Notice: Before you go off and mute me and report me, I would like that you read what I have to say. Because I'm trying to share something I've noticed, and I'm not trying to offend anyone in the process. So before you go off and threaten to take away all my precious McDonalds and burn my house down with all 127 of my guns in it. I would like you to hear me out. Now, I've noticed that a lot of Europeans don't like the U.S. and not just Europeans, there a lot of people from different countries that don't like the U.S. With good reason, however, our government has done some very...um...controversial things, and if you don't agree with out government and don't like them? Then that's fine, in fact a lot of Americans have an issue with them, I mean congress is filled with people who don't know how to find their own ass, so I have no problem if you dislike our government. The thing that starts to bug me is when people start using those issues they have with the government to hate on Americans themselves. The people who don't have any part of the decision making of said government. In fact, almost every (not everyone, but a lot) person I've met from Europe has something bad to say, not just about the U.S., but about Americans in general. Like I said, not all of them, but quite a lot...and it's not just Europeans, it's people from other countries as well. Now, I've noticed, that they tend to use the issues they have with the government, coupled with stereotypes. Stereotypes (depending on the time and context) aren't *always* a bad thing, when I'm talking to a lot of my non-American friends I'll joke around with stereotypes about the U.S., and they'll make stereotypes about their country and it's all in good fun. However these people I've run into tend to use these things as ways to berate and insult Americans (sometimes not even directly) Every time someone brings up the U.S. in some way shape or form, somebody has to point out what a terrible country it is and it starts a big hullabaloo. American's are as guilty as this as anybody about insulting somebody else's country. Yet the only time I've really seen them do it is when theirs gets insulted first (this is just in my personal experience, I'm sure that there are situations where it's the other way around) which is to be expected, I mean if someone insults your country of course you're going to defend it. The thing is though, I don't know [i]anyone[/i] in the U.S. who inherently *hate* any country in Europe, in fact there are people here who adore Europe and the people there. Though I know, and have met, people in Europe who do hate the U.S. and have judged me just by the fact that I'm American. Now, I realize that there are probably people here who do hate Europe (though those people are probably redneck southerns so they don't count) and that there are people in Europe who don't hate the U.S., as I've stated before I also know it's not just Europe I'm just using it as the prime example. Now, we know there are a lot of people who dislike what our government has done, but I don't think that (and the amounts of ridiculous stereotypes) is reason enough to hate the people who live there as well, in fact I don't even think it's reason enough to hate America. If you don't like our government and the things they do, that's fine but that doesn't mean that our country and the people that live there are terrible as well. That's [i]bigotry[/i] "Bigotry is the state of mind of a bigot: someone who, as a result of their prejudices, treats other people with hatred, contempt, or intolerance on the basis of a person's ethnicity, religion, [i] national origin[/i], gender, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics." Now, I'm sure we're all guilty of this at some point in our lives, and there are bigots here in America too, but I'm not here to discuss that now. I'm here to talk about the many posts I've seen here and all over the internet as well that jump on someone for being American. I've said this before and I'll say it again, if you don't like our government then that's fine, I'm not asking you to worship and love America. All I ask is that you don't judge our country and us based off of a what a few old guys, who sit on their ass all day, in congress do. Our country is a really nice place, with some really nice people here, just give it a chance. I hope you read all the way through that, and I hope you didn't get offended by it either, because that wasn't my goal. If you did get offended, well then I'm sorry, if not I hope I gave you something to think about. I think everyone could work on not judging people based on their nationality (or any part of them besides their personality and their actions) Americans included. Well that was my serious thought for the day...or night...whatever, I'm going to bed now. Forever Yours, Mr. J.E. Deathbot