Why do you hate America?

[Underseer]

Once again, torture is part of the national debate thanks to the torture report.

So now we once again have conservatives accusing non-conservatives of treason for opposing torture. We are traitors because we think torture is bad. We are traitors because we think what happened counts as torture. We are traitors because we think those who ordered the torture should be prosecuted for war crimes. We are traitors because we want to prevent torture from being done in our names in the future.

This after all my conservative friends on Facebook spent the last four years arguing that they were never in favor of torture and getting very confused every time I accused them of being in favor of torture. Now they're back to bitching and screaming about how all liberals are traitors for being against torture, and they still insist that they are not in favor of torture.

*sigh*

So why aren't I posting this in the thread on the torture report?

Because I would much rather have fun with the "you hate America" part of all of this. Conservatives and libertarians (who are completely different... honest!) on this forum get really angry when I keep making "you hate America"-style arguments in my parody posts, yet they don't seem to be upset at all about all the "you hate America" arguments millions of conservatives are making in earnest right now.

So let's have some fun with this. If you're a non-rightist, you can reply to this thread and "confess" why you "hate America." If you are a rightist and want to argue that the various responses to the torture report prove that non-rightists "hate America" and/or "love the terrorists," now you have an entire thread devoted to talking about how much liberals hate America.

So I'll keep my "confession" fairly plain vanilla to leave extra room for more creative responses. I hate America because I want the terrorists to win! I plan to get a job running one of those communist re-education camps after America becomes a socialist dictatorship, so hating America is simply part of my employment strategy.

 

[Davka]

Because Dick Cheney, that's why.

 

[Underseer]

Because Dick Cheney, that's why.

Ah, you must hate him for wanting to protect our freedom.

 

[Tigers!]

I don't hate America. I just wish that sometimes you were on another planet.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I don't hate America. I see them more like a jock with a massive protruding penis, that keeps knocking things over with it, and they don't care. We do hate them for it. But in their shoes we would probably do them same. We all want to be the guy with the biggest penis = fact.

 

[surreptitious57]

Reasons To Love America


Native American Culture

The Star Spangled Banner

The Separation Of Church And State

The Founding Fathers / The First Amendment

The American Dream / The Civil Rights Movement


Reasons To Not Love America


Watergate / The Death Penalty

The Central Intelligence Agency

Slavery / Mc Carthyism / Vietnam

The Assassination Of John Kennedy

The Assassination Of Robert Kennedy

The Assassination Of Martin Luther King

 

[laughing dog]

TV timeouts in sporting events.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

I hate the arrogance and self importance. I hate "America" because people in the USA try to steal that term to apply exclusively to themselves, when it actually includes two entire continents. Canadians and Mexicans are American, in the same way that Germans and Spaniards are European. Cubans and Brazilians are also Americans.

 

[Davka]

Reasons To Love America


Native American Culture

The Star Spangled Banner

The Separation Of Church And State

The Founding Fathers / The First Amendment

The American Dream / The Civil Rights Movement

Reasons to hate America:

Wholesale slaughter of Native Americans and appropriation of their Culture.

The Star Spangled Banner is an un-singable saber-rattling monstrosity.

The Separation Of Church And State is a myth which has created the most ignorant, poorly-educated population in the West.

The Founding Fathers arrogant, self-absorbed drafting of the Constitution and The First Amendment, which was intended only to apply to land-owning white males.

The American Dream, a fiction which has never been true, especially for minorities, and ugly fact which led to the necessity for The Civil Rights Movement.

- - - Updated - - -

I hate the arrogance and self importance. I hate "America" because people in the USA try to steal that term to apply exclusively to themselves, when it actually includes two entire continents. Canadians and Mexicans are American, in the same way that Germans and Spaniards are European. Cubans and Brazilians are also Americans.

And naming the continents after an Italian was stupid in the first place.

 

[dystopian]

I don't hate America; I don't even hate Americans in general, just a certain 'kind' of American. I hate the kind of American who'se clearly ignorant of the world and history outside of American borders (and generally much of the world inside those borders as well) but inexplicably and proudly proclaims his ignorance to that world while expecting people to fall at his feet in worship. They're not the only ones guilty of this kind of behavior of course; we're all guilty of it to some degree; but they're certainly the most obnoxious about it and the most prolific at it.

On the bright side at least not all of you wonder whether we have running water and internet in Europe, or whether you have to cancel your trip to Asia because they all eat rice exclusively and you're worried you're going to starve and/or get food poisoning.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I don't hate America; I don't even hate Americans in general, just a certain 'kind' of American. I hate the kind of American who'se clearly ignorant of the world and history outside of American borders (and generally much of the world inside those borders as well) but inexplicably and proudly proclaims his ignorance to that world while expecting people to fall at his feet in worship. They're not the only ones guilty of this kind of behavior of course; we're all guilty of it to some degree; but they're certainly the most obnoxious about it and the most prolific at it.

On the bright side at least not all of you wonder whether we have running water and internet in Europe, or whether you have to cancel your trip to Asia because they all eat rice exclusively and you're worried you're going to starve and/or get food poisoning.

Beginning with Ronald Reagan any U.S. citizen could now proudly proclaim his ignorance. Ignorance became an American virtue and reached it's zenith when George W Bush became president. All that was important was how strongly you believed in America, knowing all the while that the rest of humanity hated us for our freedom. God bless America. Amen.

 

[rousseau]

People who 'hate' America are just as mind-numbingly dumb as the Americans who are dumb. It's like in a family when it's ok to poke fun at the dad, because he's usually the most powerful guy, in the same way it's become socially acceptable to hate on America, but it's all nonsense.

Particularly, I'm surrounded by a whole host of British relatives on Facebook who are constantly making anti-American comments. None of them see the hypocrisy and the logical flaws in their arguments, it just makes them feel good to look at America and think 'evil'. It can be frustrating to read.

 

[Davka]

People who 'hate' America are just as mind-numbingly dumb as the Americans who are dumb. It's like in a family when it's ok to poke fun at the dad, because he's usually the most powerful guy, in the same way it's become socially acceptable to hate on America, but it's all nonsense.

Particularly, I'm surrounded by a whole host of British relatives on Facebook who are constantly making anti-American comments. None of them see the hypocrisy and the logical flaws in their arguments, it just makes them feel good to look at America and think 'evil'. It can be frustrating to read.

If it makes you feel any better, most of us lefties in the States don't hate America, we love it. We hate the bigotry, ignorance, and hypocrisy, not the nation as a whole. We honestly want to work towards an America which begins to live up to the promise, rather than simply condemn ourselves for our shortcomings.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I hate the arrogance and self importance. I hate "America" because people in the USA try to steal that term to apply exclusively to themselves, when it actually includes two entire continents. Canadians and Mexicans are American, in the same way that Germans and Spaniards are European. Cubans and Brazilians are also Americans.

I tried calling them USAians a while. Sits horrifically in the mouth. I think it's simply down to the un-poetic nature of the term USA. I think that the term "American" is in reality just a shortened form of "United States of American". I'm giving them a pass on this.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

I hate the arrogance and self importance. I hate "America" because people in the USA try to steal that term to apply exclusively to themselves, when it actually includes two entire continents. Canadians and Mexicans are American, in the same way that Germans and Spaniards are European. Cubans and Brazilians are also Americans.

I tried calling them USAians a while. Sits horrifically in the mouth. I think it's simply down to the un-poetic nature of the term USA. I think that the term "American" is in reality just a shortened form of "United States of American". I'm giving them a pass on this.

"United States of America" is a description. I think it is about time these people actually chose a name for their country.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I tried calling them USAians a while. Sits horrifically in the mouth. I think it's simply down to the un-poetic nature of the term USA. I think that the term "American" is in reality just a shortened form of "United States of American". I'm giving them a pass on this.

"United States of America" is a description. I think it is about time these people actually chose a name for their country.

Union countries typically just pick one word from the union name and go with that. Nobody said Soviet socialist republican.

 

[dystopian]

"United States of America" is a description. I think it is about time these people actually chose a name for their country.

Union countries typically just pick one word from the union name and go with that. Nobody said Soviet socialist republican.

If I think about it, it's kind of the same for my country; originally the name 'The Netherlands' referred to an area that overlaps five modern countries (The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Parts of Western Germany, and the most populous part of France), but nobody uses the term to refer to that whole area anymore except in a historical context. People from the other countries in the Americas probably have to accept that they'll have to clarify they're from N-America or S-America if they don't want to be confused with those from the US.

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

I hate the fear. So many Americans here seem to almost enjoy being so afraid of things that if given a moment's thought, could never actually hurt them, or are so remote that it's not worth worrying about.

ISIS
Ebola
Putin
North Korea
"Socialism/Communism"--neither of which the vast majority understand.
Immigration

That's just a quick six or seven off the top of my head.

But every year, or even a couple of times a year, Americans get whipped up into this state of fear that Whatever is coming to get them. It's so fucking irrational.

I personally would like to see the U.S. go neutral like the Swiss. Similar to Switzerland, the U.S.'s geography makes it highly undesirable to attack and with some realistic changes in how we do things, the U.S. could get by just fine without having to police the planet. The rest of the planet would erupt into war shortly thereafter but then we could begin bragging, much like the Swiss, that we haven't been in a war in X amount of years.

 

[Underseer]

People who 'hate' America are just as mind-numbingly dumb as the Americans who are dumb. It's like in a family when it's ok to poke fun at the dad, because he's usually the most powerful guy, in the same way it's become socially acceptable to hate on America, but it's all nonsense.

Particularly, I'm surrounded by a whole host of British relatives on Facebook who are constantly making anti-American comments. None of them see the hypocrisy and the logical flaws in their arguments, it just makes them feel good to look at America and think 'evil'. It can be frustrating to read.

If it makes you feel any better, most of us lefties in the States don't hate America, we love it. We hate the bigotry, ignorance, and hypocrisy, not the nation as a whole. We honestly want to work towards an America which begins to live up to the promise, rather than simply condemn ourselves for our shortcomings.

No, no, no. You're wrong. We disagree with right wing extremists, therefore we hate America. Why else would we dare suggest that they could be wrong about anything?

 

[Davka]

If it makes you feel any better, most of us lefties in the States don't hate America, we love it. We hate the bigotry, ignorance, and hypocrisy, not the nation as a whole. We honestly want to work towards an America which begins to live up to the promise, rather than simply condemn ourselves for our shortcomings.

No, no, no. You're wrong. We disagree with right wing extremists, therefore we hate America. Why else would we dare suggest that they could be wrong about anything?

You're spelling it wrong. We hate Amerikkka.