Thank you, Decider
Submitted by James Protzman on Wed, 01/17/2007 - 10:43pm
Of all the reasons to lament the pathetic Child King in the White House, one that resonates most with me is his complete shredding of our country's reputation throughout the world. One of my favorite publications, The Chronicle of Higher Education spells it out.
. . . as of October 2001, weeks after 9/11 and just before the U.S. war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a massive Europewide resentment of America commenced that reached well beyond American policies, American politics, and the American government, proliferating in virtually all segments of Western European publics. From grandmothers who vote for the archconservative Bavarian Christian Social Union to 30-year-old socialist Pasok activists in Greece, from Finnish Social Democrats to French Gaullists, from globalization opponents to business managers — all are joining in the ever louder chorus of anti-Americanism.
The Bush administration's policies have catapulted global and Western European anti-Americanism into overdrive. But to understand that overdrive, we need to analyze the conditions under which this kind of shift into high gear could occur. Western Europeans' unconditional rejection of and legitimate outrage over abusive and irresponsible American policies — not to mention massive human-rights violations à la Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, secret CIA cells — rest on a substantial sediment of hatred toward, disdain for, and resentment of America that has a long tradition in Europe and has flourished apart from those or any other policies.
The implications of our descent into the netherworld of ill-repute are as far-reaching as they are damaging. Here in our own state, international trade is one of the cornerstones of our attempts to grow our economy and create new jobs. For example, North Carolina companies exported nearly $8 billion in 2005.
For all the free-market talking points we hear from the Party of Greed, they appear to have a tin ear when it comes to one of the most fundamental principles of commerce: trust and respect for the people you're dealing with.
Go read the entire article and you'll get an excellent overview of just how far we've fallen.
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I can confirm.
As you might or might not know, I moved from Belgium to the USA in the year 2000 after getting married to my wonderful American wife (we're one of those internet couples). I can only confirm that the high regard that a big group of the Belgian population had for the USA has gone completely down the drain.
Ever since dubya took office things have gotten worse and worse for the reputation of the USA over there.
I've gone back every year and when I meet my friends and ex-colleagues they all ask me if everyone here has gone insane.
The older generation, like my grandma who's 81, always held the USA in the highest regard, especially the folks that lived through the second world war.
Even she seems to think Americans have gone crazy.
What's worse is that they seem to think almost every American is a big Bush fan. I keep telling them that they're not all the same here and that a big part of the USA doesn't support the president.
The biggest problem that most people seem to have with the US isn't so much the bad policies they advocate ( although many think those are insane too), but especially the bullishness they do that with.
Things seem to have changed a little though since the last election. I have European media on satellite TV and they show more and more images of protests in the US. I'm going back for 2 weeks to Belgium in March and I hope that by then people will see that the tide here has turned.
I'm confident that the US can rebuild its reputation it once had, but it's going to take a few years.
Left on 49
Cabarrus Democrats
We have friends in Belgium
My friend in Norway at least seems to understand that not everyone likes Bush. She said the one thing she does not like about Americans is our effusive patriotism.
Interesting take...
I am by no means trying to deny the damage done by the Bush administration, but the article seems to pretty clearly say that anti-Americanism is NOT Bush's fault.
In fact, one could easily argue that the piece actually reinforces what Bush and others in his crew have been saying for years- that our enemies hate us for our "freedom." Just as fundamentalist Islam looks upon non-believers as infidels worthy od death, Western Europe apparently looks upon us as cultural and economic infidels.
They mock our economy, election system, sports, religion, etc. Essentially, the article says Europeans feel superior to us. Because we have great power, it is apprently fashionable for those feeling superior to us to mock or despise us without any guilt.
The author is right. This is not a new attitude. It is just more fashionable these days. The closest we come to reciprocating these types of feelings is perhaps towards France. This existed pre "freedom fries," and surely is based on certain feelings of superiority over France, but is based, in part, on Frances reputation for despising America.
Anti-American Europeans probably have plenty of good points regarding how they do certain things better than we do. We have shortcomings, but darn it they are OUR shortcomings and we still love our country. Perhaps that's it. Despite all the things "wrong" with the USA, almost all of us still REALLY love our country. Perhaps we are inferior to them because we love this place despite all its flaws. Let's not forget we're the new kid on the block looked down upon by the Euro elites for as long as we've existed.
That's just bull...
When I was a teenager living in Belgium (20 years ago) the USA was definitely regarded superior to Europe by everyone I knew and even in the media.
The only anti-American feelings you could hear then came from the far left. In the last 5 years the anti-American feelings have now spread to the complete population. The only voices of support for the US are now coming from the extreme-right and even they don't support the US all the time.
Even My grandmother, who's a devout catholic and pretty conservative, now has those feelings.
Something must have happened in those 5 years to create that change no?
Why would Europe hate the US for it's "freedom"? In most European nations the citizens have a much bigger freedom, especially when it comes to social and "moral" issues.
The only reason i can come up with is the current administrations foreign policy and the way those policies are executed like a bully, without any respect for any other nation.
Left on 49
Cabarrus Democrats
I based most of what I said
I based most of what I said on the article. Neither I nor the article fail to recognize the effects of the alst five years, but the article pretty clearly states the foundation and history of anti-Americanism are far from being Bush-created.
You're right.
Anti-Americanism is not new . . . but it has reached a new low. I sense no disagreement that the source of that "new low" is the Child King.