Comment by nopromisessir | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nopromisessir | Hacker News Reader

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I'd be interested to see evidence supporting your assertion of 'universally shared image'.

The image of the United States is perceived not nearly so negative in the counties which I visited: Jordan, China, Vietnam.

I'll add a fourth country, which I haven't visited. The image of the United States in Israel, while complex, includes a great deal of admiration. As a country with security always top of mind, overall Israel broadly admires the United States' extensive defense capability and power. I doubt most Israelis would describe the US as 'loudmouth'.

Similar nuances could be laid out for the countries I listed above.

Many world citizens can parse media of a random football fan screaming 'USA!' from the state department's lengthy policy positions. The perceived image you describe resembles most closely to me a self reflection found often within the US.

Nonetheless, I do think our culture could stand to posture in a more reserved fashion broadly, while not being afraid to mention where appropriate...

We remain a positive world standout in a variety ways.

> Many world citizens can parse media of a random football fan screaming 'USA!' from the state department's lengthy policy positions.

Most recently, I believe, the main contributor to that image was the former president of the US, not some American at the FIFA World Cup. Trump providing nonstop material for satire and comedy shows didn't help either.

In general the international image of the US seems to be better under democrat presidents.

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/06/10/americas-image...

That article broadly matches with my personal observations as a European.

> I can say with high confidence that the image of the United States is perceived not nearly so negative in the following counties which I personally visited: Jordan, China, Vietnam.

Eh. I can't speak to Jordan or Vietnam, but in China opinions on the US are usually a toss up. US (cultural) exports are warring with opinionated news that doesn't portray the US any better than US news portrays China.

> As a country with security always top of mind, overall Israel broadly admires the United States' extensive defense capability and power. I doubt most Israelis would describe the US as 'loudmouth'.

You're right that overall Israelis have an extremely favorable opinion of the US (ignoring their Arab population of course), however I have to point out these opinions aren't mutually exclusive.

The only surprising thing about Israel is that Trump apparently was more liked there than Biden is. They still seem to think Trump is more arrogant though.

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/07/11/israeli-views-...

I definitely agree that the president has a huge affect on US image on the world stage. The critism of the analogy I laid out is fair. Trump arguably regularly carried himself in a way that aligns with the narrative we're discussing.

Props for citing evidence via Pew. Just FYI, that Israel poll arguably became obsolete in the weeks following the 10/7 terrorist attack. Not sure where things currently stand.

I do wish there was a bit more nuance. The discussion of favorability is complex. I was speaking specifically to the comment regarding the US being perceived as a 'loudmouth how great they are compared to the rest of the world'.

As far as Europe broadly is conencerned... I would probably agree that public perception does include a component resembling the aforementioned perception. I'd speculate that this probably has a fair bit to do with many European nations exceeding the US in various metrics surrounding healthcare, happiness, safety, income distribution ect. Those critism are fair ofc.

I suppose the distilled point of my comment was that there is a lot of nuance to US image from nation to nation. Myself, I didn't realize just how respected the US is amongst so many nations. Even arguably adverserial nations often respect a great number of things about the US. I find it regrettable that the US domestic population often has very unfavorable views of their own nation, without giving adequate and nuanced consideration to our many accomplishments. Often less developed nations focus more on some of the bigger picture factors which are worthy of full consideration.

> I'll add a fourth country, which I haven't visited. The image of the United States in Israel, while complex, includes a great deal of admiration. As a country with security always top of mind, overall Israel broadly admires the United States' extensive defense capability and power. I doubt most Israelis would describe the US as 'loudmouth'.

I'm from Amsterdam and most people there adore the US as well. Our culture is heavily influenced by it as most people on the street now speak a curious mixture of Dutch and American English. The country became strongly neoliberal as a result too (which hurt me as a socialist personally) and even got caught up in the Trumpist outcry over things perceived as "woke". 24% voted for Wilders who is basically a mixture of Trump-style populism and fascism in the last election. The country is really messed up now.

But, the police is not militarised as it is in the US and I'm really glad for that. Even though gangs do have a lot of guns. They're not easy to come by in Holland but we have an unmonitored border with Belgium where they are freely available in criminal circles. We still have some 'common sense' in police approach, at least for now.

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