Get ready - long post ahead. If it's too long for you to read then your opinion is moot and I shall disregard it.
---
I don't hate anyone. I'm not racist against anyone (Jesus Christ, I married a fucking Italian). I'm just very vocal about things I see as injustices, whether they be Italian, American, English, or other nationalities. I stand up for Americans when the local population is sick of them here. I try to explain to everyone that the military population is not a real representation of the American citizen. People ask me every day in class, "Is America really like this?" I tell them the truth, that there IS a part of the population that is nutty, far-right and that there is an equally nutty, far-left as well as a centrist point of view. I tell them that while the US is lacking in several key places in respect to the rest of the world, it's STILL the best place to start a business or to work. It's STILL a place where individualism reigns.
I'm also very vocal about many Italians systems and I'm very critical of them as well, it's just no one here would understand what I'm talking about or would be able to relate to them without living here. I detest their pacifism. I detest their attitude of "it's not my problem". I detest their bureaucracy. I detest their strangulation of entrepreneurship. I detest their dishonesty in their government (that's pretty much every gov't, however). I detest their tight shirts. I detest their incessant whining. I detest their apprehension for change and aversion to modernization. I detest their working system, how they constantly whine about never being paid enough money yet they don't want to give up their fixed contracts where it's virtually impossible to be fired. I detest how they speak out about how they want to move towards a system more like the US, but they don't want to give up their 30 days per year paid vacation. I detest how they constantly whine about how you can't get anything done here yet they strike and protest in the middle of the week. There are lots of things I can't stand about this place, but you have to live here to understand it all. Otherwise it's all just Greek to you.
I'm also very vocal about the fact that Americans tend to be blind and hypocritical, especially in the media. I'm very vocal about the fact that there's less anti-Americanism in Iraq than in London. I'm very vocal about the fact that tourists tend to be disrespectful when they travel here; not all of them, but a large number of them. If you don't like that I'm vocal about it, that's one thing. If you deny it exists and assume I'm just ranting without a direction, you're either blind or you're deluded. Nationalism is for suckers.
You know what? I fought for my country. I went to war for her and watched friends die for her, both while serving in a warzone with them and seeing them come back in coffins. I served her for 9 fucking years and while I'm very critical of her policies and frustrated with the lack of foresight and respect of her citizens, I'm not somehow being disrespectful because I have unpopular opinions. I'm critical of the US and US citizens because I DO love my country and it angers me to see it all go to pot (not the drug, hehe) due to simple lack of will to understand and think critically. We're not all fat, obnoxious, and stupid. I've never said we were and I never will and it angers me when people treat us like that. However, in order to change other people's opinions, we must show them by our actions that we AREN'T all like that...but it's really hard to change opinions when we travel abroad and you see so much ignorance. It doesn't make me ashamed to be American, but it makes me sad to see our society reduced to the level it is. When people shout at political rallies, "LET HIM DIE!!!!" then something is really, really wrong in our country and I boil over inside because I didn't give up 9 years of my life to protect people as ignorant and despicable as that. You can't say it's just a small minority, either because if it were we wouldn't be in the trouble we're in today. Freedom of speech is a right and you don't have to earn it in the US; it's given to you. However, if you HAD to earn the right to say what you want about your country, I'd say I've earned it more than anyone else here. That doesn't mean you cannot disagree with me or cannot even hate me for it, but you can't say I don't deserve the right to say it.
I've traveled all over the world and I've NEVER, NOT ONCE, EVER been disrespectful or been in any sort of confrontation with the indigenous people. From Europe to Asia, I go out of my way to be respectful to their culture and way of life. I don't go around apologizing for being American because people who do that infuriate me, but at the same time I'm sensitive to their sensibilities and try my hardest to promote a good example of American people as tourists and citizens. It just frustrates me when all that is for naught when the guy right next to me is ruining it for all of us, and it happens over and over and over again until I just can't take it anymore. If I can travel and promote a good impression of Americans then so can everyone, but the sad fact is that a very large number of Americans who travel abroad are rude, pushy, annoying, and disrespectful. Don't kill the messenger because you don't like the truth. You should be jumping on them for acting in such a way. It should infuriate you because IT REALLY DOES AFFECT YOU, whether you realize it or not.
People like Lynn don't really bother me because whatever they say is rooted in nationalistic ignorance and you just have to consider the source. What a bright, shining example you are to us all.
Steve, I'm sorry if I've offended you. I come across as being quite abrasive, which is really my way of opening people's eyes with blunt force trauma. I stand by everything I've said thus far and really don't know how else I can put it. Again, it's not anything personal. However, I'm really tired of fighting to change our perception when it's one step forward and ten steps back abroad. As a whole, there's not that much anti-Americanism abroad, but it IS there in places like England and it's there to stay. My friend is stationed there right now and every day she walks her kid to the bus stop for school and all the English kids ride by in their school bus and give her the finger every single day. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Now they're raising another generation to hate Americans. This is wrong, plain and simple. Were she Muslim or black, there would be a national outcry, but because she's American it's largely overlooked. Don't tell me I'm exaggerating this because I'm not.
Honestly, I don't know what else to say. If you want to change my opinion of the world and of our country, then I need reasons to do so and so far there have been very few. I'm not saying this because I hate Americans or hate being American; I'm saying this because it's frustrating and I'm tired of it all and I want it to change. A student today asked me if Americans dislike Canadians because of what he's seen on South Park. I responded that we tease them and they tease us but there is no bad blood between us whatsoever, there's no animosity at all. However, I wish I could say that about the English attitude towards us. The Australians, while somewhat critical of us as well, tend to be very amicable, as well as the Irish and Scots. I've yet to see light ribbing come from the English...so far it's more like mean-spirited behavior verging on bullying.
So far all of you with the exception of Derek have simply attacked me for being over-aggressive in my opinions. You still haven't refuted my claims, only wagged your fingers at me, saying how disrespectful I'm being. I'm not being disrespectful, I'm simply relaying to all of you how I feel on the matter. If you can come up with a reason why I shouldn't feel this way, I'd really like to hear it. So far, Derek has been the only one to give me pause. Maybe I am oversimplifying things. However, I feel the need to say again that I'm not broad brushing anyone, I'm simply giving my opinion based on my experience with said cultures and people. If you disagree with my opinion, please tell me why and give evidence to the contrary. If you disagree simply because I hurt your feelings, then maybe you should look harder into what I'm saying and try to see it from my point of view because I've already seen the world from yours.
)) from this form alone that I think are wonderful folk. Same goes for Italians. I have Italian friends, but as a nation I wouldn't say we get on too well. 
