Do Americans admire other countries?

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Others will probably say that I am wrong, but I suspect that "Americans" secretly, perhaps unconsciously, feel admiration for the Russians and/or the Germans. After all, however one may feel about them, one cannot deny their fighting spirit. What they admire, and envy, is not so much Wagner and Tschiakovsky, respectively, but rather the militarist mindset of those two Great Powers.

Watching those movies and documentaries, for years, one can begin to discern that much about "Americans".

Americans look down on the rest of the world, especially Europe.

There is no admiration for any other country.

This starts at a young age.

In my case you are at least partially right. I do admire the Russians (to include the former USSR) for thier hardiness and iron will in the face of the worse adversities. I wish more of that were engendered into Americans. Even if we were at war with them I'd still admire them. I might kill them like rats but I'd still admire them just the same.

The German's (ethnic Germans living in Germany) are still under that nauseating post WWII "German guilt" spell that I hope ends soon since it is getting ridiculous. The whole thing is just window dressing because it's just not in them to be open-armed, pandering, tree hugging, peaceniks. The Saxon is a warrior at heart and the sooner they accept that and get back to cranking out Tiger tanks and V2 rockets the happier they'll be.
As a German American it would at least make ME feel better.

/\I think you are wrong about the tree hugging.The Bavarian Forest is the largest protected forest in Central Europe.
Just go over there and try and chop some of those trees down and see what happens.Those full blooded Saxons will swarm your ass.
You know darn well the German nature is to appreciate the wilderness.Nothing better than a mountain retreat in the bracing fresh air,scale a few peaks before dinner is served.
http://www.dw.com/en/love-for-the-fores ... /a-3970648
Waldeinsamkeit.

hispanic american. i think most every nation in europe, at some point of its history has shown a feat of bravery and unwavering determination among its citizens, worthy of admiration.

the finns have a word for this, sisu.

it's certainly not limited to germany and russia. the yugoslav partisans under tito during WWII, one of the most effective resistance groups during the conflict. finland during the winter war (though in the end the soviets did get what they want). and you can't forget france in WWI.




Speak for yourself. Sometimes, I have dreams about Magyarorszag and Suomi. I was very disappointed when i was in Europe this December, and found out I wouldn't be able to go to Pécs.

(or another note, OP posted another, different thread with the exact same title. i was ready to remove it, thought it was a duplicate.... )

I have edited the thread titles to prevent confusion.

I have a lot of admiration for Japanese society, however I believe there are also things they can improve on. My feelings for German society is fairly neutral and of modern day Russian society, they have policies on homeless and at risk children that I believe should be addressed...essentially children are permitted to live on the streets without adult supervision and this causes many of them to fall prey to drug dealers and human sex traffickers, and also they recently rolled back laws on domestic violence which I think is a step backwards.

American here, checking in.
Countries I love, admire, and have visited, in alphabetical order:

Canada
Ireland
Portugal
Spain

Countries I particularly admire but have not visited:

Ghana
Israel
Japan
Poland


These are just countries off the top of my head,
my favorites that come most readily to mind
... there's much to admire about many other countries.
So if your country is not on the list,
my apologies,
and
I'm sure if you mention the name of your country,
I can find something good to say about it.

(My list for today might depend partly on my mood today.)

I don't understand how any American who reads about social and political issues can't admire various aspects of other nations/cultures.

- We are one of 3/4 countries still using an inefficient and inconsistent system of measurement.
- Many Japanese schools don't have janitors due to the emphasis on self-responsibility in their culture.
- Various countries outpace us in education due to teaching methods, policies, year-round schedules, etc.
- With perhaps one or two exceptions, we are the only developed country to not offer universal healthcare.
- It is not possible for civilians in various other countries to legally acquire [multiple] guns with high-capacity magazines.

Yeah, our standard of living and overall state of the country is good. But it can and should be much better.

You're either being intentionally obtuse or you're trying your hand at trolling again. Those who love nature arent necessarily tree huggers. In fact, most of them are not tree huggers. A tree hugger is a radical. I certainly don't make road trips to the Blue Ridge just to look for the women there.

You had somewhat of a respectable post going until this:
The reason there are so many of those icky guns with high capacity magazines is due to the threat of restricting or banning them.

So the impossible scenario of the US government banning ALL rifles, not-semi-auto pistols, shotguns, etc. makes you cling to an assault weapon? You want to hunt, but are such a terrible shot you need 30 rounds to kill a deer?

Was a little worried this was a troll thread considering the first couple posts, but posting anyway.

Personally, I don't have a solid opinion on this. And I am not really sure what the answer the op is looking for. I can only really answer for myself, and that's that of course I have admiration for others, but I can't say if it's for other countries? I don't even have admiration for my own country. There is so much I would like to see changed, I don't even know where I would start. I can't say ANY country is a role model for me.

There are, however. Some things I do like about other countries. I find Asian culture intriguing, particularly in the way they communicate with each other. Particularly Indians and Japanese in this aspect. I can't think of other things off the top of my head at this moment, probably because I have a killer headache.

To summarize, I would say at least some Americans.

I already have a few of those scary black rifles/carbines.


Who said anything about hunting?

Having spent two years in Germany, their forests are not like ours. Theirs are intensely managed and rarely approach a natural state. They are also very small compared to tbe forests in the western US.

In the main I would say, not. The idea of American exceptionalism is pervasive across most cultural spectra, not so much the increasingly nervous minority populations currently under scrutiny.

As an aside, I credit my autistic perspective to such freedom as I have from such mindless cultural monstrosities as racism, a nasty s**t sandwich my mom served me throughout my childhood. I finally met a black (actually rich golden brown) person in my sophomore year in high school. and since my mom's world view did not include nice black people, such as obviously stood before me here, I concluded she was crazy and never wondered if I had to be afraid of someone who didn't look like me again. It was that easy to ignore years of conditioning and propaganda. And I overanalyzed even then, but never found a thoughtline which persuaded me to consider her perspective seriously again.

Born and raised in America, I more or less admire organizations and cultures, but not countries. I admire the governments administering the nordic economic model in northern Europe. I find much that is excellent and admirable in many different cultures throughout the world. All of them, true, existing in "countries".
I will admit to having a certain irrational fondness for Canada.

Can anyone validate feeling as if having autism makes it easy to critique or even shed bits and pieces of the culture you are in? Have any of you ever felt like you were a culture of one?