My opinion of USA is, unfortunately, very low at the moment, for the resons others have stated. I remember that shortly after 9/11 a Danish peace scientist (I guess it's some kind of historian) was asked the question of why so many people disliked USA. His answer was that since the USA had been waging war in close to a hundred different countries, during the last century, it's to be expected that they're not popular everywhere.
The image I have of USA at this moment, is an image of a totalitarian, almost fundamentalist country, where things like democracy and freedom of speech no longer matters. I'm sure this image isn't excactly correct, but that's the impression I get. When I see a "news" channel like fox news, and when I'm told that it is now the largest "news" channel (due to the war in Iraq), I feel like throwing up. How can democracy be expected to work, if most people watch a news channel that consists purely of propaganda and agitation against all political opponents? And on the subject of democracy; I have nothing against Americans, as a matter of fact, most Americans I've met have been very nice people, and one of my best friends is American. But saying that what their government is doing, isn't their fault, is wrong if you believe America is a democracy. In a democracy the government is given a mandate by the people, and Bush has been given two. Obviously I'm not saying all Americans agree with Bush, but it would seem that the majority does.
I also find it annoying that we still have to hear about 9/11 whenever someone criticizes ÚSA. In my book 9/11 is the date when the US supported a military coup in Chile, to topple the democratically elected Allende. Since 9/11 2001, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives in the resulting wars, and there is no indication of an end to those wars. I'm ahamed that Denmark joined the war in Iraq, and for me it's just one more reason why our government is incompetent.
Someone also mentioned Hollywood, which I think is another reason why USA is disliked by some people. Hollywood has a tendency to change history and usually just do whatever it pleases to make America seem superior to everyone else. In the cold war, the Soviet Union were always the bad guys in Hollywood movies, now it's always terrorists of some kind. It does give the impression that Hollywood is nothing more than a propaganda machine, echoing whatever the current president is saying (this is mostly true for Hollywood movies who require military aid to be produced, btw). Anyway, when you insist on dividing everything in good and bad, people may just look around and decide that you're actually the one who's bad.
I could go on and on about why and how much I dislike America, but it's not completely fair. I'd just like to say that there are many reasons to like America as well, although for me none of them are political. And remember this is not about hating the American people (although I'm not too crazy about anyone who voted for Bush).
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