Truths and generalizations on "anti-americanism"

Submitted by nickie (Italy), Jan 14, 2003 at 15:24

I appreciate the analysis especially about the current shift in opponents, but I disagree with the characterization of all or most of Europe as "anti-american" - at least, not in the literal sense of "hating america and its people". The resentment is exclusively political, and even if there are prejudices and bias even there, it's definitely not the same kind of anti-americanism the Islamist fundamentalists preach.

The term "antiamericanism" itself is being overused now, to signify anything from bin Laden's fanatical nonsense to different views in politics, and anything in between that falls short of unconditional approval for US foreign policies. There are all sorts of reasoned and valid critical positions that do not achieve those extremes, and I think it'd be important to stress the reasonable aspects of the debate, rather than the excesses.

It's true that there is an ideological bias, especially among the left wing in Europe, but it's a lot less than it was twenty years ago when the Soviet Union was the main western opponent. It's also true that there are still a lot of those fashionable pictures of Che Guevara being waved at protests (and hung on walls in students' rooms), I'm honestly not aware of people actually carrying Stalin's or Mao's icons in Florence, but since they were popular in the seventies during riots and protests, I guess they too get their revival today among the young "alternative" groups, especially in schools and universities. Those are the fringes from the hard-left that turn up at demonstrations waving the usual and old anti-capitalist paraphernalia, but they're not all there to protest; and even street protests are not the only representative group of all positions that are critical of the US. It would be like characterizing Americans on the basis of the one million Farrakhan march on Washington. There was a huge amount of internal debate and criticism of those Florence protests, yet it never gets mentioned and all we hear is how anti-American Europeans are. It's really overblown.

I know of no one who hates the US or much less its people, or thinks that European politics is that much better or pure at heart and disinterested than American politics. I have never, ever once heard anyone with half a brain and sense of decency claim that the US "deserved what they got" on 9/11. Conspiracy theories sell equally well in the US, if I don't recall wrong. Publicity stunts for the writers and publishers, nothing more.

Finally, I think an important part that is often overlooked in regard to attitudes towards the US is the psychological factor - the US are the biggest players, so they often get accused of all the wrongs in the world just because they represent the one world power. It's like an automatic mechanism, like blaming your parents for your own mistakes. I would think, like for families, for populations too, dialogue is the best route - so, while our political leaders find a way to handle their contrasts (which I am convinced are more apparent than real), we should not extremise and generalize by labelling people based on their geographical location. The media have an important role in this. I wouldn't like to see the current debate on differences of views between US and Europe escalate into an hysterical 'spot the antiamerican" crusade. There seems to be some excessive pleasure by many other writers in heightening the contrasts, and I wonder if there is an opposite psychological factor there at play. Perhaps it could all be dramatized with the title "Pride and Prejudice", with the two vices being equally split between both "sides", if that doesn't sound too unfair.

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