Making Friends...
According the BBC, anti-Americanism is rising around the globe.
The British Broadcasting Corporation polled 26,000 people in 25 countries about America's role in the world.
Three in every four of those questioned disapproved of how the US government was dealing with the crisis in Iraq.
This is not surprising, but this was not the world's only grievance.
The poll did not just deal with Iraq. It also asked questions about the US handling of Guantanamo detainees; the Israel-Hezbollah war; Iran's nuclear programme; global warming; and North Korea's nuclear programme.
In every case, a majority of those questioned disapproved of America's handling of the issue concerned.
The American people know the world's displeasure with our government about the Iraq War, but do they know how the world feels on other issues? Our major news channels only seem to carry news about the Duke rape case and the occasional missing child. Why do we let them perform such a disservice to us?
posted by torporindy at 1/23/2007
8 Comments:
shocking.
Well, ok....not really.
I think the Germans might still like us... I could be wrong, though
We let our news organizations do us a disservice because we don't do enough about Clinton's biggest mistake: the signing of the 1996 Telecommunications Act into law. That led to media consolidation, which led in turn to the same three or four mega-corporations owning all of our media. That's why we get to hear and see non-stop trivial news items.
Back on point - for what it's worth, my experience is that people from overseas are generally able to distinguish between Americans as a people and US governmental policy. That notion, coupled with the hope that we'll have a much more competent administration in the Oval Office come 2009, gives me some optimism.
I lived in Germany in the 70s when hubby No. 1 was stationed there. By and large, we as a country, were loved and admired.
Now, I read that young American adults backpacking through Europe or any other region have to put a CANADIAN sticker on their backpacks...
I do believe that because of Dubya and Co., we are now universally despised.
The legacy of his years in power will haunt us for generations.
Naughty. You know how graphs turn me on.
(Oh God. Please. Somebody calculate a slope for me.)
Jim, I used to have the same experience overseas. I haven't been to europe in a few years though. I did not like how the BBC article termed it as "anti-americanism". I don't think displeaure with the US government is anti-americanism.
Old Broad--when we used to backpack we joked about being Canadians and about sewing a leaf on our backpack. This was even before Dubya, but we joked about it. Now, it's no laughing matter.
No, the majority of Americans don't know, and of the few who do know, they don't care. We've been taught that we are the best and the rest moot.
Lemming, you nailed it.
Smarty, I can post graphs and charts in every post if you'd like
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