I am from NY, and this summer i had the absolute pleasure of visiting europe (spain in particular) for the first time. i already knew we were pretty resented/hated around the world, but whoa. people were mean to me...just because i am an american. they dont know that half of american voters voted AGAINST bush ...they just assume were all rednecks and spoiled hollywood and NYC fashionistas. those who didnt pre-judge us were surprised to learn that we didnt like bush. (except the brits. they already knew and can relate with Blair in office...lol) anyway....

for those of you who DONT live in the US-

Do you think that seeing Bush and his administration screw his own people over and neglect them tremedously

[RANT] (he played golf during the hurricane, meanwhile Condilezza Rice was shoe shopping, and VP Cheney was house-hunting, FEMA [the so called 'Federal Emergency Management Agency'] took 4 DAYS to send troops down to Louisiana while people were dieing in the superdome without water or food when they KNEW that this hurricane was coming. we dont have the excuse of not knowing it was coming, that was alllll over the news guys! anyway, why the hell would the BUSH ADMINISTRATION care what is going on in the united states..jeez.......HELLO? whats going on guys!)[/END rant]

has changed the world's view on the American People?

do people still think all americans love Bush, or that the things he does are our fault/that we support them?

note: i know that probably everyone on the forum is open-minded enough not to prejudge all americans, so please, tell me people who arent as open-minded reactions!!!!!

People never did think all americans love bush. But people are frustrated... and frustrated people generalise a lot.
People in a good mood will point out that you get great americans and americans they don't find so great.
People in a bad mood will say "god damn americans" in a grand generalised notion. When bad things happen people tend to go overboard with their generalisations.
Another annoying thing.. I meet few intelligent american tourists. Most intelligent americans I have met, were while being in america.. and our view of the states is shaped by
a) your celebrities.
your tourists.

Not great examples.. but it's what most europeons will judge your country on.

I don't know if Katrina has changed the European view that much. I think that deep down most Europeans have an understanding that although Bush won the popular vote, there are significant numbers of Americans who oppose him. The way he has handled this disaster is unlikely to change that opinion, especially given the people who have suffered the most - being predominantly black and poor.

Whether you agree or not, some Europeans feel that this wasn't just incompetence but racist indifference towards the suffering of black New Orleans. In the minds of many it confirms Bush's priorities and shows how with the Republican party in charge nothing gets done properly throught the Federal government.

The general feeling is: those poor people who've suffered at the hands of the Bush administration. Bush isn't even interested in helping his own disadvantaged, what hope do ordinary Iraqis and Afghanis have?
__________

However, there will be a sizeable minority who just hate Americans.

Some of whom will wake up to reality and realise that the entire nation can't be held responsible for electing Gee Dubya into power. As you hope, there will be some who sit back and say, wow - Bush's victims include his own people, maybe it's the party I should hate not the people.

There will be a minority, however, that who will say: good it serves the bloody Americans right, they are all evil repblican voting scum from the deep south who deserve what they get - it's all their fault anyway for trying to deny global warming.

It would appear that even in Liberal Europe we have our fair share of petty minded biggots who can't see the wood for the trees. I just hope that the people who hate all Americans will (as you suggest) see the light.

I think that after Bush got voted in for his second term, the general feeling was, 'Stupid Americans, they'll just have to learn the hard way'. However, after the incredulity of the election, it calmed down a bit and we do know that not all of you support Bush.

Many people have said however, that Katrina was nature's payback for America's environmental policies, and quite a lot of people I know seem to agree with that. They also feel quite angry about the way the US governamnt handled the situation and well, we just don't like your governament generally. And since over 50% of you voted for Bush, we dislike the majority of Americans.

A few things:

One of my tutors at college is a professor and a world renouned specialist in early African-American literature. It's his belief that if the majority of people stuck in New Orleans were white then the rescue squads would have been there a lot faster. My instinct told me that, but he has a professional interest in American culture and race politics which leads me to put further weight behind the idea.

Another, less covered, aspect of the delay in getting support into the city, was that the national guard weren't allowing Red Cross workers in until days after the hurricane. The reason for this is currently believed to be that they had been instructed to do this in case a Red Cross worker was injured and sued the state for allowing them into the area. That's right: people were dying in case a charity worker decided to push litigation.

So, between institutional racism and a society in which litigation prevents charity, I think my opinion of American culture and government has dropped even further, but my view of general Americans remains the same (ie, that they're like pretty much any other group on the planet, a mixed bunch of nice people and arrogant fools).

Two things about this. Firstly, Bush's approval ratings have finally come down to reasonable levels, about 30%. Second, we voted for Bush because he makes most americans (though I doubt any on these boards) feel safer. It all comes back to 9/11 - we were hit hard, harder than we'd ever been hit on our soil since the civil war. People were, and still are, scared. The worst part was the feeling that there was nobody to punish, there was no country to go attack because it wasn't a nation that attacked us. Bush provided us with a scapegoat, and that makes us feel safer (Again, I'm using 'us' very loosely, I don't feel any safer, nor do most along the east coast).

i would DEFINITLY say that lots of people here agree with this, at least where im from.



and this


i know im asking for the european view and i am in no place to go around correcting people's opinions, but i dont think that 50 % of the country wants bush in office, espcially now. i mean, first off we have the 2000 election, where he loses the populus vote. the 2004 election was pretty close, and if he rigged the 2000, i wouldnt be surprised if he was able to more smoothy rig the 2004, while letting it slip under our noses.


another thing is- 51 % might have voted for him... but that by no means makes us all the same. some of our states are as different as your countries. for example, i am from NY... here we are mostly democrat and liberal. (but we do have republicans, too.) in my school, there was a club created called the "young republicans" because they were sick of being picked on by....well, EVERYONE ELSE in the school. in classes they are the ones who everyone disagrees with, etc. i got to a relatively diverse school. it is about 60% white, 25% hispanic, 13% black and 2% asian.
if i were to go to, lets say...north dakota. (where i have never been but i have heard about), i would most likely be the only democrat, and also the only jew that the other kids have ever met! one of my teachers last year (who was from long island) taught there for a term, and she said the kids were shocked that she knew any jewish people, and asked her what they looked like.

i have been to north carolina as well. i heard and racism everywhere i turned, and also, hugely fat people. i know everyone says 'americans are fat' and etc. but in NY i have never seen anything like this! sure, im not saying were all athletic in NY, but we are no where near having that many obese people. one cab driver in NC told us about how proud he was of disowning his niece (who he raised) because she was a lesbian.

so you can see, the states are very different from eachother.

I'm not sure if Katrina would change the worlds view on America, hopefully it might change people's attitudes to Bush and his lackeys enough to get him kicked out. That would hopefully change America for the better and hence end a lot of frustration and change the worlds view of America.