why do people dislike americans?

Do you remember years ago there was a term 'the ugly American'?? There was a time when Americans traveled especially to Europe and looked down on Europeans as 'foreigners'. This was mostly uneducated Americans. At the time, they made our country look bad. Now I think there is a lot of disagreement with our politics so sometimes that can affect how others see Americans.

Americans unfortunately have a very bad international reputation. In most European countries they're assumed to be egotistical, snobbish, contemptuous, uneducated and annoying. This, of course, is ridiculous: many Americans (like many people from any other country) are quite the opposite. It's all just prejudice and stereotypes. Here's two personal examples from the time I was in Paris (where I worked for 7+ years): I lived near a pizza place. A group of Americans was in there one night when I went to pick up my pre-ordered pizza. They were VERY loud (all 3 of them could be heard from a good 50 yards away) and were most upset because (a) the guy behind the counter spoke very little English (Hello? It's France?) and (b) because they couldn't buy pizza with US dollars. I just raised an eyebrow, sighed with the poor guy who had to deal with them and left. Those are unfortunately the Americans most people will remember. Another evening, my lady and I were eating at a restaurant. A group of Americans was on the table next to ours. They were a little noisy, but nothing unexpected since there were 6 of them. They spoke little French. After a few minutes, the restaurant staff (who spoke little English) realised they were going to struggle with the menu. My lady (French) and I (English) joined in and all of us, including all the Americans and the restaurant staff, were reduced to uncontrollable fits of giggles as we tried to figure out what everything translated to. Those were nice Americans.

I personally have never experienced negative reactions of being american BUT... I also don't see any reason for people from other places to dislike us. WHY? Because people just come to america and take advantage of opportunities! They don't even HAVE to gain citizenship or learn english! People can come here and don't seem to be required to assimilate into our culture, learn our language, be patriotic, etc. I see so many people who come to america and yet insist on only living their own culture and speak their own language and thumb their nose at 'being american'. I do not believe people should come here and get away with doing that! If an AMERICAN goes to another country, guess what? WE have to learn the customs and language so that we are able to get around. Nobody in another country caters TO US. If we can't read the signs and figure things out, guess what, WE are screwed - but here in America, everything is written in spanish and japanese and any other language if there is a big population that speaks and reads something other than english. SIGNS and WRITTEN MATERIALS. And this is considered NORMAL. If anything, Americans are SO ACCEPTING of others and we even don't say anything if people are rude about our customs. Other people have NERVE disliking us.

I'm not an American but I have been living in US for almost 3 years. I have heard that people don't like Americans in my home country but I never knew why and I didn't go find out. In my opinions, I have seen plenty of Americans who is not nice... but also I have encountered lots of Americans who are nice so I think it just depends on their backgroudn like if they get educated or just follow the bad trend... like my husband who is an American calls some Americans trashy, I think what he means the people is like a slob, has rotten mouth, loud, attituty... things like that. But it is just what I think, I don't know whether it's true or not.

I havent had an issue with that while traveling but I have seen people of other cultures bash americans because of something bush or one of the presidents did. right in this country I think ppl often dislike americans because of how the media represents us and often because of the decisions our presidents decide. but whatever..if someone dislikes me because of where i came from they arent to smart..

Jealousy. We Americans are no-better than any other nationality, but we have many freedoms 'which we take for granted' (on account of they ARE "granted"). How can we-talk about our mother-country, -eat, -drink, -watch 'disagreeable' media & -highly esteem lazy lasciviousness like we do, and still be rewarded greatly for the little bit of work we do? they ask We shrug our shoulders and grunt in reply, then we order another round of inebriating drinks.

When I traveled to Australia I got called a Pommy Tourist and I wanted to be called the English Traveler. Pom means Prisoner of Motherland. Long ago from my home country were sent people that had comitted a crime to Australia. I know that many Canadian travelers have a maple left on their backpack or suitcase. They have a North American accent and don't wish to be thought to me American. I am English and I have met many Americans in different countries in the world. I like the ones that I have met and I haven't ever made a negative comment about the person being American. I would ask something like "Which part of the USA do you come from"? to the American person. Some people dislike Americans due to what happened in the past or they are thinking of a pumpus person that gets all he or she wants. I met an American man on a bus heading out of Guatemala. He was overcharged at every step of his journey. He looked rich and spoke very loudly. Nobody chooses which country to be born in and I like an international flavor with lots of different nationalities.

It's all to do with Politics misc11. I'm from England and have been to the US more times than I can remember and I have found American people to be nothing but kind, generous and friendly. I find the same with Americans visiting my country. Unfortunately a lot of people don't like the political side of America and think it involves itself in too many issues. It's the uneducated who then decide that because of that, all Americans must be bad. You have a pride in your country and are very patriotic, which is something that seems to have gone from England sometimes. Well, I like Americans! :-)

I don't think we can say all Americans are bad or are disliked.My own experience is they are open and straight forward people.All countries have some people who aren't good ambassadors while they travel abroad,maybe the outsiders have encountered some such people.My experience is limited and like able.On my lot which is a major source of my written interaction with Americans i am pleased with the responses and the site.

Um, they reacted wrong before you even said what country are you from? That's bad (if someone tells me he or she's American, the fist thing I ask is from which country in the American continent, of course). Well, many countries have a bad image for other countries in some way or another, so in that case just let people know that you are not like that negative stereotype. If a person is wrong about something, try to prove that they're indeed wrong

I don't think this is true in our country. We don't hate Americans here. We have a very good historical memory with them. "Uncle Sam" had always been part of who we are now, that is why we speak English quite well, our medium of instruction is English, among other proofs.There may be some groups, a minority though, who are influenced by false patriots who cry for emancipation from foreign influence, but it's not really that serious.

hmmmmm i don't know. i don't think so, maybe in other countries? i dunno hehehe. my boyfriend is a Filipino-American. it depends because there are some who are racists. one of my friend's problems in America is racism. she complains to me from time to time and i tell her to just not mind them and that we can't please everybody. But i know not all of you are like that. i would even get that bad impression from my boyfriend's relatives like i am only after something like the citizenship or money. well we have been together for 7 years now. if i was only after that, i would have already married him the first time he asked me to marry him. he is in NY now for work. missing him so just don't mind them. anyway you don't have to deal with them all the time unlike me with my boyfriend's relatives i know it can also stress us when people are like that to us but just remember that we can't please everybody. let's just not mind them and also be very careful, we don't know what's on their minds.

hello dear friend,every place has its own food,type of clothes,traditions,culture,way of talking,body language,though americans are a mixture of people of many places,sometimes the places you travel(americans) have the people that do not fully 100%,accept their food,clothes,etc, which they are related to them,well as i said ,everywhere everything can't be the same,once an image is formed ,many go according to it,no one can help where they are born,be happy,bring a smile,travel once more,let people know you more.bye.

hi,misc,people's impression of United states mostly come from the govenment propaganda or news media reports.most people think the United states relying on thier strength of advanced military and will fight agaisnt anyone who blocks thier way,they are bluster arrogant such as launching Iraq war & afghanistan war... people especially of less developed countries may not bear to watch.coz we think unright to practice unilateralism and power politics... well ,that's just politics and i don't care ,but it 's easy to have a negative perception of americans for ordinary who have no any contact of real american people.some of my friends studing in your country give a highly praise on the people and i think it can't deny that americans are wise and industrious and have made great contributions to the world ,we should learn more from your nation.. as i can see ,i have contact a number of american people and feel that americans are casual but serious at work,they are creative and willing to help others ....so take it easy there are prejudice everywhere our Asian people are aften discriminated by advanced countries,not to mention the black...

I can't speak for all of us down here, but I can relate a couple of experiences of American tourists down here over the years. A couple of decades ago (our culture & maybe yours has probably changed significantly since then), my parents took us kids out to a floating restaurant for our collective birthday celebrations on the River Murray. The restaurant owner afterward pointed out that they were particularly annoyed with the loud, rude & very messy Americans at a table obscured from our view. This owner compared these Americans to a table of Japanese tourists who were very quiet, well behaved, neat, tidy & respectful. The Americans were particularly upset with the fact that staff refused to accept their tips! Less than a decade ago, I was fortunate to have stayed for a couple of weeks with a young American family. They were neither "northerners", nor "southerners" as they had lived about equally in both parts. I found them sensitive, but tolerant of others, caring for their families & put an unusual, but impressive emphasis on creating & adhering to a systems approach that involved each member to doing everyday things around the family home. I think it is safest to take each case on its own merits & be more interested in the way I present myself than paying out on others.

This is too easy. People hate americans because they stand for the motto, "ignorance is bliss." Yes, americans are ignorant and they are happy. They act like they're not happy because they don't realize they are. So they might take a bunch of pills because they're rich enough to get them prescribed, and that only makes them really unhappy even though they started out happy. They take everything for granted, but everyone does so we can't really hate Americans for that. The really annoying thing about Americans is that they just don't understand other cultures even when different cultures are living right under their noses, cleaning their floors and taking care of the port-a-potie service. I am an American, but I'm from a more recent immigrant family so I know the truth of experiencing "The American Dream" more like nightmare because I watch privelaged people act like they know me just by my skin color while I do my work, studying all day, while the Americans who have been here longer by generations, complain that immigrants are taking their jobs.. people only get good jobs "stolen" when they're more qualified, so what they really should be doing is getting down to the hard work and study that they're supposed to do rather than complaining. and the jobs that the mexicans have are taking are usually jobs that people here don't apply for anyway.

I think it is because we as american's have more freedom then they do and we do things at our own will. I guess I would say it is because of jealousy toward us.

I dont know exactly. Besides religion, there are some different aspects but one of them i think is jealousy. The difference between rich and poor really makes the difference. Just pay attention to UAE, Brunei and some arab countries which are rich of oil, they dont dislike Americans, because they are rich too. It's just my opinion, dont know if it's true.