Hello all, I am new to the forums and was reading up on past posts. I came up on allot of political discussions. One of them was about Conan not inviting guests that discuss anti American/bush topics. After a couple of posts "cckeif" started bashing all Europeans saying that no one cares what a bunch of "SUBSTANDARD" European countries think. Now, the definition of the word substandard is "deviating from or falling short of a standard or norm". So tell me "cckeif", what is norm for you? Do you believe that your country has a standard that all other nations around the world should try to come up to? A couple replies later "Big_AL" stated:

?Good, so I am not the only one who feels this way. Just don't bother with Draco. We seems to think the world revolves around, what was it, Sweden? Well, wherever he is from, most of us have never heard of it, however he also finds himself funny, maybe he is just a joke. Anyway, 95% of Eurpoe is worthless to us anyway, why befriend them? They are all just jealous. "

First of all when u say "wherever he is from, most of us have never heard of it" clearly shows how ***** the American Education system is if the average citizen doesn't even know simple world geography. Another thing that really amuses me is when u say "They are all just jealous". Now tell me "Big_AL" what are we too be jealous of?

- Is it that your nation has the worst education system in the world for an industrialized country?

- Is it that you have the most violence and gun murders in the world?

-Is it that you are the unhealthiest country in the world with 23% of your population being obese and 36% overweight?

-Or are we supposed to be jealous that you are so brainless and dimwitted that you elected the same president twice who in his first term led your nation into the biggest deficit anyone has ever seen? For the second election you didn't elect the candidate who actually wanted to do something about it. And you laughed at him when he actually wanted to work on foreign relations and gather allies to help you with problems around the world.

-Are we supposed to be jealous that your country has horrible Medical Care? Basically if you are not rich and you get sick you either take out loans that you will be paying back for the rest of your life or you just die.

-Are we supposed to be jealous that your nation?s welfare and social insurance are so bad that people are dieing in the streets and you have to go overseas to "HELP" the people that pose no threat to you?

In conclusion I am just sick and tired of reading and hearing that "USA is better than this and that. And that if you don't think this you are an idiot and we don?t care what you say". Well maybe for once in your **** up life you should shut up and just try to listen to someone else?s opinion. Sorry I made this so long but once I started writing I couldn?t stop.

hey, where are you from? im not a world-hating american...at least, i hope i dont come off that way. hmmm i think i agree with many of Big_Al's political views, but i never like it when others get put down. Although it's true that your opinions really have little indirect and no direct influence on our political maneuvers, its good to know exactly what kind of impression our country makes on others...clearly, its not very good, but i hope that that can change over time. Although, to tell you the truth a whole lot of people from many nations post here, and it is kind of getting old that they all criticize us for our decisions. I could also see how that can sort of get on the nerves of others. notice im not adamently pushing my views or presenting facts and statistics...i point it out to clarify that im not just being lazy and im not stupid, but I've seen where such posts lead...and i am just not in the mood for a heated debate right now. ah well, props to all u other countries.

I hope you realize that you are generalizing a whole country. I'm from the U.S. and I hate seeing posts like the ones you mentioned. I don't feel that way, and neither do any of the people I know. I think it's a shame that the only American opinions that make it out of the country are hateful ones. I suppose that's why people say America is hated--because they think we hate everyone else. Oh well, I live here, I guess I have to deal with it.