Why do some Americans support the bombing/invasion of foreign countries?

r/

Why do Americans seem to be so keen to invasion, and to show the strength of their country?

Like some of the Americans I have seen on YouTube/Reddit whenever there’s issues with a foreign country
there’s always comments like

“Shouldn’t mess with the US!”

“Luckily our country doesn’t erradicate your whole third world country!” and a lot more that I don’t remember, so I wanted American users to answer this set of questions, I’m asking kindly if you don’t feel like answering just don’t I guess:

  1. Do you guys agree with this violent mindset?
  2. Do most Americans think like this?
  3. Do you think the usage of nuclear weapons/bombings is wrong?
  4. Are you religious?

Comments

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  2. Stoic-Jake Avatar

    You sound like someone that needs some bombing right now.

  3. DraperPenPals Avatar

    Nationalism fueled by propaganda

    1.) No

    2.) No – most Americans want our politicians to focus on our own problems

    3.) Yes

    4.) No

  4. Clarknt67 Avatar

    Propaganda. Xenophobia. Immaturity.

  5. Blue387 Avatar

    Right-wing and conservative Americans don’t reflect all of us

  6. porkchopespresso Avatar

    Judging a country by YouTube comments is pretty rough. It’s like judging all of France by watching the fans on the sidelines running next to the bikes in the Tour de France.

  7. chri8nk Avatar
    1. No

    2. No

    3. Yes

    4. No

  8. WashuOtaku Avatar

    OP should not mess with the r/AskAnAmerican subreddit.

  9. ReadinII Avatar

    There are loudmouths in every country. They tend to be young (which is reddit’s largest demographic) and they don’t represent the larger population.

    > Do you guys agree with this violent mindset?

    Most Americans do not. 

    > Do most Americans think like this?

    No

    > Do you think the usage of nuclear weapons/bombings is wrong?

    In general yes. 

    > Are you religious?

    Some Americans are, some aren’t. 

  10. LivingGhost371 Avatar

    Letting yourself get punched without punching back is good way to draw more punches, whether it’s from the school playground bully or America. And if you punch someone bigger than you, typically you find yourself on the losing end. If Japan didn’t want their cities firebombed and a-bombed to ashes, they shouldn’t have launched an unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor. If Afghanistan didn’t want to be invaded, they should have turned over Bin Ladin to US custody for vengeance after he launched an unprovoked attack on the US. And doing nothing in resonse to the first World Trade Center attack is what encouraged the terrorists to do it a second time.

  11. NeptuneHigh09er Avatar
    1. No.
    2. I sure hope not. But we sure have plenty of internet trolls. 
    3. Yes.
    4. No.  
  12. Inspi Avatar

    No

    No

    Maybe. Dropping them on Japan was a necessary evil compared to the alternative. Can’t think of a good use for any since then.

    Yes, but privately, I’m not going to show up on YouTube spouting endless crap just to get attention. 

  13. thatsad_guy Avatar

    Stop taking what anonymous reddit users say and youtube comments as a good sample of the US

  14. Synaps4 Avatar
    1. Don’t take all the comments you read online as what someone believes. A lot of the “shouldnt have messed with the US!” is a black joke based on the US’s past history of invading everybody.

    2. A surprising number of people do have a “might makes right” mindset, but I think you’d be surprised to find how many of your countrymen have it too. I have seen it in every country I’ve lived in, from France to Japan. It’s not a majority but its not a small minority either.

    3. The usage of bombings is not by itself wrong. There are good arguments that we saved a lot of people and even countries with our interventions in Kosovo and Kuwait. That said, the majority of our bombings don’t seem to be right.

    4. Why do you ask? Asking about religion doesn’t seem to connect to the rest of your topic.

  15. Word2DWise Avatar

    Why would you ask a bunch of individuals monolithic questions about a whole society?

    I can tell you my own opinion:

    1. I agree that if there is a resource we need and diplomacy is off the table, violence is a viable alternative solution. 
    2. I’m not qualified to tell you what most of Americans think
    3. Are all other viable options off the table, and the reason important enough?  Then yes. For example, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, those bombs saved hundred of thousand of American lives.
    4. No
  16. Grunt08 Avatar

    >Why do Americans seem to be so keen to invasion

    Because you’re not very good at reading us.

    >Like some of the Americans I have seen on YouTube/Reddit

    You are choosing both where you look and which comments matter when you do this. You shouldn’t need to be told that that’s not a representative sample of anything.

    1. As you’re framing it, generally no. But you’re dealing with a caricature so that doesn’t say much.

    2. Same as the first.

    3. Not inherently, no. Weapons are tools and if we need to use them we should. Wherever you live, you’re safe because someone somewhere is worried about being bombed if they threaten you.

    4. Yes.

  17. XayahTheVastaya Avatar

    If you cherrypick enough dumb comments, you can say pretty much anything about any given group of people. I think many Americans would support intervening in the case of something like the Houthi strikes on civilian shipping, the question is how “proportional” is acceptable. I think the WWII nuclear bombings were a tragedy that may have avoided a larger tragedy, like an extended bombing campaign or invasion with even more casualties. Yes I am religious.

  18. Ryebread095 Avatar

    You’re looking at the loudest internet people, some of whom are surely bots, and attributing that to a whole country. I recommend getting offline for a bit.

  19. textbookamerican Avatar

    I think this is mostly online commenters. Most of my friends and family in real life do not want the USA to use military force unless it’s absolutely necessary. A lot of politicians buy stocks in armaments before voting for this shit and then try to get the public on board and most people right and left disprove of this. However some right leaning people take pride in the fact that America has a superior military, though most of us can see through the bull shit and don’t want it to be abused by politicians.

    Also, I think the use of nuclear weapons is our greatest threat to humanity

    I’m slightly religious

  20. Stickyy_Fingers Avatar

    Invasion of whom? Americans would be more supportive of war if we faced off against a dictatorial state, self-defense, terrorist threats, achieving broader ideological etc. Examples include Japan and Nazi Germany for WWII, the German Empire WWI, Iraq during the Gulf War, North Vietnam in the first half of escalation in the 60s, Al-Qaeda/Taliban during the War on Terror, etc. Other than that, people aren’t as jingoist, using the example of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

    To answer the questions you numbered:

    1. Not really, but I do believe firmly in America’s position as the custodian of the international system, and some wars are necessary, even though I despise war with every ounce of my being.
    2. I don’t think so, but swells of patriotism that turn into hawkishness have happened before. Most people are not bloodthirsty.
    3. Yes, but I wouldn’t rule out its use entirely during conflicts, and when absolutely necessary can be used.
    4. Yes
  21. Coro-NO-Ra Avatar

    > “Luckily our country doesn’t erradicate your whole third world country!”

    Small dogs will bark.

  22. Safe-Ad-5017 Avatar
    1. No
    2. No
    3. Depends
    4. Yes
  23. AddemF Avatar

    I believe in violence against aggressive nations. Russia, for example, deserves bombing and invasion.

    For non-aggressive nations, we should not invade.

  24. Subvet98 Avatar

    I want to pull our military back to our own borders. We need just enough to secure our own borders.

  25. Pingu779 Avatar

    Every country has its own version of people like that. The Americans who say stuff like that are mostly driven by nationalism and propaganda

  26. D-Rich-88 Avatar
    1. Highly dependent on the context.

    2. Probably not, but again context matters. If this was after 9/11, then yes most people probably had a mindset not far from this.

    3. Nuclear weapons should never be used first. If someone else attacks with them, then there’s not much choice. Conventional bombing is different, and again heavily depends on context.

    4. I was raised Catholic but I don’t really go to church.

  27. Danibear285 Avatar

    Bait used to be believable

  28. o93mink Avatar

    Some places need bombing. We don’t bomb most countries, maybe they should look within themselves.

  29. anneofgraygardens Avatar

    Do you guys agree with this violent mindset?

    no

    Do most Americans think like this?

    I hope no, but there are a lot of fucking weirdos.

    Do you think the usage of nuclear weapons/bombings is wrong?

    always

    Are you religious?

    no

  30. Adjective-Noun123456 Avatar

    Violence isn’t the answer.

    Violence is a question. And the correct answer is always yes.

  31. Current_Poster Avatar
    1. No. 2. Some people do, some people don’t. It’s not always bad if people don’t vote, and the guys we’re talking about talk big, but tend not to vote. 3. I’m not enthusiastic about it..4. I don’t discuss religious matters, like that.
  32. FlappyClap Avatar

    I can safely assume your opinions of Americans are filtered through xenophobia and biases. So, despite what Americans say here, you’ll continue just believing the worst. It highlights an exceptional credulity.

    You should know that attributing to all the actions of a few is neither reasonable nor rational.

    These are questions you could answer yourself if reason were one of your strengths.

    Of course my intention here isn’t to be offensive. It’s to give you a moment for self-reflection.

  33. Subject_Stand_7901 Avatar
    1. Not always. Violence should never be off the table, but should also never be the first answer.

    2. No idea. There’s 330m of us in this country. But I’d think most of us are not fans of thumping countries just to do it.

    3. Depends on the scenario, but I feel like the window of acceptable use of nuclear weapons is extremely narrow.

    4. Yes. Ish.