Re: Mitt Romney and America's Single Greatest Challenge

[tharnax]

I think America's greatest challenge is having to go through this ENTIRE video without a glimpse of Jamie's gorgeous boobs! Smart and beautiful. *sigh*

[Salvatrucho213]

I have a solution to fixing America's reputation STOP VOTING FOR STUPID REPUBLICANS!

I saw the youtube debates and I was shocked. When they were talking about gun control I figured they weren't just stupid but crazy. They booed Guliani because he is for gun control and not giving guns to the mentally ill. Republicans are nut cases, I hope your not a republican.

[st8detroit]

r u serious. why you keep twitching?

[bearmare]

You have to wonder how the world got this view of the US. Generally, Americans are seen as rude tourists where I live. And then there was that day when a US warship arrived in the harbour. It was there to only take on supplies, but it did make everyone nervous.

[bearmare]

It's not a recent thing that the rest of the world preceives America this way. This has been coming since the end of WW2. America is preceived as a cultural empire, if not a military one. The presense of USA is global and in the faces of many peoples.

[addicc]

Ron Paul!

[heathazed]

Excellent points you make.

[islandbeats80]

well hellooooo there jaime.....u soo cute, let me holla at u..lol

[dazs42020]

(not american), however i do agree.fixing americas reputation and image in the world community is key. i have met several americans at airports with cdn flags on their packs posing as canadians (afraid to be american?). from a country with centuries old rock-solid foundations, and until recently, a devoted world reconstructor? i am amazed by how well america handled the post WWII years.... where did all that love go?anyways just some thoughts from north of 49. peace out neighbours

[Razela]

I admit that I traveled with a Canadian flag on my backpack while in Europe. It's actually kind of sad, but I learned from my first trip that there are certain places in Europe that you just don't want to be an American. I saw it as a safety issue.

[fusui1219]

I travel with a Swiss flag while I'm in the US... But yeah, my question is if the good vs. bad thing makes us look insensitive to individuals and cultures, doesn't that make people in other countries look... you know... The same, if they don't like somebody for being an American?

[Razela]

Well, it's not an issue in every country. In most of the UK and Ireland people seemed to like Americans or at least tolerate us. Especially in Scotland, where they considered us like their brothers in arms against England since we both fought for independence. Oh, and in Israel they fawn over anyone who's remotely American. It depends on where you are. There are good places and bad, but it seems like the good places are getting harder to come by.

[fusui1219]

lol well the Scots hate me, I'm Catholic.. that's liable to get you knifed in some places

[seekNdiscernment]

Tacos,

How you are truely striving to be the arch-typical ugly american.

[Tacos25n28]

Your an idiot and a dick. WOW we said SHIT FUCKING CUNT HEAD!... You then say we must be ugly americans... What a pice of shit you must be to be able to say some stupid shit like that.

Think next time and read what we said. Dont just see the shit and fuck in our comments.

[Tacos25n28]

Fuck you. Where did you go where you dont feel safe? YOUR A FUCKING IDIOT. The US problem is ass hats like this guy NOT HOW THE US LOOKS TO OTHERS. If we cared about how we looked we should have let Germany win in WW2 because they looked like they would have won.

More religion in schools? YOUR A FUCKING ASS CUNT IDIOT FUCK FACE!!!! If you think we need more religion you need a shit kick. If that was just a slip up ignore this part.

[Razela]

I usually wouldn't even reply to this. I don't mind if you disagree with me, but you'd have better luck if you were a little nicer.

Anyways, as to your last comment about religion. I didn't say that we need more religion (I actually believe quite the opposite) but considering that most of the wars in our world are over ideological or religious differences, it's important that people are educated about different religions.

[Tacos25n28]

Its good you did not take total offense to us. And we find it amazing that you can come up with this smart insight in this comment. We wish more people where like you. Willing to consider and think. With out having some huge problem with people disagreeing with them or saying " bad lang "

[Gjallarhorn00]

You are right that America might be presided as a war mongering nation as well as not fully able to be understandable to some of the rest of the western world.

That said we are your allies and we will always stand behind you. That's what NATO is fore.

You talk about dialog but I don't think that is the problem. "The problem" is the way American media portray America through all types of media.

Greetings from Norway.

[cmcespedes2]

It is curious that people here talk about learning other people's culture and yet, Newt Gingrich talks about iliminating Spanish in school and also those people that want to declare English as the official language of the U.S. in order to separete themselves from other people. All that is ignorance and racism. But reading the posts here gives me hope.

[fazoolfc]

Gee, calling terrorists bad is insensitive? How horrible of us.

[Razela]

Sorry, I was just talking and didn't realize that it sounded that way until I went back and watched it after your comment. I think a better word would have been "simple." In other words, the world isn't so simple that everything is split into good verse evil. Things are far more complicated than that, and as a student who studied terrorism and US security, it is rarely so easy to distinguish between the "good" and the "evil." Hope that's a better explanation.

[Bpropaganda]

You are correct, but anti-American sentiment around the world doesn't stem from Operation Iraqi Freedom (it existed much longer). For decades, nations have shifted dissent against themselves (near enemy) on to America (far enemy). We have been the scapegoat for decades and haven't defended ourselves. America has now addressed this problem and created Al Hurrah (the Free One), in order to clarify our actions and express our ideas to the Arab world. Thank you for voicing your opinion.

[seekNdiscernment]

What do you personally know about the other nations of the world?

I mean this not to accuse. But think about it. Can you hear a name of any country in the world and be able to point out where it is?

I fear much of our bad reputation stems far more from our collective disinterest, evidenced by our failure to individually learn of other nations or about other nations and cultures, than it is by our policy.

Granted if we were all more informed our policy would be better.

[Razela]

No offense taken. I've done a lot of traveling and even spent a few months living abroad. It's not much, but it's something.

As to my geography, I could point out most countries but mostly because my international business course had us take tests each week on where the countries in the world are.

[seekNdiscernment]

Too delve deeper, how much history do you personally know of these nations? I think Bprop has an interesting point in the possibility that resentment and disdane has been around for far longer than either the Iraq or Israel issues.

[Razela]

I absolutely agree with you in your last point. That's why I mention near the end of my video that I think that cultural learning should be required education. There is definitely a stigma that Americans don't know anything about the rest of the world, and sadly it has basis in reality. I think that spending more time educating students on other cultures and religions would really help to alleviate a lot of the "reputation" problems that America now faces.

[seekNdiscernment]

Do you have any ideas for implementing a required cultural education?

Meaning not to be the pessimist, but I'm curious. How you determine which cultures, depth, or even discove how to make such education effective? In utopia there would be alot that would be nice for us to know. My view is-we are all sufficiently different from each other so as to make such endeavors very difficult, frought with dangers of instilling group-think on massive scales.

[Razela]

I think your right that there is so much diversity in the world that it is a complicated and broad subject to teach. In general I think that schools would do a lot better even in just sticking to world current events. When I first got a subscription to the Economist I was surprised at how many conflicts there were in the world that I knew nothing about, probably because they don't directly affect the US and are rarely reported on here.

[WillsWords]

Excellent response. You make your point well, and you even offered some solutions. It was refreshing after reading some of the unreal text comments.