Anti-americanism is something that becomes manifest in different places, including here ocasionally. And it's definately not something i like or consider to be a positive thing in any way.
I think that for many people here, the ideal world would be a cosmopolitan world where there are no 'bounderies' and where it doesn't matter where you're from.
Such a world is a far away place from where we are currently standing.
Most of us are inhabitants of western countries, a few exceptions here and there, and if people from countries that share as much of the same values morally and have as much in common culturally, historically and economically as westerners, cannot manage to respect eachother and get along well, i don't see how such a cosmopolitan ideal could ever be realised.
We cannot ever expect from others that they consider there own cultural identity to be of less value than ours. So that applies to the relation between the west and other civilisations, but it also applies within western civilisation itself.
An american cannot expect me to consider my dutch or european background of less value than his american background, and i cannot expect him to think less of his background than mine.
We know this people, it's a basic thing: we all have childhood memories of certain places, friends and family we care about, and so on.
So if we start blaming americans for having the opinion that america is the greatest nation, we shouldn't be hypocritical; we cannot blame them for feeling that way about the place where they live. We could blame eachother for not respecting the same believe in others.
As for american foreign policy: there is no nation in the world with a clean sheet. Large nations have a 'larger sheet' but the distribution of dirt on it would be roughly the same everywhere. America may not be the bliss to the rest of the world, many americans think it is, but it surely isn't the evil empire it's portrayed to be by others either.
foreign politic's is like the weather: there are so many hidden powers at play, that you can never realy know wich way the wind blows. That applies to every american president as much as it applies to you and me. There have been many dirty little secrets in iran, iraq, nicaragua, etc, but the truth of it is that 'getting along peacefully' is not as easy as it may seem in a world where mutual trust is not always a primal reflex.
I am not a very big fan of american foreign policy the way it has been throughout the past few decades. But i think the world would definately have been worse of if china, india or russia would have been the major superpower during the past century. China and russia have even less consideration for human rights than america or any other western nation and india is even more corrupt than china and america combined.
Most of all, i think that a devide between europe and america is likely to end in america seeking alligning with china. Both americans and europeans should consider what that means.
A world where human rights have any meaning, needs good relations between europe and america as a counterbalance for chinese dominance. If there is no strong western alliance, india will also more likely seek alliance with china than with the west, so a weakened western alliance is likely to end in a world dominated by china.
I guarantee you that this would make many of us long back to the days america was still top-dog. To give you an impression: 'love' is described in the chinese dictionary as 'the feeling one has for the chinese communist party'.
I think that for many people here, the ideal world would be a cosmopolitan world where there are no 'bounderies' and where it doesn't matter where you're from.
Such a world is a far away place from where we are currently standing.
Most of us are inhabitants of western countries, a few exceptions here and there, and if people from countries that share as much of the same values morally and have as much in common culturally, historically and economically as westerners, cannot manage to respect eachother and get along well, i don't see how such a cosmopolitan ideal could ever be realised.
We cannot ever expect from others that they consider there own cultural identity to be of less value than ours. So that applies to the relation between the west and other civilisations, but it also applies within western civilisation itself.
An american cannot expect me to consider my dutch or european background of less value than his american background, and i cannot expect him to think less of his background than mine.
We know this people, it's a basic thing: we all have childhood memories of certain places, friends and family we care about, and so on.
So if we start blaming americans for having the opinion that america is the greatest nation, we shouldn't be hypocritical; we cannot blame them for feeling that way about the place where they live. We could blame eachother for not respecting the same believe in others.
As for american foreign policy: there is no nation in the world with a clean sheet. Large nations have a 'larger sheet' but the distribution of dirt on it would be roughly the same everywhere. America may not be the bliss to the rest of the world, many americans think it is, but it surely isn't the evil empire it's portrayed to be by others either.
foreign politic's is like the weather: there are so many hidden powers at play, that you can never realy know wich way the wind blows. That applies to every american president as much as it applies to you and me. There have been many dirty little secrets in iran, iraq, nicaragua, etc, but the truth of it is that 'getting along peacefully' is not as easy as it may seem in a world where mutual trust is not always a primal reflex.
I am not a very big fan of american foreign policy the way it has been throughout the past few decades. But i think the world would definately have been worse of if china, india or russia would have been the major superpower during the past century. China and russia have even less consideration for human rights than america or any other western nation and india is even more corrupt than china and america combined.
Most of all, i think that a devide between europe and america is likely to end in america seeking alligning with china. Both americans and europeans should consider what that means.
A world where human rights have any meaning, needs good relations between europe and america as a counterbalance for chinese dominance. If there is no strong western alliance, india will also more likely seek alliance with china than with the west, so a weakened western alliance is likely to end in a world dominated by china.
I guarantee you that this would make many of us long back to the days america was still top-dog. To give you an impression: 'love' is described in the chinese dictionary as 'the feeling one has for the chinese communist party'.
