Does anti-Americanism really exist?

Great Debates
1

Okay, this is going to take a lot of clarification, and I hope I don’t sound too naive or idiotic, but I don’t truly believe in the widespread, all-encompassing anti-Americanism that so many people talk about these days.

I’ll say, first of all, my travels have been in Eastern and Western Europe. I’ve never been to the Middle East, Asia, or South America. However, in my studies abroad, I have friends from all of those places, without exeption: from Sweden to Poland to Italy to England, Iran and Syria, Venezuela to Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, from Japan to China to South Korea and Thailand. My girlfriend is Taiwanese. I ride the metro home with an Iranian friend twice a week (when we have classes together).

I know the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve had can’t be considered an all encompassing study on anti-Americanism. I learned that from a class I took at my university on, I kid you not, anti-Americanism. We had to read books like “Understanding Anti-Americanism,” “Why the Left Hates America” (on the conservative side), “Hegemony or Survival,” etc. We had speakers from all over the country come in and talk to us about various subjects of who hates us, if they hates us, etc. I came out of that believing even less in anti-Americanism.

You see, never once, in the time that I’ve spent abroad – no matter where I am, no matter where the person I’m talking to comes from, no matter their political background, I have never had anyone (1) be cold to me because I’m American, (2) start criticizing America once I tell them I’m American, (3) stop talking to me because I’m american. Quite the opposite, most people want to talk to me because I’m American. I don’t mean that I’m popular because I’m American or anything like that, but people often want to ask “I heard so-and-so happens in America, is that true?” or they want to tell me where they’ve been in the US and what they thought of it.

One of the reasons, I presume could be that I don’t define myself as American. I was born there, but I took no part in the process. I feel very lucky to have been born there, but I don’t take pride in that, quite the contrary, I often wonder why I was born there while other people were born in, say, sub-Saharan Africa. Maybe that’s beside the point, but I mention it, because I have a friend who is proud of how he told off any Australians who questioned US policy.

So, I can hardly see how questionning America’s policies is “anti”-American (which is what books like “Understanding Anti-Americanism” and “Why the Left Hates America” seemed to say).

So, I want to know to what extent “Anti-Americanism” really exists. I want to know, if people believe in it, why. I want to know if people who have been abroad have come home feeling that they were hated for being american.

Does the “American” in anti-American mean the citizens of the country (which is how most people take it, unfortunately) or the policies that are inacted by the government of the US.

As I said, I have never been to, well, most of the world, but I spend ALL of my time with people from outside the US, and I don’t feel as though I’m ever discriminated against for being American.

To what degree is anti-Americanism a personal thing?

I believe that this question is very important, because I’ve had friends from Sweden, Panama, and South Korea who told me, after being friends for quite some time say, “You know, when I found out you were American, I didn’t really want to spend time with you, but, honestly, you’ve completely changed the way I look at the US, and how I generalize people from any country.”

2006 has been declared the “Year of Study Abroad,” it’s for that that I ask. I think more kids my age should study abroad (at least outside the UK and Australia). I believe the benefits are far greater than people imagine.

Well, that’s enough for now.

Have a good day.

2

Anti-Americanism is out there, but it’s complicated.

I’ve head a lot of the same things you have, basically “You’re pretty cool for an American.” If you substitute other words there, you can see why this can be construed as “Anti-American.”

And I have been in some slightly hostile situations. On a bus full of South Americans I was treated to a lengthy treatise on Americans- basically that we are all a bit silly and eat fake food that comes out of boxes, don’t know how to sing or dance or throw a party, don’t know what good pizza is, are bad travellers because we have lots of strange concerns and demands, and are generally stuck in our own little world that doesn’t have much to do with the world at large. Their view of Americans was that we are all kind of childish- cute about what we get worked up about, but not really “full people” yet.

I’ve also encountered some hostility from Muslims who are understandably upset about how America is acting. They were always friendly to me and made sure to emphasize that they understood that not all Americans were warlike and anti-Islam, but that they strongly disapproved of America’s policies. I got a lot of rants against Bush and a lot of questions I couldn’t answer.

And from some Europeans and Canadians, I got both forms. They seemed the least likely to believe that individual Americans have individuality, we don’t all eat food from cans and boxes we buy at WalMart, and we aren’t all a bunch of short sighted war hawks out to destroy the world. I got in an argument with a German once for an hour when he insisted that an American has never ever had good coffee and there is not a single cup of good coffee to be found in all of America. Beyond that, there was a lot of outright anger at what we are doing to the world.

Most of this resentment isn’t immediately apparent. I only really saw it when I was talking to Europeans in countries outside of Europe- usually we were in situations where trying circumstances made us know each other too well too quickly. There are definite ‘classes’ of backpackers and travellers when it comes to third world travel, and while Americans arn’t the lowest on the totem pole, and are too rare to worry about in a lot of places, they do get looked down upon and they definitely arn’t considered to be part of the Europeans/British/Australian club.

Now, when I say I am from America 99% of the people I’ve met’s eyes light up and the go “Ahhh…America!” as if they still believe the streets are made of gold. We still have a lot of goodwill out there and a lot of people have relatives in America. But we do face some stereotypes and criticism for our foreign policy. A lot of people are scared and powerless because they don’t get a vote in our elections, and yet our foreign policy shapes the world. Some of that transfers over to resentment of Americans as individuals.

So, to put in my personal rant, for god’s sake Americans stop putting Canadian flags on your backpacks! It’s not like they are going to beat you up! America needs more ambassadors. If the only Americans people see are grumpy businessmen, drunken frat party travellers, and fat tourists lumbering off tour busses, of course they are going to think we suck.

3

Well, as you’ve already admitted your anectdotal evidence doens’t prove anything. Evidence with such a small sample size, relatively speaking, just isn’t meaningful.

Anti-Americanism definitely exists, in fact it’s quite naive to think it doesn’t since you can literally dig up tons of publications out there by extremist groups calling for the death of Americans and the destruction of America in general. There’s obviously anti-americanism out there. The question is, is it really widespread among “normal” people across the world or is it primarily just an extremist position?

I think the answer to that is complex. But to explain your own personal experiences I offer up a few explanations:

  1. Sometimes people who are highly interested in politics fail to take into account all the people who are not. While most countries have higher voter turnout than the United States, just like the U.S. most people in most countries really aren’t serious followers of politics. They may watch the news but in all honesty they could care less.

In some countries, especially third world countries (some of them being popularly perceived as being anti-american) the hardship of day-to-day life makes any serious opinions about America fairly unheard of for the common man.

  1. Most people are actually fairly polite by nature. Sure, there are rude people out there, but most people like to maintain a certain degree of politeness just because that’s how society teaches them to behave.

Plus, lots of foreigners have a vested interest in being nice to Americans. Americans are known to be pretty good spenders as tourists.

Look at all those people who protested Bush when he was in London, or look at the people in the Middle East who have burned American flags and such. That’s what they do in a highly political, mob-like situation. But as individuals, most of them are “normal” people and aren’t going to act rude or hateful towards someone just because of their nationality.

  1. For most people who are anti-american, that is a political stance, one that needn’t necessarily overlap into their private life. For example a given leader in an Islamic country may feel it is quite necessary to maintain staunch anti-americanism as part of his political persona, but in meetings with westerners or conversations with westerners he’s not going to be impolite and make political and personal attacks against someone.

Another example of this I can offer from my own personal experiences comes from when I was in the Army. This was back in the early 80s and several times in that decade I had occasion to meet officers in Soviet military. These were men who clearly considered America to be the greatest enemy to their country. But face to face, they recognize like most rational people that in the grand scheme of things there’s no sense in taking that level of conflict down to the personal level. Sure, if we were actually in a war against one another, it might be a different situation.

  1. Also recognize that people who are anti-american are more likely to become aggressive or rude in the face of American authority. While they have little reason or desire to become so in the face of a normal American citizen.

There were various times when I was stationed in Europe that I was greeted with scorn, taunting, and etc when I was spotted on the streets in my uniform. But that never happened when I’d be walking around in civilian clothes. Certain things can bring out the anti-americanism in people more so than others. For most people, just seeing an American tourist isn’t good reason to start ranting and raving about the evils of America. Seeing someone in uniform however might be, for some people.

Anyways, like I said earlier. Do some research into Anti-American literature. There’s both the more ideological and “polite” Anti-Americanism you will find amongst, for example, Spanish authors in the 70s (growing out of Spain’s anti-NATO feelings) and the more crazed anti-americanism of extremists you might find if you look up writings by some Islamic authors.

Anti-americanism is out there, but I don’t think it’s so pervasive it’s going to affect your life anytime you travel abroad.

4

This is key, I think. I’m a European who could certainly rave about America if necessary, but I’ve never said anything about it to an American. Why would I? It’s impolite, unpleasant and yields no appreciable gain.

5

This is what I spend most of my time doing. That’s why I mentioned the anti-American seminar. I’ve read tons of texts on “Anti-Americanism” which always seemed to be saying that because “they” hate what the US government does, “they” hate me and you.

I’ve also read plenty of literature by the people considered “anti-American” in those books, most notably Noam Chomsky.

I agree with what both of you said.

Even sven, my purpose in life is to try to get people to go abroad (but outside of an all american group, not to an in-English special class for Americans, etc.) I’m totally with you on that on.

Plenty of Americans go abroad, they just all go to the same places. A friend recently told me that his brother is honestly scared to leave the country because he’s worried people are going to want to kill him.

It seems to me the whole world is looking into the US and so few Americans are looking out.

Oh well…

6

The anti-Americanism in Canada is, for the most part, aimed at foreign policy, not individual Americans. Although, there are red-necks here in Canada too who would paint everyone with the same bush, ahh brush: Americans are geographically ignorant, Americans don’t know anything about other cultures, Americans are stupid/lazy/fat etc. etc.

I politely remind them of all the greatness that has come, and continues to come, from the U.S. and that stereotyping any group of people is wrong.

We’ve had anti-American statements made by politicians here, but ultimately it just makes the politician appear bigoted, prejudiced, and probably not re-electable.

7

I don’t think that it really gets to hate for the individual as much as people might believe. I have never been outside of the US, but I live in New York and thus meet a lot of people who have. The thing that most people tell me is that being from New York can get you into that European/Canadian/Australian club, because “New York is different”, I’ve heard that many a time.

The truth is America is pretty provincial by and large, but we have a lot of disposable income so even though we are provincial we are seen out and about acting crude, especially since we export our television all over the world. I think there is largely a belief that we lack sophistication. (A belief I won’t argue with) I seriously doubt that people out there everywhere hate us though. I mean I HATE France, but I’d go there in a heartbeat. I don’t think it runs that deep, unless of course it’s in a country that we have fucked over, in which case I’d watch out. Don’t go to Iraq for at least 5 years.

One of the problems I have found with the European attitude toward America is that its fairly ignorant of history in and of itself. I know we harp on saving them from the Nazis a lot, and that’s probably pretty irritating, but they have to remember that America rebuilt their shattered infrastructure after the war. They have to remember that the wars we are involved in are cleaning up after their colonial mistakes. Europe has multiple countries that are members of the UN Security Council. When there is a UN mission to help whomever, it’s oftentimes American troops that are sent out. We are made to be the enforcer, and then looked down upon for it. So for these reasons I am “Anti-Europe” but that doesn’t mean that I hate Europe.

The reality is that our country is made up of the dregs of all the other countries, all the people they didn’t want came over here and made this country what it is, and now we are running shit, because of our unique access to the cultures of the entire world. On the same note we have had to deal with multiculturalism in a way that no other country on Earth has had to face, and yet we’ve done a pretty damned good job of it. Poor people here often own homes and cars. People know this, and a lot of them know that their relatives in America sending them money is why they can afford to eat.

We’re a young country for certain, and our attitude is sort of that of an adolescent. I feel like we started young and then we hit puberty (Civil War) and now we’re entering our Young Adulthood phase, suddenly emerging as the most powerful empire there ever was, and we’re like OMFG what do we do? Yet we have all this responsibility to the entire world.

People hate us in the way that 40 year olds hate their 30 year old boss.

Erek

8

Definitely not true. In the last two years, I’ve been in England, Italy, Ireland, Wales, and Australia. It was absolutely obvious to anyone who wasn’t blind and deaf, or who bothered to ask, that I was an American.

The worst thing I had happen to me because I was an American was being asked to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” on a tour bus on the way back from some Barossa Valley wineries in Australia. And that was a lot worse for the people who had to listen to me than it was for me. Fortunately for them, I got a fit of the giggles and couldn’t sing much. (Why did we have to pick a national anthem that’s so hard to sing?)

Of course, I never brought up American politics- I was only too glad to get away from it for a while. I might have had a rather different experience if I’d gone around spouting off about how great Bush is and how everyone who’s against the war in Iraq is a terrorist. Things might also have been different if I’d gone someplace like Saudi Arabia.

Last year, though, when I had a Kerry button on my purse, I did kind of wish I’d had it when I went to England. I know some of them were following the election, and maybe a few of them would have bought me a drink or something :smiley:

9

As a non-American, I’d like to make a couple of points.

  1. Most Europeans who say they “hate America” really just hate the stereotyped American tourist - the fat, loud, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, eating-peas-with-a-knife, '“Why didn’t they build the castle closer to the airport?”, “Gee, Hiram, Eng-er-land is so quaint!” stereotype. Encountering an American who isn’t like this will be a pleasant surprise to most of us. :slight_smile:

  2. More seriously, the USA is one of the few places in the world where patriotism is still considered a virtue. This may be one reason why the typical European feels that there’s still something fundamentally wrong with the American approach to international affairs.

10

This may be one point on which the typical European is right.

11

I’m telling you, BG, you’d be much happier living in Europe. Why DO you hate America? :slight_smile:

Does anti-Americanism really exist? Yes.

12

When I was small, America killed my parents in a mugging! I vowed a lifelong struggle for revenge!

13

I don’t have too much to comment on, but I will note that when I was travelling abroad lots of people would ask if I was American. I would say no, that I was from Canada. Those people fell all over themselves trying to appologize for the mistake. Like REALLY going nuts about it “Oh I’m SO sorry. I can’t believe that I made THAT mistake! Of COURSE you’re Canadian!” These people seemed to think that being confused with an American would be OFFENSIVE to Canadians.

Frankly, I found it a bit odd, because with some regional specifics aside, most North American accents are pretty similar, our style of dress is similar, etc.

Perhaps Canadians are perceved to be the most Anti-American of all?

dunno. Anyhow, apart from politics, most people I’ve met in Canada are pretty neutral, or positive about the US in general, and I would say predominantly positive about specific American people they’ve met.

14

Nonsense! America doesn’t mug people, America mugs countries! None of this penny-ante crap for us!

15

Yeah, anyone who’s still super patriotic about a country as a nation must not have gotten the memo where they announced globalization and declared everyone a human.

I mean I like America and all, but get with the program already. When I want skinny women impeccably dressed always around me I’ll go to Paris. When I want to go to Disneyland with Black Jack and hookers, I’ll go to Vegas. There’s something for everyone in this wide world of ours, lets end this whole concept of “nation” sooner rather than later.

Thanks,
This has been a public service announcement from the Association for the Abolition of Dumbass Ideas.

16

They might think of it in the way distinguishing where in Europe someone is from is important to Europeans so they think it is more important to Canadians than it is. I believe largely that Canadian culture and American culture are quite similar, and wish that our border was LESS controlled, not MORE.

Erek

17

In Australia, several people said they couldn’t tell by looking or by accent. They were apologetic about not being able to tell, not implying that one is better or worse, but apologetic about not knowing the difference. Maybe you were seeing some of that?

18

As a Canadian I agree. I think sewing Canadian flags on your backpacks is pretty dishonest, and only perpetuates the myth that everyone outside of America hates Americans

“Hey, I better sew this Canadian flag onto my backpack so people won’t hate me!”

Anyway, it’s not very effective, sure people standing 10 feet from you might be fooled, but if anyone talks to you, you’ll be found out. There is a HUGE difference between a Canadian accent, and an American accent.

When I travelled to Australia, everyone knew where I was from because of my accent.

The difference is unmistakable, and I’m not just talking about “y’all” and “eh?” :slight_smile:

19

That’s an interesting name you gave to your hypothetical American tourist. Why Hiram? Much more likely it would be Bob or Tom or Jim. Unless, of course, you’re trying to say something else, entirely.

20

Ridiculous comment: two very large countries with similar immigration. To state that you can tell the difference between every US accent compared to every Canadian accent is ludicrous.