[W]hen [Robert] Kagan writes about anti-Americanism, he’s deliberately using an equivocal term in order to elicit unthinking, knee-jerk anti-anti-Americanism in his readers. He likes the imperial U.S. foreign policy, so when foreign people express their hated for it, Kagan and his ilk misdirect us to think the foreigners hate us as individuals. The apologists for empire count on you not to examine the matter too closely, because if you did, you might see the merit in what the foreigners are saying.

America once signified the ideals of individual freedom, peace, and nonintervention. But if, as Kagan believes, Americanism now means imperialism, then good Americans should be “anti-American” too.

Anthony Gregory - 6/22/2006

Wonderful use of Lehrer! I love that song.

Max Schwing - 6/22/2006

The problem is that half of the European leftist news papers not only hate the Bush government, but also the way of life in the US. Again and again, I get this feeling out of conversations with friends here in Germany, who not only critizise the US government and its president, but rather the whole of the American people (as being stupid or racist or whatever else there is you can have unlimited prejudices about).

It's true that not everyone in Europe things like this, but especially in Central and South-West Europe, these thoughts are real (especially with the youth).