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
- World Politics , Internationalism , Ideology
- Comments(9)
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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.