Are we an arrogant country?

Obama on his US World Apology tour, recently stated that we are an arrogant country.

Questions:

Are we?

What do you think of Obama's statements?

Reverend_Hellh0und said:

Obama on his US World Apology tour, recently stated that we are an arrogant country.

Questions:

Are we?

What do you think of Obama's statements?

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Unfortunatly we are a very arrogant country.
We couldn't care less how the rest of the world perceives us.

creativedreams said:

Unfortunatly we are a very arrogant country.
We couldn't care less how the rest of the world perceives us.

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Does your we include all US citizens or do you have some other definition in mind?

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TOJ said:

Does your we include all US citizens or do you have some other definition in mind?

.

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I should have said it is a general mindset of MOST americans

TOJ said:

Does your we include all US citizens or do you have some other definition in mind?

.

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Your president, that you love so much TOJ, is on a world apology tour because he has a consciounce and is probably the first president in recent times to realize, that perhaps taking into consideration the thoughts and feelings of states abroad regarding certain issues without blowing things up and making a mess of everything first is the right thing to do. In the midst of the economic crises in america, its becoming more and more evident that you cant just think about yourselves and rely on yourselves only and do whatever you want. You need the support of the internation community. No good seeking support in NATO or whatever issue it may be if those countries feel American policies are just lame arse and destructive like the warlord Bush's policies.

The U.S. has nearly twice the GDP of any other nation on earth and ranks among the top in per capita income. The U.S. has the most powerful military on earth. The U.S. is the single most powerful political player in world affairs. The U.S. is widely seen around the globe (despite protestations to the contrary) as a free and prosperous nation to which economically or politically oppressed people flock. The U.S. has been and continues to be a global leader in technology, manufacturing, invention, and culture.

When you're by far the biggest, wealthiest, and most powerful guy on the block, it's inevitable that many of your neighbors, friendly or unfriendly, will come to resent you. No matter how nice a face you put on or how humble your rhetoric. Human nature and all that.

When watching a sports tournament or a horse race, people have a tendency to route for the underdog. It's always fun to see the big guy fall. What's really sad is that so many in the U.S. seem to want to see the same thing. A good old-fashioned 'humbling'.

To be so powerful and to not be arrogant would be nearly impossible.

Still, to go around telling people we're arrogant is like saying "Hey, people who hate us! You were right, we suck!"

We give and we give and we give only to be accused of thievery and greed and arrogance. Mostly by our own citizens.

At some point will everybody admit we did not invade Iraq for profit? Will that ever happen? We gave so much more than any other country to the tsunami victims but people were ranting about our "cheapness" within hours.

There always has to be an ulterior motive and a conspiracy theory. It can't just be that we have responsibilities as the wealthiest country and that's all.

Are we in general an arrogant country?

To a point, yes.

And to a point, I have no issue with that.

I'm going to use a little analogy. Go look at sports. Often times you find that the greatest athletes have a little bit of arrogance to them. You don't want it so over the top that you're cocky, and you don't want it to the point that you're a dick. But greatness, success, skill breeds a bit of arrogance that is needed. Arrogance often comes part and parcel with confidence. The key is not to take it too far.

So I guess for me the question would be are we a COCKY country more so than an arrogant one?

I think we can be at times. I dislike the "**** the World" mentality, but I similarly hate the "We're just like every other country" mentality as well because we're frankly not. I dislike the "Who cares what the world thinks of us" cocky mentality, but I similarly hate this notion that we need to go to the world telling them how much of equals they are than us or how bad we are and basically talk ourselves down.

Arrogance, yet tempered with respect and intelligence, is in and of itself not a bad thing.

Though I did have a little laugh as I think Obama is one of the most arrogant politicians in his mannerisms and words of almost any that I can remember in my time watcing politics. He EXUDES arrogance and cockiness, which is what makes me laugh so hard at this entire thing.

I didn't agree with Bush's attitude towards the rest of the world most of the times, but I think Barack Obama's "we suck, you all are great, I know we suck, did I mention we suck" attitude isn't any better.

sazerac said:

We give and we give and we give only to be accused of thievery and greed and arrogance. Mostly by our own citizens.

At some point will everybody admit we did not invade Iraq for profit? Will that ever happen? We gave so much more than any other country to the tsunami victims but people were ranting about our "cheapness" within hours.

There always has to be an ulterior motive and a conspiracy theory. It can't just be that we have responsibilities as the wealthiest country and that's all.

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Politics.

Unfortunately you'll never escape it.

Take, for instance, Hurricane Katrina. If you asked most people, they'd tell you the government's response was a disaster. The truth is that the the rescue of civilians in New Orleans was one of the greatest civilian rescue operations in human history. Ever. Unfortunately, politics came into play almost immediately. And what should have been a positive story of human courage and empathy quickly turned ugly... a battle of finger pointing and blame that served partisan goals.

:roll:

Reverend_Hellh0und said:

Obama on his US World Apology tour, recently stated that we are an arrogant country.

Questions:

Are we?

What do you think of Obama's statements?

Click to expand...

I think his statements are horrendous. It doesn't matter if we are an arrogant country or not because the only ass he should be kissing is the American people's asses not anyone elses.

Hell yeah we're arrogant!

And if's anybody's got a problem wit' dat, so what?!?!!

Up dey' nose wit' a rubbah-hose.














</sarcasm>

jamesrage said:

I think his statements are horrendous. It doesn't matter if we are an arrogant country or not because the only ass he should be kissing is the American people's asses not anyone elses.

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case in point...

Ok. The rest of the world thinks we suck, we're arrogant and pushy, etc.

Fine.

Here's the plan:

All the troops are coming home. Every single one. All overseas military bases will be closed. This starts tomorrow. No more foreign wars, no more hated US military in your country, we're out of the world-policeman biz.

Oh, I'm sorry...you haven't had to provide your own security for decades because of the US, now you don't have a military worth mentioning and you're worried? Deal with it; pay for your own defense. Your local economy depends on that US air base? Too bad. Got an oppressive dictator who is threatening his neighbors, and you'd like him to be gone if you had the military might and the nerve? Sorry, we don't do that anymore, deal with it yourself. We're tired of being accused of meddling.


All foreign aid ends tomorrow. Not another penny, not for anyone. We'll gladly trade with you as long as the terms are equitable, but we are not throwing our own money out there for charity anymore. We have to put our own house in order first... and besides, you might think our aid was condecending.

Next hurricane, tsunami, earthquake? Don't expect to see a US Carrier group come to your aid. No US helicopters dropping water, food, medical supplies, tents. No billions in US emergency aid. You're on your own, we don't meddle anymore.

The next Hitler that rises to power (and there will be one, if we're not around to smack him down before he gets going), the world can deal with him without us. We'll sit WW3 out, thanks. After all, if we rode to the rescue you might think we were arrogant.

Wonder how that would go over?

Like a lead zeppelin methinks...


G.

Yes.

We earned the right by being the best.

Nothing wrong with that.

jamesrage said:

I think his statements are horrendous. It doesn't matter if we are an arrogant country or not because the only ass he should be kissing is the American people's asses not anyone elses.

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I want to thank you for posting this, because its a good example of the arrogance that the President talked about overseas. I really don't mean to criticize you, I just think its very convenient that you said this.

President Obama compared these statements of American arrogance to the ignorance and sometimes the attitude the Europeans have towards Americans. I think its about time our President has come out and said this.

Wherever I have lived I have always said that Americans are sometimes arrogant. But its not like we are that way all the time, I love this country, and one reason I love it is because we can have our leader go overseas and admit something that his own people are sometimes afraid to admit. These people are so afraid they are then quick to label our leader's remarks as, like you said, "horrendous" or something to that extent.

Unfortunately, Reverend_Hellhound, in the only way that he knows how, has made an unfair poll, something I have done time and again. I don't think our country is arrogant, but we are also not modest, so it can't be dealt with in absolutes. We are not necessarily an arrogant country in general, but I think we can be called arrogant.

I'm also not saying we should do things like pull out of world diplomacy completely, this would be wrong. We are powerful enough a country to be almost "policing" the world, but along with this power comes the arrogance of some Americans.

We are not like, you know, British "nose-up-in-the-air-better-than-thou" arrogant.

We are more like Rodney Dangerfield, "Caddy Shack" arrogant. :rofl

Cilogy said:

I love this country, and one reason I love it is because we can have our leader go overseas and admit something that his own people are sometimes afraid to admit. These people are so afraid they are then quick to label our leader's remarks as, like you said, "horrendous" or something to that extent.

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This may be the first President in history that made a negative statement about the American population

creativedreams said:

This may be the first President in history that made a negative statement about the American population

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That's understandable.


He grew up in Indonesia.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:

That's understandable.


He grew up in Indonesia.

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Things are surely taking some bad turns when our own president isn't happy with us

Cilogy said:

I want to thank you for posting this, because its a good example of the arrogance that the President talked about overseas. I really don't mean to criticize you, I just think its very convenient that you said this.

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If that's an example of arrogance, you and Dear Leader need to switch to a different dictionary.

Of course we're not arrogant....we're not France.

Cilogy said:

I want to thank you for posting this, because its a good example of the arrogance that the President talked about overseas. I really don't mean to criticize you, I just think its very convenient that you said this.

President Obama compared these statements of American arrogance to the ignorance and sometimes the attitude the Europeans have towards Americans. I think its about time our President has come out and said this.

Wherever I have lived I have always said that Americans are sometimes arrogant. But its not like we are that way all the time, I love this country, and one reason I love it is because we can have our leader go overseas and admit something that his own people are sometimes afraid to admit. These people are so afraid they are then quick to label our leader's remarks as, like you said, "horrendous" or something to that extent.

Unfortunately, Reverend_Hellhound, in the only way that he knows how, has made an unfair poll, something I have done time and again. I don't think our country is arrogant, but we are also not modest, so it can't be dealt with in absolutes. We are not necessarily an arrogant country in general, but I think we can be called arrogant.

I'm also not saying we should do things like pull out of world diplomacy completely, this would be wrong. We are powerful enough a country to be almost "policing" the world, but along with this power comes the arrogance of some Americans.

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it is my belief that those in government office whether they were elected or appointed are supposed to at least give the appearance of being very patriotic. Tossing the salad of people who do not like us and complaining we are arrogant does not give the appearance of patriotism. Diplomacy does not mean we(I say we because the president is the representative of we the people,so what ever he does he does so in our names) have to kiss the ass of of people who do not like us.

creativedreams said:

This may be the first President in history that made a negative statement about the American population

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"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption." -Jimmy Carter

Every country thinks its the best in the world.America to be fair at least for a while is/was from an objective standpoint.

Its more about individuals though not all americans are that great as with anywhere else.People wanna take to much credit from great people who happened to be born in the same place as them.