America has always been hated.

http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Our_Culture/americans.htm

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America has always been hated.

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I first encountered American self-pity here on this site, especially on the chatboards. It really is unworthy of a great nation.

Incidentally, I often wonder whether those who moan like this have any idea of what the difference between unpopularity and hatred.

Moreover, I've changed the title of this thread from 'Gordon Sinclair was right in 1974' to something that actually describes the content of the thread and that doesn't hide behind some obscure personage.

I would sincerely hope that generosity as an American virtue is not extended to garner future favors, but just because we Americans care about people, and are able to help. And that perhaps no one springs to our aid quite the same way we spring to theirs because the amount of aid we pour out of this country surely implies that we have money with which to care for our own. Not only that, but even poor Americans are far more wealthy than most people in most of the world. If a tornado destroyed my house tomorrow, and with the insurance money I got I would still have to give up one bedroom and cable TV, how could I, in good conscience, expect one of those in Indonesia whom I helped with my charity to do likewise for me. Oh, poor American, the loss of her house provides her with the money to replace it, and much of the contents within it, and she isn't in danger of dying of starvation while waiting for that replacement, or dysentery, and whatever wounds she received there's a doctor right down the street ready and willing to give her the absolute best medical care available in the world. Yes, poor Americans, who get no help from the poverty-ridden countries they aid. (And even that isn't true. Perhaps Indonesia didn't step up and donate money to the Katrina fund... but all those countries America has helped over the years have sent their sons and daughters to the United States to live and work, and to be Americans. They help make our country great, and that is enough thanks as far as THIS American is concerned.)

Just wanted to point out that Sinclair was a fairly famous (at the time) Canadian broadcaster and journalist.

The article is pure rubbish. America has invested in many countries and done very well out of it - and there's nothing at all wrong with that either. Equally, many countries and foreign companies have massive investments in the USA.
Also many countries have assisted the USA with technical, military and financial aid, and the U.S. government and most U.S. corporations borrow heavily on overseas markets at preferential rates.
After 9/11 virtually the whole world expressed sympathy and solidity with America, and the nation could have and benefitted for years from this tide of support and friendship. Sadly though, such support has been destroyed almost totally by the war in Iraq, and Bush does the nation no favours by continuing to link the 9/11 atrocity with Iraq.

I think it's rubbish too. When I grew up in Westgermany the US were greatly admired, in spite of some of the soldiers acting as if they were in an occupied country. Oh, wait, they WERE in an occupied country. Nevertheless, I've rarely encountered anything but goodwill towards the US.

The first thing that started to erode this goodwill was the Vietnam War. In those days people could still remember the horror of WW II, what it meant to have your country bombed to smithereens, to hide out in bomb shelters, to have your fields burned and your roads destroyed, to watch your children starve to death. And they couldn't understand what the US were doing in a small country halfway around the world, which could not possibly pose a threat to them. Things went downhill from there, but to say "America has always been hated" is utter nonsense.

Agreed. The article by Sinclair is utter rubbish.

I read Sinclair's article in full, and have read all of the postings. To those of you that disagreed with the article, I would ask you to rebut what you disagreed with. Check out the history books.

Had the U.S. not gotten involved in WWI, the Central Powers, aka Triple Alliance, would have won control of Europe and there may not have been a WWII. However, there was a WWII. In WWII, if the USA hadn't gotten involved, most of Europe, including the UK, would be speaking German today and the majority of Asia would be speaking Japanese. Although the U.S. had the largest number of troops in Korea, it was a United Nations "Police Action", not a U.S. operation.

Vietnam is another story and doesn't fall into the same category of the aforementioned.

I really take issue with the statement that the U.S. has always been hated. The sad part of this statement is the lack of knowledge of history. I have grown up through WWII, the Korean "War", Vietnam War, Iraq War, and all of the many battles fought in between.

There has always been a condemnation of the U.S. if they DID get involved, or if they DIDN'T get involved. E.G. the war in Bosnia/Serbia/Croatia. This was all happening at the backdoor of Western Europe, yet none of the European powers such as Germany, France or the U.K. did anything about the genocide that was being carried out by tyrants such as Slobodon Milosovic. It wasn't brought under control until the U.S. got involved. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

If the U.S. is so hated, why do people die every day trying to get into the USA? A shipload of Chinese that were packed in like sardines had paid their life savings to get to the U.S. were picked up by the Coast Guard when the ship broke down. People from Central America and Mexico risk their lives to get to America. Cubans have a history of attempting the short 50-mile voyage in unseaworthy boats to get to the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide enter the "Green Card" lottery to get permanent residence in the country that they hate. And, I'm sure there would be hundreds of thousands more if there were broader knowledge that the lottery existed. Go to a refugee camp in Darfur and ask how many people would want to go to the U.S.A. if they could.

Hatred can be bred by poverty, unemployment, and vitriolic [anti-USA] speakers. Look at Saudi Arabia, one of the oil rich countries in the Middle East with an unemployent rate between 20-30%. Poverty is high. The royal family gets richer and the poor get poorer, and the middle class is shrinking. The 9/11 hijackers all had connections to Saudi. The Saudi brand of Wahabbi Islam demands the eventual collapse of the West and its replacement with an Islamic theocracy – a goal shared by all Islamic terrorists.

RE America's involvement in the two World Wars I suggest that its late arrival in WWI merely hastened the end of the war, German was already bleeding to death. In WWII Germany was defeated by the Russian armed forces not the western forces. America's involvement may well have prevented a Soviet domination of Europe, we'll never know.

RE Saudi Arabia's production of US hating terrorists, keep in mind that it is widely believed that US money and weapons are what keeps the Saudi royal family in power. One only has to look back at Iran under the Shah to see what kind of hatred supporting a dictatorship can create.
America isn't hated. It is the predominant world power, culturally and economically, angry people all over the world will lash out at America for those very reasons. I sometimes wonder if the Roman Empire had similar problems. I doubt any world power ever will have been loved completely.
And while we are reviewing history lets not forget that if France hadn't helped American rebels the colonies may still be under British control. And what thanks the french get. Renaming fries!