From history, says Michael Lind, senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington: "There's an anti-bourgeois, anti-capitalist and ultimately anti-modern theme that always emerges to criticise the dominant power of the day. It was directed at the cities of northern Italy, then in the 17th century at the Netherlands, then at Britain when she picked up the torch of capitalism, and now it's the US." So at the most basic level America is loathed simply because she's on top. The world leader is always trashed simply for being the leader. The terms of the trashing are remarkably consistent. Nineteenth-century Germans, Lind points out, responded to Britain's dominance by saying, in effect, "they may be rich but we have soul". That is exactly what many Europeans and all anti-Americans are now saying: we're for God or culture or whatever against mammon.
Wham! Bulls-eye!
The few occasions that I've been the recipient of real resentment and dislike have been from individuals from the Indian sub-continent, who have an enormous chip on the shoulder about Britain'd long dominance of India. The resentment is disguised with insults such as "Britain is corrupt, has no culture".
Now that the US is dominant on the global stage, many people indulge in the same resentment disguised as cultural superiority. It's bull. It's also irritating to the average Brit, who likes America and Americans, when our so-called cultural elite display such shallow and infantile jealousy.
Living in Canada, I see the same cultural elitist attitudes, taking the form of "we must protect our culture against the Americans" reasoning. Meanwhile the average guy on the street sucks up American produce and media like there's no tomorrow, and loves it.
The moral of this: screw the politicians and the cultural elite! When average people from America, Britain, Canada, anywhere, get together and actually get to know the individuals instead of the images, the resentment and dislike disappear like fog.
So for American's feeling like you're hated by the world: don't buy it, it's bullshit created by the liberal elite for their own agenda.
Btw, at the risk of incurring the wrath of my Canadian friends, I'm one of the 25% who think amalgamation with America is a good idea.
Expatbrit