You're right that there is a general anti-American sentiment in the rest of the world. It's been there for a very, very long time. I think it stems from a general feeling of resentment that America is the #1 big global powerhouse and tends to 'lord it over' the rest of the world. It happens in smaller cases, too. Like New Zealand vs Australia (loads of resentment there, I can tell you).
Anyway, the mess in Iraq is a case in point where the whole 'global powerhouse' thing is concerned. Iraq was not directly responsible for 9/11, but Saddam was a Big Nasty, and he had too much control over the oil in the region. So Bush wanted to get rid of Saddam and decided to 'liberate' Iraq, bringing democracy to the Middle East. A very noble goal, to be sure, and Saddam did need to be taken out of power... but the actions were misguided and to the rest of the world it appeared to be extremely arrogant, re-enforcing the predominant idea of the 'arrogant American'.
To make it worse, the fact that the real culprit behind 9/11 is holed up in
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I'm kind of...disappointed that you think I would get angry with you you what you wrote.
A very noble goal, to be sure, and Saddam did need to be taken out of power... but the actions were misguided and to the rest of the world it appeared to be extremely arrogant, re-enforcing the predominant idea of the 'arrogant American'. This right here he is exactly my point. It brings to mind the old saying 'It's a dirty job
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I didn't think you'd get angry with me, but I'm a practitioner of the 'you never know' type approach, and I wanted to cover my tracks. I wasn't exactly certain as to how angry you were since you seemed pretty hopping mad in your entry, and sometimes that can lead to jumping down throats. Sorry I disappointed you. It was not intentional.
A 'dirty job' indeed, but reasons or no reasons it did seem pretty brash to go after Iraq like that.
National health care and going to war are pretty different things, there. It was before my time as well, but I highly doubt it was ever voted on. heh.. if you hated Canadians for their social health care system, you'd have to hate the British and the French as well. :)
It would make a bit more sense if you hated Canadians for not joining the US in Iraq, which a lot of Americans were cheesed at in 2003 (also not voted on by the Canadian public). Canadian soldiers are in Afganistan, getting killed right alongside US (and other) soldiers, but our government opted out of Iraq. We're a frugal bunch, and
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I absolutely agree with you that the enthusiasm comes way early and that we should reserve judgement about said change when it actually takes place.
I had this whole long entry written this morning about the prejudice against America, and how the whole world thinks it can have it's cake and eat it too in that regard. "The whole world", yes? Sounds like a prejudice right there, to me. I am part of "the whole world" in the context of this post. Just like not all of you elected Bush, just like not all of you support everything your government does, not all of us, the "whole world" love Obama or villify McCain. I watched the German news coverage on the election last night, and at no point did anyone say McCain would be a horrible choice or Obama would solve all the problems.
ALMOST as ridiculus as hating Americans because of who their president is, AS IF WE CAN CONTROL HIS ACTIONS AFTER HE'S BEEN ELECTED. Get some perspective people. You can't base you feelings about the people of another country on the decision of a small group of
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"The whole world", yes? Sounds like a prejudice right there, to me. I am part of "the whole world" in the context of this post.
Not to me you aren't. You aren't part of the 'golbal sentiment' as an individual. I can recognize the difference, just as you do when it comes to America. What my post is talking about isn't people. I didn't say the people of the world as when others say Americans. I said the whole world as an entity like when someone says America as an entiry, which the way I see it is and entirely different thing.
Just don't expect people to ignore the "bad" things, but think of the "good", that's not how it works. But this is exactly the problem. I don't expect people to ignore the bad, and I would accept the criticisms gladly if they rest of the world didn't think that it was okay to ignore the good and if they were actually intended to help rather than to mock and scorn
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Honestly, when he starts cutting back the military I hope he pulls us out of Germany, Japan, and some of those other military bases where when we've talked about cutting back and pulling out, the countries like Germany and France who proclaim loudly they HATE us were practically on their knees begging us to stay. They don't like us, but they want our money. It was going to ruin their economy if we pulled out, so we stayed. Who the hell is there to help us? Who's going to bail us out? How many other governments have we bailed out of trouble that proclaim loudly in public they can't stand us while they're standing there with their hand out. It sucks and I know I'm tired of it. So we managed to elect a president the rest of the world loves - as the bombers are making new plans to come and blow us up with open arms from our new president who's going to talk to them. Yeah, that always works with fundamentalist fanatics who think they're going to heaven with 40 virgins if they die killing us
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Anyway, the mess in Iraq is a case in point where the whole 'global powerhouse' thing is concerned. Iraq was not directly responsible for 9/11, but Saddam was a Big Nasty, and he had too much control over the oil in the region. So Bush wanted to get rid of Saddam and decided to 'liberate' Iraq, bringing democracy to the Middle East. A very noble goal, to be sure, and Saddam did need to be taken out of power... but the actions were misguided and to the rest of the world it appeared to be extremely arrogant, re-enforcing the predominant idea of the 'arrogant American'.
To make it worse, the fact that the real culprit behind 9/11 is holed up in ( ... )
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A very noble goal, to be sure, and Saddam did need to be taken out of power... but the actions were misguided and to the rest of the world it appeared to be extremely arrogant, re-enforcing the predominant idea of the 'arrogant American'. This right here he is exactly my point. It brings to mind the old saying 'It's a dirty job ( ... )
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A 'dirty job' indeed, but reasons or no reasons it did seem pretty brash to go after Iraq like that.
National health care and going to war are pretty different things, there. It was before my time as well, but I highly doubt it was ever voted on. heh.. if you hated Canadians for their social health care system, you'd have to hate the British and the French as well. :)
It would make a bit more sense if you hated Canadians for not joining the US in Iraq, which a lot of Americans were cheesed at in 2003 (also not voted on by the Canadian public). Canadian soldiers are in Afganistan, getting killed right alongside US (and other) soldiers, but our government opted out of Iraq. We're a frugal bunch, and ( ... )
Reply
I had this whole long entry written this morning about the prejudice against America, and how the whole world thinks it can have it's cake and eat it too in that regard.
"The whole world", yes? Sounds like a prejudice right there, to me. I am part of "the whole world" in the context of this post.
Just like not all of you elected Bush, just like not all of you support everything your government does, not all of us, the "whole world" love Obama or villify McCain.
I watched the German news coverage on the election last night, and at no point did anyone say McCain would be a horrible choice or Obama would solve all the problems.
ALMOST as ridiculus as hating Americans because of who their president is, AS IF WE CAN CONTROL HIS ACTIONS AFTER HE'S BEEN ELECTED. Get some perspective people. You can't base you feelings about the people of another country on the decision of a small group of ( ... )
Reply
Not to me you aren't. You aren't part of the 'golbal sentiment' as an individual. I can recognize the difference, just as you do when it comes to America. What my post is talking about isn't people. I didn't say the people of the world as when others say Americans. I said the whole world as an entity like when someone says America as an entiry, which the way I see it is and entirely different thing.
Just don't expect people to ignore the "bad" things, but think of the "good", that's not how it works.
But this is exactly the problem. I don't expect people to ignore the bad, and I would accept the criticisms gladly if they rest of the world didn't think that it was okay to ignore the good and if they were actually intended to help rather than to mock and scorn ( ... )
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