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APNEWS.COM • 2026-05-31

Do Americans really know how much the world hates us?

Millions of people around the world wanted blue jeans and McDonald’s and road movies and Manhattan skyscrapers and California beaches, or at least they thought they did. Little by little they found out that some of those things weren’t worth having and all of them came with asterisks.

I can't speak for all Ameerikans, but I'm well aware of it.  Back in the 70s & 80s when I did my Summer Euro Tours on the rails. on a motorcycle, in a rent-a-car and on a sailboat,there wasn't a countrry I visited where Yanks weren't the most despised touristas, by far.  I took to sewing an Australian flag on my backback and greeting everyone I met with a "G'day, mate" in a passable Down Under accent and proved my bona fides with my fairly thorough knowledge of Sydney, Bondi Beach and the arcane rules of Australian Rules Football.  I did get caught a couple of times when I had to flash my passport at border crossings, but by then I was friends and my new traveling companions were very sympathetic to my plight of being from the Great Satan.  I can't imagine how bad it must be by now.  I'd be terrified of either being kidnapped, beaten to a bloody pulp or shot on sight.

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Back in the 70s & 80s when I did my Summer Euro Tours on the rails. on a motorcycle, in a rent-a-car and on a sailboat,there wasn't a countrry I visited where Yanks weren't the most despised touristas, by far.

Wow! Pretty good for a kid wandering Europe on money earned from delivering groceries and whatnot to help support mom because of a dead beat dad. Shit I could barely afford to hitchhike to the Cabinet Mountains of Montana to try out some survivalist skills back then.

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Wow! Pretty good for a kid wandering Europe on money earned from delivering groceries and whatnot to help support mom because of a dead beat dad. Shit I could barely afford to hitchhike to the Cabinet Mountains of Montana to try out some survivalist skills back then.

First trip done on $700 I saved up in HS cutting lawns, shoveling snow and summer jobs.  I flew Freddy Laker  (Better Laker than Never).  2 month Railpass, slept on trains, train stations, beaches, hostels when I needed a shower.  Next 2 trips while making the Big Bucks at Drexel.  Last was my Honeymoon, paid for with my VISA Card, later discharged in Bankruptcy when my Union went on strike for 6 months.

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Next 2 trips while making the Big Bucks at Drexel. 
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What is Drexel?

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From Wiki

Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market

I quit before they got caught.  In my day we were not so stupid.

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From Wiki

Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market

I quit before they got caught.  In my day we were not so stupid.

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Is that the days of the cocaine parties and whatnot? I recall you mentioning your exciting youth when working somewhere with bankers and fiscal types.

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Is that the days of the cocaine parties and whatnot? I recall you mentioning your exciting youth when working somewhere with bankers and fiscal types.

Well, I don't think those days ever ended. There's a current series Industry on HBO based on the current crop of young hotshot City of London traders.  If it is at all an accurate reflection of the current zeitgeist, they are still blowing snow at a white out blizzard pace.  However, yes most certainly on any given day in the bathroom at Drexel for every trader that went in there to take a piss, half a dozen went in to stuff their noses with enough blow to build an igloo.  lol.



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However, yes most certainly on any given day in the bathroom at Drexel for every trader that went in there to take a piss, half a dozen went in to stuff their noses with enough blow to build an igloo.  lol.
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Having never worked with scientists, engineers, economists, industry or government types who did this, I am unfamiliar with the ....why? Floor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent? An alien environment to me.

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However, yes most certainly on any given day in the bathroom at Drexel for every trader that went in there to take a piss, half a dozen went in to stuff their noses with enough blow to build an igloo.  lol.
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Having never worked with scientists, engineers, economists, industry or government types who did this, I am unfamiliar with the ....why? Floor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent? An alien environment to me.

It's the nature of the personality type driven to do this type of work.  It's fast pace, high stress, high risk, high excitement and very ego driven.  The type of personality that likes to do stuff like rock climbing and base jumping in a wingsuit.  Adrenaline & Endorphin Junkies.

It's also about the social scene around clubs and sex, which requires gobs of money to participate in for most males who are not GQ models. The money buys the coke which you stuff up the girls nose before stuffing the other orifices of their bodies with parts of your anatomy or a variety of vibrating devices available on Amazon.  The only people inhabiting this scene are pro athletes, musicians, actors, IT entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and traders.  Occasionally Pro Poker players.  The last 3 types all are at least 2 sigma smart the athletes 2 sigma physical ability, actors 2 sigma pretty.

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Floor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent?

This sentence implies you think people who do "big time" drugs are generally stupid.  I presume BT Drugs besides Coke include Opiates and Amphetamines, not sure if you include Hallucinogenics and Barbituates, Valium, Qualudes etc.

However, regardless of which classes of drugs you perceive to be BT, whether you do them or not has little to do with how smart or stupid you are.  All drugs taken recreationally (as in not taken to remdy an illness) have in common that they are mood altering.  Whether you enjoy altering your moods utilizing pharmaceuticals and how a particular type of drug alters them isn't a function of your intelligence, it's a function of your personality type.  Perhaps you're generally inhibited or "uptight" and the drug loosens you up.  Perhaps your lethargic and it makes you more active.  Perhaps you are a conventional thinker and you get different insights.  whatever the drug does, if you enjoy the experience, you'll continue using the drug.

All drugs you take recreationaly carry the risk of at least a psychological dependency developing, even if they are not physically addicting, but in general the number of people who become dependent on any recreational drug is much smaller than the number who use them  without it significantly affecting their lives.  Alcohol for instance, far more people drink socially than there are alcoholics.  Most of the traders at Drexel who sniffed coke were within reasonable bounds, though a few  lost control and ended up in rehab.  Much fewer than the number doing coke though, maybe 1 in 20 as a WAG.

Anyhow, smart people like drugs pretty much the same way and for the same reasons stupid people do.  The biggest difference is smart people who are also rich can afford to do a lot more of them, so that probably puts them at greater risk of developing a dependency.  Most though are smart enough not to go down that road.

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Floor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent?

This sentence implies you think people who do "big time" drugs are generally stupid.

"Stupid" isn't the right pejorative. Part of my off-kilter perspective with folks doing drugs is I don't understand it. The need for whatever it is to NOT be coherent strikes me as...alien.

I presume BT Drugs besides Coke include Opiates and Amphetamines, not sure if you include Hallucinogenics and Barbituates, Valium, Qualudes etc.

If they are needed for getting over surgeries and stuff I understand them. I had a root canal once that required some strong sold on the street for big bucks type drug. Can't say how I felt on it was anything special.

However, regardless of which classes of drugs you perceive to be BT, whether you do them or not has little to do with how smart or stupid you are.

Good thing I never said anything like that then.

All drugs you take recreationaly carry the risk of at least a psychological dependency developing, even if they are not physically addicting, but in general the number of people who become dependent on any recreational drug is much smaller than the number who use them  without it significantly affecting their lives.

I can believe that. Doesn't mean I understand their use however.

Alcohol for instance, far more people drink socially than there are alcoholics.  Most of the traders at Drexel who sniffed coke were within reasonable bounds, though a few  lost control and ended up in rehab.  Much fewer than the number doing coke though, maybe 1 in 20 as a WAG.

Yeah, I don't drink either. I leave that to the folks or like it or need it or whatever.

Anyhow, smart people like drugs pretty much the same way and for the same reasons stupid people do.\
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Seems reasonable....not knowing what those reasons are or caring at all. But interestingly, during my time on this globe, I've never had serious problems with sober folks other than maybe a car accident or something. Boozed up or drunk ones? All sorts of trouble, trips to court, firearms being discharged, lawsuits, and so on and forth.

Another one of those weird correlations perhaps, like you never having insurance and getting away with it, and me always having it and occasionally needing it...in some cases because of those stoned, whacked or drunk smart non-smart people.

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I can believe that. Doesn't mean I understand their use however.

Well, at least part of the reason you can't understand it is because you never tried them.  How would you know if you liked Kidneys if you never tried them?  Even better, how would you know if you liked sex if you never tried it?

As a child, most kids when they see a couple of adults French Kissing are grossed out. "Eeeewwww!"  it seems alien and disgusting.  Later when they mature and get some sexual feelings and try masturbating, they start to understand and it's not so gross anymore.  Drugs are very much the same in terms of the feelings they engender, which is where the phrase "Sex, Drugs & Rock & Roll" comes from.  Generally speaking, if you like Sex & Rock music, you'll like drugs.  Perhaps you don't like sex and/or rock, so drugs have no appeal for you.

Anyhow, whatever the reason is, your inability to understand it probably goes back to childhood and you were grossed out by seeing people doing drugs or getting drunk and you couldn't understand it.  You never got over that initial impression, never tried it and so it hardened into your current opinion, which is rather childish.

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I can believe that. Doesn't mean I understand their use however.

Well, at least part of the reason you can't understand it is because you never tried them.

I got some good stuff for the dentistry thing. They helped with pain certainty. But my experience with users is hardly convincing of how great a deal it is. Starting with pops and booze.

How would you know if you liked Kidneys if you never tried them?  Even better, how would you know if you liked sex if you never tried it?

Good thing I tried a little narcotics. Did good for pain. Made me woozy.

Generally speaking, if you like Sex & Rock music, you'll like drugs.  Perhaps you don't like sex and/or rock, so drugs have no appeal for you.

Painting with a broad brush, while amusing, doesn't work on me. I am quite thrilled with sex and rock music, although nowadays I mix in everything from classical to country, the newer stuff doesn't do much for me though.

Anyhow, whatever the reason is, your inability to understand it probably goes back to childhood and you were grossed out by seeing people doing drugs or getting drunk and you couldn't understand it.

Methinks you project too much from the perspective of a city kid. Never saw anyone doing drugs, just pops and booze. Occasional moonshine in the holler. 

You never got over that initial impression, never tried it and so it hardened into your current opinion, which is rather childish.

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Oh...I've seen your speculating on all sorts of topics, and how amusingly your use of IQ for actual experience works out sometimes. I loved your La Longue Carabine tales on peakoil.com, from experience gained while at summer camp.

I'll stick with a scientists perspective, thanks.  

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I have no idea what "pops" are, but I'll guess they are some variant of opiate.  Far as what Dentists give you for pain, it's usually oxycodone and the dosages they give you aren't enough to get you high.  Usually 5mg.  I take 10mg oxy 3 times a day, I don't get "woozy" at all and it barely scratches the pain.  Currently I'm backing off it because my tolerance is so high and the only way I could bring down the pain is by probably tripling the dose, which the pain doctor would be unwilling to do.  Using opiates for pain management is entirely different from using them to get high.  You need much larger doses and you need to either smoke it (opium) or take it intravenously.

Far as getting woozy goes, that's an effect of low doses of opiates taken orally, not unlike the effect of alcohol.  Totally different than the effects of Cocaine, which sharpens your senses rather than dulling them.  Way, way different than hallucinogens, which make you experience things more vividly as well as experience what is going on inside your own unconscious mind, which normally you can't experience.

Not sure how a scientists perspective on drugs is any different than anyone else's, since many scientists use them, probably in similar numbers to the rest of the population.  I know many doctors do.  Why do they do them?  Because they tried them and they enjoyed the experience.  Opiates might not be your cup of tea, I don't like them either besides for the pain management aspect.  Cocaine though is very enjoyable for me and many others who can afford it.  I'm sure Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos sniff plenty. lol.  Certainly popular on Wall St and the City of London.  Hallucinogens also a blast, and much cheaper.  Anyhow, as a scientist, you have no point of reference on them without trying them.  You can't understand it by observing other people taking them, any more than you can understand why another person likes the smell of a particular perfume you don't like.  The sensory experience is specific to the individual, you can't know another person's experience, only your own.  Until you try it, it's a complete black box.

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Far as what Dentists give you for pain, it's usually oxycodone and the dosages they give you aren't enough to get you high.  Usually 5mg.  I take 10mg oxy 3 times a day, I don't get "woozy" at all and it barely scratches the pain.

You are in a situation where drugs, and the quantities of them are certainly useful. Never said they wwren't useful in the right situations, only that I don't understand the need/desire to take them leading to incoherence.

Way, way different than hallucinogens, which make you experience things more vividly as well as experience what is going on inside your own unconscious mind, which normally you can't experience.

So some folks take drugs to hallucinate in ways that just being a normal alkie or junkie can't experience? I know exactly how to experience things vividly without drugs, but it usually involves racetracks, or adrenaline in some way. Always find the time dilation feeling to be really interesting. 

Not sure how a scientists perspective on drugs is any different than anyone else's, since many scientists use them, probably in similar numbers to the rest of the population.

Could be. After a career with them I've never seen it, but it is possible.

Until you try it, it's a complete black box.
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I agree that those lacking experience with a thing, a feeling, a drug, a topic, can't say they have experienced it or maybe even understand it. Its exactly why PhD's can't get peak oil right, or Joe Average thinks they can do an appendectomy in a pinch, or experience on a rifle range as a child qualifies someone as a sniper in survival situations decades later.

Still, some folks think that they understand a topic or skill with no experience.

I will take your word and experience on how drugs can be great. I'll pass.