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Is It Anti-Americanism or Just Anti-Bushism?
Australia - "In Papua New Guinea," a woman said to my wife when we were in that country recently, "we used to look up to the United States, see it as our father, our model. Now we are afraid of the United States. What has happened is very sad."As Americans who have been living abroad for the past four months, we could not help but agree that what has happened to our nation's image around the world is indeed very sad.
But while America's reputation in the world has suffered great harm in recent years, the damage is not irreparable.
Although most Americans would probably agree that world opinion of the United States is low, our travels abroad have revealed that this is not entirely accurate. In fact, it is not truly anti-Americanism but anti-Bushism that has gripped the world - and this is an illness that time can cure.
Of the hundreds of American travelers we have met, only three said they were Bush supporters. One, a woman from Colorado whom we met at the Great Barrier Reef, told us she was surprised at how much anti-Americanism she had found in Australia.
Our experience has been very different. We have encountered several hundred people in three Southern Hemisphere nations, and we have found nary a one who was hostile to us because of our nationality. The reason for this difference surely is that we have quickly let people we meet know that we are opposed to our president.
Does the woman we met suppose there was any substantial anti-Americanism in Australia on Sept. 12, 2001? Remember the words of Jean-Marie Colombani, writing in Le Monde that day and speaking for most of the world: "We are all Americans! We are all New Yorkers, just as surely as John F. Kennedy declared himself to be a Berliner in 1962 when he visited Berlin." How different it is now.
When we stopped at a small café along the southern coast of New Zealand's South Island, the proprietor asked where we were from. When we said "Mississippi," he responded: "Oh, you're disciples of Mr. Bush, then?" After we quickly disabused him of that thought, we learned that he has been conducting an informal survey of Americans who stop at his business. He said he had asked about 70 people from the United States what they thought of Mr. Bush, and all but three were opposed to the president.
During the three months in which we visited most parts of the country, we never found a single New Zealander who was not baffled as to how the American people could have re-elected Mr. Bush. And I am not talking only about the usual suspects in the academic world. People running bed-and-breakfasts in small towns and rural areas, small-business owners, farmers, service station owners - they might not agree on much else, but they all agreed that Mr. Bush has been a disaster for the United States and the world.
We did not ask everyone we met, and there surely are a few Kiwis who like President Bush. But Americans who fancy that what others think of us doesn't matter would do well to consider what it means for the future when the people of a nation in many ways similar to the United States have so overwhelmingly turned against our president and his policies.
The fact is, Mr. Bush took, in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 2001, the greatest worldwide outpouring of good will the United States has enjoyed at least since World War II and squandered it by pursuing a foolish invasion of Iraq, ignoring international organizations and world opinion, and declaring that it is the right of the United States to engage in pre-emptive war and invade any country it wishes to.
The Ugly American was interred in 2001. In 2003, George W. Bush resurrected him.
How can we know whether the hostility the woman from Colorado experienced in Australia was anti-Americanism or anti-Bushism? Beyond our own radically different experience when we made it clear that we oppose the Bush approach to the world, there is this:
Here in Port Douglas, we found several restaurants displaying photographs of Bill Clinton in their front windows. Business is booming. Mr. Clinton had visited the town as president in 1996 and happened to be in Port Douglas again on Sept. 11, 2001, when there was no anti-Americanism here. Can anyone doubt what would happen to business if these establishments replaced the Clinton portrait with one of his successor?
At its core, the widespread anti-Americanism one sees in so much of the world today is actually extreme animosity toward a single leader. A new administration with clearly different policies could quickly turn things around.
Robert S. McElvaine, a professor of history at Millsaps College in Mississippi, just completed a term as a Fulbright senior scholar in New Zealand. He is the author of the forthcoming book "Grand Theft Jesus." His e-mail is rmcelvaine@hotmail.com.
Copyright © 2007, The Baltimore Sun
31 Comments so far
Show AllThe world did not hate the German people, they hate the man Hitler who just happens to be German.
It is neither. Rather, it is just a case of inferiority complexes mixed with a need to find a scapegoat for peoples' own problems.
Clinton violated the UN charter with his attack on Serbia. Carter was quite happy to support Indonesia's crimes in Timor. Kennedy gave us the Bay of Pigs and escalation of the war in Vietnam. Bush is actually preferable because his crimes are so blatant that the rest of the world is made aware of the dangers the USA presents.
In your dreams, powerslave. In states whose political elite take their orders from Washington, there is a very keen appreciation of what's happening in the US. America is an empire in decline, and a declining empire is almost always at its most dangerous. So you go right ahead and keep internalizing that propaganda about the US as "scapegoat." The more Americans there are like you, the quicker the decline -- and for most of us, the ultimate fall can't come soon enough.
Case of inferiority? Nonsense. The US rates poorly among rich nations in terms of income, education, health care, etc. There's little to envy, trust me, Americans are simply viewed overseas as overweight, uneducated bullies.
Anti-Bush or anti-America? Irrelevant question, since the genie is out of the bottle after Iraq and Bush's reelection. The world knows that America's wealth exists on the expense of others and it's been going on for 90 years. The article is wrong, a new government will change nothing, since it'll be either a Democrat or a Republican in charge and there isn't an ounce of difference between them.
The ugly American. Do we not also condemn their ignorance, arrogant militarism as national pride, gun-toting patriotism, greed, lack of education and culture, blundering lack of cooperation or respect for other countries culture and sovereignty. Hell yes. How many times does the rest of the world have to pay homage to 911 when the US doesn't even consider Iraqi life worthy of counting.
To answer the title question: There's a difference?
American tourists won't probably be personally shunned, as soon as people meet them and realise that there are quite reasonable and intelligent, who are appalled as much as we are, the animosity soon disappears, it's the ignorant ones we don't like, luckily they don't travel much, unfortunately for the decent Americans among you it's only the ignorant ones your media give air to, and thus an unfair stereotype is cast.
Not all Americans are hopelessly ignorant, just the ones on TV.
americans must show that there's a huge distinction between the majority, who still hold on to the values expressed in our founding documents, and the gang of fascists temporarily in control.
only by continued opposition, massive demonstrations and civil disobedience can we redeem ourselves in the eyes of a justifiably suspicious and increasingly hostile world; otherwise, our silence will be taken for consent, and therefore complicity.
when bush and cheney are impeached and convicted of war crimes and treason, and we can all get on with the real work of patching up this leaky lifeboat called mother earth, a u.s. passport will once again be welcomed anywhere.
NOTICE TO US TOURISTS: Canadian Flag Pins For Sale Here....
Yeah, well, after WWII you couldn't find anyone but "good" Germans. When Americans thought we were "winning" the invasion of Iraq, Bush was very popular in the polls. From what I've been reading, the foreign public started out anti-Bush, but after his "reelection", started holding Americans accountable for not putting him away. You may point out that the Republicans managed to prevent 3 million Democratic votes from being counted in 2004, but what did the public do about that? Was there a massive uprising of outrage? Or really even a peep? Even after the 2000 Florida theft was documented, what was done about that?
The fact is, as a country, we are accountable for the behavior of our leaders. They are getting away with what they do because the public can't be bothered to pay attention.
I am anti-US, although I carry a US passport which I have to continually apologize for having.
Only part of that need to apologize is due to the destructive regime of GW Bush.
The other part is apologizing for folks like Powerslave--who don't typically stray out of the US, but everybody here in Latin America has seen and heard the type. He whines and blames everything on immigrants instead of accepting responsibility for his life--but he points his finger at other people who put the blame where it belongs
Folks from the US typically do the Gringo Dance (which is telling evrybody else how much better everything is done in the US and how stupid everybody else in the world is.)
I agree that there's genuine reason for people everywhere to view the U.S. with mistrust and anger. So many ample reasons! The U.S. is like a macrocosm of Paris Hilton. If she was just some small town girl, nobody'd know or care how much of a whore or idot or whatever she is. But she's in the limelight, so we kick back and laugh, popcorn bucket in hand, at the Queen of the Whores as she's taken to jail for drinking and driving. America's the same. It's faults are all in the limelight, it's reach is well beyond any nation's collective reason. Scrutinize ANY country on earth under such conditions (or easier conditions) and you'll find it riddled with problems and evils.
I agree to a point with Powerslave about "inferiority complexes mixed with a need to find a scapegoat for peoples' own problems" as being occasional reason for hating the U.S.", but only in cases of the most bile-filled haters. Reasonable people don't hate any nation or nationality ...especially not their own.
"Here in Port Douglas, we found several restaurants displaying photographs of Bill Clinton in their front windows. Business is booming."
This concerns me because it indicates a tendency of foreigners and a good chunk of the Democratic voting base to view various US imperialistic endeavors - both economic and military - in a much more favorable light if they are initiated by the "nice" and "accommodating" Democrats. As a previous poster mentioned, the Bush gang has done much to demonstrate the true self-serving, mercenary motives that underlie US policy. The Democrats and the more circumspect Bush Sr. type of Republican administrations have been considerably more elegant in advancing the interests of US corporate and military power structures. The criticism directed at the current administration by other elements of the political establishment is really just a way of saying: "Hey, take it down a few notches. You're going to blow it for all of us!"
"It has never lived up to its ideals tho' one has heard the mantras in perpetuity about it being free and the best."
the old Oral High Ground again.
Hundreds of thousands of people here in Australia marched against the Iraq invasion.
No-one marched against the attack on terrorist bases in Afghanistan after 9/11.
Make what you want out of that.
"americans must show that there's a huge distinction between the majority, who still hold on to the values expressed in our founding documents, and the gang of fascists temporarily in control."
The difficulty is that many people, all around the world, belive in democracy. They belive that since you elected GW, he is the man you wanted to be your president.
Anti-Bushism? I think it's more like anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism.
"They belive that since you elected GW, he is the man you wanted to be your president."
And what they don't realize is that the election was stolen twice. He didn't win the popular vote. Fraud, disenfranchisement, intimidation, and cronyism put this administration in power. What people abroad also need to realize is that this cabal really isn't in the corner of most Americans. They're screwing us too. If anything our administration is anti-American. They're the ones stifling dissent and making everyone hate us. And they don't care as long as they're making a profit.
So who's going to convince the rest of the world we don't want Bush, iwarrior? What do you expect them to assume if no one's complaining about the election outcome? Besides us in our little closet on Commondreams. We can discuss changing the world here but we're not going to make it happen here.
I think we have to get the word out on the www.nationalinitiative.us and get those 50,000,000 signatures. Then we can make some changes. Until then, the corporatocracy is running the show.
Prior to the 2004 election it was definately anti-Bush. Since being reelected to act on their behalf, it has become increasingly anti-American.
Those of you who don't think so, try traveling abroad to some area where you are not personally known by any locals to vouch for you and feel the negative energy build.
What Bushco has sown, all of America will reap soon enough.
"Reasonable people don't hate any nation or nationality …"
Just the concept.
"So who's going to convince the rest of the world we don't want Bush, iwarrior?"
The polls show that the masses are against Bush.
"What do you expect them to assume if no one's complaining about the election outcome?"
People are complaining about it. Many of them don't see a viable alternative.
"Besides us in our little closet on Commondreams."
Eh, I think it's more than you might think.
Well, I try not to be an ugly American. There are lots like me. I'm not packing up and going elsewhere like many people in Mexico are doing. I want to beat this oligarchy. To me it's like The Outsiders. They're the Socs, and the rest of us are the Greasers. It's time to rumble. We can do it. People need to get out there and vote. It's very simple.
Well, I'll give you an opportunity to hear from one of the horses' mouth: I'm not an American.
I've traveled to more than 15 countries and live in some. I have found that the American people are absofuckinglutely some of the finest people in the world. They are extremely fair and always support the underdog. However, politically, especially as far as the U.S. foreign policy is concerned, the majority of them are extremely naïve, misinformed, disinformed, and/or simply don't care. Of course, that doesn't make them less nice, but it makes me a little mad at them for not watching their government's policies and actions critically.
What surprises me is that it's not only their government's foreign but also domestic policy that sucks. Just look at all that money which is being burned for an unnecessary, illegal war that could be spent for the welfare of the American people. As a result, your second class in increasingly morphing into a poorer third class.
The problem arises when some people outside the U.S. cannot separate people from their government's foreign policies, and this invariably affects their love/hate relationship towards the Americans. Their rationalization may go something like this: Hey, Bush is their government. They re-elected that government, therefore they must like that government and they're just like it. The monsters that now run the U.S. government have demonized the good, old American people.
Having said that, one has to be fair. One of the unintended consequences of Bush's war was the removal of the criminal Saddam. I support that action, but Bush should have left Iraq immediately after that. I personally thought Bush would install another dictator and hightail it. But he wanted oil, military bases, and the control of the Middle East. As people, the Americans are fantastic!
I find the term 'Anti-Americanism' a silly term. For democratic societies this word does not exist (just try it 'anti-German', 'anti-France', 'anti-Venezuela' etc. etc. People in those countries do not use these words, and it sounds downright stupid).
The reason that authoritarian countries do use these words is because they demand that every citizen completely identifies with the national interest, so that the interest of the political elite and the interest of the people are conflated into one all-encompassing 'national interest'. People living in these sort of tyrannies are indoctrinated to believe that everything that is against the state, is ultimately 'their enemy' as well.
In a democratic society people understand that people have different interests and different viewpoints and a debate between 'pro' and 'anti' is stimulated and actively exercised. So the word 'anti-South African' does not exist because here in South Africa those who do not agree with the government actively debate with the government and engage in social life. They are not placed 'outside society'.
Listen, I think there is still soooo much that you Americans can learn from us in democratic societies.
Though, after the election in France--or for that matter, Berlusconi in Italy--doesn't leave them much to say.
I was born in America and I will probably die in America. I have come to appreciate how perfectly awful American foreign policy is and has always been. Like all Americans I've been continuously lied to at every turn, in school, by all media, by those around me who have also been brainwashed.
It is too much to ask anyone to forgive America it's endless cruelty, violence and hypocricy. Yes it is populated by many well-intentioned and moral people. But such people are foreclosed from participating in our political and economic systems. To live in America requires either numbness or an acceptance of the inherent degeneracy of it's character, direction and purpose. America is a toxic corporatist nightmare which the whole world is paying for. It deserves all the animosity it gets. For every well intentioned critic there are ten morons waving flags and driving SUV's who can't find Somalia on a map.
"For every well intentioned critic there are ten morons waving flags and driving SUV's who can't find Somalia on a map."
I think that should be more like 100,000 morons to every well intentioned critic. We don't have near enough critic's who are willing to stick their necks out and be critical. Being an American I hate to say this but the American people have lost their backbone. I wish I knew what it would take to get it back.
The author of the piece gets his impressions from some time spent in New Zealand, about as remote from the US as one can get. Would suggest he spend some time in the Americas among those countries that have felt the heavy hand of the US and its corporate bullies, try Cuba or Nicaragua(remember Ronnie and the communists at our borders). The US has become a fascist state, a government for the corporate, by their puppets and paid for by the ordinary citizen. It has never lived up to its ideals tho' one has heard the mantras in perpetuity about it being free and the best. Unfortunately its hard for its citizens to grasp that its only the best at making weapons of mass destruction and TV for the semi conscious and that they have been lied to for so long they believe the stuff.
One detests the lies and rubbish about the country one hears from the federal government and its media minnions. It has been on a war economy since the second world war. I don't see them behaving differently no matter whether its a rep or dem pres'dent they will continue to give others reasons to detest their foreign policy and those who voted the blagards into office. Not long ago we remember a vast majority of US citizens cheering on the shrub and his invasion of Iraq. Sorry folks you have made this bed and it is getting lumpy and will continue to do so. Suggest you read The March of Folly by Barbara Tuchman for the US is once again acting against its own self interests.
my dear powerslave. are you truly suggesting that the rest of the world feels inferior to americans? have you ever really been anywhere else? speaking of scapegoating, nowhere is it more evident than in the u.s. blame the right, the left, the far right, the lunatic fringe on the left, the evangelicls, the blacks, the rich, the poor, the illegal immigrants, the dems, the repubs, fox news, MSN and on and on. give your head a much needed shake.
I don't knpow how "dear" powerslave is, but he is a troll who is paid by the post.