Why is America loved and admired, yet at the same time hated so much throughout the world?

The reason for the love is simple.

The American Dream.

Immigrants came in droves and still continue to come in droves to achieve it.

The American dream is simply the opportunity to live and work and advance socially. It's upward mobility of classbased on work.

Because in America, class has never been about your parents. It's been about what you have and where you're going.

An immigrant could always hope that with hard work and competence he would be able to set up his own business; might in time buy or build his own home; that his children might become doctors or lawyers; that his grandchildren might become president or a CEO.

And though people scoff at it and say it doesn't exist. And it' true that nowadays there are plenty of countries where a hardworking immigrant can build a better life for themselves. But it does exist does exist and we are faced with the reality of it every day: just check these children of immigrants:

Or this child of a single mother....

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Of course not everyone is so successful. Inherited wealth is still a thing. And of course probably always will be.

People who don't like the USA tend to focus on this. They ignore examples like Barack Obama, the son of a single mother and a Kenyan and focus instead on people like this.

Sons of the upper class. The Evil White Establishment.

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They see the fact that leaders like Donald Trump or George W Bush, the sons of the upper class, of the Evil White Establishment as being the norm. And that undermines the concept of the American Dream; and they argue the fact that privelaged persons are in positions of power disproves the American Dream or points to some basic American hypocrisy.

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And that probably leads to the single biggest reason why people don't like, or 'hate' America.

Hypocrisy.

I mean, it's undeniable. How else do people explain the USA's warm relationship with the brutal bloody Saudi ARabia while they simultaneously classify the more modern, more moderate Iran as an enemy for decades?

I'm not saying that I think that Iran's theocratic regime is great; but I definitely know that Saudi Arabia is not.

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And America's democratic ideals also expose hypocrisy: how can we support democracy and encourage it in one country while undermining it in others? And there's no doubt that's happened in many countries--even in countries that were considered allies.

And of course there are many domestic stories expose a certain deficit between the Ideal and the Reality; racism, poverty--well, it all comes down to injustice, doesn't it? Is JUSTICE what America is supposed to stand for? And there are many examples that show that it's not true.

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The Ugly American

It's easy to find criticisms of the American character online: we're loud, we're brash, we're rude, we ask stupid questions,  we feel entitled, we dress badly. (not sure why people care about this last one, but it's an accusation you see levelled at us time and time again.). I think most Americans will admit that there are plenty of our fellow countrymen who fit this stereotype all too well.

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the Friendly American

But we're also giving, generous, helpful, friendly kindly to strangers. And people who visit often see that side to us, which is not necessarily reflected in the media we bombard the world with.

But that leads me to another thing.

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Bombardment by media.

One of the USA's biggest exports is culture. Movies, TV shows, music. WE do it and we sell it to the world. American symbols are everywhere, T shirts, products...

You see people dressed like this as much abroad as you do in the USA itself.

And though it's not for everyone, American culture is obviously very popular. It sells. WE do entertainment good. Americans should be proud of that, in my opinion.

Even news footage, even local news footage, is exported abroad and shown on TV in other countries.

I've seen articles in Europe from online news sources that were translated nearly word for word from an American source(though bits of information is often left out to paint a rather distorted picture to the reader--because the 'crazy and disturbing America' concept is one that sells.)

But the truth is, some people get sick of it.

The effect makes people feel that America and Americans are just attention whores. Like the most popular girl in class. They ight not consciously think that, but the effect is the same.

And people want to take the most popular girl in class down sometimes. What a bitch.

Which leads to another reason.

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Envy. I won't dwell on it too much. Non-Americans will howl that it doesn't exist. They will make argue that it is completely irrational. They will declare me wrong. But there is in some countries, particularly countries with rich, proud pasts an element of envy to anti-Americanism.

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And then there's the policies.

I won't post pictures of the policies the United States government has pursued that had led to tragedy and death. There's no doubt that no matter how hard the United States might try to live true to it's ideals an empire is going to behave like an empire.

And leave a trail of blood. Plenty of people have reasons to hate the USA.

And, sadly, Americans are all too unware of them.

Now some may love us for an action;  at the same time, others will not.

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I hate national, ethnic or racial stereotypes. Horrible things. But it's very ture that all-too-many Americans really are ignorant. And while in the context of the USA it makes total sense to be so, there's no doubt that that ignorance allows them to go blissfully unaware of some of the darker actions that the USA has taken to support it's American Dream.