Europe’s Hatred for America - Imaginary or Real?
Dmitri July 8th, 2007
It has become a popular belief among a lot of nationalist (or conservative) Americans that Europeans hate Americans. The idea is probably fuelled by the British sentiments against the invasion of Iraq, the refusal of France and Germany to ally with US during the Iraq war, Italy’s strictness Americans who violate national laws with disregard and finally the stiff resistance of European countries against United States’ ABM shield plan in Eastern Europe. What is often missed in these ideology is that independent countries are not bound to ally in illegal wars with America; their laws apply to all in a country and breach is subject to persecution; and then the ABM shield - US does not have the power or right to create a missile shield which threatens the sovereignty of another independent country.
Is there a serious hate for Americans in Europe?
The vast majority of Europeans do not hate Americans as such but some see the American government as a hugely destabilising factor in the world, primarily after the collapse of the USSR. The successive governments of US (mainly Republicans) have followed a neo-colonialist foreign policy through economic, military or political imperialism around the world - before and after the breakup of Soviet Union. Human rights and the voice of the people in the victim countries were hardly given any credence, Iraq is an example. An organised PR campaign is used to hide the hard bitter facts from the American people. News is doctored and managed to suit the American tastes or face rebuke and even persecution if it is harshly real. It shows itself when a lot of Americans air their twisted and ignorant views about the world; it evokes laughter, shock and outrage in the liberal and worldly Europe which Americans often mistake for hate and jealousy.
French Fries renamed to Freedom Fries in USA cafeterias - Anti-Europeanism?
The European values and systems are different and Europe is not bound to Americanise its system, especially when that system goes against the core liberal and democratic principles of European countries. Europeans value culture and knowledge in contrast to Americans who value celebrities and ignorance. One has to have a look at American news media sources and compare with European media to see the obvious. Europeans of today are for peace and diplomacy rather than wars and intimidation; they had enough wars to know that war is never a solution to a problem, rather the problem itself. Europeans are for diversity and multi-culturalism instead of religious and racial conservatism. There is no place in the world - as multicultural, diverse and unified as the European Union. They are accepting of the world as it is and do not suffer from an isolationist attitude and do not try to change the world to suit their ideals, at the cost of of human lives and freedom.
America is not “what Europe wants to be” as some might like to believe this funny idea, spread by a few propaganda news media in US. On the contrary, in the last few decades the world has seen the economic, political and military growth of continental Europe (after being ravaged by World War 2). The unification of European countries under the single model of European Union (EU) was a sign of this rising dominance of Europe. European Union is an example to the world where democracy coexists with socialism, market forces coexist with social security, top quality healthcare is free or cheap and quality education is affordable. It is said that Russia, China and most of Africa are likely to transform their economic and political systems to the model of EU rather than US model. There is no reason Europeans want an American system with pseudo racism, rising poverty, exorbitant cost of education and healthcare, religious conservatism and blatant disregard for the rights and freedom of the voiceless in America and the rest of the world.
Anti-French Sentiments in the United States of America
To understand how real the Europe vs American hate is, we can take a small incident of public opinion. When France refused to ally with US on its illegal war against Iraq (2003), fast food outlets and cafeterias in the US had to rename French Fries to Freedom Fries because of US Congress backlash. In Europe, nothing of that sort happened and coffee houses in France did not have to rename Espresso Americano to Espresso Frenchais. The house of people’s representatives (Congress) in the land of liberty showed the Europeans how intolerant and egoistical they are by this gesture of hate, in the end - actions speak louder than words….
Dmitri
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