October 15, 2003

Right Hook

J.J. McCullough
OP Columnist

Anti-Americanism is not a new phe-
nomenon by any means. Ever since the
American Revolution there have been
those who despise the United States—
its founding principles, foreign rela-
tions, and cultural attitudes. Never
before, however, has anti-American
hate become such a prominent and
vicious practice, not just within the
borders of America’s enemies, but with-
in the Western world at large.

Now I am not an American myself
(although many readers seem to assume
I am, based on some of my past
columns) but I’ve spent a fair bit of
time in America, and have many
American friends. I owe a lot of praise
to my own parents, who never attempt-
ed to inject politics into my childhood,
and as a result, unlike so many other
Canadian children, I was not indoctri-
nated to hate the US at an early age. My
opinions of the US have, and continue
to be, influenced not by any pre-pro-
grammed disposition, but rather by my
own independent and personal assess-
ments of the country, its people, and its
history.

America-hating is fast becoming one
of the world’s most popular pasttimes.
From the starlets of Hollywood to the
clerics of Iran, hating America has never
more fashionable. _Anti-
Americanism has almost evolved into a
religion of sorts—a series of beliefs that
are both shared, and never questioned,
by a vast set of followers. And just like
religion, anti-Americanism is preached
as a supreme truth, not just by angry
fundamentalists in the Middle East, but
also by professors in our universities
and protestors in our streets.

But what are the roots of this new
faith? What motivates people with such
an intense desire to hate a nation,

been

which by all accounts is one of the
freest in the world—if not in all of his-
tory? The sources of anti-Americanism
are about as diverse as its followers.
Modern anti-Americanism owes a
large part of its existence to leftist ideol-
ogy. This dates back to the days of
Stalin, when the _ international
Communist networks of the time
denounced the United States as the
quintessential example of the bourgeois
state. America’s gap between the rich
and poor too great, the
Communists argued, and American
poverty was the result of unfair capital-
ist exploitation of workers. Now per-
haps in the 30s these complaints had
some merit. However, as the years went
on, the inequalities in the American
system slowly worked themselves out,
until the country was one of the richest
in the world, with an extremely high
standard of living for all citizens, not
just the rich factory owners. That
America could ever become an egalitar-
ian society—indeed, an even more egal-
itarian society than the Soviet Union—
went against all the conventional logic
of Marxist theorists of the time.
America’s success exposes the funda-
mental flaw in Communist ideology—
namely that self-motivated, free indi-
viduals can create a much more pros-
perous and democratic society than a
nation of faceless forced labourers
whose only motivation is to appease
some vaguely defined “collective good.”
The other main argument used to
convert followers to the cult of anti-
Americanism is the oft-cited allegation
that the United States is at the epicen-
ter of a barbaric “foreign policy.” This
argument, though leftist in origin, is so
appealing to the public’s sense of decen-
cy that it is often in turn embraced by

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even some of the more conservative-
minded members of society. The laun-
dry list of “Bad Things America Has
Done” is repeated to the point where it
is practically a cliche. America over-
threw the democratic government of
Chile, America supported the Shah of
Iran, America tried to invade Cuba, etc,
etc, These
accusations are all
taken at face value
and what little
analysis of these
situations is done is
almost always pre-
sented through the
lens of left-wing
historians and
other revisionists.
Of course, in reali-
ty foreign policy is
an enormously
complicated field,
and is not one that can be judged sole-
ly on a handful of isolated incidents,
presented entirely out of context. It is
truly disturbing that so many have
already forgotten the decades-long
Cold War, and the brutal, would-be
global dictatorship of the Soviet Union.
During the Cold War, it is impossible
to deny that America made mistakes
and often over-reacted in its response to
various crises—both real and imagined.

However, it is equally
impossible to deny that the United
States was on the good side of the Cold
War, and that whatever minor blunders
were committed along the way, the
world is an infinitely better place with-

etc.

out a nuclear-armed, expansionist
Soviet Empire. America is not perfect—
no country is—but when viewed in
context, it is not an exaggeration to say
that the United States has done more to

America hating is
fast becoming
one of the world’s
most popular
pastimes

protect the safety of world than any
other nation in the 20th century.

That last sentence will no doubt
make more than a few readers cringe.
Our deeply entrenched culture of reflex
anti-Americanism has taught us to view
all praise of America as jingoistic brag-
ging. There is a deep-seated jealously of
America in other
countries, and in
American leftists,
a deep-seated
sense of embar-
rassment
their — country’s
enormous success-
es. All over the
world people who
resent the United
States’ wealth,
power, and histo-

over

ry turn to anti-

Americanism as a
way of dealing with their own sense of
inferiority. Many people in this world
seem to need a scapegoat against which
they can vent all their frustrations, and
personify as the source of all their trou-
bles.

I will always love Canada, for it is my
home, and the nation that has given me
many freedoms, which allow me to live
the life I so enjoy today. However, I
remain equally indebted to America—
for all that nation has done for my
country, and indeed the world at large.
It continues to disturb me how so many
people refuse to acknowledge any good
in America, and instead commit their
entire worldview to the ugly faith of
anti-Americanism.

 

 

Author's Note: My articles have been too long lately, and this is a very lengthy topic. So stay tuned, and next week I will
attempt to delve deeper into the anti-American phenomenon, including the Canadian fascination with hating America.

 

 

 

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