My thoughts on the United States of America.

The United States is probably the most known country in the world. It is not the biggest country in the world, nor the most populated one. However, it seems that most people in this world have some sort of relationship with the United States. Whether they love or hate the country, it is always some sort of opinion or impression about it. If you go to a country troubled by poverty, you may find many people dreaming about the day they will finally escape their wretched, miserable lifestyle. When you ask them where they want to go, many of them will answer "the United States of America".

When people think about America, they may hear words such as "the land of opportunity" "the American dream", and "a new start". You could say the United States' reputation has split in half. You have one part where it is a glorious land where anyone can get famous and successful, and you have one part where it is a country dominated by rich crooks, rednecks and obesity. Personally, I am a bit critical to the United States. Of course, as any country, there is a lot of great people there, but there are also many people there that I do not think that highly of. I am not saying that I think that a certain part of the United States' population defines the US as a whole, but it is a big part nonetheless.

If you would ask a random person from the Middle East about what he or she thinks about the United States, odds are that the person will not speak very highly of it. However, if you ask a random person from a country in the West, the chance of he or she being more positive about the US is a lot bigger. There can be several reasons for this. I believe that the most prominent of these reasons is that when we are in Norway, we are often exposed to the more positive things from America. We see American series and shows on the television, we use American products in our daily life, we eat American food for dinner. Of course, I would not say that it is directly positive that many Norwegians eat food from McDonalds once a week, but you get my point.

Now, if you move yourself to a country of the third world, you will find that there is a substantial difference from the Western countries. This might be because of that mostly the negative parts of the US reach the surface there. For example, I highly doubt that the average Iraqi has watched the Batman movies. If he or she remembers the "War on Terror", however, is more likely. Due to the United States' slightly controversial history, they have left many negative marks all over the world.

I myself believe that there are many wonderful parts of the United States, as well as the many not so positive ones. Look at American politics. A large part of the American population votes for the Republican party. The equivalent of the Republican party in Norway would be considered as extreme. While gay rights is barely a question in Norway, homosexual marriage is only allowed in one out of 50 states in the US. The American gun rights are based of a constitution that was written over 200 years ago! Thanks to capitalism, an American citizen's rights and priviligies are in many ways decided by the size of your income. I can safely say that I feel a lot safer living in Norway than if I were to live in the United States of America.

This picture is not meant to be taken seriously,
and is exclusively meant for comedic purposes

But of course, these things do not define the US. No matter how much we try denying it, American culture is everywhere. We are influenced by the United States in almost everything we do! Whether it is what we wear, what we watch, even how we speak, it all contains traces of American culture. I cannot say that I am exclusively positive or negative to America. I love some sides of it, and I despise other parts. All I know is that we cannot deny the fact that the United States is an incredibly important and influencing country in today's world. It is a great country, but Norway is honestly the place for me.

Lastly, I would also like to add that American cheese is not really cheese. I find that very disturbing.

Sources:

http://blogs.cbn.com/thewebblog/archive/2009/01/22/americas-second-largest-export.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Us_constitution
http://randomstuffihate.com/2008/03/04/american-cheese-is-not-real-cheese/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/01/11/who-loves-and-hates-america-a-revealing-map-of-global-opinion-toward-the-u-s/
http://www.who.int/countries/usa/en/

Pictures:

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/603789_514525098602746_108493436_n.jpg
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/graphics/flags/large/us-lgflag.gif