A reason to dislike the "Greatest Country"

Submitted by Yannick Declerck (Belgium), Oct 13, 2006 at 16:56

For you (and by that I mean Americans) to say that America is the best country in the world is actually a proof that you are not. Allow me to explain: if you were the best country, then you would also be the smartest country in the world. If you were the smartest, then you would also know that no country likes it when another one brags. The intellectual thing to do would be NOT to brag -as a good 'leader' should.
In fact, the way you constantly say to yourselves that you are the "Greatest Country in the World" is somewhat discriminating towards other nations. It would mean that I, as a "mere'"Belgian, am less important that you, simply because you happen to be an American. There isn't such a thing as "the Best Nation" or "the Greatest Country in the World" since all countries have problems including yours, as you say yourself.

You seem very convinced that everyone is jealous about being "the greatest". Have you ever been to another country? (Preferably not a third world country that still believes that in America all will turn out well for them.) As for me, I'm not jealous because I like history and culture -wich I can't find in America. (Not trying to sound offensive here.)

Yes, I know your country has saved mine twice, along with the rest of Europe. However, this doesn't neccesarely mean that we should agree with you about everything for all eternity. We still are entitled to our on opinion.

And now it's time for a histoy lesson (which I think you hate, since you obviously know nothing about it). America's reason to join WWI was because the Germans sank a commercial ship called the Lusitania. In WWII it was almost the same motive: the Germans sank commercial ships and -of course- the attack on Pearl Harbor. So, it wasn't about saving the people.

But let's assume that it was. Well, then we still wouldn't like America since you constantly keep saying that it was America and America ALONE that saved the world from evil (there is no such thing as ‘evil' in the first place, but that's another matter). You keep forgetting that we ALL fought during the wars. For example: When Belgium was atacked in 1914, our army was small and inexperienced. Yet we fought. When we were attacked again in 1940 by Nazi Germany, we faced a far better equiped, better trained and larger army. Whilst our's counted 600.000 men we had to fight against an overwhelming number of Germans. Yet we fought with great courage and we even stopped them for a brief moment (a day or two). Compare it to your Alamo if you will.

But those stories are never told in America. All you keep saying is: "WE are the greatest country in the world because WE saved it twice!" (sometimes with the additional thought that Americans are the Chosen People who God selected, but luckily that's not frequent). When you say you were the only ones, I find it disrespectful to those of other nations who fought and died, to say the least. It was because of us, non-Americans, who were at war longer than you during both wars that America came out victorious without too much damag; the best enemy soldiers had already been killed, leaving those who were tired of having to fight for years and were already demoralized because they knew that America was going to be the one who would simply tip the scale in to their disadvantage. They were no match for fresh troops, in this case: Americans.

And there you have it. It's a reason (in this case my own) to dislike America.

P.S. I am aware of the fact that not every American is stupid….just enough to ruin the country.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".