# American anti-Americanism: What's the cause? Will it persist? If not, then what?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 14, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659 "2003-04-14T16:10:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/81 "2003-04-15T08:18:31Z")
Everybody please note that december refuses to answer the question I asked about whether he considers those who criticized president Clinton also unamerican. I get a feeling it is safe to criticise the democrats and not fall into anti-americanism. But not the republicans. Sort of like when America does something it is a good thing but when some other country does it then it is a bad thing.
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### Author:  [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/82 "2003-04-15T10:08:41Z")
**december** , as the originator of the “1980’s Saddam” you referenced in your OP, I am at a loss as to why you interpret my attempts to formulate a consistent future foreign policy suitable for _all_ governments as “Anti-Americanism”?
Surely pointing out ways we can better ourselves by reference to past mistakes should be encouraged? I must say, this strikes me as being amongst your most paranoid and hysterical OP to date.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/83 "2003-04-15T10:25:44Z")
> [@](#):
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> **pantom**
> Was it his admonition to stay out of foreign alliances altogether except in the formation of alliances for commerce?..
>
> All of this is amazingly easy; it’s the guiding spirit behind the UN Charter.
There’s a contradiction between these two sentences. George Washington never would have joined the UN.
But, that’s just a shot. I admire George Washington a lot, but his isolationism makes no sense in the 21st century IMHO. The world is too small.
**sailor** , I will not participate in an attempt to hijack this thread into an attack or defence of the tendency to think badly of
Americans. The thread is intended to be a discussion of the tendency as a political and cultural phenomenon. E.g., you might respond to this prediction.
_IMHO Democrats must tend to favor those who are more critical of America, because these people are one of the party’s bases of support. However, the predicted shrinkage of this group will hurt the Democrats in the next election._
> [@](#):
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> **SentientMeat**
> **december** , as the originator of the “1980’s Saddam” you referenced in your OP, I am at a loss as to why you interpret my attempts to formulate a consistent future foreign policy suitable for all governments as “Anti-Americanism”?
>
> Surely pointing out ways we can better ourselves by reference to past mistakes should be encouraged?
**SentientMeat** , are you a parent or a teacher or a coach? Do you think you can better a child by reminding him over and over about something wrong he did many years ago?
Harping on past mistakes for a child or a country discourages action. Should we not focus more on the US success in liberating Afghanistan just a year ago? Isn’t that more relevant to the Iraq war than a questionable decision to support them 20 years ago?
Furthermore, many of those who have dwelt on American minor flaws have ignored major flaws of other countries. E.g., most anti-war demonstrations said nothing about Saddam’s violation of UN resolutions, widespread use of murder and torture, childrens’ prisons, use of poison gas, support for terrorism, etc. In this way, they are like someone who sees fault in the behavior of people of some other race, but ignores the same behavior by members of his own race.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/84 "2003-04-15T10:47:37Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by december \*
> **sailor, I will not participate in an attempt to hijack this thread into an attack or defence of the tendency to think badly of
> Americans. The thread is intended to be a discussion of the tendency as a political and cultural phenomenon.**
Translation: I refuse to admit that my OP was based on several false premises, despite virtually everyone pointing this out to me, and will continue to object to anyone questioning them.
\*\*
> [@](#):
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> E.g., you might respond to this prediction.
>
> _IMHO Democrats must tend to favor those who are more critical of America, because these people are one of the party’s bases of support. However, the predicted shrinkage of this group will hurt the Democrats in the next election._\*\*
I will continue to imply (or in this case, assert directly) that “Republicans = good, Democrats = bad”, despite virtually everyone pointing out that criticizing the GOP is not the same thing as criticizing America, and will continue to belabor this as an excuse to avoid answering direct questions.
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> **SentientMeat, are you a parent or a teacher or a coach? Do you think you can better a child by reminding him over and over about something wrong he did many years ago?**
Isn’t the whole point of learning from our mistakes to avoid making them again?
\*\*
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> Harping on past mistakes for a child or a country discourages action. \*\*
If that action is a mistake, discouraging it is a _good_ thing.\*\*
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> Should we not focus more on the US success in liberating Afghanistan just a year ago? Isn’t that more relevant to the Iraq war than a questionable decision to support them 20 years ago?\*\*
And look what happened – the minute we got done blowing things up and needed to concentrate on rebuilding, we went off to blow something else up.
\*\*
> [@](#):
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> Furthermore, many of those who have dwelt on American minor flaws have ignored major flaws of other countries. E.g., most anti-war demonstrations said nothing about Saddam’s violation of UN resolutions, widespread use of murder and torture, childrens’ prisons, use of poison gas, support for terrorism, etc.\*\*
That’s because it’s _not a valid argument_. Just because Person A rapes and murders people doesn’t make it okay for Person B to _only_ steal cars. There’s a formal name for this particular logical fallacy, but as you’ll ignore it as always I won’t bother looking it up.
\*\*
> [@](#):
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> In this way, they are like someone who sees fault in the behavior of people of some other race, but ignores the same behavior by members of his own race. \*\*
Do you ever actually _read_ what you write? Change “race” to “party”, and try it again.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/85 "2003-04-15T10:58:08Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Fear Itself \*
> \*\*Fair enough; please cite some examples of Americans who have exhibited prejuduce against America. \*\*
This [article by Dorothy Rabinowitz](http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110003342) addresses certain anti-war media. The articles she critiqued undervalued America’s successes and focused unduly on the failures.
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### Author:  [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/86 "2003-04-15T13:11:20Z")
**december** , I say again.
I am not an anti-American, let alone an American anti-American.
More importantly, **we are not children**.
By agreeing on which past actions were very definitely mistakes, and for what reasons, we might avoid similar in future. (You may notice that there _are_ those who are defending _realpolitik_al support of Saddam in the other thread.)
This is the conduct of adults. Let us first agree a consistent foreign policy which avoids the possibilty of such mistakes in future, for example by witholding arms sales to non-democratic regimes, non-NATO members or even arms exports full stop. You may then wave your flag.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/87 "2003-04-15T13:22:43Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by SentientMeat \*
> **december** , I say again.
>
> I am not an anti-American, let alone an American anti-American.
>
> More importantly, **we are not children**.
My analogy was comparing a child to the United States, not to you. However, I take your point.
Can we describe a group of people as _Americans who tend to be more critical of the United States_? This lengthy phrase intentionally says nothing about whether it’s good or bad to be critical. You would argue that people are in this group, because such criticism is appropriate and valuable. Do you think this group will shrink in the near future?
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### Author:  [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/88 "2003-04-15T14:07:52Z")
Indeed we can describe such a group. And yes, I would argue that criticism (in the proper not-necessarily-negative sense of the word, from [symbol]krites[/symbol]/_krites_ meaning “judge”) is appropriate and valueable.
Unfortunately I suspect that the fact that such a distinction is lost on many prominent voices of America will lead to an affirmative answer to your second question.
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### Author:  [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/89 "2003-04-15T14:24:21Z")
\*\*december, \*\* if you are equating “pro-American” with “supportive of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz (for the moment, I’ll try to restrain myself from calling them the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse)” then you’ve got some really major chutzpah issues.
I think I speak for the majority of anti- Iraq war folks when I say that we were by no means ignoring the human rights abuses, etc. of Saddam Hussein’s regime. In fact, the more left-leaning among us were criticizing and protesting those very abuses more than a decade ago, back when the U.S. provided support to that very same regime. How many conservatives do you know who work full-time for Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International? How many conservatives are there among refugee workers, worldwide? Who among your ilk gave a damn about the suffering of Iraqi children under the embargo, or tortured political dissidents, or the thousands upon thousands of dead Kurds, until it became politically expedient to do so?
The reason we were protesting the invasion had nothing to do with our distaste for the Iraqi government. Nobody in the U.S. was debating how awful things were/are in Iraq; that’s why you didn’t see posters about these issues at demonstrations, because these issues _were not under debate._.
On a more personal note, perhaps it would be productive for me to clarify some points from my earlier post. By “objective justice,” I meant that IMO we should evaluate the actions of our government not only based on our judgement of whether they conform with international law and/or will improve the U.S.’ standing in the world power balance, but on the basis of whether they treat the people(s) involved in a manner consistent with basic human morals and decency. (It would be nice if all three of those criteria coincided on a regular basis, but even I will recognize that they don’t always.)
What do I think the current U.S. administration’s real aims were in invading Iraq? Well, to be charitable, I’d say that human rights for Iraqis is pretty darn far down the list, if it’s even there at all and isn’t just being used as a pretext for better P.R. I’m not one of those “no blood for oil” folks – I think that’s a vast oversimplification – but I sure think petroleum geopolitics and other geopolitical issues are far higher up the list than human rights, if not at the very top. I also think the WMD, immediate-danger-to-the-U.S. issue is also largely a crock. But we’ll see. So far, nobody’s found any major caches of WMD, or even biological or chemical agents that have clearly been weaponized, in Iraq that I’m aware of.
Again, if I thought the real motivations for invading had much of anything to do with human rights, and if the timing of the invasion hadn’t been so darn weird in relation to Afghanistan (which is still a bloody mess, but it’s funny how you don’t see Afghanistan on the front pages these days, isn’t it?), I’d have had much less of a problem with it. I’d also have had much less of a problem with it if I had any confidence in this administration’s ability to listen to the educated advice of area experts, because blowing up government buildings is not an exercise in nation-building. That will be the hard part.
I’m not at all prejudiced against America; as I mentioned in another thread, I have great hopes for this country, and try to hold Americans to a very high standard of behavior. If we’re going to try to behave like the world’s police force, it would be nice if the moral basis of our actions were above reproach, and IMO it isn’t by a long shot. I don’t hate America by any means; I am, however, extremely frustrated by the behavior of a critical few of the folks who are running the place at the moment. They lack, shall we say, a certain perspective.
It would be much more accurate to say that I’m angry because I think Americans are capable of behaving much better than we, as a nation, do behave. That would mean that we’re capable of being superior, but out of sheer xenophobic laziness and failure to listen/play well with others, we are acting in an inferior manner. We are in severe danger of winning the battle for Iraq, and still losing the war. It frustrates me to no end.
Does that make me anti-American? Hell no.
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### Author:  [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/90 "2003-04-15T14:47:09Z")
**december** , I don’t really care, for the purposes of this thread, what your view of the views I highlighted in GW’s speech is. All I need is for you and your fellow travelers to realize that these views are legitimate, and _ **date to the founding of the republic.** _ Indeed, they are the principles upon which this republic was founded.
That is all.
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### Author:  [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/91 "2003-04-15T16:17:44Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by december \*
> **This thread is not meant to be about _should_s. It’s meant to argue that there has been a high level of critical feelings toward America for a period of years, but that peoples’ feelings are now changing. On this board, we have argued to death whether this is a good or bad thing. Now, I want to discuss the changes that are actually occurring, rather than philosophy of whether they ought to occur.**
The hidden premise of the OP is that criticism of the actions of the current administration and current foreign policy stem from a rising current of anti-American bigotry which you yourself have equated with racism.
You need to prove this premise. The “changes that are actually occuring” seem like the perfectly natural introspection and criticism of government and governmental policies inherent in democratic free societies. It is YOUR position that they are actually some sort of bigotry. Prove it. Quantify it.
Here’s a hint
Number of non-protestors \> number of protesters \> number of protestors for reasons other than this newly invented form of bigotry \> anti-American “bigots”
Enjoy,
Steven
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/92 "2003-04-15T17:00:07Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Eva Luna \*
> I think I speak for the majority of anti- Iraq war folks when I say that we were by no means ignoring the human rights abuses, etc. of Saddam Hussein’s regime. In fact, the more left-leaning among us were criticizing and protesting those very abuses more than a decade ago, back when the U.S. provided support to that very same regime.
Thomas Sowell claims that liberals care more about making themselves feel good than about helping people. Your statement shows why, **Eva**. The protestors and AI and HRC were on the side of good, but they didn’t liberate the Iraqi people. Those who you call “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” did liberate them.
> [@](#):
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> Who among your ilk gave a damn about the suffering of Iraqi children under the embargo
Please. We now know just how much money Saddam spent on palaces and armaments. He had ample resources to provide for children’s needs. It was 100% his choice to misuse his money for other purposes, not to mention throwing children into prison or sometimes torturing them for political reasons.
> [@](#):
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> Nobody in the U.S. was debating how awful things were/are in Iraq; that’s why you didn’t see posters about these issues at demonstrations, because these issues _were not under debate._.
Actually there were debates about how awful Saddam’s regime was. Many anti-war folks claimed it was _ordinarily awful_, whereas pro-war side said he was _extraordinarily awful._ More importantly, anti-war folks were only willing to talk about it, whereas pro-war folks wanted to actually solve the problem.
> [@](#):
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> I’m not at all prejudiced against America; as I mentioned in another thread, I have great hopes for this country, and try to hold Americans to a very high standard of behavior…Does that make me anti-American? Hell no.
If someone held some ethnic group to an unusually high standard of behavior, would you say that the person was bigoted against that ethnic group? I’d say, maybe not, but it might be hard to distinguish such a practice from bigotry.
**Mtgman** , actually I believe there has been a _diminshing_ amount of anti-Americanism in this country. Note that Bush Jr had more Congressional support for war with against Iraq than did Bush Sr. in 1991, even though the provocation was a lot more clear back in 1991.
I think domestic anti-Americanism reached a peak during the war in Vietnam. IMHO it has been abnormally preserved by certain institutions, but its days are numbered. I think most Americans believe that we had military and moral victories in Afghanistan and Iraq. These examples will do a lot to increase people’s respect for America’s accomplishments and our ability to do good.
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### Author:  [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/93 "2003-04-15T17:23:04Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by december \*
> _IMHO Democrats must tend to favor those who are more critical of America, because these people are one of the party’s bases of support. However, the predicted shrinkage of this group will hurt the Democrats in the next election._
Democrats tend to be critical of Republicans, and Republicans tend to be critical of Democrats. It’s called a two-party system. Democrats criticizing Republicans is no more “anti-American” than Republicans criticizing Democrats (or have you forgotton how much of that went on during Clinton’s presidency?).
This has been pointed out to you over and over in this thread, and you stubbornly refuse to respond to the point. Frankly, that’s a big part of the reason you get pitted so much.
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### Author:  [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/94 "2003-04-15T17:59:53Z")
So this is just another thinly veiled screed against educational institutions for perpetuating liberal thought?
Ok.
Enjoy,
Steven
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/95 "2003-04-15T18:24:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Harping on past mistakes for a child or a country discourages action. Should we not focus more on the US success in liberating Afghanistan just a year ago? Isn’t that more relevant to the Iraq war than a questionable decision to support them 20 years ago?
Well, that would make sense if the liberation of Afghanistan had actually proven to be a long-term success. Right about now we should be looking at how our liberation turned into the substitution of random warlords (the situation that helped bring the Taliban to power) for the tyranny of the Taliban and asking what we should be doing to ensure that the Taliban does not arise again. Given that the “free” Afghan government is pretty much holed up in its own cage in Kabul and all the “nation building” seems to be taking a back seat to struggling to simply hold on, I do not consider Afghanistan to have been some great success.
Perhaps we should have worked out a way to make Afghanistan truly liberated, then applied that knowledge to Iraq, rather than going from one long-term mistake to a new one, learning nothing in the process.
If we actually _learned_ from past mistakes, then we would do better to concentrate on the positive. As long as we insist on repeating them, someone needs to keep pointing out the errors that occurred.
* * *
“Success” in Iraq? “Liberated” people cheering? **december** , you were fond of pointing out the discrepancies between the numbers of people turning out for sporting events compared to the size of the anti-war protestor crowds. I have one for you: In 1968, when Detroit (with only 1.5 million people) won the World Series, I saw more people running into the streets and cheering in one afternoon, than I have seen in a week of carefully controlled Fox news images of cheering citizens of Baghdad, a city of 5 million. So the cheering crowds don’t look particularly impressive, to me.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/96 "2003-04-15T18:28:40Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Mtgman \*
> \*\*So this is just another thinly veiled screed against educational institutions for perpetuating liberal thought? \*\*
Among others. Don’t forget all the experts in economics and foreign affairs who happen to be Hollywood personalities. Also a number of religious leaders and many intellectuals.
The degree of criticism of America is a lot greater than it was in the 1950’s. In a way that’s strange, because our victory in the Cold War really demonstrated how very superior our system was to Communism, not only in terms of freedom and wealth, but even in terms of conservation and avoidance of pollution. One might have expected Americans to take increased pride in their country. I still think that will be the trend.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/97 "2003-04-15T18:32:29Z")
As a Canadian, I have to say that there is MUCH more internal dissent in the U.S. than there is in Canada. Canadians see this as Canadian apathy towards their own government.
You guys go bananas because a relative of a president does something stupid.
Here in Canada, the Prime Minister’s wife takes off for a week and parties with the Stones, and flashes her nether regions for cameras for yucks at Studio 54, and we yawn.
In the U.S., Whitewater is big news for years. In Canada, our auditor general says BILLIONS of dollars have simply vanished and cannot be accounted for, and the country yawns.
And so it goes. Americans are much more self-critical. And that’s a _good_ thing. Speaking as someone living under the shadow of the world’s only superpower, I’m glad you guys are so introspective. I can’t think of another country in the world that could handle so much power so well. Full credit to liberals, conservatives, peace activists, hawks, etc. You guys should be proud of having such a vigorous internal debate. I wish Canada would do even half as much.
Part of the reason is probably because your system of government sponsors healthy debate. It’s very open, and the bipartisan nature results in lots of conflict and disagreement, which in turn kicks off debate within the country. Here in Canada, our government is much more closed, and party discipline means that it’s hard for the truth about various policies to get out. I dream of having a John McCain here to throw a wrench into his own party, but the reality is that such a person would quickly find himself out of government.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/98 "2003-04-15T18:36:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tomndebb \*
> Well, that would make sense if the liberation of Afghanistan had actually proven to be a long-term success.
I grant you that it’s too soon for it to be a “long-term” success. I remain somewhat optimistic that a real democracy may eventually ensue.
In any event, would you not agree that the Afghan people are far better off today than they were in 2001?
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### Author:  [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/99 "2003-04-15T18:54:16Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by december \*
> The degree of criticism of America is a lot greater than it was in the 1950’s.
Yeah, well there _was_ that nasty little business of the McCarthy witch hunts. It’s amazing how there’s less criticism when the government **represses** it.:rolleyes:
> [@](#):
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> In a way that’s strange, because our victory in the Cold War really demonstrated how very superior our system was to Communism, not only in terms of freedom and wealth, but even in terms of conservation and avoidance of pollution. One might have expected Americans to take increased pride in their country. I still think that will be the trend.
Let’s see if I understand this: Our freedom to question our government made us superior to the Soviet Union; therefore we should stop questioning our government. This thread just gets better and better.
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### Author:  [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-anti-americanism-whats-the-cause-will-it-persist-if-not-then-what/168659/100 "2003-04-15T19:07:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by blowero \*
> \*\*Let’s see if I understand this: Our freedom to question our government made us superior to the Soviet Union; therefore we should stop questioning our government. This thread just gets better and better. \*\*
Depends on what you mean by “should.” One is free to criticize as much as one likes. However, when hit in the face with new evidence of our government superiority , it seems odd to re-double one’s complaints. Surely it would be natural for people to become less critical.
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