Institutional Anti-Americanism
New blogger Chrisco at A Yellow Guard has quickly established himself as a blogger whose writing I always read.
In this post he comments on the large anti-American sentiment expressed by many LibDem members and people in general.
I have a confession to make, as a naive teenager I bought into much of the anti-American rhetoric along with anti-capitalist rhetoric. Its easy to do, requires little thinking and means we can sit back and blame others for all the ills of the world.
Since then I’ve grown up and have developed a more mature view of the USA and the world, the US is not bad, in fact its a wonderful place, its still a relative bastion of freedom and an important ally. We can’t just look at Bush and his friends or Blair’s supine relationship with Bush.
Being engaged to a US citizen has now made me even more aware of the high level of anti-Americanism which pervades this country.
Its not only the little remarks, which are frequent, or reading anti-American diatribe in the papers, some people are offensive about the US to Carrie when they find out she’s American.
This level of anti-Americanism could be described as institutional. It is deeply unpleasant, upsetting and if it were about black people it would be racism.
The US Government has made mistakes, but remember more people didn’t vote for Bush than did, he hardly represents the the people of the US. Criticism of US policy is fine, but it seems to have crossed the line into general anti-Americanism for many many people.
This antipathy is certainly not reflected back at us by the US, I’ve found people there to be like people everywhere, some idiots, but by and large they’ve been friendly and welcoming (even if they do like to ask me to speak so they can hear my accent). The only rudeness I’ve had was airport security guards (who’re rude to everyone) and the waiters at Ed Debevics and its their job to be rude (if you’re ever in Chicago, go there, you’ll be treated to wonderfully rude service and dancing on the bar, its great fun).
The US seems to get the blame for so much which it should not be blamed for. It is an easy target, but look at who leads the anti-American rhetoric, authoritarians and communists like Chavez and Galloway, fundamentalists and extremists and those who would dominate us and remove our liberties and freedoms.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for the kind words.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Yes, but it’s nothing new. Europeans have hated the Americans ever since they overtook us economically, much of the British establishment was stung by the Suez betrayal and then America’s Vietnam debarcle, and the much-more-prominent left here has always been repelled by the blinding light of freedom and wealth that America emits.
February 11th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
> but remember more people didn’t vote
> for Bush than did,
Yes, perhaps the first time. But even more unforgivably, he got the popular vote in the re-election. OF COURSE, he represents the American nation. That’s what democracy is all about.
> It is an easy target, but look at who
> leads the anti-American rhetoric,
If you define “lead” as “most extreme”, then yes. But this is a strawmen as there is a lot of very justified criticism to be made. It’s like saying (a while back) “criticism of the Soviet Union is easy, but look how the McCarthy’ties are leading the criticism, they sure are deplorable…are you really in the same boat with them”? The United States is in a world-leadership position, and it has failed disastrously in the last years.
> his antipathy is certainly not
> reflected back at us by the US,
Yea, and why should it be? Has Europe started any unnecessary wars of late? Does Europe not give a shit about what much of the world sees as the most pressing global problem right now (climate change)?
I think you need a reality check. Of course America is a beautiful country with lots of very smart and upright people living there. But we have seen a very different America in the last half-decade, a sinister, dumb, disgusting America that is just as real as the other side, and of late has been the dominant part.
February 12th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
John Honster:
Actually you’ll find that more people didn’t vote for either candidate.
You also totally fail to understand my point. The abuse which Americans receive in this country would be condemned if targeted against Jews or black people. It is an undercurrent of anti-Americanism which is extremely ugly.
It is not to do with Bush or Iraq, it goes back further than that. You’re ‘reasons’ are excuses for your prejudice.
Remember - Europe has a long list of ills, from the support of the French government of those who perpetrated the Rwandan genocide, appeasement of dictators (often as a means to pursue an anti-American agenda), to seeking to use climate change as an excuse to clamp down on freedom and dissent.
February 13th, 2007 at 3:47 am
> Actually you’ll find that more people
> didn’t vote for either candidate.
I know I’m moving at a rather abstract level, but there are two replies to this:
a) Non-voters still bear responsibility as enablers.
b) There’s no reason to believe that the non-voters would have chosen differently had they actually gone voting.
There’s no way of getting around the fact that Bush is the democratically elected President of the United States, the highest elected official; the official face of America to the world. And it’s not a nice face at all. It’s a dumb, smug, arrogant and aggresive face and rightly disliked all around the world.
> It is not to do with Bush or Iraq, it
> goes back further than that.
That strikes me as a very superficial argument. Of course you could also find anti-Americanism in the 1990s; but this was a very different beast (both in its arguments and popularity) than what you find now or may have found back in 1972 (although I’d be willing to bet that back in 1972 support for the US was still much deeper than today due to the Cold War). You focus far too much on the irrational aspects of anti-Americanism, disregarding the well-founded criticisms to be made which feed into a less rational, more popular dislike of the United States. There are many justifiable reasons to be disgusted by the United States in 2007.
> targeted against Jews or black people.
I don’t think the same rules necessarily apply for the citizens of a smug, arrogant super-power which is unashamedly and irrationally aggresive, and a relatively unorganised ethnic group (blacks) or a state in a much more embattled and historically tragic position.
Now, I don’t seek to defend personal attacks against individual US citizens which lack a rational basis; but I do think dislike of many aspects of the USA has an essenatially rational fundament.
> Europe has a long list of ills,
Undoubtedly, but in the recent past you can’t find “starting unnecessary wars of aggression” in that list.
> the support of the French government of > those who perpetrated the Rwandan
> genocide
That support never was as straightforward as you pretend here; moreover, even if it was, there is a great, great difference between indirectly “supporting” wars and crimes against humanity and committing them yourself (although the proportions of horror and slaughter that occurred in Rwanda haven’t been reached quite yet in Iraq).
> appeasement of dictators (often as a
> means to pursue an anti-American
As I said, there’s a difference between actions such as “appeasing dictators” (care to name any?) and starting unnecessary wars of aggression. In any case, if we start listing dictators appeased, I am fairly confident I can come up with a list at least as long supported by the United States.
> to seeking to use climate change as an > excuse to clamp down on freedom and
> dissent
I’d love to here the specifics here. This sounds like a right-wing soundbite. Everyone is perfectly free to voice dissent on climate change in Europe, it’s not Europe’s fault that opinion’s such as that there’s no man-made climate change (still in wide currency in America) is totally discredited in the international scientific community. You’re argument is a bit like protesting that the fact that European schools don’t teach creationism is a “clamp down on dissent”.
February 13th, 2007 at 3:55 am
I went a bit over-board with the Rwanda example (as you did with your assertion of “french support” I think);
Still, I think my main point stands, namely, that the “institutional anti-Americanism” has a rational basis. And it cannot be compared to “racism”.
The “black race” doesn’t have an elected official which it chose in a free election, and who is acting on their behalf. The same can be said for the Jews to some extent, as a huge proportion of Jews still lives outside Israel with different citizenships and loyalties.
Hence racism is deeply irrational, anti-Americanism only to a limited extent.