by Cody Hodge

Created on: February 21, 2009

It is quite clear that there is a lot of anti-American sentiment in the world today. I can't say that we aren't completely innocent of all the charges that have brought against us, but why exactly is there so much hatred of us in the world? For every bad thing that any country has accused us of doing, we have problem helped out two countries in return. Sure we could be spreading a more consistent brand of democracy around the world, but haven't we done a good job of at least trying to help the rest of the world? Can't we all just get along?

Sometimes when you hear of people hating us, you have to consider your sources. Is it really a shock when you see Iranians, or someone in the Gaza Strip setting an American flag on fire? What are they really mad about? They are mad that they see Isreal as a successful nation, and they see America as its backer, which is another successful nation. While they are struggling to build an economy, they see us as helping to hold them down.

They might have a couple of points, but how much do you listen to people who use terror as a first resort to try and fight battles? Its like trying to talk to the kid in preschool who can only throw blocks at you, or bite you in response to a problem. You can only go so far and then you just have to respond in kind to people who are aggressive toward you.

I have no idea why Europe doesn't like America. If it wasn't for America, there would be no Europe to get all snippy at us. OK we don't like to worry about the environment, and we might not have exactly the same cultural values as Europe, but why do they have to look down on us? Is it because we saved them, and they just don't like it? I will put in a disclaimer that I am not necessarily talking about the people of Europe, as opposed to certain governments that have been critical in the past.

Do nations have a right to be mad at us? Well, I can see why you would want to take a few swipes at the top dog of the world. As the only super power of the world, it is easy to take out anger on us. Our military might is unmatched, our economy is the best in the world, or was until recently, and our influence spreads out across the globe. It doesn't shock me that we get so much backlash from our efforts to spread our government around the world.

Maybe we should just lay back and not try to do so much for the world. If Iraq doesn't want to be free than fine, thats cool we will just let them die at the hands of a dictator. If Afghanistan has only a 17 percent approval rating of our troops being on their soil then fine lets go home. Have fun with the Taliban, and not letting women have rights. While were at it we should close our borders, and not let the citizens of Mexico enjoy all the rights of Americans without having to be bothered to actually become citizens.

This may seem a little angry, but it appals me that America is seen as such a brutal nation, when in reality we give so much to the world that seems to hate us. Again this is not a message to the people of other nations, and hopefully no one will be offended, but as long as the US is on top, the world will have to deal with us. We are not perfect, but we should be respected for what we have done as a nation.

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