In the first part of my post I tried to explain the reasons which I believed were not to be blamed for the wide spread Anti-American Sentiment. Please note that to fairly discuss and analyse this topic in full it would take me many days possibly weeks, the views expressed here are of a simple citizen and contain no political motivation what so ever.
The internet brought us many wonderful and interesting things. Search Engines made it easier to find information, blogs enabled us to express our thoughts effortlessly and freely, video portals like YouTube gave us the 15 minutes of fame and the millions of other sites around the internet made information about any topic accessible with a simple click. What does this have to do with Anti-American Sentiment? Simple, everything. A few years ago when people searched the internet for information on a certain topic most often than not they were directed to the sites of the fancy news channels and over fashioned newspapers. Things are no longer that way. Today when searching the web for any political information be it the war in Iraq or the latest presidential scandal, the chances are that the first places you will visit are either blogs or non-official news sites. These simple sites are being maintained by normal citizens that don’t exactly express the same views as the big media corporations. They don’t get pressured to write more politically correct news and end up being more popular for readers than the traditional media. Sites like Digg and Reddit help by enabling people to vote on the stories they think to be interesting, hardly ever does a traditional news source make it to the front page.
Video sites like Youtube also play a big role in the opinion changing, especially because it’s one of the most visited sites in the world. When visiting Youtube videos like this are broadcasted all over the world changing the outlook many of us around the world have of the US. Suddenly America isn’t the land of milk and honey but the land of oppression, government control and inhuman violence. Maybe in the US this is acceptable but here in Europe it is not tolerable, ever. I think you’re starting to see where I’m getting to with this. People are finally understanding that in the US there’s also poverty, crime, drugs, corruption to name a few. The movie Sicko from Michael Moore didn’t help any and the prison policy only made people think twice about things. Suddenly it’s not the perfect free for all country that many believe it to be, in some cases America is actually quite unjust and “third world”. So is this the country that you want to see preside over all major world affairs? I think that’s a simple question to answer.
To conclude I don’t believe people are Anti-American. To me what has happen is that many once pro American have started to noticed that the once shiny country also has its flaws. Freedom of speech isn’t so free, innocent until proven guilty not so true, human rights maybe not so fundamental and personal freedom not so allowed after all.
by Anti-American Sentiment - Part 1 by Delirium Propaganda, on August 27 2007 @ 8:02 am
[...] Many believe that one of the main reasons behind the latest growth of Anti-American Sentiment is related to the war in Iraq. Let me just clear up a few facts about this. We Europeans, contrary to American popular believe, are not stupid, before the war had even started we knew very well that the invasion was for financial gain, not for some missiles that never existed. You see America has a few big problems, one of them being China. Over the past years China has been buying all the crude it can get it’s hands on while the US just stands around looking. You don’t believe me read China buys up more Kazakhstan oil, China’s appetite for African oil grows, China buys more Angolan crude than Saudi. These articles are just to shine some light on the subject. Europeans don’t really care about Iraq, we don’t have our troops over there and the countries that did have were cleaver enough to call them home. Yes I know the UK still has the second largest military presence in Iraq but that’s because they also have common interests in the War. This topic could go on for pages but to conclude I would like to say that I really doubt that the War in Iraq is the main reason for the wide spread Anti-American Sentiment. Part Two. [...]