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July 30, 2006
Americans aren't crazy about the American way, either
Many Americans are angry about the way our country behaves in the world, and a letter to the editor in a recent issue of Newsweek magazine is just one expression of this. Rev. David A. Vogan wrote, "All my life I've been learning that the American way to solve problems is to kill people." Please, those of you elsewhere in the world, join with us to change things for the better.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 1:05 PM | Comments (1)
Back online after another hacker attack
We've suffered this weekend from another online assault. Our websites were hacked by someone who doesn't like LoveUsHateUS.com, even though this website was set up to garner opinions from around the world. If you came here yesterday you saw a black screen with violent anti-American and pro-Lebanon statements. Ironically, there is more anti-American sentiment allowed expression at LoveUSHateUs.com than you'll find on perhaps any other US-hosted site, and we are as a company committed to global perspectives in general, and to seeking out global perspectives on the United States. Our conviction is that Americans need to understand how people elsewhere see the world, and the United States, in order to operate more appropriately, and humbly, in the global community.
If you are the person responsible, please take time to read some of the comments on the main site.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2006
What the world thinks about America at WatchingAmerica.com
I really should be reading WatchingAmerica.com every morning, but here it is 5.45pm and I'm finally taking a look. I was intrigued to find a story that shows more subtle attitudes about the United States (not much subtle about most of the news today), in an article from a London paper, "BUZZ HAD TO FIX MOON LANDER WITH BIRO". It highlights how what the world thinks of them is important to Americans: "The US Government had already ordered NASA to cut links with the astronauts if disaster loomed. They did not want the world watching pictures of the Americans spinning off into space."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 5:49 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2006
Hacking and obscenities--please stop!
An exciting day at LoveUsHateUS.com, where we discuss what the world really thinks about America. Comments continue to come in, and we encourage you to share anecdotes and perspectives. But, please, no obscenities. If you check the recent entry from "King George" you will see that we had to delete some text and **** a number of words. This site is used by teachers and students trying to understand world opinion, and we do have to set some standards.
Some people think we're going too far by allowing rants, but, in our opinion, rants sometimes convey accurately how someone sees things. It may not be rational, but it's real. Wars aren't rational either. In my opinion, that is.
We won't edit your opinion, and we will publish all comments as long as they do not advocate violence. But we will put the brakes on obscenity. The odd thing about the comment by "King George" is that it was well-written, in complete and correct sentencing, correctly spelled. Come on, George, please raise your sights and give us something more we can publish.
Besides that, our forum has been hacked by, seemingly, a Turkish operation ("acp100 from ay yildiz tim"). This is a new one for us and we'll now have to figure out how to restore the system.
Posted by Karen Christensen at 11:48 AM | Comments (1)
July 5, 2006
It's really the WORLD Cup (unlike the "World" Series)
It's such to watch the buzz about the World Cup, and to know that it really is the WORLD playing. I can't count the number of times I've been ribbed by non-American friends about our calling the annual baseball championship the World Series. A silly name, and, no, it's not called that because it was sponsored by a paper called the World News. That's an urban legend. I'm afraid it's plain old American hubris, something that raises its head from time to time.
Of course it wold have been nice to see an African or Latin American country in the semifinals. Amusing to see that it was "old Europe."
Posted by Karen Christensen at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)