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Originally Posted by stevo
The point of my rant is the people that hate us are not the people that see first hand what we do, but the americans that listen to their liberal professors and the liberal media. Liberal american college students who think they know what is going on in the world, the ones that think they are right and america is evil. Those are the ones that hate us and those are the ones that gobble up the liberal media's account of what is happening in iraq.
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Wow, that's viewing the world through rose-colored glasses. I'll certainly conceed that there are members of the far left that dislike American policies and the military, and it's unfortunate that your friend had to experience the worst that some close-minded idiots could dish out.
That said, I've spent a considerable amount time abroad, primarily in the UK, Russia, China and Italy, and I've met lots of "common folk" (which would include me while I'm here in the US btw). When I was in Russia in the summer of 2000 on a train for 3 weeks, I spent lots of time talking politics because most of the Russians wanted to know about Bush and how he could possibly be elected. When I went back in 2003, one guy that I had met basically said that he like me personally but that my government was out of control. And that's the way that I think that most of the world looks at us. Individually, they like Americans but they don't like our government. I don't like the Chinese government (although I have to admit that whenever I go from Eastern Russia into China I always tell myself "now the Chinese know how to run a country."
), but I have several friends over there, a couple of whom work in various government jobs.
Basically, I don't see why the experience of your friend gives you any reason to reject any one news story in the New York Times or the AP or any other American media outlet. The MSM certainly does filter their stories, but believe me, there are lots of anti-American government feelings out there. I have seen it up close, but most people are just too polite to let that skew their view of individual Americans. Can you say the same about how you view Arabs, for instance?