Singing about killing people vs. doing it

[zemo]

Okay, a short disclaimer beforehand: I am fully aware that this one might go down hard and fast, as conditions are favourable for a perfect storm. If that happens I would have no problems with the thread being locked ASAP. That said, I think this is a topic worth discussing.

Today I stumbled over this one: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...-anti-us-anger

I'll have to point that, while many people were surprised by the shape the hatred took in the September 11 attacks, only few were surprised about the hatred itself. That is, few outside the US. I come from a country that has been pro-USA for more than half a century, and yet I come across people that are more than critical of US foreign policies all the time.

Basically, my question is, is there a honest and self-reflective discussion about the standing of the USA in the world, be it in the media or in the evenings at parties, or does it always boil down to "they hate our freedom", because too many believe this kind of thing still?

[jhota]

i think most Americans are morons, particularly in the area of world opinion.

People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome.

and that's what the US government is, meddlesome.

i think that, overall, the Pax Americana has been a good thing for the world. but it is both time for something new, and time for the US to understand that you cannot be the dominant power in the world for (arguably) a century without pissing people off. we can learn a lot from the British in how to deal with this.

[Thequeerjock]

We had this discussion with some friends recently. While the bit about killing the families of soldiers might be a tad extreme, I'm baffled that anyone is actually shocked that people in other countries have negative, highly critical views of the war in the Middle East and the U.S. military in general. Well that and rap music has been highly political from the beginning.