Jayne Cravens writes: When I announced to a Girl Scout troop leader here in Canby, Oregon that I was going to Serbia, she said in a cautious manner, “Oh, really? They hate us there. It’s not very safe” I asked her if she meant because of the NATO bombings years ago, or because of the USA stand regarding Kosovo. She looked at me confused and said, “No. They just hate us over there.” I’ve since found out she is of a different political persuasion than myself, one that cultivates a lot of fear and mistrust among Americans regarding Europeans. Sigh. All that such people miss… so sad…
I am a Brit who has been travelling to Serbia since the early 1990s (and during the wars) and I have never found any evidence of hatred of Americans. There is plenty of evidence of Serbs hating American POLICIES and it is true to say that Bill Clinton is hated, but the Serbs are intelligent enough to realise the difference between government policies and people. They also seem to be aware that Americans are usually ignorant of countries outside their own, and I have noticed that the Serbs appreciate America as the "land of plenty" that has helped many of their co-patriots find their feet and make a living. Word seems to have filtered back that most Americans don't agree with their own government and that foreigners are generally accepted when they turn up speaking good English (as travelling Serbs tend to).
American academics often portray the Serbs in a negative light. Americans, US policymakers and the international community have been fed lies and half-truths about Serbs for decades. Serbia has every reason to despise Americans. However, I do not know if Serbs do hate Americans.
Just want to add that I was in Belgrade in December 2009 and not only adored it, but was very, very welcomed by everyone (I never hid that I was American). But, then again, I was in Afghanistan in 2007 for six months and also was treated with amazing kindness while I was there, contrary to what I had been warned about. I think most people are willing to judge you by the content of your character rather than your government's policy.
Trust me,we don't hate Americans!
That's a stereotype,like so many more things about us,unfortunately… Serbia during the 1990-s,and Serbia now,are two completely different stories… We are trying to make things better,and it will be(just give us some time),but don't judge about whole nations based on CNN news!
I’ll just say that ANY man who decide to come to Serbia (not only Belgrade, of course) gonna’ feel like he is AT HOME! … No, even better.
Hate- is a strong word. I think most people here just disagree with American Politics, and that’s understandable considering all bad things we’ve been trough last 10 years.
And we are very hospitable to everyone, and I hope Americans are too, because this summer I’m going to visit them.
Regards
Generally we don’t hate Americans, surelly we hate USA politics.
)) ) and you will have a great time.
But we are very wellcoming people so if you don’t offend us, you will be treated better than at your home.
We don’t hate Americans because we know they are pretty much ignorant about anything else than USA, like autistic people sometimes seems to us. So there is a thing that we little despise Americans cause we think about them like uneducated people.
So you can’t be angry on a child if he does something wrong , that’s generally what we think, we can not expect something more from average American. It is just a true. Come freely, don’t be nasty or critic about us , don’t speak about politics (if you are against American politic you can
I'm American and I'm reading about Serbia almost everyday.. I saw pictures of the Belgrade and I think it's awesome and I really liked it.. Honestly, Maybe some serbs hate us (Americans), but I think that a most Serbian kids and teenagers love America because of singers and movies.. I have a couple of Serbian friends on facebook, and most of them are posting pictures of Britney Spears,Angelina Jolie and others.. I think that maybe adults hate us, but children and teens?- NO WAY!
Yes we hate USA POLITICS not USA people! Im Serbian! In world war 2 we save your pilots from NAZI hand many times in Serbia risking our own life! We lost 1 000 000 civilians from Croatinas nazi soldiers in Croiatin concetracion camps in world war 2 and in 1990 you suported Croatian indipendence! You sad that our soldiers are war criminals because they have been figting at KOSOVO ( SERBIAN COUNTY 1100 years ), and your soldiers defend USA in AFGANISTAN, IRAK, VIETNAM and so on. You have rigts to defend USA in formor country and we do not have in our own county. SHAME on your polics! Form me there is no big defrence betwen USA and NAZI GERMANI your politcs killed almoust same nomber off people! Think about this! Soldiers of Serbia figting and dying in they own coutry and USA soldiers dying in foreighn country! Thets defrence betwen US!
It’s strange you say The United States of America is like Nazi Germany when it was Serbian Concentration/Rape/Ethnic Cleansing camps that existed in the 1990′s, accompanied by targeting of civilians and mass Croation murders at the hands of Serb “Soldiers.” We (Americans) don’t hate Serbs, but as per World War 2 and Serb-Croation conflict have a policy against Concentration/Ethnic Cleansing Camps.
In reference to the bombing it was NATO not US Bombing, but yes the US was wrong in not deploying ground troops. The Serbian military would have been under control within…a week maybe two days, and that could have stopped Croation deaths.
Mark, don´t fool yourself. the US officials in charge knew very well why they didn´t dare to send ground troops against Serbia.
We Serbs do not hate ordinary Americans of course, but it was your country behind the illegal NATO-aggression against a sovereign european country in 1999. So may go on with your phantasies about defeating Serbia within ” a week or maybe two days”… while the number of dead G.I.´s in Iraq and Afghanistan is still growing by the day.
and you have the guts to write comments like these… I´m glad that you belong to a minority among the ordinary US-citizens…
We are not taught anything about Serbia in school, and it’s extremely rare to hear about it in any media. So naturally I became curious to learn about them/it several years ago. However, sadly, I’ve never met a Serb who didn’t show extreme disrespect toward me once he found out where I was from, and few even seem willing to tolerate my existence on the Earth. One even went as far as to threaten genocide once “America collapses” and they seem all too willing to go out of their way to throw every insult imaginable, from fringe conspiracy claims, to things as petty and pointless things such as the age of the country as if it was an insult.
I read a statistic that said 6% of Serbs view America positively, and I was shocked to learn it’s that high, as I’ve never met one who didn’t hate me just for being alive.
I wish people could get along, but in my experience it only works when people don’t live with a chip on their shoulder.
They Don’t Hate us
This is a big lie started by the media. I worked in kosovo for three years and Bosnia for 1. I also made numerous trips to Serbia. Two of the years I workedd in kosovo I lived with Serb families. They treated me like their own son or brother. Many times they would prepare a meal for me to eat even when they did not have food for themselves. We were not liked by some in the start but we had just dropped bombs on the wrong side. The Serb people may dislike our political leaders and they have a right to. Because they have had a big part of their country taken and give to the Albanians.
There were someone here that said Americans are stupid. That is not true my Serbian friend. They just don’t care because they don’t understand the cost of Freedom, and they have never had to fight for there country as You serbs have. But Americans are far from Stupid trust me. To my Serbian friends I say start making the rakia now I will be comming one day soon to eat and drink and dance one the tables with you.!!!!!!!