Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The roots of anti-Americanism
When it comes to anti-Americanism, lack of familiarity breeds contempt:
More than 50 percent of Britons believe that polygamy is legal in the United States; in fact, it is illegal in all 50 states. Almost one-third of Britons believe that Americans who have not paid their hospital fees or insurance premiums are not entitled to emergency medical care; in fact, such treatment must be provided by law.
Seventy percent of Britons think the United States has done a worse job than the European Union in reducing carbon emissions since 2000; in fact, America’s rate of growth of carbon emissions has decreased by almost ten percent since 2000, while that of the EU has increased by 2.3 percent.
Eighty percent of Britons believe that “from 1973 to 1990, the United States sold Saddam Hussein more than a quarter of his weapons.” In fact, the United States sold just 0.46 percent of Saddam’s arsenal to him; Russia, France, and China supplied 57 percent, 13 percent, and 12 percent, respectively.
The majority of Britons believe that since the Second World War, the United States has more often sided with non-Muslims than with Muslims. In fact, in 11 out of 12 major conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims, Muslims and secular forces, or Arabs and non-Arabs, the United States has sided with Muslims and/or Arabs.
Indeed, a new opinion poll finds that British attitudes towards the United States are governed by ignorance of the facts on key issues such as crime, health care, and foreign policy. The survey was commissioned by America in the World, a London-based group that hopes to push back against rampant anti-Americanism in the United Kingdom by dispelling widely held myths about the United States.
But Britons are not the only Europeans who hold unbalanced views of the United States.
Read the whole thing.
Several things might be said about this.
Notwithstanding the article's point that a higher percentage of Americans have visited Europe in a year than the reverse, it is still true, in my experience, that the typical European knows more about the United States than Americans know about Europe. Self-loathing Americans often cite this as a measure of our own parochialism, but I attribute it to four factors. First, via Hollywood and the television industry we "export" a certain version of our country's culture to a much greater degree than any single European country. Second, being the most powerful country on earth we attract disproportionate attention from the world's media. Third, Europe, with its many countries and languages, is just more complicated politically and culturally than the United States. For us to sound smart we have to remember many different "world leaders," but all a European needs to know is "Boosh." Finally, our culture is in English, the world's lingua franca. No matter how powerful or influential Poland may become, Polish politics and culture will never be as accessible as ours because of the barrier of language. Americans are surely more ignorant of European countries than the reverse.
But we ignorant Americans are not, on the whole, anti-European. Occasional mocking of the French to one side, we are attracted to Europe and often hold European opinion in high regard. That invites a question: Why does the ignorance of Europeans lead to anti-Americanism but not the reverse? The answer, according to Jean-Francois Revel's brilliant little book Anti-Americanism
, is that the United States represents and defends libertarian market capitalism and cultural individualism against the ideology of the international left wing.Finally, all of this makes me wonder about Barack Obama's vast "lead" over John McCain in the fight for European and Middle-Eastern electoral votes. Is his lead strongest among foreigners who are ignorant of the United States, or those who know a lot about the United States, including that it stands in opposition to the values of the international left? That is perhaps the most interesting question of all.
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds.
11 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Sep 16, 04:40:00 PM:
Could the the Brits "lack of knowledge' of all things American be a result of their virulently anti-American press? I think it could. Where else are they going to learn this stuff?
By , at
Tue Sep 16, 05:07:00 PM:
I think this can all be a little misleading.
Europeans (I speak mainly of the French that I know well) know as much about America as they wish to know, and their opinions are colored by their own personal perspective (politics). While many I know openly mocked Royale in the last French election as being too socialist, they can't understand why Americans would vote for BOOOSH over Gore or Kerry, or vote for McCain over Obama. Hmmm.
Several people in my company (French owned) are very knowledgeable and conversant with American slang, idiom and popular culture. And there opinions are as colored by their own beliefs as is their knowledge. Some opinions are colored by the popular press (Boosh BADDDDDD! Gore...Goood!), and few by actual first hand knowledge.
The British are much worse, as there is no language filter and they are SURE they know this country better than I do. Which doesn't mean they are bad people, just occasionally insufferable in their opinions.
Europeans who have actually LIVED in the US for any length of time are again, a whole 'nuther subject.
-David
By 
Anthony, at
Tue Sep 16, 05:26:00 PM:
Revel's "Anti-Americanism" is a great book, and I recommend reading it alongside "Cowboy Capitalism," a book by a German reporter that dismantles in detail the cherished Euro myths of European vs. American economic and social performance.
By , at
Tue Sep 16, 06:52:00 PM:
They don't know nothin' but what they read in the newspaper.
I'd be wary of confusing what you see on American TV and movies with knowing much about the U. S. Most of my Brit friends have absolutely no conception of the size of the U. S., for example.
By Anthony, at
Tue Sep 16, 07:01:00 PM:
@ Dave:
Every time friends have visited from Europe for the first time, they're almost stunned at the size of the US. One visitor from Denmark who toured the Southwest how driving from Arizona to Colorado was the equivalent of crossing several EU countries. :)
By , at
Tue Sep 16, 07:15:00 PM:
I've been living in South Korea for some time and have found that there is also a lot of anti-Americanism here. Much of it is also due to misinformation on TV (particularly this year with the mad cow scare and Free Trade Agreement protests that carried on for months). There was so much false information spread through television and the internet you would have thought Skeletor was running the States.
By Escort81, at
Tue Sep 16, 08:57:00 PM:
If Obama is elected, it's likely that everyone in Europe will feel warm and fuzzy toward the U.S. again. It would be a magically transformative moment.
In and of itself, I am not sure what happens as a result of those warm fuzzies. More robust NATO? Greater diplomatic teamwork and ability to deal with Iran (or Russia and China)? Increaed trade? More drinks purchased for visiting American by host Europeans?
By , at
Tue Sep 16, 10:45:00 PM:
Escort81,
I'll take the last one, please.
-David
By , at
Tue Sep 16, 10:47:00 PM:
Even if I don't like it, I agree with Escort81 one hundred percent. I think there is this image abroad that the US is controlled by crusty old white men sitting around a giant table planning world domination. I've been thinking that the image alone of Obama might be more powerful than any actual policy that either candidate would move on. People might just step back and say, "Wait...the system isn't actually rigged. This guy became President. Anybody can be President. Perhaps the US isn't such an evil machine." Not saying that it's true or not, just that this might be the perception. Of course the insurgents aren't exactly going to drop their weapons any time soon.
-David 2
By , at
Wed Sep 17, 04:40:00 AM:
Through television many Dutch are well versed in American culture. Unfortunately, when it comes to politics it is mainly sourced from MSM. Every day the Dutch newspaper I read repeats some anti-McCain/Palin trope that has been debunked on the internet at least a couple of days ago. So that is clearly the source of some bias.
Another effect that cannot be discounted is that the European welfare state is very comfy, even though probably a majority understands that it is unsustainable. I suspect many dislike American capitalism because it serves as a reminder of some painful changes that have to be made.
By , at
Wed Sep 17, 12:29:00 PM:
One thing I noticed as the only non European in my workplace several years back is that Euros are exponentially more susceptible to arguments from authority than Americans are, and extremely uncomfortable with the contempt for authority (by Euro standards) Americans "suffer" from.
It's hardly surprising they prefer Obama - for a European, and Ivy League educated candidate is by definition more qualified for high office than one who isn't (yes, I'm aware service academies are as competitive and difficult as IL schools if not more so), regardless of other factors.
In defense of Europeans, it would be interesting to see a survey of US university faculty on the issues in the first four paragraphs of the article. I'll bet the numbers wouldn't be much different.
