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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- Comments(17)
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It is futile for us to hate Europe, I don’t think most us do anyway. Europe is where our ancestors came from leaving apart the American Indians.
One has to be careful not to conflate dislike for the US administration with Hatred for America. I can’t stand the US government, but getting along with the ordinary Jim Jimson from the US is about as easy as getting along with Hans Schmidt from Germany.
@Juan Moment - It makes sense. The American people, more often than not unaware of the finer points of their government’s foreign policies and influence in foreign politics which creates such perceptions.
Juan Moment, getting with the average Texas Jim Joe is harder than Han Schmidt from Germany. A ordinary ward of an asylum here more like.
Americans think we like small barracks, no social life, smoke dope and go to work in macdonalds. We like happy and peaceful living not going to war with other nations when no need.
Hahahaha yea the Iraq war was a big mistake, but come on! Europe not being known for going to war with other nations for no reason. Have you studied the history of our own continent. Since Rome, Europe has been a battlefield.
If we look at the American colonies today, we find that unlike their European counterparts, they put nothing back in. They don’t build railways, hospitals, universities, stadiums, places of worship. They do build prison camps, military bases, resource extraction facilities. When the American Empire finally recedes, the countries affected by it will be worse off, rather than better off, than they were before being “liberated”.
I think this article is on the edge of unconstructive anti-Americanism, but a point is definetely made.
@Hoki. Very good point. When America establishes itself anywhere overseas, it primarily does so by establishing a military force there. The downfall of European imperialism/colonialism prohibits Europeans from following such violent politics and taught them to apply diplomacy and create interdependent political and economical bonds with former collonies. The way we got there was pretty gruesome and bloody, but it has given us an examplary political model today.
@ ericoak
By abandoning the present and going for the distant past, you open a cupboard of skeletons. The United States is a country is built on the skulls and bones of over 20 million ethnic natives, ruthlessly massacred to accomodate the lawless pirate rejects of medieval Europe. Europeans made many mistakes in the past and learnt from them, to avoid any more at the present. Americans learnt little, and your comment above is a disheartening evidence of this fact. They’d rather carry on their bloodied conquests at the present age, while pointing fingers at Europe of the Middle Ages, carefully and conveniently ignoring their own bloodied past. Selective reasoning, as we call it, the foundation stone of extreme nationalism.
Logically speaking, today’s United States is not very unlike the Nazi Germany of 1930s and 40s. The only positive about the Nazis is that they no longer exist in their original form, they made the blunder of attacking Russia.
“Logically speaking America is unlike Nazi Germany of the 30’s and 40’s” What kind of logic do use? Lets see we still have freedom of speech and the right to protest, we still have the right to bear arms (the first thing Hitler took away so you couldn’t defend yourself against the gestapo) oh yea and the last time I checked America still has elections and a peaceful transfer of power. Have you ever been to America? Have you ever been to Nazi Germany? Because in Nazi Germany they would round up those against the Nazi party and send them to prison camps or shoot them. Oh yea and one major difference we are not currently conducting genocide on our own people. I thought the point of this site was that you guys are smarter than us….well your not smarter than me
I don’t hate europeans. I hate liberals, wherever they live…
I for one, am extremely sick of the US vs. Europe debate. I have lived in both the US and the UK, they both have their good and bad qualities and I wish people would just get over it and start to see the positive in one another. BOTH, Europeans and Americans need to broaden their horizons, get to know one another and quit assuming the information fed through the government and media, on either end, is an accurate description and encompassment of every European and American. No government system, run by imperfect humans, is evern going to be perfect in every way, it’s just common sense. I agree that the UK’s NHS is a great thing, as many people in the US have difficulty with medical expenses, especially since private healthcare coverage costs have sky rocketed for employers but private healthcare is MUCH more available in the US than it is in the UK and I have seen needed medicine refused by the NHS to terminally ill and cutting edge treatments that could save lives and are available in the US, refused by the NHS. I also found that my private healthcare costs in the US, were less than I now contribute out of each paycheck to the NHS system and the taxes and costs of living in the UK are much higher, while the salaries are lower. I also find it ironic that most people complaining about Europeans or Americans, have never actually spent any substantial amount of time in the place they’re complaining about, if theye’ve even been there at all! I also agree that American’s should get their passports and travel the world more, explore the different cultures, the rich history and it would open up a whole new way of thinking for them. That being said, I find it frustrating that Europeans feel they are suprerior because they do travel all over Europe and explore because this is the same concept as Americans traveling within the US. The US is an enormous place and there are plenty of AMAZING places there to visit and most Americans do a lot of traveling and weekend trips throughout the country, just like everyone within Europe takes little weekend getaways within Europe. The difference is, Europeans feel superior for it. It’s all a matter of convenience and affordability, not superior interest in culture or history. How many Europeans have seen the Grand Canyon? The Smoky Moutains? The Rocky Mountains? Tasted the amazing food of New Orleans? As for culture, yes the EU contains many differnt cultures, but contrary to the common opinion, so does the US. If you spend a week in each San Fransisco, New Orleans, San Antnoio/Austin, Seattle, New York, Atlanta, Washington DC, jsut to name a few, you’d find the cultures, the food and the accents to be very different. When it comes to education, I do feel the EU is a ahead of the game a bit, however, I have seen poverty and lack of education in both locations and because the UK specifically provides so much assistance for teenage mothers, giving them they’re own house and unbelievable monthly assitance, there is a major epidemic of young females getting pregnant on purpose just to get a free house of their own (I speak from the experience of living in Belfast). As for racial prejudice, America no doubt has it’s lingering racial prejudice in certain areas and the EU is no exeception as Anti-semitism is on the rise, as is discrimination against Muslims and other religious minorities so all could use improvement. The prejudice between Europe and the US is just another example of discrimination. Europeans berate Americans for having a trigger-happy foreign policy, they are willing, on occasion, to let the US armed forces safeguard European security interests so as far as I’m concerned neither the EU or US have learned from their past mistakes and bloodshed. The US and the EU are going to increasingly realise that their own prosperity and security depends on their cooperation, if for no other reason than the fact that they each represent the two largest markets in the world. The real lesson in a globally connected world is that no people can any longer exist as an island unto themselves. There, I will get off my soapbox now!
Ann!!!! Thank you for expressing my thought for me! I actually found that every country i’ve traveled to, I make literally hundreds of friends and we actually enjoy doing the same things and have alot in common. While I was in Europe, sure their were a couple people that made fun of my government when I told them I was from the United States, but then I would catch them off guard by agreeing with them and making fun of my own government! No European ever attacked me personally. Infact, most were interested in talking to me and finding out more about my life and culture, and I was just as interested in hearing from them about the same subjects! It really suprises me when I hear either American media saying that the Europeans hate us, or the Europeans saying how much the Americans hate them! These comments and observations are just plain false. Let’s take the American and French hatred myth. Sure a few select Americans mainly from the South(which is odd since many Southerners ancestors are from France via New Orleans and the like) have misconceptions about the French and maybe make fun of them a little, but other than that, I know many people ESPECIALLY where I live have a deep respect for the French. A couple of my friends have studied or are going to study in France one way or another. Hundreds of thousands of Americans travel to France and the rest of Europe every year! Basically, Ann, I think you hit every major point disproving this belief that Americans and Europeans hate each other! I myself have family in Czech Republic, Norway, France, and Germany and can’t fathom how anyone could hate them. Sure we have our misunderstandings and disagreements, but that can be said about anyone. Lets all stop generalizing and making stereotypes about “Oh, Europeans are snooty and stuck-up!” or “Yeah, stupid Americans. They love going to war and are religious nuts!” Neither is the case for the most part. I truly think it is physically impossible to visit another country and not make any new friends or meet someone interesting.
Making ignorant and untrue comments about U.S. and EU hatred towards each other only does one thing. It causes people who are clueless and who don’t know that this is untrue to put their guard up. This causes them to automatically and subcounciously feel discomfort and dislike towards others because they have not yet experienced how the things they have heard are untrue. It causes a vicous circle of hateful lies!
@Impeach Bush
I know you were joking and being sarcastic(somewhat), but you made a rash generalization. You assumed that all Americans have similar views as Texans, and dare I say it, you even stereotyped Texans unfairly : ). And ofcourse someone from Germany would have more in common and be more agreeable with you because you guys share a common language and live in the same geographic vacinity. That’s like me saying that I like people from Arizona better than people from Austria. It’s just idiotic. Just because it may be easier for me to communicate with someone from Arizona dosn’t mean I’d like them better. Infact, I would much rather talk with an Austrian because someone from Arizona would most likely have a similar lifestyle to my own and have the same knowledge as me, and therefore it would be quite borring to talk with them. Someone from Austria on the other-hand, would have knowledge and stories unfimiliar to me that would be quite interesting and intriguing.
Sorry for the rant. Can’t we just all get along and share an alcoholic beverage or some other form of refreshment?!?
Wow, what can I possibly say about Americans that countless others have already said, come to think about it, nothing really. The above passage clearly explains the intolerance and the illogic many Americans possess, France did the right thing by not sucking up to America to invade another country based on the propaganda of a so called war on terrorism, which is a clever fictional novel written by greedy American politicians, yet the Americans hate the French for their want of peace and clear and logical thinking. It just doesn’t make sense does it? Then again, nothing in America does.
My experience has been that a lot of foreigners, especially Europeans, feel that we from the USA exhibit arrogance in many of our attitudes, actions and mannerisms, in both formal [official] and informal [tourists] situations. Whether we as USAers are conscious of it or not, we often exhibit a swagger that many non USAers find offensive. Americans from Canada, Mexico and other American countries feel the same way about us. Certain Presidential Administrations exasperate these feelings which USAers are identified with whether they voted for a particular President or not. Warranted or not, powerful countries elicit such feelings from friends and foes. It comes with the territory. In some cases powerful countries [Administrations and tourists] hold in contempt and low regard some smaller countries. Again, maybe not everyone exhibits these attitudes and rude actions, but enough feel and act that way to create a definite impression. Fair or not, it is the way it is.
To answer teh question straight up it is an imaginary belife that Europeans in large hate America or americans. There is a dislike on SOME points but no hate. The media sure critisize each other but that doesnt really mean nything. Europeans make fun of our healthcare we make fun of theirs. They make fun of american foods we make fun of theirs. All of this is simpel and bs however when it comes to goverment most europeans will stand up to their country before americas. Thats what they need to understand. you gusy might see america as great in your eys because you live here people across the atlantic wont see it the same way. And i cant deny the cracked out nationalist groups that hate everyone but over all there is no hate and trully everythign is chill.
@Aaron
In Nazi Germany there was a lot of freedom, as long as you were not a threat to the government. You clearly got a wrong view of how europe was and is. There are cases in the USA in which governmental influence is abused. How about the patriot act for example?
You mention the right to bear arms. I’d like to make a comment about that: The USA exceeds the european number of gun related homocides with shocking figures. I’d not be too proud about that. But I understand what you are saying. If everyone owns a gun, i’d like one myself. But thats a circulating system that will never end if there is no governmental control over guns. But I don’t see that happen anytime soon in the US.
Europeans generally don’t hate americans. in fact after WWII the USA was enourmously popular. I’ts just that some of us question the american system and by government indoctrinated fear of almost everything.
As long as you keep a people in fear, they are willing to let you control them. There is no such thing as constant terroristic threat or evil socialistic european system.
I do honestly hope americans understand what i’m saying, even though they disagree. I think it’s time to question your own system.
I critisize my country, the EU, the US constantly and it keeps me sharp. But in the end i’ll just settle for where i feel home. Soon i’ll be living in BC, Canada or the Boston area.