I can do whiny too, and thuggish in a cartoony sort of way, but I've never been all that flashy. (Canadian upbrining.)

You know, as I get older I become less convinced that the "ugly American" is any more hideous than the ugly Syrian, for example, or the ugly Canadian.

I won't claim to reduce the issue to a single factor, but I can't help but think that the main reason why America is so disliked in some circles is due to its long history of success: not perfection, as we all know, but relative to most of the world, absolutely stunning success. And with that success comes (quite naturally) wealth, influence and power. And that imbues some non-Americans with a sense of national inferiority, which in turn can lead to general crankiness and bomb-building.

The US is no bully, even the most cursory view of history will confirm that. But it IS the 900 lb gorilla, and even its whisper can be perceived as a roar.

And then there's the flip side of the coin, where we find people actually deriving power from a deliberately distorted image of the US. That REALLY sucks.