Comment Parade

From time to time we put together interesting comments found in the comment sections of this blog.

This is a new edition. My thanks go to all contributors for their valuable input. You're adding spice to our postings...

So here goes:

Foobarista, June 11, 2004

One thing that I know drives lots of Euros crazy is that "public intellectuals" in the US tend to be ignored, and always have been. We have them, but outside of the readership of _The Atlantic_ and _The New York Review of Books_, they are largely irrelevant. Is this due to Americans being rubes and dullards, or is it due to the fact that most "public intellectuals" consistently bet on the wrong horses and have been firmly on the wrong side of history? Just check out how many of them have idolized leftie dictators, Communists, and miscellaneous bearded brigands over the years.

Paul13, June 3, 2004

For years the first thing I did once I started the Internet was checking what's new at SPIEGEL online. But after years of an increasing anti-Americanism (not to mention their hostile attitude towards Israel) which culminated within the last weeks in a really hysterical and scary campaign I finally deleted the link from my favourites. Now my first click is "David's Medienkritik" and I feel much better now. Thanks a lot guys!!!

Karl B., May 30, 2004

Schröder's generation on the left is infected with a particularly virulent form of anti-americanism. I've had greens & leftists from that generation tell me with obvious pride of their growing anti-americanism, nothing personal of course, you understand, and they've never been to America out of principle, but they just have to tell me what they think.

Anti-americanism is the last straw that such aging dreamers can grasp in order to suppress the uncomfortable realization that just about everything they believed in back in '68 was wrong. The great irony is the way they dealt with their parents' generation -- moral denunciation with illusions of being superior. In the end, they are as blind and conformist as their nazi parents. I've worked for many Germans who were adults during the nazi period. Rarely have I encountered the kinds of rude, in your face anti-americanism that come from their children's generation. It has little or nothing to do with Bush. It is supported by state and popular media. It has deep roots at the highest echelons of the current ruling parties. And it has a long, proud tradition on the continent (i.e. the justifications change every decade, but the basic attitude does not).

To continue reading further comments, please click the link below:

James, May 28, 2004

But what really bewilders most Americans is how the German media embraces conspiracy theories instead of proof and logic. How the media ignores history, or presents it falsely ( ARD is an excellent example - and we HAVE to pay GEZ tax for this!). How the German media willfully ignores Americans historical commitment to this country and many others, that once embarked on this avenue, and logically it is bad to be on the wrong-side. Having never defended the democratic institutions (the UN and your constitution) that you now embrace, how the Chancellor can willfully flip his nose at the USA is pure contempt, hostile and without mature reflection.

TM Lutas, 24 May, 2004

I think that what should most occupy the German commentariat in the future is what the heck caused them to be so misled about America. A lot of this stuff they bring up isn't even debatable. It's just flat out factually false. Sober German intellectuals are reduced to being geopolitical flat earth advocates. What has gone rotten in their institutions that they seriously start saying, not even that a coup might overtake the US but that a coup already has?

WhatDoIKnow, May 24, 2004

Is there here anyone naive enough to believe that European anti-americanism is being exaggerated ?

Bush played and plays a role in this, but definitely not the way people claim. He was never the "root cause" for the anti-american feelings of the Europeans. His "cowboy"-like behaviour was the excuse that anti-americanism needed in order to erupt.

What we see today is not the result of two years of unhappiness with Bush and US politics. It comes from much deeper within and it has been gathering for a much longer time. Bush offered indeed Europeans a motive for expressing their darker feelings toward the US.

No doubt there are Europeans not touched by this new European disease, who are criticizing the US as sincere friends. But they are in the minority.

Europeans, much more than Americans, are still actively deepening the rift between EU and US. This plague has reached the hearts and minds of the majority in the EU, and nobody in the EU is offering a vaccine. It looks like nobody is even seriously considering working on a vaccine.

Helian, May 16, 2004

If Berg's father really is a member of the extreme left-wing ANSWER, a group that's supported Stalin, Castro, and just about every other anti-U.S. dictator you could name, it's very significant news. The fact that this connection hasn't been made in either the German or US mainstream media in spite of the massive coverage of the family's accusations against Bush isn't surprising, but might be a useful data point for anyone still harboring illusions about the political leanings of the US media. Note also their ginger treatment of Georgia Democrat Senator Zell Miller's open attack against Kerry yesterday. Question for the student: do you think the coverage would have been the same if a Republican senator had similarly attacked Bush? Finally, the media's "death by a thousand cuts" treatment of Rumsfeld continues today, with stories about how his policies were directly responsible for Abu Ghraib. Smells just like Watergate. I'm making no judgements about Rumsfeld one way or the other here. The point is that the German media and the US mainstream media both lean the same way politically. The only difference is that the German media is more extreme, and, of course, addicted to America bashing. A similar addiction is hardly nonexistent in this country, by the way. Persons so infected used to be called "blame America firsters." They've been keeping a rather low profile since 911.

George M., May 13, 2004

First, my contest is satire.

2nd, It is pathetic that the German Aussenminister dares to set foot in the United States to lecture the American government about human rights and proper conduct when his own past is very spotted with abuse and misconduct.

3rd, Lynddie England to the best of my knowledge did not physically abuse or assault Iraqi prisoners. However, she did humiliate them. The distinction is important. Look below in the pictures. Joseph aka Joschka Fischer in the Darth Vader helmet, is assaulting a German policeman. He physically abused and I believed injured the German policeman. He has also been accused of either planning or instigating the use of Molotov cocktails against German policemen. Lynddie England, as far as the facts are presented, only laughed at an Iraqi's penis and posed with an Iraqi on a dog leash.

4th, Fischer's 1968 drinking buddies have murdered. This includes Klein, Meinhof, Bader, the Entebbe hijackers, ect.

5th, Cohn Bennit is a pedophile and should have become a Catholic priest in Boston. He was probably not destined to be a politician.

For an American, what Fischer did was a total charade. For him to lecture Americans about human rights is the equivalent of Libya or the Sudan being appointed the Vorsitzender of the UN Human Rights Committee.

Karl B., May 12, 2004

The strange thing is that the resentment among Americans increases proportionately with their socio-economic status. Those who know their history know what a watershed event Schröder's unilateral election to follow "den deutschen Weg" (the German way) was. There were other ways to handle this, but Schröder and his comrades just could not repress their rabid anti-americanism and '68 need to rebel. They threw out the post-war world order, one that had functioned well enough for almost 60 years, without having a viable alternative long before the WMD arguments were made by Powell at the UN. A simple, quiet "nein" would have sufficed to salvage that world order. Welcome to the brave new world. Kaiser Wilhelm II läßt grüßen.

I urge you to pay a visit to the American cemeteries in Verdun and Normandy and just stand there quietly for a half-hour or so. Even if you've been there before, go back. The one in Verdun (Romagne) has plots and memorials for about 15,000 Americans and is easy to reach from Germany. I've been there two or three times and still do not fully comprehend it.

It won't happen again.

Pamela, May 11, 2004

Germans. Sooner or later you are going to have a choice to make. America is not systematically doing anything. If America had the power you so fear, Iraq would by now be the 51st state yes?

Do not make the mistake of using the template of your own history to understand America. Your history is invading Poland on a trumped-up charge of abusing ethnic Germans. You depended on your media and your government to tell you the truth. They betrayed you and you got snagged into the myth of the master race and will for generations untold be held to account for the genocide of the Holocaust.

It is not fair. It is fact.

Here is what is different. Don't tell me you didn't know. I watched on TV the other night that Hitler Youth were taken on an educational excursion to Buchenwald.

Our government, at the behest of us, does not countenance this inhumanity. We will not accept "We didn't know". You did and you do.

This is what we do when it happens. We expose it, we investigate it, we excoriate it.

So. This is your choice. Continue to demonize America, regardless of the values we live by when wrong is done, however much it pains us. It certainly relieves you of confronting the threat to western civilization, which includes you, posed by radical Islam. We don't excuse our mistakes. You doom yourselves if you value what you want to be the humiliation of America over all else.

And you would deserve it.

J'cuse.

Vicky, May 4, 2004

The invitation of Schroeder by Chirac may be controversial. However, what I find more controversial are the disrespectful comments leveled against the U.S. presence. I grew believing that World War II veterans such as my grandfather who served in the Pacific and my great-uncle who participated in the D-Day operation as being men (and women)larger than life. That period holds painful memories for veterans and some difficult feelings toward the Germans (please note, my family is of German descent). I hope Schoeder's presence is not intrusive but rather respectful and sensitive of the Allied veterans who gather.

While the D-Day ceremonies carry a rightful theme of peace (which I agree has been missing in the mid-East), the ceremonies also honor the noble men and women who persevered against tyranny. Please do not take your anger against the current U.S. administration out against these men and women. And if you do, shame on you. The Germany of today owes so much to that generation.

I know there were many more comments worth quoting. My selection is purely subjective and - because of the large number of comments - somewhat arbitrary and random. Please accept my apologies for any shortcomings...

Comments

[David Govett]

The best and brightest Germans either died on the battlefield or emigrated to the United States. This explains much.

[Hartmut]

Why is the german elite so anti-american?

In my eyes, this is very easy to understand: the USA are a beacon of freedom, and a threat to their power! The US mean freedom of speech, i'ts a country where You can vote for a person and not for a party, in the US, people can vote an incompetent gouvernor out of office! The USA have a strong and growing conservative / right-wing media, and all this means for leftists: they might lose their power!

WE NEED MUCH MORE AMERICA IN GERMANY!

Die Zeit ist reif for a german Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, for a german Fox News Channel - there are plenty of germans who cannot stand the leftist spin and B.S. in the media any longer. Mr. Murdoch, do You hear me?

[Stacy]

For the historical roots of European Anti-americanism please check-out the wonderfully written book by Prof. of Social Science at the Univ. of Chicago, James Ceaser's "Reconstructing America".

Read about advanced European thinking like "The Degeneracy Thesis".

"This thesis, which dominated advanced scientific thinking in Europe during the second half of the 18th century, had two major components. First, it held that animals in American were inferior in variety, strength, and beauty to those found in Europe. This inferiority was no less true of the human species.. Second, it contended that everything that was transported from the Old World to the New from plants to animals and again to humans become stunted and lost it's vigor."

[A Alexander "Sefton" Stella]

Well, quite a few right-wing partisans are now blaming the 'media' for exacerbating the recent scandals, in which the current administration is immersed. Isn't it funny? What really set their teeth on edge was a remark by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. How dare she claim that President George W Bush is - gasp! - INCOMPETENT.

If you happen to believe that she hit the nail on the head, you might enjoy reading my proposed version of a state of the union that the NEXT president should deliver. To access it, you need only click on the hi-lited hyperlink below.

http://www.bcvoice.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=205

By the way, the proprietors of the www.BCVoice.com website have provided a couple ways for you to leave your comments.

[Mike H.]

Yes Hartmut, I hear you. Unfortunately, lately
I've been making too much money and finding new
ways to spend it has become a full time job. You
can understand that I just wouldn't have enough
time to start a new network. I hope I haven't
offended you by this?
Rupert Murdoch
All around heavy duty
entrepreneur

P.S. Would Sean Hannity do instead of Rush? Rush
is having too much fun bursting bubbles in the states. I'll drop a word for you.

[Mike H.]

A Alexander "Sefton" Stella, I'm an American, I
don't know who the hell you are, but over here Nancy
Pelosi is considered to be an idiot even by some in
her own party. I don't try to make assements of your
political figures and I really wish you wouldn't do
so with mine.
The urge is strong but I'll remain civil.

[Pamela]

I'd like to add to Stacy's post regarding Prof. Ceaser's writing. You don't have to get the book. Here is a link to a precis: The Genealogy of Anti-Americanism.

http://www.thepublicinterest.com/archives/2003summer/article1.html

(And Stacy, I thought he was at Univ. of Virginia? That's where I found his email.)

[Stacy]

Pamela,

Sorry, my bad. He is at UV. Thanks for the correction. I do recommend the book. If offers a more complete analysis.

[Mathesar]

Sollte irgendjemand auf der Suche nach der Antwort sein "Warum sind die Deutschen gegen Busch" (wird hier immer gerne als "Anti-Amerikanismus" bezeichnet, dann wäre aktuell diese (biased, left left wing etc.) Berichterstattung ganz sinnvoll:

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,304414,00.html

Lügner, Betrüger oder Leute die andere Leute absichtlich und wieder besseres Wissen in die Irre führen wollen, oder für Ihre eigenen Machtspielchen benutzen wollen, mag man eben nicht. Eben Leute wie GWB und Konsorten.

Wenn man dieses Blog so die Monate verfolgt und zurückgeht wird klar, wer bei Aussagen in der Vergangenheit richtig oder falsch lag.

So wie der Folterskandal in kleinen Schritten auf das Weise Haus zugeht, diverse Kommissionen die Aussagen des "Präsidenten" und seiner "Berater" Wortweise in der Luft zerfetzen, gelingt es diesen geborenen Oberhäuptern der willig Verführten immer noch ihre Fehler nicht einzusehen oder zuzugeben, was von wirklicher Kleinheit in allen Belangen zeugt.

Falken brauchen eben eine starke Hand und eine Haube...sonst verwildern sie...