I [heart] USA

I find it amazing that no matter where you are in the world, the general conception about Americans is that the are not concerned with thing occurring outside of their boarders. That young lady said it at the end of the pod and a group of my friends were having that same conversation in the library at uni Friday morning.

(correction):...We are both...other Canadian soldiers thought I was a Beeb too. Do they only think of them as Beebs in when they`re in Iraq. What about when they see them here at home and in their neighbourhood?...

Canadian soldiers call them “beebs”.

I recently hungout with one of my best friends and his army buddy while they played a very realistic Air Assault level on Call of Duty (game for Xbox360). They tossed about the word “beebs” and I asked to explain: “It`s what we call them, the Iraqis, the Habibs… the Beebs”. I grew up with this guy. I know him and his family not be racist at all. I`m not excited about his participation in the Canadian reserves but he is still my friend. However, this comment struck a wrong chord with me.

Later on I visited the mess hall at the armoury where he works. Amongst all the interesting decorative war pieces and books in the room, a green Taliban flag with Arabic writing hung in a picture frame and seemed out of place so I inquired about it. “Sargent Kenner got that when he was fighting in Iraq. He blasted like 15 Beebs in a cave and stole their flag.” I sensed a tone of pride within his answer. Wrong chord again.

We are both Canadians, born and raised, he`s white Italian and I`m of Caribbean background. I looked myself in the mirror this morning and with a buzzed haircut and a messy 5 o`clock shadow I wondered if, at first glance, other Canadian soldiers thought I was a Beeb too. Do they only think of them as Beebs around the city?

Talking about stereotypes. Canadians are supposed to be so friendly but even well brought up Canadians who become soldiers (in the reserves!) develop this type of attitude.

you guys do such amazing work. thank you. thank you. thank you.

Great pod!

I watched this pod, as well as the profile on Adam, on Current tv. He's a very talented dude who puts himself in the mix to get the stories out there for all to witness.
Much respect to him. This is another fine example of caring.

sweet!!!

go pyramids and camels and sand and archeology and tofu.

To lump all Arabs into the same boat with those to embrace terrorism exposes you as a bigot. Of course that is not entirely your fault. Our govenment has cynically encouraged just such feelings and beliefs in their quest to control what remains of the easy to get at fossil fuel.

Don't let them play you....wake up, if you are able.

I rather liked this pod. It was pretty informative to get a feel of what their opinions are about us (Americans) even if this isn't my native country. Hopefully after the upcoming elections their opinions of us will change immensely. But its refreshing to find out that they don't blame us for our governments current policies.

Liquidvideo, I will pray for you brother. I would like you to know that I am arab. In my icon that is one of my two daughters I am holding. I would NEVER EVER harm either one of them at any time for any reason. My father worked at the Pentagon and for the Department of Defense for over 30 years. I felt absolutly awful about what had happened to our country on 9/11/2001. Every time I drove past the wreckege I would feel sick to my stomach. I was in Manhattan a month after the attacks and looked at Ground Zero, It litereally looked like hell. When I filled out my Current profile in the section where it asks "What one thing would you like to change in the world." I filled in - "I would like to replace ignorance and hate with knowledge and understanding". Please feel free to contact me personally. I am willing to listen to everything you have to say. I will not insult you no matter what you say to me. I do not hate you or anybody else.

I would just like to say that all of the arabs I know that are here living in this country in this love the USA. Yes these people abroad may be able to say on camera negative comments against the United States, our foriegn policy and our President. Let me ask you this... Do you think they would dare tell you how they really feel about there own government polcies and there own leaders? People abroad may put down the United States of America, but they do not have the freedom to speak out against there own government without fear of being arrested or worse? HELL NO!!! You may get people to speak the truth about how they feel in private, maybe if they trust you,but never on camera. I know that they may here news from there state-run media outlets.
If you want to learn the basic FACTS about Egypt, follow this link -
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html

Liquidvideo, I flagged your post.

I've been doing a lot of travel recently, and I have to say that this captures the attitudes of many people around the world, and not just the region. great pod

excellent work. very informative, and a good indicator of where we stand in world opinion.
and to liquid video you are missing the point entirely and seem to have a bone to pick with "you arabs" which is totally disconnected from reality. those students didn't attack the us. nor did the entire muslim world. discussing anti-americanism around the world isn't itself anti-american in the least. it's exactly this sort of mentality, that americans or america are beyond criticism or questioning, that is so dangerous.

Liquidvideo, try to distinguish "them" a little more. "You Arabs" makes no sense. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Cairo is in Egypt. They are different countries....

I am sure that there are as many different opinions about the USA in Egypt as the are people living in Egypt. Was this pod about Egyptian opinion of the USA or of our President, George W. Bush? I would also like to know if the word "Israel" was intentionally left out of this pod. The lady who in this pod who supports the USA is made to look like she has been bought off, I am not sure that is the real picture. Maybe she likes the USA because our system of capitalism successfully works for her. I can only guess.

Overall I found this pod to be very informative. I would like to thank Adam Yamaguchi and Current for bringing this to me.

I have watched many of your pods and I find them all very informative. I consider this real journalism and news when compared to anything you see on a station like FOX. I also think that what you are doing is good as it gives people in other countries a chance to express how they feel about America and a chance for Americans to see and hear it from the people, not the politicians. As we know, politicians are supposed to represent the people, but that rarely comes through and I think these pods and other journalistic efforts like them will help bridge the gap between human to human opinions of foreign relationships where as now we mostly hear what our government thinks of their government and that is then transcended into a disliking of the nation and it's people when in reality people are rarely the one with the problems, but it is the leaders and their geopolitical interests with whom the real problems lie.

I think it would be cool if from these pods an international dialogue web site was opened up where people could chat and blog about the feelings we have on international issues such as the issue in this very pod. It would be a nice way for the people to bypass the politicians and express their opinions so we can see the human element of our nations foreign policies.

Any one who's traveled abroad recently knows that you carry a little extra baggage if you have US passport. We talk a lot about this theme in vanguard. And every time it comes up I think back to some advice that an old high school girlfriend once gave me: "It's not what you say, it's how you say it." Obviously, the Iraq war did not bode well for us. But I think its been the tone of our rhetoric and our general lack of statesmanship that's hurt our image the most. Diplomacy has always been a gentleman's game. Not a cowboy's.

Sometimes journalism involves a certain amount risk. Often we think of this risk as it involves being somewhere physically dangerous. But in Vanguard, we like to think that we push ourselves to take other kinds of risks also. For example, in this piece, the challenge was to find a way to get past the numbers in an opinion poll saying that attitudes toward the U.S. had declined further, and to try to get some interactions on camera that might illuminate the situation. In other words, why should Adam, Tracey Chang, and I go all the way to Cairo, Egypt, if Adam were simply going to read you some poll numbers? One of the things that we hope you see in the piece is that the Egyptians who don't like the U.S. government were still very nice to us--an experience that we often find around the world. For example, in July of 2007, Laura Ling and I were in Turkey, where only 9% of the public, according to some surveys, has a favorable opinion of the U.S. government, but we encountered no hostility as we traveled the length of the country. The other thing that we hope that you see is this piece that the U.S. State Department people in the Egypt are well aware of the situation, there are just not that many options open to them for improving America's image. So if this piece struck you, it's because we successfully made a little drama out of Adam's intellectual journey between the two sides--the Egyptians who don't like the U.S. government but seem as if they wished that they didn't, and the American diplomats who want to improve our image in Egypt, but can't. It's a model for our situation in a lot of other countries.