Why Europe Dislikes America (Andrei Markovits at HuffPost)

[marmar]

Andrei Markovits


Why Europe Dislikes America (2 comments )

Forty-eight percent of Germans think the United States is more dangerous than Iran while only 31 percent believe the opposite according to a new survey conducted by the respected Forsa Institute for the widely-read magazine Stern. Even more than the German average, young people in particular - 57 percent of 18-to-29-year olds - held this to be the case.

This survey merely confirms the findings of others in Germany and Europe that were conducted over the past few years and that demonstrate unmistakably that the United States is massively distrusted and disliked by a majority of (at least West ) European publics. America's legitimacy and attractiveness in the eyes of West Europeans has sunk often below those "enjoyed" by Iran, North Korea and - not surprisingly - Israel. In the words of The New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, America has become "radioactive" to many in the world, West Europe included.

There can be no doubt that many disastrous, irresponsible -- indeed criminal -- policies by the Bush administration, as well as its haughty demeanor and arrogant tone, have contributed massively to this unprecedented vocal animosity on the part of Europeans toward Americans and America. Indeed, they bear responsibility for having created a situation in which anti-Americanism has mutated into a sort of global antinomy, a mutually shared language of opposition to and resistance against the real and perceived ills of modernity that are now inextricably identified with America. I have been traveling back and forth with considerable frequency between the United States and Europe since 1960, and I cannot recall a time like the present, when such a vehement aversion to everything American has been articulated in Europe. No Western European country is exempt from this phenomenon -- not a single social class, no age group or profession, nor either gender. But the aversion reaches much deeper and wider than the frequently evoked "anti-Bushism." I perceive this virulent, Europe-wide, and global "anti-Bushism" as the glaring tip of a massive anti-American iceberg.

Anti-Americanism has been promoted to the status of Western Europe's lingua franca. Even at the height of the Vietnam War, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and during the dispute over NATO's Dual Track decision (to station Pershing and cruise missiles primarily in Germany, but in other Western European countries as well, while negotiating with the Soviet Union over arms reduction), things were different. Each event met with a European public that was divided concerning its position toward America: In addition to those who reacted with opposition and protest, there were strong forces that expressed appreciation and understanding. In France, arguably Europe's leader over the past 15 years in most matters related to antipathy toward America, the prospect of stationing U.S. medium-range missiles, especially if they were on German soil, even met with the massive approval of the left in the late 1970s and early 1980s. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrei-markovits/why-europe-dislikes-ameri_b_44840.html

[Deja Q]

1. Self-del

.

[illinoisprogressive]

2. My family in france hates Bush. I think that is why Europe is so interested in

what is going on with our next election. They are very interested in the primaries.

[CTyankee]

4. They have good reason to be concerned. We have become the

outlaw nation, where once we were the stabilizing nation (with exception to Vietnam). I know there are difficulties with my statement but overall this is true.

I truly believe that Bill Clinton was that stabilizing nation to Europe. I know I felt more secure with him and his policies. I am in despair over Bush's policies, even as I travel to Italy year after year...

[RufusTFirefly]

3. Dislikes??

That may be so, but the survey says that Europeans find the U.S. "dangerous."
Some people may consider it a distinction without a difference, but I think it's an important one.

Once again, this headline finesses a prudent fear and distrust from Europe toward the Bush Administration and the country as a whole (After all, we had a chance to oust them in 2004 and didn't) into that tried-and-true hand-wringing refrain: "Why do they hate us!!??"

Oh poor, poor pitiful US.

Of course, in reality, the U.S. is not the poor victim of Europe's antipathy but the ruthless perpetrator of policies that would make most sensible countries question its judgment and fear its actions. The rest of the article bears this out a little better, but the semantical stunt of changing "dangerous" to "disliked" creates a misleading but all too familiar impression.

[CTyankee]

5. Thank you! How right you are. Great post. n/t