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Europe
Venus Envy
2010-07-17
America's ignorant, narcissistic anti-Europeanism is an embarrassment.
But how do we feel about America's factual, observation-based anti-Europeanism? The French philosopher-journalist Jean François Revel has already reported extensively on European ignorant bigotry in The Anti-American Obsession (which I highly recommend. My mother and the trailing daughters are reading it in preparation for our trip to Germany next month, to armor them against the criticisms they'll be sure to hear -- the Germans pride themselves on what they charmingly think of as 'frankness'). It's been translated into a great many languages since the 2002 publication date, so there's no excuse for Foreign Policy types to be ignorant of that factor shaping American attitudes.
Posted by:tipper

#11  Like other Guardianista memes, this one is an imported invention of American media-left elitists.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2010-07-17 20:46  

#10  I always hear about how Americans pay no attention to foriegn countries, never learn other languages, and the like. My response is, I've been to Europe and I wasn't impressed. Which little POS country should I concentrate on? And, my ancestors risked everything to get away from those peope.
Posted by: Formerly Dan   2010-07-17 19:28  

#9  Soft power is better.

Remember the Brits in Iraq? Remember how the "softly, softly" approach was so much better than beastly Yank displays of machismo? Remember how the British had so much more experience in that sort of thing?

Remember how that turned out? Yeah.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2010-07-17 18:40  

#8  The journalist is a Guardian staffer. 'Nuff said, there. It's worth taking a few minutes to read the article and the comment thread, to review the standard arguments for both sides. To summarize:

Europe: You Amis are ignorant, cultureless, imperialist bullies, throwing your weight around with your matchless army, and ignoring the advice of your educated, cultured betters. We, the inheritors of ancient Rome and Greece have been pondering these problems for ever so much longer than you existed.

America: *looks around blankly* Did someone say something?
*looks down toward ankles, then lifts up squeaky thing by its tail* Oh, hai Yurope -- say, there's a problem in your backyard that threatens to destabilize the world, and we're going to fix it. You're overdue to help, so we'd like a couple of combat brigades. Advice? No thanks, we ran it through our simulators, and we're good to go; after all, half the command level have served over there in the last decade, and half of them have cousins who emigrated from there. Sure, they were peasants, but peasants generally have a pretty good idea of the lay of the land, we've found.

Europe: Soft power is better. We'll talk to them, and they'll succumb to our persuasive arguments and the charm of our culture, ancient before the first colonist set foot on your shores. What d'you mean, they didn't last time -- they would have, but your army charged in and ruined everything.

etc...

some Europeans think the US contribution to saving the backsides was limited and in some cases not needed.

miscellaneous dear, European ignorance about America is both broad and deep, as is too often American about Europe. Such statements prove it. Or, as was said by President Reagan, although not about Europeans specifically, "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so."
Posted by: trailing wife   2010-07-17 16:36  

#7  Hey Procopius2K, I've also read the some Europeans think the US contribution to saving the backsides was limited and in some cases not needed.

I only wish the Europeans had said that back before we joined the war. They were really big on saying how much we weren't needed.... how The Brave Resistance actually did everything... back in 1946.
Posted by: Things From Snowy Mountains   2010-07-17 13:21  

#6  This is from The Americanization of Emily.

Posted by: Eric Jablow   2010-07-17 12:32  

#5  I don't remember the movie, but it had a brief scene of a US Navy ship Captain, who had been annoyed by a British officer. It showed him reading a paperback, entitled "Are The British Human?"

Even as a kid I thought that would prove to be a highly entertaining kook book.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2010-07-17 11:26  

#4  "Anti-europeanism" is a false concept. It follows by implication of what they are FOR that real Americans are immune to Euro-marxism, and if that's a problem for anti-American europeans, then being an American "anti-european" is a compliment by definition.
Posted by: Proud anti-european   2010-07-17 10:45  

#3  Hey Procopius2K, I've also read the some Europeans think the US contribution to saving the backsides was limited and in some cases not needed.
Posted by: miscellaneous   2010-07-17 10:45  

#2  ..while Americans had at times "shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" of Europe's achievements.

Achievements which include thousand of graves containing the remains of may American grandfathers, fathers, and other male family members to cover just one of Europe's major failures. More and more, from a historical perspective, it's starting to look like a plausible case can be made that it was a mistake.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-07-17 10:35  

#1  The link features a big picture of Freedom Fries. Yeah. 2003 called...
Posted by: eLarson   2010-07-17 10:19  

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