The Telegraph commissioned a poll, and gee, Europeans don’t like America (via Glenn). I know, readers. You’re all shocked to hear this news. But Europeans don’t get us, haven’t gotten us in well over 200 years, and don’t seem about to get us yet—not even those that are relatively positive about America. For instance, the Telegraph editorial opines:
Nor is the poll particularly good news for John McCain, showing as it does overwhelming European and Russian support for his Democrat rival Mr Obama.
It is to laugh. Americans have never given a damn what Europeans think about our presidential choices. Wait, that’s not true. We get very contrary when Europe tries to mess with us. Does anyone remember the Guardian’s attempt to defeat George W. Bush in the last election? The backlash was so high, it may actually have helped Bush win in the Guardian’s chosen battleground. The Brits still haven’t gotten it: We’re not their colony any longer.
Even the director of Clark County’s board of elections got into the debate. She was widely quoted as saying: “The American Revolution was fought for a reason.”
The Telegraph goes on:
Regardless of who wins, there will be a need to project a more positive light of the United States in Europe, but without ditching America’s vital global role.
Well, in order to do that, the European media would have to stop slanting so many stories anti-American. Sorry, boys and girls, but we have no control over what Europeans think. Nor do we want to have that kind of control. This isn’t a matter of Americans cozying up to Europeans. It doesn’t matter if our president is Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. Europeans have never really cared for Americans, overall. Well, the ones that stay in Europe, anyway. The ones that come here like us just fine, and so do their children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren….
What I find most strange about that fact is that so many Americans have European ancestry. It’s like Europe hates its own descendants.
There’s a longer essay in there. I think I’ll work on it for July 4th.
Europe is immensely authoritarian. No simple trip to Europe can prepare you for actually living there, according to a former friend of mine who spent ten years there. They let tourists mess around, but when you become a citizen, you get assigned a station, and you will get in deep crap if you fail to uphold it, or worse, dare to exceed it.
Oddly, that was one of the things he liked about it. He broke off all contact when I told him I voted for Bush in 2004.
Meryl, the fact is that a lot of Euros believe that the US is the dumping ground for all their unfit and unworthy denizens. So, yeah, a lot of us are related, but they look at us like an asylum that they’ve tricked all their crazy, violent, gun-lovin’, jeebus-believin’, racist outcasts into entering.
And when we do better than their idyllic little regimented utopias, it drives them nuts. They can’t stand it.
It’s like high school. When you realize the girl you spend so much time hating doesn’t even know that you hate her, or wouldn’t care if she did — it’s maddening.
“It’s like Europe hates its own descendants.”
Precisely. They do, because those descendants are the progeny of the folks who were willing to take great risks (not always voluntarily) to improve their lives and that of their children.
I suppose I should be thankful for the Czar and his pogroms, since they drove my great grandparents out of Russia and to America.
Yeah, OK, the Europeans…at least the western ones…don’t like us. Words cannot describe my distress. Our ancestors left Europe for a reason and if the Europeans don’t remember it, many of us do.
On the plus side, their castles are cool and the coffee’s good.
“Regardless of who wins, there will be a need to project a more positive light of the United States in Europe, but without ditching America’s vital global role.”
Translation: “America should be more like Europe but still extend its defense shield over Europe, so we Europeans can spend all our money on welfare payments and self indulgence, and not on defense. But America must use its armed forces for no other purpose than defending Europe, certainly not for defending America from threats.”
What the Eurps don’t seem to realize is that lots of Americans, and the Democrats in particular, are moving in a more isolationist direction. This will entail not only an increase in economic protectionism, but also a diminution of that “global role” mentioned above. The Democrats’ enthusiasm for “multilateralism” and diplomacy (no matter how ineffective) is a desperate search for somebody, anybody, no matter how ineffective to take over America’s responsibilities. The Democrats want America to become like Europe with a massive Welfare State and authoritarian and collectivist government. But Europe can do this (foolishly, for it’s a dead end) only because America protects Europe from any external threats. Who will protect America if we follow the European path? And who will protect Europe in such a case? Europeans advocating Obama are calling on us to saw off the branch on which we are all sitting.
Since when have polls given an accurate indication of anything?
In my entire life I’ve never met anyone who was “anti-American.” It’s fabricated nonsense.
Guardian readers, yes, Independent readers, yes. Many MPs in our government, yes, but technically they’re braindead already so their opinions are irrelevant.
The average citizen on the street? No, he/she does not *hate* Americans. We are not all BBC-worshipping morons.
Merkava: I concur.
In the past two years, I took business trips to Italy and Denmark. I asked what people thought about America and Americans. I asked my coworkers, taxi drivers, restaurant employees, and anyone else I could have a conversation with.
Only one person was openly hostile to the US, and he was an Iranian.
Everybody else said pretty much the same thing: America is so big and diverse that it doesn’t make sense to have any opinion whatsoever about the nation as a whole.
When left-wing media outlets conduct polls of their readers, they are self-selecting the most left-wing citizens. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the poll produces exactly the result desired by the media outlets.