Friday, August 22, 2008

Image USA - Not good?

Recently I was asked to comment on the image of the United States globally considering it is so negatively viewed and often reviled:


The USA image isn't reality but perception molded by media and political forces, many of which are greatly biased. History reveals that of the evils (as you might choose to say) committed by the USA, there are many other countries who have done the same. The point is not that the USA is no worse than others, but that it too has made mistakes.
However, no country has undertaken the restoration of countries damaged by warfare as greatly as the USA. No country has sustained an international forum for global care like the USA has with the UN, Red Cross, WHO etc. Charitable actions by NGO's from the USA are in more places and with more resources given, than ANY other country. The education institutes of the USA provide opportunity for more foreign students than any other country.

For all that is wrong of the USA, there is much more than equal good which is extended globally.

My view of the USA is that it suffers from an excess of riches that have rapidly come to a decline; that its citizens are apathetic, ungrateful, spoiled and naive; that its government is lethargic by its immense size and bureaucratic entanglements; and that it has wasted its resources and damaged its land with pollutants. These are the same faults as can be found in most countries. However, the USA is judged to be the worst because its citizens are generally better off that those of other countries and they are expected to behave better for it.
USA sins are deemed greater than the same sins of other countries, because of its greatness.


My $.02