Waging a War on Anti-Americanism

I received a comment from a gentleman living in Austria on Youtube that confirms that we are just all humans who will, at one point or another, wind up mixed in with “the hype”. The comment is as follows:

Actually I WAS one of those Antiamerican morons, one of those “look at barbaric America” freaks. Fortunately I gradually woke up.

It is pure and utter brainwash by our media, politics and general liberal socialist Euro-era. I regret having been so stupid. But then again we also let ourselves be blown up and sympathizse and support those Islamofascist perps. (Nah, I am not exaggerating; for real; just check the web).

Europe right now is culturally in bad shape and hasn’t recovered from the WW’s. (In fact that’s one of the best signs to begin with when one starts to make comparisons between the US and Europe). The US certainly never plunged the world into a blazing crucible till its molten.

But whilst the Antiamericanism is just one of the many symptom (and 100% hypocritical), the disease is within us - and we are the ones hurting ourselves, you Americans are only the ones verbally attacked.

I am not posting this to glorify the US or support any political party. I just want to show that not everyone hates us, that some DO admit to having been brainwashed (that takes courage!!), and that some are willing to see issues at different angles. Additionally, all of this is even more proof that Anti-Americanism IS a problem (otherwise, other country’s people wouldn’t be standing against it) and not the result of “paranoia” that only “I” experience. (Some people just love to throw that word around, don’t they?)

I have a friend from England on Facebook (who now has his own blog). When I was looking throughout his profile, I discovered a blog post written by him that made a lot of sense. I’d like to share it with everyone. This is more evidence that some people are willing to step out of the gooey mold and question issues, but sometimes we just need an ice-breaker before we realize what is truly happening - as evident here:

A Poison in Society - written by David H. of Newcastle, UK (8:32am Tuesday, Jan 16, 2007)

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great regret and sorrow that I report that we have a poisonous and highly damaging trend sweeping through even the “sensible” ranks of our society, a trend that we would like to think that we had confined to the extreme and disenchanted minority: Racism.

Racism in all its forms is horrendous and degrading, not only to the targets but to those who perpetrate it. Most of the racism we see reported is either anti-black or anti-Islamic. Whilst there is a lot of this sort of discrimination around, that is not the topic of this particular note. This note is to serve one purpose: the prevalence of totally irrational anti-Americanism and antisemitism in all classes of our society, but particularly the middle-middle and upper-middle classes.

I am acutely aware that if I were to ask the average person if they were racist, they would be horrified at the suggestion and fervently deny it. It would not surprise me however, if that same person was to be found in their very next conversation accusing the US and Israel of being the sole cause of the world’s problems.

I myself have been in denial of this problem for many years, that was until an example of it was handed to me on a plate, when two of the least “racist” people I know who are almost universally kind and open to everyone, decided to take exception to another friend of mine simply on the count of their being American.

The view that is communicated to the public to create this irrational viewpoint is an over-simplistic one:

America: Most evil state on the planet, dedicated to killing, bombing and otherwise maiming peoples/societies with a less than friendly stance.
Israel: America’s agent in the volatile middle east region
Britain: America’s Poodle/Lap dog, obedient to the last to Washington and profits from the exploits of previous two.
Palestine: a territory that is partially and illegally occupied by Israel
Palestinians: A people that are brutally oppressed and pillaged by a far superior military force under the command of Israel.

[Further definition common to almost all viewpoints: Arab Neighbourhood: all Arab countries that surround Israel, Egypt and Jordan with peace deals with Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraq still wanting Israel's destruction.]

Sadly, too many people subscribe to this view. Very little could be further from the truth. Let’s start with Britain’s foreign policy: many people accuse the UK of having an anti-Israeli stance, whilst others consistently accuse it of being anti-Arab. The truth is that it is neither. British foreign policy has only ever been formulated as to look after one state’s interests: Britain’s. I’m willing to bet that the very moment it is no longer in our interest to act as US lapdog, we’ll be turning our economic and military ties elsewhere.

As for Israel and the United States, it is certainly true that the US (effectively) gives Israel $1.5 billion worth of free arms per year. (Which, given the price of technologically advanced arms, isn’t that much). However, that alone is not enough to demonise them in people’s minds. Many other countries have similar standing orders, and have no issues with anybody. So what galvanises public opinion so strongly against Israel and the US?

The answer is Fleet Street. By “Fleet Street”, I don’t just mean the daily papers, I mean the press in general. Newspapers have, by tradition, always been biased. The Telegraph has always been aimed at conservatives, the Times at centreline conservatives, the Independent at Liberal Democrats (that’s right… the Independent is not actually independent!) and the Guardian at socialists. (Tabloids do also have leanings, but they are less detectable beneath the celeb-gloss and scare mongering about the end of the world. That, however, is another note.)

As a result, the public are aware that a newspaper’s story will not be a totally impartial representation of events. They have however, come to expect a different story from television.

Unfortunately, Television has sided firmly with the Palestinian people. I have noticed that if a suicide bomber carries out his “mission” anywhere in the world, he is immediately referred to as a “terrorist”, UNLESS it is in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whence the BBC never use the word “terrorist” and instead replace it with phrases like “freedom fighter” or “activist”, which either elevates him to the status of a local hero, or at worst, nothing more than an animal rights protester, where in fact, what he did is no better than anything the Israelis have done. There is no difference between an Israeli F-16 hitting a house, and a bomber taking out a busful of schoolchildren. They are both atrocious and tragic losses of life.

However, this is not reflected in reporting, which serves only to fuel an atmosphere of anti-Israeli hatred and anti-Americanism that, in the end, is only damaging to us all.

The BBC is supposed to be impartial… Pah! they’re as one-sided as a mobius’ loop! I’m not saying that the US and Israel are free of responsibility, but we have to realise that the situation is never as it is reported… least of all by our wonderfully unbiased media…

David is also responsible for starting a group on Facebook called, “Anti-Americanism is Racism Too“.

A group of like-minded people who wish to see an end to senseless anti-American and anti-Israeli bigotry across the world. This group exists to demolish the last bastion of so called ‘acceptable racism’ in western society. For the promotion of rational reason within debate, the abolition of politically correct censorship and the restoration of truly free speech.

Sadly, there are only just a few members in that group. I’m not surprised. However, if you look at any Anti-American group (and I’m not talking about those groups established to criticize American government or foreign policy), there are hundreds to thousands of members!

Anyway, you’re probably wondering why the word, “racism” is being used - as Americans aren’t a race, right? But he’s partially correct in that if you say, “I hate Amerikkanz”, you are including all those people from different races. And if you’re of the popular camp that associates the “Evil Americans” (namely, all of us) with the “white folk”, then that is a bit racist on behalf of American whites. But David did send me a message explaining his usage of the word for what it means to him - if you care to read it.

The most authoritative definition of ‘race’ in the anthropological and categoriacal rather than competitive sense I have seen to date is:

“Race /rãs/ n the descendants of a common ancestor, esp those who inherit a common set of characteristics; such a set of descendants, narrower than a species, a breed, a stud or herd (obs); ancestry lineage, stock; the condition of belonging by descent to a particular group; inherited disposition; a class or group, defined otherwise than by descent; a sex (obs); peculiar flavour, as of wine, by which its origin may be recognised, raciness, piquancy.”
(Source: Chambers 21st Century English Dictionary)

Couple that with (from same source):
“Rac’ism n hatred, rivalry or bad feeling between races; belief in the inherent superiority of some races over others, usu with the implication of a right to be dominant; discriminative treatment based on such belief.”

I think that a nested definition formed from those two would very much include anti-americanism within their scope. You are right in suggesting that it is a figure of speech, in that the use of the word ‘racism’ in reference to anti-Americanism is colloquially coined, however, unlike many figures of speech, this one holds accurate under even the most pedantic scrutiny.

The BBC published an article called, “Anti-Americanism ‘feels like racism‘”. After reading that, anybody with half a heart will feel disgusted. And yes, I can see why someone would say that Anti-Americanism feels like racism. Unfortunately, there are plenty more articles where that came from…

And… finally one more vocal Englishman on Facebook stands up in defense of the United States in a group designed to give perspective to the increasingly “blame America first” fit-pitching crowd of pessimist radical liberal elites:

Stop Anti-Americanism in Britain

This group is an attempt to shed some much-needed light on the blindingly ignorant attitude towards Americans as often expressed by British students.

I feel that many British students have adopted an unfairly arrogant attitude toward “yanks”. The prejudices are well-known: Americans are loud, rude, uncultured and ignorant of the world outside Northern America. All Americans are to be held accountable for the acts of their government (which is ironic, since the British government has been the most supportive in Iraq) or for certain ‘types’ of Americans. The conclusion, of course, is that Britons know better.

To all you dear anti-American British students:

It’s just downright dumb to make any generalization about a country as big and diverse as America. We’re talking about 300 million people of different heritage, culture and ethnicity. The differences between Americans are often greater than the differences between Europeans. To me, stereotypes of Americans always lack credibility because of this.

Then there’s the culture issue. This is a big one. Unlike Britain (which seems awkwardly stuck somewhere between 19th century tradition and the reality of the 21st century), America is much more forward moving than Britain is, and boasts a lot more cultural diversity and innovation. The 20th Century, in my opinion, belongs to America. In literature, which is my field, Americans have proven much more exciting and productive - from Steinbeck’s social criticism to the experimental and darker fiction of William S. Burroughs. America has also proven it can produce movies much more independent-minded and original than the usual Hollywood movies, and it seems almost too obvious to even mention music, another area in which American artists dominate and excel.

Yes, much can be said to criticize America and much of it is very just. It’s a weird and strange place and there are forces in that country that really worry me. But that comes with the territory of being, above all else, a country of extremes. Only in America will you find the most obese person you’ve ever seen waddling down the same street as the most fit and healthy person you’ve ever seen.

This group doesn’t aim to hinder the flow of criticism of America. That would be silly. All this group does is ask that the prejudiced British students addressed be a little more open-minded. The overwhelming irony of the situation is that they are what they accuse Americans of being.

And don’t forget that of all America’s critics, Americans themselves are the loudest voices.

If you want to hear the fight against Anti-Americanism from Canadians, you can find it in one of my old posts, “Canadians and Americans Speak Up (PartII)“, but you have to scroll down toward the middle/bottom to see the POSITIVE quotes.

I will conclude by saying that I’m still of the belief that there are more Anti-Americans out there than there are not. Hopefully as more Europeans and Canadians speak out on more constructive ways to criticize America, the younger generation can take the lead. The problem is - is that they have to want to listen.