Tim Blair

There are lots of reasons for American anti-Americanism, but here are a few:

1) It's a version of standard adolescent complaints: "My parents are so clueless and uncool, but I am rebellious and hip!"

2) There seems to be a psychological need to believe "we are bad." With the decline of belief in original sin ("we are sinful"), that psychic need gets expressed in politics ("our nation is bad/sinful").

If you're status-oriented, there are really only two ways to improve your position: raise your own or lower others'. Raising your own takes a lot of hard work; it's much easier to sneer at other people instead.

I also think that's why the hard-left and hard-right - is there truly a diff between them? - seem to always support dictators. They identify with the unrepressed naked desire to be superior and worshipped by all, and if the means to get there is to tear other people down, well, so be it. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and all that.

America is despised by such people because it is based on the idea of raising yourself up. Jews practice a similar philosphy, emphasizing hard work, education etc.

Asians are next. Already, they are being actively discriminated against, by liberals, in the US. Just check the University admissions process. And expect the problem to grow.

In every case, it's a strategy of holding back others who might otherwise get ahead of the modern liberal. This must be a very stressful way for them to live; no wonder they're so frustrated, with all that pressure.

And if, in spite of the ridicule, the buorgeois masses still nsist on improving their own lives and being happy, then like Aesop's fox who couldn't reach the grapes, the superior liberals might as well declare the peoples' success to be sour anyway.

My pop-psych analysis for the day....

And not a bad one, ras.

Simple. They're drama queens raised on teevee who can't stand their lives not being filled with 24/7 non-stop excitement. Make this experiment: go up to someone at a "peace" rally or something of that nature and ask them about the starving children (somewhere -- this year's Starving Children Locale™ is Afghanistan and/or Iraq). Then ask them about the slaughter and slavery going on in the Sudan. Then ask them if they didn't really think that bland modern American suburbia was actually the nicest lifestyle that humanity has produced so far. See which subject arouses the most horror and fury.

I read Ali's post on Iraq the model, he's a brave lad that one.
But as I read the 119 comments that story received I couldn't help but notice how condescending a lot of them were, I could quote them here but it's probably just easier for anyone interested to go to his site and read it for themselves. this guy has lived through a lot, probably by his own guile mostly, I doubt he requires much advice from armchair commentators living in western countries telling him over the internet how he should deal with the Iraqi Police services!
Frankly I was a bit embarrassed for all of us.
It just shows how good a guy he is that he hasn't had a go at them for it.

We have anti-australian Australians too. They're the elite who are bitter and twisted about the Howard Government and can't understand why the majority of Aussies don't share their views on the republic, the flag, treaty with Aborigines, asylum seekers, etc etc, that they don't realise what a great country they are so lucky to live in. Let them go and live in Iraq and see what poverty is really like.

Let me explain "American anti-Americanism. Some people, e.g. those mega millionaires from Hollywood, those cultural elites in New York, and those self-absorbed TV anchors and journalists, believe they are superior to the rest of the populace. To their consternation, the majority of Americans were so stupid that they do not realize their superiority, and refuse to follow them or listen to them. This moronic majority enabled the "amiable dunce" Reagan, and the "idiot" Bush to grab power. For a better America, and a better world, America must be destroyed, or at least humiliated.

"But American anti-Americanism? What's the reason for it?"

It's like a confession. If all you care about is money, you can constantly talk about how materialistic we are, and you get to go to heaven (or wherever it is atheists go to), because you CONFESSED.

Silent Running's BeebVision is great! I could easily imagine the same being printed by some of the US media.

American anti-Americanism is generally found among the rich and well to do who adopt 'causes' and help convince other Americans they are 'victims' who need some special laws or monies. I think the root cause of American anti-Americanism is guilt over having so much money.
I rarely find anti-Americanism among the people I work and socialize with. That's because we don't feel guilty about our money. We didn't inherit it, we earned it. (We aren't wealthy, but we aren't poor either.)

This is not to say that the US is a perfect place with no problems. The American anti-Americans, however, view the US as the absolute worse place to live. They seem to find fault with nobody else but Americans. They really hate living here. They do not acknowledge wrongs that are being, or have been, addressed. It's all doom and gloom for these people. These are the sort who would go on and on about what a paradise Cuba is, and what a Nazi-like state the US is.

I wish they'd leave and go live in a place they would be happier living in. Can't understand people who hate their country but never leave. I'd leave, if I hated the US as much as many of the anti-Americans seem to. I'd actually like to see those who love Cuba go and live there.

Amen, Chris.

I think Papaya put it pretty well.

Fact is a lot of anti-Americanism (maybe most)isn't based on envy at all. I know lots of anti-americans in Canada and Europe, who aren't the slightest bit envious of Americans.

Being anti-american gives them a feeling of superiority, caring more about the oppressed, being more compassionate, more humane, more self critical etc.

Very little to do with enyy actually...

Actually, those feelings have everything to do with envy, as does any feeling having to do with wanting more attention and praise from others regardless of whether you deserve it or not.