by Madeleine KandoI am leaving for Holland soon and I am bracing myself for yet another torrent of criticism, blame, accusations against my adopted country, America. This has been going on for so long now that I have started to look at it as a fact of life. But really, where does this hatred of America come from? How did it get to be so blatant?Anti-Americanism has gotten so bad that I could compare it to anti-semitism: it is not based on anything rational, like what America DOES, it is a general dislike of things that ARE American. People don’t even know why they are anti-semitic, they just know they don’t like Jews. In the same vain, they don’t know why they are anti-American, they just don’t like America(ns).
America is seen as too big and too powerful. Even though America saved Europe from Nazi Germany, created the Marshall Plan, I suspect that it is BECAUSE Europe could be saved by another country, that breeds resentment. After all, if another country can save you, it can also destroy you.
Let’s face it, anti-Americanism has a very long history. Originally anti-Americanism consisted of fear of a culture that was too materialistic, too much out to make money, too loose and decadent. It was the conservative European reaction to the American success story, a fear that their own cultural domination would be overshadowed by this new ‘independent culture’. People here didn’t have to abide by the social structure of the European countries. They were direct, out to make money, unencumbered by social rules. The European elite was shocked and pointed out to us commoners how inferior American culture really was, with its ageing women with purple hair, their fake jewelry, America’s tasteless art and kitchy Hollywood style movies.
But what is ideal about America is that it gets the people that it deserves: the adventurers, the risk takers, the non-conformists. This guarantees a constant replenishment of it’s population, it’s ideas, it’s raison d’etre. It is the difference between a pond that is filled with stagnant water, and a freshly flowing river. So obviously the people that are the least anti-american are the immigrants that moved to the United States. They came here for a reason: to get away from somewhere else. Why go to a place that you are critical of?
My personal reasons for immigrating to the United States was a longing for change, a desire to grow. As typical immigrants are, I was young and young people want to grow and change. Above all they want to find their own voice. I felt proud of my change, my growth. And I know that back home, I was considered the risk taker, the one that took the leap that others secretly dreamed of, and some of them felt somewhat envious. Especially because in those days America was still seen as the land of opportunity.
It’s American politics they say. But it isn’t American politics they hate, it is America itself. People say ‘It is not the Jews we don’t like, it is Jewish politics’. But where would the Jews be without Jewish politics? They would be buried in the desert.
I know why Anti-Americanism has reached epidemic proportions. Now that the whole world is wearing Levy’s, eating McDonalds and listening to American music, people are angry with America’s influence. Globalization and homogination of culture does not go without protest. It breeds resentment in the cultures that are being taken over. Europeans resent the fact that American culture is becoming dominant in the world. Theirs is an irrelevant culture: if there were any hope of counter balancing the advancement of world domination by American culture it would be a ‘European’ culture. Unfortunately, there is no such thing. There is Dutch culture, French culture, Spanish culture, but there is no ‘European culture’.
I, for one, like Americans’ self-deprecating humor, their informality with strangers, their childlike curiosity, their optimism and their resistance to the accepted way of doing things.
So watch out Europe, here I come. I have packed my boxing gloves and I’ll get you to kiss the canvas in no time.leave comment here
4 comments:
be interesting to see if there is a change since the Obama trip.
I love it.There's a lot of truth in your writing, but I fear that there is another side you've overlooked. The "ugly American" who appeared after WWII, disdainful of anything foreign, traveling the world trying to recreate a mini-US abroad brought some of this anti-Americanism on. Granted, this was only a part of the American population behaving badly, but enough to leave a lasting, unpleasant impression. We've come a long way from that,with the exception of our previous President and his cronies. I hope that Europeans will look on us with fresh eyes now that we're the "Obama years".
Hi Madeleine,
I would like to answer your questions somewhat different than you did. I understand your unease with the confrontation with anti-amaricanism. But I reject your conclusion it is having an irrational source.
I have a hat that I inherited from my father that sports the star spangled banner. After my adolescence I almost wore it twice, but finally never did. The first time was on 9-12-2001, I fully felt connected with everything that was American, but when I opened the Volkskrant (respectable Dutch national news paper) it opened with the text "Bush swears revenge". After this I watched developments a bit more cautious and it didn't get better. The second time was when Obama was elected. (by the way, I do know his main policies Thomas)
Most Europeans have a love-hate relationship with the United States and its ideologies and policies. I love the freedom, your nature and the possibilities you aim to create for every citizen. I hate your arrogance, your apparent superficiality (I always wonder why Americans ask 'How are you?' but don't expect an answer.) and your fear for what is foreign. The country I love is the one that kicked our Dutch army out of Indonesia on the negotiation table. The country I hate is the one that asks me if am gay or communist to get a visa and that sent a friend of mine back to Holland after jailing her at the customs, with no other apparent reason than that she had pink hair.
Probably you like to be clear, but the comparison of anti-amricanism with antisemitism confirms the prejudice of the superficiality. To explain this I will give some examples of the things America does that expands anti-Americanism.
To start with WOII. I know it were your tanks that drove through Amsterdam in '45 and I acknowledge the greatness of this and your Marshallplan, especially compared to the Soviet approach. But I also acknowledge the 3rd Reich was first defeated at Stalingrad long before D-day and the fact that Soviet soldiers gave about 11.000.000 lives is crucial to the course of that war. Still we loved you and not the Soviets
As far as I can see the great American imago started to deteriorate during the Vietnam war. (The support of dictators in South-American and African countries have been of less direct influence.) Somewhat later in '79 I was born and not that much later the Soviet-Union collapsed. I see Gorbatsjov as a man who took a daring unselfish step towards peace. (With hindsight he didn't choose a brilliant strategy though.) I believe many Americans adore Reagan for his successful agressive approach. This is a very significant difference though.
Skipping gulf war, Iranian shah and oil politics in Saudi-Arabia, what tarnishes your image more in Arab countries than up in Europe. Also skipping agricultural subsidies which impoverishes the 3rd world, but we do that as well. We get to the famous Bush junior.
It was shocking and ontnuchterend (what is the the word) to see the relativity of US-democracy with the first election of G. W. Bush, but it was even more shocking to see his policies. To name some:
- He threatened to invade The Hague if it put US citizens at trial at the ICC International Criminal Court(all people are equal, only some...)
- He pulled out of Kyoto, almost ruining the whole treaty.
- He named some countries, branding them the axis of evil
- He reignited cold war tension by picking up on the nuclear defense
- He started a very odd and cruel war in iraq
- He condoned torture in different ways (i.e. Guantanamo, Abu Graib and CIA secret detention centres)
- He didn't improve prospects for a long term solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict. (I'll leave the details to a different discussion.)
But that he was only a guy elected by a minority. The USA is a democracy and people can make a failure of judgement. But than the people went to the polls again and voted him in office with a majority this time. This was a clear signal to the world that a president executing this policy was improving its popularity rate. There was 911, but a good deal from the examples I mentioned were pre 9-11. I was shocked shocked shocked.
Of course, I know there is about 48% that did not re-elect Bush. But hey, a democracy is not the power to 50% percent of the people plus one. In a proper democracy the government represents all the inhabitants. You guys didn't organise and execute a revolution. Recently you voted for Obama and we love him. But many people think he was voted in office, because the Americans that died in Iraq and not the Iraqis and because of the accidental timing of a recession. The problems that I see in front of you are however not solved in four years and not in eight years and your track-record for acting as a responsible superpower in uni-polar world is not to reassuring.
That about world politics. We also fear your poverty rates when we think about your capitalism and we can have a good laugh if we hear the percentage of Americans that thought Obama was a muslim. But speaking in general terms about art and many of your universities they are absolutely of outstanding quality. To our dismay we must admit you outperformed us there for the past 40 or 50 years and although we are improving you are still equal or superior on most areas. And IT.
Than my final criticism on the article is quite self-deprecating (just learned a new word). There are two European cultures, The most apparent sells Levi's and Big Mac's. (I don't know much about the founders of McDonalds and Levi's, but I am pretty sure they are from European descent.) And the other one has slowly started to emerged between to superpowers fighting a 'cold' war.
I hope my English writing is doable, I am not used to write in it.
Ciao, John
Of course Europe was grateful to the 'liberators', not only for the thousands of Americans that died but mainly because of the Marshall Plan.
While we are on the subject of comparing post WW2 attitudes towards America, would it not be more logical to look at the attitude towards Russia in countries of the Eastern Block? There was so much anti-Sovietism there that it culminated in several revolutions (Hungary, Romania). But anti-Soviet sentiments were not tolerated in the Eastern Block.
The Vietnam anti-War movement was much bigger in the US than anywhere in the world. Young people rather would go to jail than fight in Vietnam. The demonstrations were numerous and often violently oppressed. And in the end, American democracy worked. The people forced the Nixon government to get out of Vietnam (Just as democracy worked again in 2008, when the American people put an end to the Bush regime).
Yes, I agree with you: America's panick button has been pushed again and we are going overboard with our 'war on terrorism'. Just as with McCarhyism during the Cold War years, which is one of the darkest moments in American history, this post-9-11 Bush period might well go down in history as a dark moment.
About your comments on the Gul War and oil politics, this is what I have to say: The Gulf War was a war that should have been fought by Europeans as well, not just Americans. Is there anyone in Europe that you know that doesn't drive a car? European countries have opted to do away with any type of defense force in favor of investing in their economy, prosperity and social protection of its citizens. They therefore rely on the US to do their dirty work. So it isn't fair to whip the horse that pulls the cart, is it?
You can argue that the American two-party system creates a 'relative' democracy, as you call it. Luckily for us, the Constitution also guarantees that a President only is elected for a four-year term. Some of us would like to see a system of proportional representation, but implementing this in a country the size of the United States would be complicated.
Yes, America is a liberal democracy and not a social democracy like Holland. That is the choice made a long time ago by Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers. Would we be better off with a social democracy? Probably a hybrid of social and liberal democracies would work best in the US.
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