[ExI] America: Home of All Evil

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 25/03/2008, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

>  Beyond such personal grievances (which are totally irrelevant) are
>  more serious ones. Some people hate America because they theorize
>  that the world would be a much better and safer place if it had
>  suddenly ceased to exist around 1960, say. By now the world
>  economy would have recovered, and without that particular evil
>  aggressive nation, the rest of the world would be relatively at
>  peace:  no Vietnams, no Iraqs, etc.  The powers remaining, the
>  Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China may not be
>  perfect, but they would no threat to their neighbors the way that
>  the evil murrca is to all nations, not only of their own continent and
>  their own hemisphere, but to all other nations of the globe period.
>
>  I consider that view (Noam Chomsky's view, if I'm not mistaken)
>  to be merely delusional. But it can slide imperceptibly towards:
>
>  Much more serious---and the whole point---is the hatred or at least
>  rather bitter resentment felt by many around the world that at first
>  blush appears focused on annoyance at America's foreign policy,
>  or upon its economic "domination", or upon its "arrogance".

Contrast the world's attitude towards America with the world's
attitude towards the EU: just as rich (indeed, richer if GDP is the
measure of wealth, and the Euro may overtake the dollar as the world's
reserve currency), just as culturally dominant (even if you only
consider the extent to which American culture is transplanted European
culture), just as arrogant (ask a Frenchman or a Greek about the
significance of his country in the history of the world). And yet,
resentment of European countries around the world is often in
proportion to how easily those countries can be lumped together with
America, culturally or in the degree to which they support American
foreign policy decisions.




-- 
Stathis Papaioannou