading Iraq in 2003 and probably should have stayed out of Afghanistan as well, but pretending Europe -- Germany near the top of the list -- had no role in creating the situation there is silly.

I really don't care about stuff that happened so long ago as it most people that are fighting in todays conflicts weren't even born back then and refugees coming to Europe don't do this because of something that happened prior to 1960.

That's like some Arabs retarded claim that every evil and barbaric thing they do today is justified because of the Crusades! (even though in reality the Crusades were a defensive move against the Arab invasions and thus absolutely justified but that's a different topic)

I think we'll find the current US election won't help the opinion polls for 2016-2017 :)

Also, I'm not really up on this kind of thing, but 57% seems pretty low for the land of the free?

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