well now, that's uniformly nasty... there are certainly true spots in there... reminds me of a really old Oliphant editorial from around '70 that had the US. carrying all manner of weapons including a howitzer, and the NATO allies running along side saying how they wished they could help us...
truly I don't think it has anything to do with the two current wars... I think that without something global and pressing to unite us with the europeans, we just don't share enough commonality. That's not to say that their governments will have as much animosity towards us as many individual europeans, but it is there. There is just a lack of basic understanding on how geographic size can change how you perceive the world, for staters. There is also in us a lack of understanding of how utter devastation to your home can effect you POV on the world. Especially now that the devastation was lond enough ago to be idealized. I think those that are old enough to remember Normandy, The Berlin airlift, and so forth still appreciate the immensity of what was done... but to their children, those are just stories. Because they may not know much about the US in personal terms, it's easy to paint with a broad brush. Just like we paint them with a broad brush, about their pacifism, and their addiction to rules... The UK is a whole 'nother thing in my opinion, but they are friends, not siblings, and we should remember that.
Ultimately, our role as "guarantor of Europe’s security" was a mistake, because it leads to complacency. There is all the difference between someone whose got your back, and a paid bodyguard. The complacency sword runs both directions... the protected start to feel it is below them to worry about it, or they think their own veneer of security is what is carrying the day... the protectors start to feel that they should be empowered to make broader decisions... would have been better if we had tried to get europe on their feet as equals, rather than them as little brothers.
'Course that was certainly a cold war way of looking at things... and I think that may be a problem. NATO was an Analogue to Warsaw Pact which is no more. Perhaps that understanding of NATO is due for an overhaul anyway... esp. when dealing with Russia, as an individual state.
I probably actually had a point... somewhere... :shrug:
i think you're right about the commonality. i also don't think the anti-Americanism is as widespread as the press, and Euro leaders, make it out to be. the average European is not a whole lot different than the average American, or Chinese, or whathaveyou. It's the extremes, and the intellectual elites - who certainly make up large portions of the extremes, and in both directions - that are the problem, and i think globally the problem.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sforzinda
no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 06:43 pm (UTC)truly I don't think it has anything to do with the two current wars... I think that without something global and pressing to unite us with the europeans, we just don't share enough commonality. That's not to say that their governments will have as much animosity towards us as many individual europeans, but it is there. There is just a lack of basic understanding on how geographic size can change how you perceive the world, for staters. There is also in us a lack of understanding of how utter devastation to your home can effect you POV on the world. Especially now that the devastation was lond enough ago to be idealized. I think those that are old enough to remember Normandy, The Berlin airlift, and so forth still appreciate the immensity of what was done... but to their children, those are just stories. Because they may not know much about the US in personal terms, it's easy to paint with a broad brush. Just like we paint them with a broad brush, about their pacifism, and their addiction to rules... The UK is a whole 'nother thing in my opinion, but they are friends, not siblings, and we should remember that.
Ultimately, our role as "guarantor of Europe’s security" was a mistake, because it leads to complacency. There is all the difference between someone whose got your back, and a paid bodyguard. The complacency sword runs both directions... the protected start to feel it is below them to worry about it, or they think their own veneer of security is what is carrying the day... the protectors start to feel that they should be empowered to make broader decisions... would have been better if we had tried to get europe on their feet as equals, rather than them as little brothers.
'Course that was certainly a cold war way of looking at things... and I think that may be a problem. NATO was an Analogue to Warsaw Pact which is no more. Perhaps that understanding of NATO is due for an overhaul anyway... esp. when dealing with Russia, as an individual state.
I probably actually had a point... somewhere... :shrug:
no subject
Date: 2007-03-07 05:21 am (UTC)