Hating America (Long Read-but worthwhile)

The Hudson Review ^ | SPRING 2004 | Bruce Bawer

[pghkevin]

Ping for hard copy and later read. Thanks for posting.

[Red Boots]

Listen in the morning to your local AM Talk Radio news. Listen for a couple of hours or so if you can manage. Then, in the afternoon, listen to NPR and compare.

I had a friend who did this accidentially. Although she was a die-hard union democrat, one day she accidentially tuned into Rush. With out knowing who it was, she was listening to a commentary by him, and agreeing with every word. When the station identification came on, she about passed out from shock ! It really opened her eyes, and now she's going to vote for Bush. So, your father's idea is really good.

[91B]

A long, somewhat rambling read, but ultimately worthwhile. Thanks for posting the article.

Bookmarked.

[foreverfree]

bump

[kellynla]

Excellent analysis. Thanks for posting.

The more we learn of the rest of the world the more we realize that it's like the person who needs to borrow some money and then takes exception to you asking for repayment; while hating themselves and you for being indebted.

For if not for Americans, the only language Europeans would know today would be German at best or Russian at worse. The Europeans are no exception to the rule, they will never forgive us for liberating them not once, not twice but three times!
No good deed goes unpunished...

I say, let them stew in their own ignorance, jealousy and prejudice.
I have more important things in life to concern myself with than what other people think of me.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in America while fighting for freedom around the world.

While keeping the line open until we have to bail the Europeans out of their next world war.

[listenhillary]

Bump for later if my eyes don't fall out.

[sneakers]

Interesting. Bump to finish reading later.

[pragmatic_asian]

It has been my experience that Europeans are much more ignorant about Americans than we are of them. Everything they claim to know about America is either erroneous or a carricature. This article merely confirms what I've known for the last several years.

I was in Germany a week ago trying to close the purchase of a media company. When I finally got my hands on their books, I found 600,000 Euros of payables that couldn't be accounted for. While they laughed about Enron and Worldcom, I think the state of European accounting is much, much worse. Most of their scandals are too small to be worth noting.

When Germans find that I'm American, they make all sorts of assumptions. Europeans in general assume that I've been the victim of racism and are suprised to when I tell them I've experience much more racism in Europe. [Yet surprisingly, the girls at the clubs and raves love Asians - flavor of the month I suppose. I take full advantage of that.] In presuming racial victimization, they also assume that I'm not fond of America and try to engage me in some anti-american chat. They're often suprised at how well and how strongly I defend the US. In one instance where all the petty, dirty things the US had done to protect the free world was thrown back in my face and they were getting personal, I had to resort to "Germany is still well ahead in the body count this century but I do hold that against you because I understand that those things were done by a different government in different times." I was ashamed I actually used that but it was a heated argument. The Germans really are sheepish and ashamed about it.

[what's up]

sympathy for the U.S. stood at 54% in 1988, during the Reagan administration, but dropped to 35% by 1996, when Clinton was in office. Why the decline?

The author's explanation of the Berlin wall falling was good; but I can't help thinking that the main reason was that we had a President and his minions who were bashing America every chance he got.

There is a new dictatorship in the world today...the totalitarian power of the media. It is tough and it is tenacious. And it is even worse in Europe than it is here.

[IDontLikeToPayTaxes]

bump for later

[Coop]

Very long, but quite interesting. Ties directly into your concerns.

[Puzzleman]

…we've reached a point where truth literally no longer matters, where illusion, lying, and willful misinformation are standard operating procedure. I don't want to sound paranoid, but there is an almost demonic quality to this…

Very well said and very important.

I remember seeing, a few years ago, a spokeswoman for the far-left feminists saying on television that women who kill their husbands are much more likely to get the death penalty than men who kill their wives. It just so happened that someone on the show knew that was false and challenged her on it. She said that she didn’t care whether or not it was true. Then she said that it wasn’t about truth; it was about power.

[Aiwa]

Okey, you say that the usa is #1 at almost everything ? Then why is norway the best country to live in ( or so the UN say ). Your politics makes lots of people angry, and your saying that it is the land of the free to. The land of the free is not suposed to be an hatefull land. Sutch as your land is. Your the most rasis, ( sorry for my english, i'm norwegian and i'm also 16 ), you don't like people with other political wiews, like commis ( i donæt know how to write the whole word ). So, when you say your the best country.. on what reasons do you say this ?