[chrischen]

Approval is moot, as US presidential approval is rarely that high, but most Americans will probably support their government over a foreign one, as most people will support their own government (it's only rational).

I think China is big enough that it operates in much the same way as any large organization... that is to say it will be doing so many things that there will be plenty to disapprove of. Whether they do more or less harm than Americans is up in the air, but my point is really that both China and America both do some pretty disagreeable things. And yes, if you ask the Americans they will say they do less evil things, as if you ask a Chinese citizen they will most likely say America is more evil or in the best case (from my experience at least) they will say America is just as evil.

I think one of the primary anecdotal experiences I've had is that I've asked my Chinese relatives and they acknowledge China's horribly corrupt and evil, but they think America is equally as bad... whereas most Americans are ignorant of our own problems.

Unfortunately since there's really only two major world powers and spheres of influences right now, there isn't a whole lot of competition and wherever you go you'll step on some unsavory things.

[throwaway0a5e]

>but they think America is equally as bad... whereas most Americans are ignorant of our own problems.

Takes more than a small serving of cognitive dissonance to say that here. We can't talk about anything but the most narrowly scoped niche technical subject without a bunch of people having a circle jerk about how America is doing it wrong/evil/should be more like (rich western) Europe/etc.

[chrischen]

In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t if something is slightly more rotten than the other thing or a lot more rotten. They’ll both end up spoiling.

I was educated in America from K to 12 and some college, across 3 different states and even 3 years in Canada (where they actually shat on America a lot). Most of what we are taught about freedom or democracy is bullshit. When it comes down to our foreign policy at least it’s really just us or them. The cognitive dissonance is in holding that belief that we are actually helping the countries we invade or topple via the CIA.

[alduin32]

> as most people will support their own government (it's only rational).

I think that this is an interesting discussion by itself. Is nationalism rational by itself ?

I don't have many interesting arguments to make about it, but if I would argue that it's not so evident that it is rational behavior, but rather an irrational behavior that stems from the way our society is structured.