I, as a citizen of the US, can assure you that they are all wrong. America's great international sway comes from its own foreign policies and interactions.
If you trade with the USA, and promise not to take up arms because you give a damn about the world's other countries, religions, or races, the USA promises not to give a damn about you or your country.The policies of the US Departments of State and Defense are likewise simple:
Don't make us give a damn about you.
Virtually every other country on Earth is completely at ease with these policies, because they fully understand all their implications.
A country, person, or group about which the United States gives a damn is in a very bad place. In order to get into that state, they must have picked up arms because they give a damn about something. There are two possible exits from this state: The country, person, or group convinces the US that it has stopped giving a damn about whatever it was that caused it to pick up arms, or that country, person, or group is destroyed: either by itself, its neighbors, or the US.
While this may seem counterintuitive, it is nevertheless true. Switzerland became a world banking power precisely because they were politically neutral. People trusted a foreign country's banks with money that they didn't trust their own governments with precisely because Switzerland and its banks convincingly did not give a damn, and the investors were afraid that their own country might just end up giving a damn.
Today, the Federal Depositories of the United States contain much of the gold and other collateral that other countries use to back their currencies. Why? Because those countries know that the banks care about money, but not about who owns it. If the banks cared, they might seize assets or hold up payments. Those clients, be they countries, organizations, or individuals are comfortable and relaxed in the absolute surety that the banks of the US just don't give a damn.
What is true for money is true for many other things as well. Take nuclear weapons. A country that just doesn't give a damn about you is about the only country you can afford to allow to possess nuclear arms. Since the USA stands at the absolute pinnacle of not giving a damn, almost every other nation on earth is quietly happy that the US has a policy of buying-out other country's nuclear aresenals. Why are so many nations worried about Iran getting nuclear weapons? Because they know damn well that Iran gives a damn about their country.
The businesses of the United States of America pride themselves on this. The unofficial motto of all international corporations based in the US is:
You can trust us because you know we don't actually give a damn about you.And what's more? You, be you a country, organization, or individual, are completely in control of whether the United States chooses to give a damn about you. Given that, you can always trust its banks, trade agreements, and treaties. You can (and most of you do) bask in the surety of your relationship to the world's largest economy, only remaining superpower, and largest owner of fissible materials on earth. Smile! We don't give a damn about you.
Truth: Au contraire! The problem is that altogether too many people give a damn about too many other people. The people in Palestine really give a damn about the people in Israel, and vice versa. In the United States, expats from those countries can share a duplex, pirate one another's cable service, and invite each other over for (kosher/halal) barbecues merely because they stopped giving a damn and moved out of the proximity of people who still do. Their kids will grow up healthier and happier, have longer life expectancies, and have a greater impact on the world stage than they would have anywhere else on the planet. For the sake of the world and all its good people: Stop giving a damn!
Truth: What really ticks most people off is someone goofing up or goofing off because they don't give a damn about them. Please don't confuse giving a damn with being polite, trustworthy, or efficient. The guy in the tollbooth may not give a damn, but he can still greet you with a smile and wish you a good day. The bank teller may give more of a damn about her nails than she does about you, but that won't excuse her adding two and two and getting five. Being polite, trustworthy, and efficient is important, whether you give a damn or not.
Truth: No, the USA doesn't give a damn about any religion. Some Muslim people care so much about religion that they actually believe some areas of Earth are reserved exclusively for them. That's stupid, offensive, and impolite. Still, the US really, truely, did not give a damn about them until their leaders gave so much of a damn about non-muslim people living in Dar al Islam that they took up arms. At that point the US honored all of its prior foreign policy and promptly gave a damn. Those leaders ended up hiding in caves in the borderlands of Pakistan, and the US promptly went back to its prior position of not giving a damn about that country or its people.
You have confused your damn with America's damn. Just because you give a damn about America doesn't mean America gives a damn about you. People have been decrying America and expressing revulsion at it since before America was its own country. American citizens themselves vilify the policies and persons of their administration, and so long as they don't take up arms, the USA rolls blithely onward, not giving a damn about them or their rhetoric.
Close, but still wrong. The US doesn't give a damn about people that sell or use drugs. The US does give a damn about people who give so much of a damn about their next fix that they take up arms to steal from their neighbors so that they can buy themselves that fix. It is only by this distant connection to arms-carrying-giving-a-damn that the United States gives a damn about you. You may safely assume that if your drugs were trivially affordable and didn't incite killings, then the US would happily go straight back to not giving a damn about you.
Truth: While you are almost certainly wrong, this is worth covering. If you think that someone else has something that's yours, and you want it restored, and you're willing to try and fix it with violence, then probably you, your neighbors, your grandchildren, and the rest of the world would all be better off if you just totally dropped the issue, moved to a small farm in the midwest, and made a good life for yourself there. It's not that hard to live a peaceful and productive life in a land where people don't give a damn, provided you can let go of whatever it is that's got you upset.