Anti-Americanism Of Convenience
Victor Davis Hanson on the convenient anti-Americanism of the international "elite".
It didn't start with Indra "Middle Finger" Nooyi:
The anti-Americanism that we frequently see and hear, then, is often a plaything of the international elite — a corporate grandee, a leisured athlete, or a refined novelist who flies in and out of the West, counts on its globalizing appendages for wealth, and then mocks those who make it all possible — but never to the point that their own actions would logically follow their rhetoric and thus cost them so dearly.
We might expect that a chagrined Ms. Nooyi would resign from Pepsi since it is the glossy fingernail of the American middle finger that apparently so bothers her. We pray that Mr. Khan will stay among the mobs and rioters of the madrassas and mosques he stirred up. Perhaps novelist Roy can write in an indigenous Indian language, peddle her books at home, and thereby disinvest from this hegemonic system that drives her to fury.
Granted, Roy and Nooyi and Khan come from a place that owes nothing to the US (other than repated disaster relief and immense famine aid during a time when the likes of Paul Ehrlich insisted that India was essentially doomed).
But how about Europe? A place that owes us a blood debt?
Then there is the director of anti-American films from Denmark, Lars von Trier, who whined, “Mr. Bush is an a**hole. So much in Denmark is American. . . America fills about 60 per cent of my brain. So, in fact, I am American. But I can't go there to vote and I can't change anything, because I am from a small country. So that is why I make films about America.”
Memo to poor head-pounding Mr. von Trier: There is no compelling reason to have anything American in your country — except in the past to expel German invaders you either could not or would not keep out. Simply stop buying American. Don’t watch American movies. Admonish not us, but your own leaders to get out of NATO, pronto — the faster the better. Deny entry to all American troops — and tourists. Embrace the EU. It’s bigger and more populous than the U.S. Create an all-EU defense force. Go for it all!
Above all, be sure that your films are not marketed through any global organization that is either American-financed, directed, or substantiates a Westernized hegemony in the promulgation of intellectual property. Perhaps there are plenty of Danes who would see your films about Denmark at home — and that might cleanse your brain of what you hate, if make you a little less money.
It all seems so simple.
Posted by Mitch at
May 31, 2005 04:57 AM
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Any society is going to have its ingrates. The problem is that that anti-Americanism is the group-think meme of the leadership class. If don't pooh-pooh Bushitler and the evil US empire you don't get invited to their cocktail parties.
Posted by: Gideon at May 31, 2005 07:36 AMAnd if you don't join in the invasion of Iraq, you don't get multi-billion dollar contracts!
Those Frenchies won't be able to afford their own champagne before long.
Over 6,000 stories on WMD in the MSM can't be wrong!
Posted by: JoshNarins at May 31, 2005 09:42 AMI hate to mention reality, but the US is a net importer and has been for quite some time now. The Europeans sell us things - the primary thing they buy is our foreign debt in the form of T-Bills.
More importantly, your automatic rejection of criticism as "anti-american" is a dangerous philosophy. Stalin's and Hitler's suppression of dissent and criticism were their respective societies' Achilles Heels. It's one thing to note hypocritical or idiotic criticism - but don't fall into the totalitarian trap of "how dare you criticize me." Listening to criticism builds strength - ignoring it lead Custer to the Little Bighorn.
Posted by: RepubAnon at May 31, 2005 10:48 AMA blood debt, that's right! Say it loud and clear, in the uniquely American fashion that endears us so to the rest of the world:
WE SAVED YOUR ASS FROM HITLER. YOU OWE US.
So no movies critical of the most influential and powerful nation on the planet. That's right, ignore the elephant in the bathroom.
We don't care if your movie's total viewership nevers approaches 1% of the people who turned out for the remake of THE LONGEST YARD in its opening weekend... Because YOU OWE US.
Oooh, how you intellectuals infuriate the elephant! Activist filmmakers! There oughtta be a law.
=====
Mitch notes that anonymous commenters are perfectly fine, as long as they - how should I say this - TRY to make a point.
Wallowing about in phony irony? Not making a point.
So: Use a real name? Leave a comment.
Leave a bogus name and leave a well-reasoned comment, even one that attacks everything I believe in? Leave a comment!
Bogus name, trite "Jesus General"-style point? All your comment are mine.
Posted by: Ernst Stavro Blofeld at May 31, 2005 11:09 AMRepAnon: I'm not rejecting criticism, just responding to it. Why does "responding" equal "stifing" or "ignoring?" We get to do that - right?
Ernst: I was unaware that I had the power to censor foreign movies.
Posted by: mitch at May 31, 2005 11:16 AMMy, Mitch, you *do* get a particularly infantile and desperate breed of troll around here. These *ss-clowns have apparently confused their own pathetic inability to mount a counter-argument with stifling of their dissent. A pity, really. I bet that sad "I've been stifled" mien really scores them a lot of points with their hairy-legged patchouli-stinking whores, though.
Posted by: Brian Jones at May 31, 2005 11:30 AM“And if you don't join in the invasion of Iraq, you don't get multi-billion dollar contracts!”
Really? Evidence please.
Posted by: Thorley Winston at May 31, 2005 11:42 AMBrian; yeah, I had the temerity to stifl^H^H^H^H^H^H criticize "Jesus' General" over the weekend. Apparently his minions are a jealous and conscientious - and universally anonymous - lot.
Posted by: Mitch at May 31, 2005 11:53 AM"As ye sow, so shall ye reap".
As a patriotic American, I gotta 'hand' it to you; you really are ironically challenged.
Nothing jealous or conscientious about it. You're just such a big fat easy target. (metaphorically speaking)
Posted by: luminous beauty at May 31, 2005 12:58 PMUmm...I could have warned you about linking to looney web pages. I've got experience with these kind of critters.
If you ignore them they'll keep posting until they drive all the good people away. That's how they win, and they won't just get bored and go away.
If you respond to them they'll just throw more attitude in your face. They want validation and attention.
I think your only real option is to either shut down the comments for a while or get in here every half hour or hour and perform cleanup, like New York did with their subway cars.
Posted by: Bill Haverberg at May 31, 2005 01:26 PMOooh, look at Bill! He wants to crush Stupidest Booty's dissent! Help! Help! He's being repressed!
Posted by: Brian Jones at May 31, 2005 01:29 PMBill,
Probably good advice. But nah. These people didn't have the attention span to become decent writers or develop personalities. They'll lose interest in my lil' ol' site soon enough.
Posted by: mitch at May 31, 2005 01:40 PMI love your blog.
Ta-ta. Have a good life. It's the only one you have. Me, too - which is why I choose to spend, apparently, so much of it leaving pointless drivel on other people's websites.
Oh! Look! My hand lotion! I call it "Trish".
Mmmm. Lotion. Mmmmmmmmmm.
Posted by: luminous beauty at May 31, 2005 03:09 PMSo true! I, being a rugged individualist, have discovered that by taking an anonymous pseudonym with "neocon" overtones, I impart a sense of irony that tickles my funnybone.
Haa haa! Hee hee! I kill me!
Jesus' General - hey, he's doing it too!
Chortle.
Irony. It's the new humor.
Posted by: FreeperInTraining at May 31, 2005 03:33 PMMy dear Mitch;
Thanx for all the fish
no, no,
you can't
take that
away from
me
Posted by: lummie at May 31, 2005 04:05 PMI never
take.
Only
give.
And give some
more.
Adieu.
Posted by: mitch at May 31, 2005 04:10 PM