This report on the abuse of American students in today’s Sunday Mail is a manifestation of a greater worldwide problem regarding America’s image in the world.
The recently (23/06/05) released Pew Global Attitudes Project on the way the world sees America highlights the depths to which their reservoir of goodwill has sunk.
Anti-Americanism in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which surged as a result of the U.S. war in Iraq, shows modest signs of abating. But the United States remains broadly disliked in most countries surveyed, and the opinion of the American people is not as positive as it once was. The magnitude of America’s image problem is such that even popular U.S. policies have done little to repair it. President George W. Bush’s calls for greater democracy in the Middle East and U.S. aid for tsunami victims in Asia have been well-received in many countries, but only in Indonesia, India and Russia has there been significant improvement in overall opinions of the U.S.
Unfortunately Australia was not one of the countries surveyed, but I suspect that despite the Sunday Mail report, our views would be more positive than many of the countries surveyed. What say ye on this Sunday morn?
I would say that anti-americanism has been the politics of envy used by politicians in Europe, the Middle East and Asia to further their own cause.
Gerhard Schroeder is one such example, he now stands in the relic of a ruined German economy.
The truth is people want to emigrate to the US, not the reverse.
Off you go then Rog.
“…only in Indonesia (world’s most populous Muslim nation), India (world’s largest democracy) and Russia (formerly the world’s stridently anti-American superpower) has there been significant improvement…”
Sounds grim.
Someone should now do a poll of how many Australians think Douglas Wood should have been “clipped.” When the answer comes back as “1″, the turd concerned should be sent to Fallujah wearing an “I hate Allah” sandwich board.
Quote me CL, or forever hold your peace.
Popular US policies such as tsunaim aid?! Given the whole world was in on that one, it’s no wonder the US didn’t get much of a popularity kick out of it. Further evidence of their self-centred take on things that they somehow consider what they did as out of the ordinary. And then expect people to be grateful. Everyone gave and gave again to the tsunami cause. If the US is going to preen about its contribution then it may suffer further loss of popularity.
As far as abuse of U.S. students in Australia goes, I don’t find it all surprising.
Students are overwhelmingly leftist and the Left has never regarded America fondly. In fact they blame America for half the world’s ills while at the same time giving thuggish dictators such as Mugabe and Castro a pass.
It’s just the same old shrill –yawn–anti-Americanism coupled with juvenile bad manners.
‘Why Do People Hate America?” by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Davies gives some good, if unintended, insights into the global phenomenon of anti-Americanism. Under a (very) thin veneer of intellectualism the authors indulge in a torrrent of paranoia, superstition, fear, resentment, historical misrepresentation,and, for good measure, a generous dose of bin Ladenism to answer the question. This book was written as a response to 9/11, long before the US’ war plans for Iraq had surfaced publicly. It’s a grim read, reminiscent of Nazi hate literature. Naturally, it has Noam Chomsky’s strong endorsement.
I have American friends in Australia who say they are afraid to open their mouths in public for fear of becoming an immediate target.
This just proves that Australian students are xenophobic.
You’re crouching in fear about religious vilification, Rob, and your friends are afraid about opening their mouths. Rights are only won through struggle - you should display some more courage!
Please name me one figure on THE LEFT who supports Mugabe.
When was the last time the Left held a demonstration against Mugabe in Australia?
When was the last time you held a demonstration against Iran, EP? When was the last time Rafe and Rob organised a demonstration against Mugabe? What purpose would such a demonstration serve? I think your former life as a bourgeouis adventurist comrade is showing through.
Well, I did say we should be manning the barricades, Markie.
I don’t find the fact that my American friends get targeted because of their accents even remotely funny.
I think anti-American racism in universities is a serious problem.
I blame the Left for stirring up hatred against Americans.
As for demonstrations, that’s a left-wing tactic. We’ve seen dozens of demonstrations against President Bush, yet the same people won’t demonstrate against President Mugabe. Some set of priorities.
I live and work in the US, and have done so for eight years now. America is a wondrous, amazing place with many wonderful people that I call my friends. I can say the same of my home-nation Australia.
I have been fortunate enough in this life to be well-travelled, and my discovery is that people around the world are basically the same. They prefer laughing over crying, they love their children, they want their children to have more oppurtunities than they had, What differs is the extremes.they want a full and productive life that ensures the kind of security that their families never go for want of food and shelter.
In my travels I have come to the conclusion, that the only difference between nations is the government - and they differ from bad to suckitude. America has crapitude government, but my American friends can level the same criticisms at me, with our federal governments over-taxation, practice of indefinite detention and inability to remove Hicks from US tyranny.
Government sucks. That is a truism. People are essentially the same is another truism. If America has an image problem, it is a result of the American government, not the American people. The two aren’t necessarily synonymous. Just as I dont agree with all the plicies of the Howard government, despite bing Australian, not all Americans agree with policies and actions of the Bush government.
Fiar dinkum, weirdness there. s/What differs is the extremes.//;
Actually America’s image problem is not caused bny its government, but by the opponents of its government.
Left-wing media and academics the world over have devoted intense efforts to slandering the US, and we are seeing the fruit of those efforts in the hatred at Australian universities.
EP, Marvel wants your caricature account to make a new movie. I hear it will be called “Ya mum”.
EP has a good point. Writers like Sardar and Davies, Pilger and Chomsky are at the heart of an anti-US intellectual industry that proselytises hatred and demonisation of America. According to Greg Sheridan, who for all his faults does know his way around south-east Asia, Pilger and Chomsky are very popular with radical Islamic clerics in Indonesia and Malaysia. No wonder they catch the infection.
I suppose Republican Senators such as John McCain and Chuck Hagel are anti-American, because they’ve criticised the Bush administration’s conduct of the war. I suppose North Carolina Republican Congressman Walter Jones is too because he wants America to pull out of Iraq.
Cameron’s quite right - most people are quite capable of distinguishing between the American government and Americans. I have a lot of time for America and Americans, myself.
This discourse from the Australian Right is the height of idiocy. Everyone must at all times support anything the Bush administration does or says or you’re “anti-American”.
And a few weeks ago, students were deeply conservative Howardians according to the conservative talking points, but now they’re all crazed anti-American leftists.
Truly, the right have lost all perpective. Not a jot or tittle of evidence or nuance is allowed in their faith based reality. You risk becoming Leninist “useful fools” in Bush’s service.
If John Kerry had been elected, would your criticism of him for departing from Bushite policies be “anti-American”?
Are you being “anti-American” if you criticise Ted Kennedy?
It really would be nice if the antipodean Right made a serious attempt to rediscover the virtues of logic and critical thought.
According to Greg Sheridan, who for all his faults does know his way around south-east Asia
And Turkey. He knows his way around because he gets all expenses paid trips from foreign governments.
The US gets criticised for specific policies, not demonised as a country. This may seem too obvious, but it’s the level of debating point that is appropriate in this thread so far. And more specifically the US foriegn policy is most usually criticised.
If people keep making with flatulent accusations that the left is in the business of hating the US, then this thread will degenerate into people listing their favorite US musicians etc.
Another too obvious point. The US is the focus of concern very often because of their preeminent position of power and Australia’s very close alliance with it.
It’s no surprise that while we are at war in Iraq at the behest of the US, that the US foreign policy establishment comes in for a bit of scrutiny.
Another obvious point - there are 100 US commentators for every one Pilger dsaying the same stuff. And what sort of logical coherency does an argument have when it evinces Chomsky as an eg of anti-americanism. Chomsky is anti US-imperialism and pro US-contructive engagement for example.
But its Sunday afternoon, so perhaps somnolent cliche making is what people will continue to run with.
“I suppose Republican Senators such as John McCain and Chuck Hagel are anti-American, because they‚Äôve criticised the Bush administration‚Äôs conduct of the war.”
Nope. And criticism of administration policies is very rarely described as “anti-American.”
What IS anti-American is people like Chomsky, Pilger et al telling outright lies in order to make their anti-U.S. case. Democrat politicians have repeatedly distorted the facts or simply lied as part of their anti Bush stance.Academics in American universities are almost exclusively leftists and actively promote hatred of their own country, as well as anti-semitism.
People are being anti-American when they attack America all the time, while giving its enemies a free pass.
That’s an accurate description of the academic and media Left, regardless of who is in the government. The attacks simply become more vicious when the Administration is Republican.
When you preach hatred of America because you don’t like capitalism, don’t be surprised when your flock takes up your message.
I wonder then at the amazing influence of Chomsky and Pilger across the world, given the stats Phil is talking about.
This is really quite ludicrous - what wbb said.
Mark, you are doing exactly the same sort of thing you accuse us of. You assume a monolithic ‘Australian Right’, but get narky when we talk about a monolithic Left. You conjure up absurd propositions like ‘Everyone must at all times support anything the Bush administration does or says or you‚Äôre “anti-American”‘ and project them onto your ‘ideological’ adversaries - oh, yes, we’re always ‘ideological’, but you, of course, are not - who never said anything of the sort.
It’s not just Chomsky and Pilger — it’s the continuous stream of both open and implicit America-bashing in every left-wing media and academic outlet around the world.
Like the Guardian with its “American hegemony must end” stories by academics, promulgated by other academics in their blogs.
When each and every reference to America or Americans is negative, people will get a message.
We can see the results from those who are exposed to the most rhetoric and insulated most effectively from the outside world and alternative ideas — students.
Sardar and Davies, for two, do far more than criticise US foreign policy. They extrapolate from an absurd analogy of the humble hamburger as the quintessential imperialist export to a contention that America actually consumes the world - that world is merely a series of items on US imperialism’s fast food menu.
It’s superstitious nonsense - and an acclaimed international best-seller.
firstly just for Rog.
Schroeder will be defeated because he is deregulating the economy.
He thinks it is essential to get it going. you will have noted the christian democrats never did in their last outing
It’s not just EP and co — it’s the continuous stream of both open and implicit Left-bashing in every right-wing media and academic outlet around the world.
Like the Australian with its “American hegemony must stay” stories by academics, promulgated by other academics in their blogs.
When each and every reference to the left or lefties is negative, people will get a message.
We can see the results from those who are exposed to the most rhetoric and insulated most effectively from the outside world and alternative ideas — rightwing blog commenters.
Alright, I’ll narrow it down for you, Rob. What Alan said. RWDB blog commenters act in that fashion. I apologise to those on the Australian right who argue logically and with some awareness of shades of grey.
Alan just inverted something EP said. I guess EP’s comment is equally true of the left, then?
Ersatz trackback: Ethnic hate in Queensland
Thanks for the link, EP. It suggests that far from being the vilification of Bush and all his works or whatever that you’ve been suggesting, all the students were doing was calling the yanks “seppos” which is an old Aussie term. You know what? They may have overreacted. Americans don’t have the same sense of humour that we do. I’d expect you and Rob to be supporting these students’ freedom of speech on this one.
Rob, you still haven’t demonstrated that any actually existing leftie supports Mugabe, as opposed to the vast left-wing conspiracy that is your usual straw target.
I don’t think Chomsky and Pilger are responsible for the use of the term “seppo”.
I think it goes a bit beyond calling American students “seppos”, Mark. That’s just the first specific example of the several in the article.
Nevertheless, I suspect that if people were calling Aborigines “coons”, we’d be getting a bit more reaction from the Left.
The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission has described the abuse as “horrible” and says it could be classed as racial vilification.
Of course, we all know that these anti-discrimination people are hysterical and should be ignored.
Alright, fair enough, EP, but it’s ironic to see you on the side of the Queensland ADC this time. I’d still like to know the context of these incidents before rushing to judgement. I certainly don’t think that American students in Australia should be subjected to vilification because of the policies of the Bush administration. What this example is meant to prove, though, is still beyond me. If it’s supposed to prove that Chomsky and Pilger have warped students’ minds, or that no criticism of American policy is ever allowed, it patently doesn’t.
If you look at the figures that Phil quoted across the time series, attitudes to America have cooled in almost every country since the Iraq War began. I don’t know at all that that is the same as “anti-Americanism”. The actual survey questions are more nuanced and complex than this simple caricature.
What exactly is your point on this one, EP?
the politics of envy is used by the collective (the US in this case) when the singular (anyone that speaks against the US in this case) has an independent thought that is not in line with popular groupthink.
That’s all there is too it.
All the US has to do to fix its image problem is to act humble instead of putting on pomp and ceremony that says we’re big, we’re bad, we can do it. They need to do it for at least a century.
All this left vs. right bs u lot go on with is nonsense, its deliberately done to arouse the other’s ire.
That’s the way, Vee, blame the victim.
I think this kind of vilification is the outcome of the fashionable anti-Americanism in certain circles. Note thet it’s concentrated in university campuses — where condemnation of the US is endemic amongst both political radicals and authority figures.
It’s not just the Bush administration, either — it’s a condemnation of American culture in general, which inevitably transforms into a condemnation of American people as the bearers of this culture.
The reasons are many and varied, but historically I would trace these attitudes to the Cold War, when the Left saw Capitalist America as the epitome of all evil. The war has ended, but the attitude remains.
And no, I don’t think the solution is to ban criticism of America or Americans, and fine or imprison those who do it. That’s the fascist Victorian way.
‘Rob, you still haven‚Äôt demonstrated that any actually existing leftie supports Mugabe, as opposed to the vast left-wing conspiracy that is your usual straw target.’
You’re confusing me with EP, I think.
Sorry! Oops!
And like EP, although I think this abuse is pretty horrible I don’t believe it should be criminalised. I’d like to see action by the universities concerned, support groups, counselling, assistance from the US embassies and consulates, support for the beleagured students by their more tolerant friends and colleagues - in other words, a whole range of things can be done without involving the jackboot of the state. Which is as it should be.
I do believe it is more an attitude to Bush rather than the US.
The students are abusing all Americans, not just Bush supporters.
All of which is being done, Rob, if you read EP’s link.
To some extent I agree with that, Homer - the Queensland outbreak, anyway - but I think there is a lot more to the general climate of anti-Americanism. On the Bush-Queensland outbreak nexus, can I say this, anticipating attacks from both left and right. If the US embarks on an aggressive war that attracts huge international criticism, Americans are going to come in for some collateral stick. Not saying it’s right or justifable, just saying it’s naive with respect to human nature to think that won’t happen.
Similarly, when most of the worst and most visible terrorist incidents around the world are carried out by radical Muslims, some of that’s going to rub off on Muslims generally. Repeat last sentence of previous paragraph.
The thing is not to criminalise political opinion, however strident, but to anticipate it, get ready for it, have some communal response package ready, have support networks available, and ride it out. It won’t last forever.
An American friend of mine got the usual treatment just after the war started - ‘Americans are all murderers, your President is a murderer, why don’t you go back to Yankee-land’, etc. She just thanked them very politely for sharing their views. No doubt she was hurt by the comments - but she found a good way to handle it.
Doesn’t anyone else find it curious that the term of endearment “seppo” has been cited as a specific case of vilification? As I recall it has been used for years as rhyming slang for Yanks - which is itself a term potentially offensive to southern staters. It reflects an Australian spirit of friendly rivalry usually directed at our Anglophone allies.
That’s All
That was kinda my point, Peter.
I’d also reserve judgement on how serious this abuse can be - the article says that there are investigations, but the Sunday Mail being the Sunday Mail there’s a fair chance it’s a beatup.
Homer what happened to the once great German economy? The trading of the economy for human rights under the EU.
Schroeder and his partner the Greens still play the anti US line for domestic consumption.
Like “bastard”, the meaning of the word “seppo” depends a lot on context.
At least we have a consensus here that legislation which criminalises criticism of particular groups of people is unnecessary.
Well, yes, EP, I said that I’d like to see more of the context. I do note that over here at RWDB Central today, very few of the substantive issues Phil raised are being addressed.
We can address the substantive issues by expanding the scope of the comments from Brisbane campuses to the world at large.
America is becoming unpopular in some areas because left-wing media and left-wing academics and Islamofascists are engaged in a systematic campaign of spreading hatred of America.
Didn’t know there were many of those left, if there were I’d spend more time listening to the radio and reading the paper. As for ‘left-wing academics’ EP, I extend my usual invitation to you to come and visit a university campus. Come and meet some of them, you’ll probably find a surprising number of kindred souls.
Liam, everyone is right-wing compared to you.
In Moscow I had a friend who was Canadian. He was dating a Russian girl. They were down watching the May Day parade one year (this would’ve been … 2003 I think), they were chatting in English when one of the ancient marchers turned to them and snarled “Yankee go home!” Kurtis made his usual response, “I’m Canadian” usually this in enough to get you out of trouble — even the militsia usually stop trying to shake you down and just want to talk about Gretsky — but the old bloke conferred with his tovarish and turned back and said “Canadian go home!”
Appropos of nothing.
Alot of criticism of America is unfair, I agree and being a hopeless Americophile I often find myself strongly defending America in conversations, online and in the elbow-rubbing world. Actually, its nothing to do with being an Americophile, its just about liking to hear opinions based on evidence and fact and not just banal retreads and easy targets. Howvere, you’re dreaming if you think “Anti-American” isn’t used as a Instant End the Discussion device which catches all comment, the supid and the insightful, shallow and legitimate. Much the way some like to complain the word “racist” is used to shut down legitimate discuss in of those topics. If I never had to hear the phrase again I wouldn’t complain.
ANyone watch the Doug Wood ten thing, just catching the last few mins –the Pianos of Free At Last are working overtime.
That article in the Sunday Mail on the US students was classic. One bloke was called a ‘Sepo’ (Bogan for Septic Tank) and then after 5 months of Australian (as opposed to UnAustralian) ribaldry he couldn’t take it anymore. Is there any chance this bloke was just a twat?
The Sunday Mail is usually complete bilge. That has to be taken into account. Buy it for the tv guide, throw the rest out!
Sorry theres a whole DW thread. My bad.
Like Mark, I’d like more info about the Sunday Mail report. I agree its about context, I call my American bro-in-law a Seppo all the time (so does his wife!) and I don’t think I’ve heard it used ever in anything other than a joking spirit, however I guess it could. Also, drunks in pubs do and say stupid things, hardly a representative sample. Still if thats how she feels, thats how she feels. More info, definately.
Agreed Russell, that was my reaction as well, however I chose to play a straight bat realising that the usual suspects would take this to places no man has ever gone before.
I’ve been called a Septic (despite my Canadianism) more times that I care to mention and have always accepted it as a term of endearment or a gentle challenge to see what you’re made of.
What a bunch of sooks.
Get real, people. The Anti-Disc Comm would hardly have called it ‘horrible’ and ‘racial vilification’ if it was just an affectionate use of ’seppo’ being misunderstood by a humourless American. (Actually, Mark, I find Americans I’ve known, liked and worked with for long periods laugh at pretty much the same things we do.)
[Deleted for use of offensive language to characterise ethnic groups]
Oh, and love to Amanda for getting the name of The Great On in the thread. It is as it should be. (He bows and genuflects)
Rob, it doesn’t seem as if - from the report EP linked to - that the ADC has yet investigated this issue.
In any case, as I’ve said, it’s extraneous to the broader issues Phil talks about. If I could point you to evidence of a group of uni students making sexist and misogynist remarks in a club newsletter (and I can by the way), I would not infer from this that all university students denigrate women or that the respect shown to women is going backwards in our culture.
These matters need to be kept in perspective.
[Deleted for use of offensive language to characterise ethnic groups]
What a bunch of sooks.
Just to clarify, EP, I realise that you weren’t intending to vilify anyone but I’ve indicated in the past that the use of highly offensive terms to characterise ethnic groups on this blog is unacceptable.
Just to clarify, I was pointing out that people like Phil and Russell Allan probably wouldn’t characterise members of certain groups as “twats” and “sooks” for being offended by name-calling.
So why the double standard? It wouldn’t be that Phil and Russell hate Americans, would it? Only xenophobic, racist Ugly Australians would act that way.
“These matters need to be kept in perspective.”
It’s funny how it’s only Americans and Brits that are always enjoined to keep things in perspective and not lose their sense of humour. Of course, if you cut them, they don’t bleed (pace Shylock).
If you prick them, you mean.
Hmmmm. Once again EP you’re putting words in my mouth. Remember what I said in an earlier comments thread on your assumptions?
I didn’t put any words in your mouth, Phil.
You are the one who referred to people complaining about ethnic abuse as “a bunch of sooks”.
Within the context of my own experiences.
Can people please refocus the discussion on the broader issues? Further comments about the Sunday Mail article risk becoming repetitious, particularly since participation in this debate is limited to a few people.
Going back to comments at the beginning of the thread, part of the reason why there aren’t marches against Mugabe is because he’s a murderous dictator whose rule the Australian Government is opposed to. Whereas the US Government is a democratically (sort of) elected group that has close ties to Australia, and thus a, should be held to higher standards (standards it espouses itself) and b, can theoretically be influenced by public opinion.
Another part of the reason is that, while Mugabe oversees murder and torture and the destruction of his country’s economy, he’s not doing it to people of another country, something the US has a long history of.
Refocusing…..
America’s ‘image problem’, as far as the left is concerned, stems from the fact that it won the Cold War. It killed off the socialist dream; it extinguished the light on the hill. Thanks to the opposition of the liberal democracies, led by the US, the facade finally cracked wide open. No-one ever wanted institutional socialism, except socialists, and they were always a statistically negligable quantity. Now the light’s gone out, there is nothing left for the left except purblind, visceral, knee-jerk anti-Americanism (as Gareth Evans once remarked, in the context of the first Gulf War).
Old Europe faces a similar death - the death of its intellectual and cultural supremacy, taken for granted for centuries. The French in particular can’t abide that these transatlantic parvenues now command the cultural highways, and win, time after time, in the market place of consumer preference.
As for the Middle East, rational thought there is so disfigured by an abiding hatred of Israel and of the US, its chief supporter, that nothing remotely sensible can be expected to come out of political discourse in that part of the world for the next several years except an endless repetition of the fable of the frog and the scorpion.
Put all of these things together, and you get a picture of America’s image problem. An immensely generous, friendly, welcoming country, heir to the only revolution that has ever actually worked, will continue to be undermined and vilified by petty, the envious and the permanently defeated.
The question proposed for debate was actually why world opinion is unsympathetic to America.
I thought I just answered it!
Sorry, that was a bit vainglorious.
The sources of much world opinion are left-wingers in media, academia and bureaucracies — hence the relevance of Rob’s reply concerning socialists.
He then goes on to examine specific reasons for anti-Americanism in Europe and the Middle East next.
I’d add that a certain degree of xenophobia stimulated by the worldwide popularity of American culture is also involved.
That’s exactly what I’m talking about EP. Ad hominem.
For everyone that represents a country, they are pro-their country not anti-any country.
I’d have thought, as many many others have observed before me, the winners of the Cold War were the citizens of ex-Communist countries.
EP, you genuinely don’t get it about universities, do you? Why would so-called “left-wing” history departments in Australia keep on so many American historians, with genuine interest and love of American history, if they were all caught up in some anti-American hatefest?
Yet so many non-Americans are anti-American. Even quite a few Americans are anti-American.
Just about everybody who wasn’t a Communist won the Cold War, Liam.
As for those American history professors — what proportion of them support current US policy?
You’re wrong, liam. When Reagan made his ‘Evil Empire’ speech, to the universal derision of the western left, Soviet prisoners in the gulag were tapping out his words on the walls of their cells to spread the word that finally, finally, one of the leaders of the free world had understood the true reality. It was Reagan, Thatcher and the late Pope who brought the moral, economic and poltical pressure to bear that led the most enlightened of the Soviet leaders, Gorbachev, to a recognition that the system was fake, it was corrupt, it was genocidal and improverishing, and could not be sustained any longer. The people of North Korea and Cuba await similar leadership.
We had quite a famous anti-American attack against American exchange students at my university. It wasn’t carried out by their Australian classmates, but by the Fremantle police’s Tactical Response Group — notorious socialists all…
This is the test of anti-Americanism?
Chinese oppressed by Communism aren’t getting any leadership from the Howard Government fighting for their freedom and their rights - they’ve all been sold out for trade deals.
This is the test of anti-Americanism?
Like I said way back when, Liam. Either you praise everything Bush ever does to the skies or you’re anti-American. With us or with the terrorists.
This is the test of anti-Americanism?
No, this is the test of being politically correct enough to get tenure in a university.
I’m willing to bet that 90% of American history professors employed in Australian universities have left-wing political views.
And I expect that a fair few of them would broadly characterise post-World-War-II American policies as more bad than good.
Hello, EP? Wouldn’t that be freedom of expression? Even the use of a critical mind, another purported virtue of Western civ? And I suspect that most history professors don’t engage in the trivial Manichaenism of good vs. bad so beloved of RWDBs on blogs. Hard to see how you’d get tenure if you published “Why I hate America”.
It’s also worth pointing out that liberals in America make as much reference in their political ideology and tradition to American history and American thought as American conservatives. The Neo-Cons are probably the big exception - given that their Wilsoniasm is a patina. Neo-conservatism is much closer in form to European Marxism than the pragmatic traditions of American political thought, right and left alike.
100% of American academics teaching American history at UQ are members of the Liberal Party.
Yes, Mark, of course it would be freedom of expression.
I am merely pointing out that having American professors does not prove that an environment is free of anti-Americanism — because most of those professors are probably left-wingers whose bias will be against American influence in world affairs post-1945.
Approximately 50% of Americans support current US policy. If 50% of those American professors don’t do likewise, then they are not representative of the broader American population, but of a small political -academic clique.
1) They’re not Americans, they’re Australian historians who specialise in American history. And many of them wouldn’t be in the slightest bit interested in things that have happened after the Civil War.
2) Of course they’re a small academic clique, they’re academics. If they were plumbers they’d be a plumbing elite, if they were footballers, they’d be a footballing elite, if they were right-wing bloggers, they’d be a ‘RWDB’ elite.
3) You just aren’t engaging, EP. Not agreeing with contingent US foreign policy doesn’t make you anti-American. It just means you’ve got an opinion.
Not agreeing with contingent US foreign policy doesn’t make you anti-American.
If you’ll engage, you’ll see that I was saying something different.
Not agreeinmg with the contingent American policy of today tends to mark one as left-leaning politically (though not always).
Anyway, I think we may have drifted off-topic again.
I’ve never *heard* the term seppo before. And I read the article in the SM too and while it highlighted universities, a lot of incidents happened in bars in the city so if there is a problem (and I tend to be quite sceptical of anything in the SM) it’s not containmed to universities. As it’s being reported in Brisbane all our media are owned by Packer and Murdoch etc. The Daily Worker closed down years ago so thre’s no leftwing media here. As for the left on campus - after the Septemebr 11 atrocity, the student union at UQ, then under a Labor Left administration organised a vigil to commemorate the victims. And as for anti-Americanism around the world it’s generated by US foreing policy. The US likes to think it owns the world - the rest of the world thinks otehrwise. Several generations ago instead of anti-US feeling around the world there was anti-British feeling and for the same reason. If the US decliens and the world has not developed a propoer multi-lateral international system to replace the lunacy of imperial superpowers then the heir of the US in the global supremacy stakes will cop the world’s negative opinion. It’s as simple as that
China realised a couple of decades ago that the socialist road was a dead-end. Mao’s legacy is described as ‘the thirty wasted years’. It’s hard for them to shake off the vestiges of post-1949 trauma, but they’re getting there. Fasted growing economy in the world (until/unless it gets overtaken by India - interesting to see who that pans out). But they’re doing OK, all things considered. Happy with the trade deals.