Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
What is anti-Americanism?
Published on October 18, 2004 By Draginol In Philosophy

Predictably, when someone talks about anti-Americanism the far left will begin distorting it to sound like that if you criticize your country then you are "UnAmerican".  Pretty soon, the original point is turned into a charactiture of itself and the original author's points are ridiculed into oblivion.

Criticizing the policies of your country does not make you unpatriotic. Not agreeing with the US President doesn't make you anti-American.  The intellectually lazy may find it appealing to hide their anti-Americanism behind principled disagreement on policy. But most people with common sense understand there is a difference between disagreeing with US policy on some issue and being anti-American.

So here's a quick guide:

You might be anti-American IF:

  1. You think the average American is "stupid" or "a sheep" or "brain washed".
  2. You prefer law be made by appointed judges rather than elected officials.
  3. You think of the United States, as a whole, to be "the greatest threat to world peace".
  4. You think American culture is a grotesque cancer spreading across the world.
  5. You think that the United States is the greatest threat to the environment.
  6. You think that the United States kind of "had it coming" on 9/11 because of years of its "foreign policy"
  7. You hope that the United States "loses" in Iraq.
  8. You would like to see China or Russia or the European Union act as a "counter balance" to the US militarily
  9. You consider Bush, Clinton, or any other US President a "War criminal"
  10. You believe that US-style capitalism is a force for global ruin, individual degradation, or environmental catastrophe

You'll note that none of these 10 items involves criticizing a US policy. Or voting for a particular presidential candidate. Or even what kind of car you drive.

Someone who is anti-American is probably not as likely to buy an American made car as someone else.  But not owning an American made car doesn't make you anti-American (I realize this should be obvious but based on some of the things I've read in response to my article this basic bit of logic seems to elude some people).  Driving to some anti-Bush protest in your Volvo with your "No blood for oil" sign may be SYMPTOMS of being Anti-American but these things in themselves do not make someone anti-American.

You'll also note that there is a difference between being anti-American and Un-American.  Thinking that the US deserves to be attacked by terrorists is different than being in favor of say laws that censor critics of the government.  The former would be a symptom of anti-Americanism and the latter would be a symptom of being un-American in my opinion.

That's my 2 cents on it anyway. 


Comments (Page 4)
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on Nov 17, 2004
wow...some people just too lost...first while we as americans have a right to speak out in this country regarding any ill's we may perceive (real or imagined)....its in the way its brought out into the public arena where the left has gotten its rightful blame....disagreeing with a administration over policy, domestic or foreign is fine...equating the same administraition akin to fascists is not...believing the president is wrong in his policy decisions is okay...calling him and idiot, drunk, cokehead, or my personal fav...hitler is not...just like we have a right in this country to peacefully assemble for a redress of our grievences....borderline riots are not...the key word which the left has forgoten or ignored is "PEACEFULLY"....how can i say that..simple I've attended more than a dozen protest marches by the left endorsed and organised by such wonderfull groups as United for Peace and Justice (they equate ROTC as fascist indoctrination), MoveOn.org (they advance the theory that Bush is akin to Hitler), Workers World Party (they prefer to trash the free-market ecconomy system for their collective ecconomy) and they were anything but peaceful....wonder if it was the fact that there were peole at these "events" who disagreed with their ideas and protested them peacefully..funny how they got violent....and we didnt..go figure...as with everything there is a limit to our freedoms which we are thankful for..otherwise we have chaos .
on Nov 17, 2004
wow...some people just too lost...first while we as americans have a right to speak out in this country regarding any ill's we may perceive (real or imagined)....its in the way its brought out into the public arena where the left has gotten its rightful blame....disagreeing with a administration over policy, domestic or foreign is fine...equating the same administraition akin to fascists is not...believing the president is wrong in his policy decisions is okay...calling him and idiot, drunk, cokehead, or my personal fav...hitler is not...just like we have a right in this country to peacefully assemble for a redress of our grievences....borderline riots are not...the key word which the left has forgoten or ignored is "PEACEFULLY"....how can i say that..simple I've attended more than a dozen protest marches by the left endorsed and organised by such wonderfull groups as United for Peace and Justice (they equate ROTC as fascist indoctrination), MoveOn.org (they advance the theory that Bush is akin to Hitler), Workers World Party (they prefer to trash the free-market ecconomy system for their collective ecconomy) and they were anything but peaceful....wonder if it was the fact that there were peole at these "events" who disagreed with their ideas and protested them peacefully..funny how they got violent....and we didnt..go figure...as with everything there is a limit to our freedoms which we are thankful for..otherwise we have chaos .
on Nov 17, 2004
Drag....I agree whole-heartedly...with everything...our very freedoms do have limits....otherwise we have chaos....
on Apr 10, 2005

Over in this discussion one prominent left-of center blogger from here on JU wrote:

http://therightdish.joeuser.com/ArticleComments.asp?AID=71666

Chavez is the new Castro. The difference is that he has oil leverage. It makes me laugh. I hope he fucks the US with a big rubber dick.

And that blogger isn't even as far left as many of the bloggers on this site.  But rarely have I seen the point I was trying to make as crystalized as it was by his comment. He HOPES for bad things to happen to the United States.

You would be pretty hard pressed to find right of center Americans HOPING for bad things to happen to the US.

on Apr 10, 2005
good article brad sorry I did not see this sooner.

About cactoblasta comment that america DESERVED 9-11.. HOW DARE YOU! Maybe one nice day a sweet kind little raghead will set a nuke off in your country, then I can say well they had it comming, frack em.
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