Is there even such a thing?

[Digoy]

Is there such a thing as being anti-American, anti-Canadian, anti-(insert nationality here)?

Does any one human being have the ability to hate an entire country and it's people?

If anti-anything does exist, how can you discern the difference between not liking certain aspects of that country and not liking an entire country?

Thoughts?

[The Duck]

Heh, ask the iraqi's, isn't that proof enough for you? They're decapitating americans over there...

[nihil]

Yes, it certainly is, just ask a lot of Palestinians what they think about Israel. And I would say that suicide bombing is about as definitive statement of that hatred as can be made.

EDIT: sorry I forgot the second part:

If anti-anything does exist, how can you discern the difference between not liking certain aspects of that country and not liking an entire country?

Well, in the latter case you generally get something specific like: " I don't like England, the beer is warm and it is always raining" or maybe you don't like the policies of the current government (China maybe?).

[@tt!tud3]

there are a lot of anti-whatever rednecks around the globe, but most of them are sorta created or brainwashed by either religion or propaganda.

antiWhatever->extreme?insane:sane;

[JonnyFrond]

This is an interesting one.

There is a model of psychology around that says that people are born racist, or xenophobic and that we learn to be tolerant of others. This is a very loose comment by the way.

I personnally like this model of thinking, based on the premise of survival, if you look at a lot of nature, there are many examples of this, take for example young geese; there has been experiments ot show that they become distressed at the shape of a flying bird of prey, and they are warmed to the shape of a flying goose.

While I hear people all over the place saying "but I'm not a duck", I think it is interesting to note that this phenomena is present in the genetic makeup so to speak. It is natural to be wary of people that are different, and it is a healthy responce, though in this day and age, I personally would argue that it is outdated, but try telling that to your body makeup.

Having said all that, there are many elements that make up a culture, and these elements are often at odds. Take the very British trait of giving people personal space; most british people will speak to someone at s didstance of 3-5 feet, yet many other cultures do not have a problem with being closer than that when in conversation (I am talking about when you don't know someone well). Now for someone to come into that boundary could be seen as threatening on one side, yet friendly from the other. This is the art of miscommunication on a cultural level.

Another example could be looking at how a culture views the world and what is in it. In the west, we will tend to eat what we think is exceptable i.e. veg, farmed animals or game. Go to China, particularly in the south, and they eat anything, and in fact the whole belief system at a deep scale is very different than our own.

This to me is what people say when they don't like a culture, they are saying "I don't trust your body language and your system of what is right or wrong, it makes me nervous".

Personnally, I find wonder and amazement in all expression whether I agree with it or not, and I like to give the benefit of the doubt on the more positive stance that we are generally loving individuals that like to give out and receive in varying amounts. This way it makes it hard for me to judge a whole nation, though it is very hard in our current world to not take a stance one way or another, but this I see as media led and not grounded in the real world where misinformation and disinformation are rife.

After saying all of this, I don't like the french and their language of love and their untouched country side but I think that is jealousy not xenophobia.

Did I mention I don't know much about computers?

[Digoy]

I personally use a guideline to distinguish anti-(insert country here).

1) An antagonism towards the country that is systemic, seeing it as being inevtiably flawed and/or evil.
2) Views that greatly exaggerate a country's shortcomings.
3) A misperception of a country's society which falsely portrays them as malevolent or ridiculous.

It's not very hard to see which posters do that (*hint*cough*), you can spot them in an instant.

[@tt!tud3]

Originally posted here by Digoy
I personally use a guideline to distinguish anti-(insert country here).

1) An antagonism towards the country that is systemic, seeing it as being inevtiably flawed and/or evil.
2) Views that greatly exaggerate a country's shortcomings.
3) A misperception of a country's society which falsely portrays them as malevolent or ridiculous.

It's not very hard to see which posters do that (*hint*cough*), you can spot them in an instant.

Beautiful Digoy, by your selective criteria, Americans must be,anti-Iraq, anti-Iran, anti-Vietnam, anti-Venesula, anti- Columbia, anti-Cuba, anti-syria, anti-North Korea, anti-Laos, anti-Cambodia, anti-Nicaragua, etc; no nation hates like America, every country you have bombed, you have portrayed as flawed and evil, you have greatly exagerated their shortcomings and portrayed them as malevolent and rediculous.Why do Americans hate the world?