Thomas wrote:I agree. Ironically, I frequently get tarred and feathered in German online forums for being naively pro-American -- for saying quite exactly the same things I say here.
Yep - know that one. I assume I'm seen as a typical example of European peacenik anti-Americanism on this board - but back IRL, they view me as a bothersome nitpicker, who always insists on pointing out 9/11, the US perspective, the real enough threat of Islamist terrorism, blah blah, just when we would otherwise have been heartwarmingly united in internationalist indignation about that Bush fellow and his gang.
I guess this could mean two things:
- What may seem out left to people here may seem out right to people there. Not that its necessarily purely an ideological left-right thing, its also about topics, frames of reference, etc. We may talk about restoring "balance" on this board by inviting more conservatives (which I do think is a good idea), but we should also remember that to a European, even now the whole perspective of this board is already skewed all the way to US perspectives, which politically sometimes means to the right of what would even come up in the European political range. To US standards this may be a liberal board - but to world standards, its an extremely Amero-centric one, and centrist at best.
- I am simply an argumentative person and will get in trouble no matter who I discuss with.
Its probably a bit of both <grins>.
Thomas wrote:The only regard in which American ignorance and chauvinisms is worse than the others' is because America is a lot more powerful. That gives America's ignorants and chauvinists more leverage than, say, the French kind.
Well, thats true - "high trees catch a lot of wind". And it may seem unfair to some Americans that they will be feared or hated for stuff that other governments do as a matter of course, but it's true - if you've got excessive power, you end up with excessive responsibility - and thats only logical, too.
On the other hand, unlike certain posters, I keep my eyes and ears open when abroad, and don't automatically assume that being an "American" makes me better than anyone else. I also haev a differrnt perspective from those born and raised in teh US. I didn't set foot here until 1978, and went to schools with and played with kids of many nationalities. My parents associated with calmost exclusively with "foreigners," and avoided the American ex-pat communities like the plague. This has rubbed off; when in the Army in Germany I spent as litle time with my fellow soldiers as possible, instead keeping company with Germans and Turks. Since I have always had an "outsider's" perspective, it has been painful to observe this sense of privilege most Americans wear as a shield. 