Quote:
Originally Posted by dmek25
and i think the main reason that the world hates us is because we are that naive to think that we can force our lifestyle on anyone we so choose. to me, unless a direct cry for help comes from any country, we take care of those that WANT our help
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The world hates us (and oftentimes loves) us for a lot of reasons, depending on who you ask. Some hate us because of our foriegn policy, others for our social attitudes and domestic politics (which many in the West view as overly conservative and many in the Middle East view as overly permissive), and others hate us because we are the world's sole superpower and are therefore to blame for everything that goes wrong in the world (see the speeches of every nutjob foreign dictator who uses as a scapegoat for everything).
As for forcing our lifestyle on others......we've done it before and it's worked (e.g., Germany, Japan, South Korea, Haiti, Bosnia) and we've also done it before when it failed (e.g., Vietnam, Somalia, and now Iraq). I don't believe the cry that you can NEVER force democracy on others.
I also believe very strongly that people do in fact (usually) yearn for democracy. When society is embroiled in chaos, people want order and dictators or ayatollahs and their militias can provide that. When society is not suffering from internal military conflict, they want democracy. It doesn't matter what you race or country's history is, everyone wants democracy after the guns have quieted.