How the USA is regarded from the rest of the world

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09 Oct 2009, 9:56 am

I thought that I would start a thread about how people from outside the USA look at and evaluate the USA. Please post thoughts, opinions, perceptions, and also articles and videos that are relevant to the topic.

I thought that I would start with a French music video: Melissa Mars and Lara Fabian singing "Les Homericains"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBt8PA9wszY&feature=PlayList&p=135241E53CF18834&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7[/youtube]

Lyrics here:

Quote:

Des hommes,
Quand ils dansent comme personne
Quand ils chantent, que ça sonne
D’Astaire à Morrisson
Des ricains,
Quand ils jettent du bon vin
On leur foutrait des pains
Là, c’est plus nos copains

Tout comme nous,
Ils font le mal
Tout comme nous,
Ils font le bien
Comme on peut être animal
On peut aussi être humain
Etre homéricains

Des hommes,
Quand Michael Moore cogne
Sur un système “qui Bush” on
De Kaboul à Enron
Des ricains,
Quand se dressent les faux seins
Les fast-foods à chaque coin
Fausse viande dans les mains

Tout comme nous,
Ils font le mal
Tout comme nous,
Ils font le bien
Comme on peut être animal
On peut aussi être humain
Etre homéricains

Des hommes,
Quand la leçon qu’ils donnent
Est d’être comme un seul homme
Au pied des tours fantômes

Des ricains,
Quand au nom du divin
Ils sirotent leur voisin
Pour pouvoir faire le plein

Tout comme nous,
Ils font le mal
Tout comme nous,
Ils font le bien
Comme on peut être animal
On peut aussi être humain
Tout comme nous,
Ils sont des hommes
Nous sommes aussi des ricains
Jamais la foi n’abandonne
Les hommes, les homéricains…
[ Les Homericains Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

And, for the benefit of those who do not speak French, here is a partial translation:

Quote:

Men , When they dance as nobody, When they sing , sounds from Astaire to Morrisson , The (Ame)Ricans , When they throw out good wine , They throw away bread , They are no longer our friends ,

Just like us , They do evil , Just like us , They do good , As one can be animal , One can also be human , To be homéricains ,

Men , When Michael Moore knocks , On a system which "Bush on" , From Kabul to Enron, The (Ame)Ricans , When they implant themselves with fake breasts, The fast food joints at every corner, Fake meat in their hands,

Just like us , They do evil , Just like us , They do good , As one can be animal , One can also be human , To be homéricains ,

Men , When the lesson whom they give , Is to be like only one man , With the foot of the phantom chase,

Ame(Ricans), When in the name of God , They invade their neighbor, to be able to fill the gas tank,

Jacoby
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09 Oct 2009, 10:48 am

Let me throw this out there before y'all begin, I don't really care what people from irrelevant/small countries in old Europe think of the US. Most Americans besides our beloved president probably feel the same way.

ZEGH8578
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09 Oct 2009, 11:08 am

Jacoby wrote:

nice of you to throw yourself out there.

irrelevant? we made america.

small? europe has a population of 700 million, germany 80 million, britain 50, france 60, italy 50, spain 40, ukraine 45, poland 40, all this packed together, a country as small as the netherlands has
15 million people. whats usa got? 4 major conglomerate areas, the rest is... "midwest" i guess.

and yeah, we gathered that much, w the whole "yeehaw lets make clowns of ourselves!" attitude :]

/my opinion.

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Jacoby
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09 Oct 2009, 11:53 am

You made America, we freed Europe. :wink:

Orwell
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09 Oct 2009, 12:10 pm

Jacoby wrote:

The Eurozone is the world's largest economy. Germany alone is something like the third largest economy in the world, and several European countries are wealthier (per capita) than the US. Also, a few European nations are nuclear powers.

I'm not sure in what sense you believe these countries are "irrelevant," but ignorant isolationist attitudes like yours have caused America plenty of problems in the past.

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skafather84
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09 Oct 2009, 12:38 pm

Jacoby wrote:

Most Americans are morons who don't comprehend politics.

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X_Parasite
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09 Oct 2009, 1:14 pm

When people say irrelevant/small countries, I don't think France, Germany, etc.. I think Andorra. Does anyone want to argue the relevance of Andorra?

Anyway, I just love how they have no problem calling out our culture as "bad", when it doesn't line up with theirs.

Yes, our culture has problems. We know about them! Surely, European cultures have equivalent problems.

anna-banana
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09 Oct 2009, 1:59 pm

Jacoby wrote:

sad but true. it's quite obvious that you people don't care, mostly by the way you behave when you come to Europe as tourists.

:roll:

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MissConstrue
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09 Oct 2009, 2:52 pm

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Dox47
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09 Oct 2009, 3:12 pm

I have a somewhat more nuanced version of the "don't care" philosophy, which really comes down to that when I'm evaluating a political position, what the rest of the world/Europe might think is pretty low on my personal priorities list. This is consistent with how I conduct my personal life as well, as what other people think might not be completely irrelevant to me, but it's certainly not in my top 5.

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skafather84
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09 Oct 2009, 3:34 pm

Dox47 wrote:

Again: a lack of comprehension about why the other nations are important and why there needs to be a cohesiveness in action.

It's not so much sucking up to the other nations so much as combining resources to have a more effective global community and economy. America hasn't been living up to that bargain from the actions taken with Iraq and Iran to constant protection of Israel to where any attempt at action in the UN is invalidated and made useless.

You can't keep playing your own game and expect to be considered to be playing well with others. The world is very quickly shrinking and the country cannot afford (especially at such a time as this economic bungling) to become an island from the rest of the civilized world.

pandabear
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09 Oct 2009, 4:55 pm

Our president just won the Nobel Peace prize, which must mean that a certain number of people are regarding our country in a positive light. My opinion of this country improved with President Obama's election, but he so far hasn't accomplished much of anything.

Here is Ricardo Arjona's "Si El Norte Fuera el Sur"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOkMt0PZ_HI[/youtube]

Lyrics:

Quote:

El Norte y sus McDonald's basketball y rock'n roll
Sus topless sus Madonas y el abdomen de Stallone
Intelectuales del bronceado, eruditos del supermercado
Tienen todo pero nada lo han pagado

Con 18 eres un niño para un trago en algun bar
Pero ya eres todo un hombre pa' la guerra y pa' matar
Viva Vietnam y que viva Forrest Gump
Viva Wall Street y que viva Donald Trump
Viva el Seven Eleven

Polvean su nariz y usan jeringa en los bolsillos
Viajan con marihuana para entender la situacion
De este juez del planeta que lanza una invitacion
Cortaselo a tu marido y ganaras reputacion

Las barras y las estrellas se adueñan de mi bandera
Y nuestra libertad no es otra cosa que una ramera
Y si la deuda externa nos robo la primavera
Al diablo la geografia se acabaron las fronteras

Si el Norte fuera el Sur
serian los Sioux los marjinados
Ser moreno y chaparrito seria el look mas cotizado
Marcos seria el Rambo Mexicano
Y Cindy Crawford la Menchu de mis paisanos
Reagan seria Somoza
Fidel seria un atleta corriendo bolsas por Wall Street
Y el Che haria hamburguesas al estilo double meat
Los Yankees de mojados a Tijuana
Y las balsas de Miami a la Habana, si el Norte fuera el Sur

Seriamos igual o tal vez un poco peor
Con las Malvinas por Groenlandia
Y en Guatemala un Disneylandia
Y un Simon Bolivar rompiendo su secreto
Ahi les va el 187, fuera los Yankees por decreto

Las barras y las estrellas se adueñan de mi bandera
Y nuestra libertad no es otra cosa que una ramera
Y si la deuda externa nos robo la primavera
Al diablo la geografia se acabaron las fronteras

Si el Norte fuera el Sur, seria la misma porqueria
Yo cantaria un rap y esta cancion no existiria

skafather84
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09 Oct 2009, 4:59 pm

Can this anglophone get a little help in this multilingual biznitch?

racooneyes
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09 Oct 2009, 5:04 pm

pandabear wrote:

Our president just won the Nobel Peace prize,

really?!?! ! What for? :lol:

No but really what did he do to win that? Win the election? Is it coz he is black? :lol:

Oh man. Sorry I don't watch the news so this is first I heard of it.

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09 Oct 2009, 5:25 pm

racooneyes wrote:

pandabear wrote:

Our president just won the Nobel Peace prize,

really?!?! ! What for? :lol:

No but really what did he do to win that? Win the election? Is it coz he is black? :lol:

Oh man. Sorry I don't watch the news so this is first I heard of it.

There must have been a very short list of canidates this year.

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09 Oct 2009, 5:56 pm

Jacoby wrote:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6W3T7MTh4M[/youtube]

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