Organization

anti-Americanism

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On IJR

No public IJR answers mention anti-Americanism yet. As people ask about it and share their answers, they'll appear here.

Organization

anti-Americanism

0 members

Overview

Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and positions including opposition to, fear of, distrust of, prejudice against or hatred toward the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centre in Australia suggests that "anti-Americanism" cannot be isolated as a consistent phenomenon, since the term originated as a rough composite of stereotypes, prejudices, and criticisms which evolved into more politically-based criticisms. French scholar Marie-France Toinet says that use of the term "anti-Americanism" is "only fully justified if it implies systematic opposition – a sort of allergic reaction – to America as a whole." Scholars such as Noam Chomsky and Nancy Snow have argued that the application of the term "anti-American" to other countries or their populations is nonsensical, as it implies that disliking the American government or its policies is socially undesirable or even comparable to a crime. In this regard, the term has been likened to the propagandistic usage of the term "anti-Sovietism" in the USSR. Discussions on anti-Americanism have in most cases lacked a precise explanation of what the sentiment entails (other than a general disfavor), which has led the term to be used broadly and in an impressionistic manner, resulting in the inexact impressions of the many expressions described as anti-American. Author and expatriate William Russell Melton argues that criticism largely originates from the perception that the U.S. wants to act as a "world policeman". Negative or critical views of the United States or its influence have been widespread in Russia, China, Serbia, Pakistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, and the Greater Middle East, but remain low in Israel, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, and certain countries in central and eastern Europe. In Western Europe, anti-Americanism is mainly present in France.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“We are not hated for who we are. We are hated for what we do. It is not our principles that have spawned pandemic hatred of America in the Islamic world. It is our policies.”
— Pat Buchanan, Where the Right Went Wrong (2004)
“If I had to choose between life in the Soviet Union and life in the USA, I would certainly choose the Soviet Union.”
— Graham Greene, attributed by Parade magazine (29 October 1967), p. 2. Reported as unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989).
“In today's wars, there are no morals. We believe the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets.”
— Osama bin Laden, as quoted in "The Most Wanted Man in the World" (16 September 2001), Time magazine profile.
“Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans.”
— Robert E. Lee, advice to a Confederate widow who expressed animosity towards the northern U.S. after the American Civil War, as quoted in The Life and Campaigns of General Lee (1875) by Edward Lee Childe, p. 331. Also quoted in "Will Confederate Heritage Advocates Take Robert E. Lee’s Advice?" (July 2014), by Brooks D. Simpson, Crossroads, WordPress. This quote is sometimes paraphrased as "Madam, do not train up your children in hostility to the government of the United States. Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans."
“I hate America's crimes very much. I detest the Zionists, and I hope that the day will come when the world is free of these germs of corruption and destruction.”
— Hossein Shariatmadari, as quoted in "No Arab country Has a History as a State Going Back over 100 Years" (2007), MEMRITV.
“Americans are the friendliest people you will encounter, but they have few friends.”
— Dinesh D'Souza, What's So Great About America (2003), Ch. 1: Why They Hate Us

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

On IJR

No public IJR answers mention anti-Americanism yet. As people ask about it and share their answers, they'll appear here.

Overview

Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and positions including opposition to, fear of, distrust of, prejudice against or hatred toward the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centre in Australia suggests that "anti-Americanism" cannot be isolated as a consistent phenomenon, since the term originated as a rough composite of stereotypes, prejudices, and criticisms which evolved into more politically-based criticisms. French scholar Marie-France Toinet says that use of the term "anti-Americanism" is "only fully justified if it implies systematic opposition – a sort of allergic reaction – to America as a whole." Scholars such as Noam Chomsky and Nancy Snow have argued that the application of the term "anti-American" to other countries or their populations is nonsensical, as it implies that disliking the American government or its policies is socially undesirable or even comparable to a crime. In this regard, the term has been likened to the propagandistic usage of the term "anti-Sovietism" in the USSR. Discussions on anti-Americanism have in most cases lacked a precise explanation of what the sentiment entails (other than a general disfavor), which has led the term to be used broadly and in an impressionistic manner, resulting in the inexact impressions of the many expressions described as anti-American. Author and expatriate William Russell Melton argues that criticism largely originates from the perception that the U.S. wants to act as a "world policeman". Negative or critical views of the United States or its influence have been widespread in Russia, China, Serbia, Pakistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, and the Greater Middle East, but remain low in Israel, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, and certain countries in central and eastern Europe. In Western Europe, anti-Americanism is mainly present in France.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“We are not hated for who we are. We are hated for what we do. It is not our principles that have spawned pandemic hatred of America in the Islamic world. It is our policies.”
— Pat Buchanan, Where the Right Went Wrong (2004)
“If I had to choose between life in the Soviet Union and life in the USA, I would certainly choose the Soviet Union.”
— Graham Greene, attributed by Parade magazine (29 October 1967), p. 2. Reported as unverified in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989).
“In today's wars, there are no morals. We believe the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets.”
— Osama bin Laden, as quoted in "The Most Wanted Man in the World" (16 September 2001), Time magazine profile.
“Madam, don't bring up your sons to detest the United States government. Recollect that we form one country now. Abandon all these local animosities, and make your sons Americans.”
— Robert E. Lee, advice to a Confederate widow who expressed animosity towards the northern U.S. after the American Civil War, as quoted in The Life and Campaigns of General Lee (1875) by Edward Lee Childe, p. 331. Also quoted in "Will Confederate Heritage Advocates Take Robert E. Lee’s Advice?" (July 2014), by Brooks D. Simpson, Crossroads, WordPress. This quote is sometimes paraphrased as "Madam, do not train up your children in hostility to the government of the United States. Remember, we are all one country now. Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring them up to be Americans."
“I hate America's crimes very much. I detest the Zionists, and I hope that the day will come when the world is free of these germs of corruption and destruction.”
— Hossein Shariatmadari, as quoted in "No Arab country Has a History as a State Going Back over 100 Years" (2007), MEMRITV.
“Americans are the friendliest people you will encounter, but they have few friends.”
— Dinesh D'Souza, What's So Great About America (2003), Ch. 1: Why They Hate Us

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.