Them vs. U.S. (GOOD READ FOR AMERICANS)

Star-Telegram ^ | Jan. 19, 2003 | Robert Sibley

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[Dubya]

There is nothing new about Canadians' anti-Americanism, of course. Historically, "not being American" is a cornerstone of our identity. Resenting Americans allows us to feel good about our inadequacies.

This is true of all the people bashing us Americans.
They don't have what it takes to do things for theirselves.
So we do it for them and pay their way while we do it.

[Dubya]

The anti-Americanism we see now, however, seems particularly virulent and widespread. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that the image of the United States is increasingly tarnished everywhere, but especially in the Middle East and in Central and Southeast Asia. Considering the high Muslim populations in these regions, such hostility is understandable, if misinformed.

The anti-American intelligentsia conveniently forget it was the United States that stopped the slaughter of Muslims in the Balkans while Europe's politicians dithered. That same intelligentsia warned that the Russians would never accept NATO expansion, yet NATO now includes nearly every former Soviet satellite. All the best minds mocked the anti-communism of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. And where's the Soviet Union now?

[Rummyfan]

The article in National Review was not MEANT to be taken (too) seriously. But a large part of the Canadian identity is its anti-Americanism.

We have to do what we have to do, world opinion be damned. If no one stands with us other than the Brits and the Aussies that is their problem. Too many of the other countries accommodate history rather than making it.

[Dubya]

As British journalist Brian Appleyard once observed: "The Americans saved Europe from barbarism in two world wars. After the Second World War, they rebuilt the continent from ashes. They confronted and peacefully defeated Soviet communism, the most murderous system ever devised by man."

[Dubya]

Muslims might argue that none of this applies to them, that the United States has always been hostile to Arab countries. But this, too, is a distortion of history. When Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, the United States intervened to stop Britain, France and Israel from overthrowing the Nasser regime. During the Cold War, the United States supported Islamic regimes such as Saudi Arabia against radical Arab nationalism.

[Dubya]

In 1973, the United States came to Egypt's rescue when it forced the Israelis to accept a cease-fire that ended the Yom Kippur War. Today, the Americans supply Egypt with billions in aid, asking only that it keep the peace with Israel.

[JRandomFreeper]

Ping for a good read. Obviously written by a rational Canadian.

/john

[Dubya]

True. And a lot of Americans are not with us.

[Dubya]

GOOD READ

[PaulJ]

"It is the fate of great powers that provide order to do so against the background of a world that takes the protection while it bemoans the heavy hand of the protector."

This sums it all up.

[Dubya]

Sure does PaulJ. Thanks.

[Dubya]

In 1982, the United States even saved Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from Israel's wrath by arranging to get him safely out of Beirut. When Arafat backed Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, the United States continued to sponsor him as the only one who could negotiate a peace with Israel. Finally, the United States aided Muslims fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

[billorites]

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

[Dubya]

LOL. Thanks

[Dubya]

As Middle East specialist Barry Rubin writes in his book Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East, "Arab anti-American radicals have distorted the record, ignoring all the positive examples and focusing only on U.S. support for Israel."

[Dubya]

Arab leaders also readily adopt anti-American attitudes as a way to divert attention from their own economic and political failings. As Rubin says, "For years now, anti-Americanism has served as means of last resort by which failed political systems and movements in the Middle East try to improve their standing."

[1rudeboy]

bttt

[Dubya]

Thanks for the bump 1rudeboy.