Erik over at No Pasaran has posted a must-read piece on Gerhard Schroeder. Click here for that. He's also posted an excellent piece on the French reaction to the Russia-Ukraine gas standoff.
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The Debate
- "In much of Europe's public debate, the true meaning of human rights has degenerated into a tool that gives anti-Americanism an aura of legitimacy. The real, horrendous human-rights violations in the Middle East, North Korea, China, Cuba, etc., are largely ignored or relegated to news blurs on the back pages. For front-page coverage, you need an American angle." ---The Wall Street Journal
- "I discovered that European social democracy, too, was a kind of fundamentalism, rigid and doctrinaire, yielding what Swedish writer Johan Norberg calls "one-idea states"—nations where an echo chamber of insular elites calls the shots, where monochrome media daily reiterate statist mantras and shut out contrarian views, and where teachers and professors systematically misrepresent the U.S. (millions of Europeans believe that free public schools, unemployment insurance, and pensions are unknown in America). The more I saw of the European elites' chronic distrust of the public, and the public's habitual deference to those elites, the fonder I grew of the nasty, ridiculous rough-and-tumble of American democracy..." ---Bruce Bawer
- "In the European media as well as on the public stage, prizes and publicity go overwhelmingly to Americans who serve as witnesses against their own government and nation. (...) The defense mechanism is simple enough: "After all, they are saying this, too, so how can we be accused of anti-Americanism?" A similar phenomenon attaches itself to Israel, where "post-" or anti-Zionist spokesmen are given top billing in the European media." ---Josef Joffe
- "The point is to be aware that for many of the foreigners issuing what they claim to be "simply constructive criticism", the evidence shows that criticizing America is all they do, criticizing America is all they ever have done, and criticizing America is all they ever will do." ---Erik Svane, Americans Anonymous
- "To get an impression, take a look at David's Medienkritik, a Web log in English dedicated, among other things, to exposing biased reporting on the United States in the German media. Be it stories about the war in Iraq, the conduct of U.S. soldiers abroad, American reservations regarding the Kyoto Protocol and the International Criminal Court or even the Katrina disaster, more often than not the German public is presented with a distorted picture. There are laudable exceptions. But generally the blows are low, and the public is left to form its opinion base on half-truths and false analyses." ---Julian Knapp
- "Negative sentiments and views have been driven not only - or even primarily - by what the United States does, but rather by an animus against what Europeans have believed that America is. While the politics, style, and discourse of the Bush terms - and of President Bush as a person - have undoubtedly exacerbated anti-American sentiment among Europeans and fostered a heretofore unmatched degree of unity between elite and mass opinion in Europe, they are not anti-Americanism's cause. Indeed, a change to a center-left administration in Washington, led by a Democratic president, would not bring about its abatement, let alone its disappearance." ---Andrei Markovits
- "Anti-Americanism is hypocrisy at its finest. You can spend your evening catching the latest episode of "24" and then complain about Guantanamo the next morning. You can claim that the Americans have themselves to blame for terrorism, while at the same time calling for tougher restrictions on Muslim immigration to Germany. You can call the American president a mass murderer and book a flight to New York the next day. You can lament the average American's supposed lack of culture and savvy and meanwhile send off for the documents for the Green Card lottery. Not a day passes in Germany when someone isn't making the wildest claims, hurling the vilest insults or spreading the most outlandish conspiracy theories about the United States. But there's no risk involved and it all serves mainly to boost the German feeling of self-righteousness." ---C.C. Malzahn
- "The protests against nuclear weapons, for instance, concentrated on American weapons. The anti-war rallies were against American-led wars. The anti death penalty campaign focused on Texas. A pattern was emerging and has never seriously been altered. A pattern of willingness to condemn America for the tiniest indiscretion - or to magnify those indiscretions - while leaving the murderers, dictators, and thieves who run other nations oddly untouched." ---Justin Webb
- The fundamental role of anti-Americanism in Europe in general, and particularly among those on the Left, is to absolve themselves of their own moral failings and intellectual errors by heaping them onto the monster scapegoat, the United States of America. For stupidity and bloodshed to vanish from Europe, the U.S. must be identified as the singular threat to democracy (contrary to every lesson of actual history)." ---Jean-François Revel
- "In five years there will be a different President and Iraq will likely be pacified. That would naturally have impacts on the strength of the resentments that have fixed themselves onto certain individuals in the present situation. But beneath the surface smolder the long-burning embers of latent anti-Americanism. It has a long tradition and will remain, also when President Bush is no longer in office and Palestine is peaceful." ---Lutz Erbring
- "A writer for the German weekly Der Spiegel told me during the Iraq debate not to take offense at the crude anti-American covers of the magazine such as the ugly, bearded, drooling Rambo figure it used to show the typical GI in Iraq. 'We're just trying to please our million readers,' he explained." ---Jeff Gedmin
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The Schroeder piece is really just a long quote from an article by NYT/IHT journalist John Vinocur. Well worth reading, but you may want to give credit where it's due.
Posted by: flux | January 03, 2006 at 06:30 PM
@flux
I second that.. shame on the NYT for making some services not free!!!
Posted by: amiexpat | January 03, 2006 at 06:34 PM
@ flux,
The last time I looked, Erik clearly attributed all of his quotes. Do you honestly expect us to re-attribute everything we link to?
Posted by: RayD | January 03, 2006 at 09:25 PM
4th and last try: Since I get banned here again and again and even my posts are deleted I want to use this last post to tell the readers of this site: Use your brain – and multiple sources. Talk to real Germans and read real German newspapers and magazines. I am not saying everything David Kaspar and Ray D. say is wrong (even though some claims are absurd, to put it mildly, such as, Der Spiegel supports the left) but it is DEFINITELY NOT THE WHOLE PICTURE. This could be a very interesting project if the authors were neutral and a little keener on REAL discussing. Good bye .
PS: I hope this post won’t be deleted as well.
Posted by: MerelyPreselectedArticles | January 03, 2006 at 09:55 PM
We are really discussing - some might not like what we have to say.
Posted by: grlzjustwant2havefun | January 03, 2006 at 11:15 PM
Besides MPA - you talking German or American Left?
DS is Left.
You might need a little more nuance.
Posted by: grlzjustwant2havefun | January 03, 2006 at 11:16 PM
@MPA: If you don't recognise that Speigel is left, then it's simply a matter of conditioning. You've been conditioned so long to think that it is normal that you believe it. It's not. Moreover, you will have a significant problem making comparisons in order to make an informed judgement on the political leanings of German MSM, because almost _everything_ is tainted with the standard anti-American feel-good rubbish. I read it everyday, and I hear it everyday from German Lefties (GEW - school teachers). They are conditioned as well, but they've unfortunately got the dogma and ideology to back it up -- in other words, they are probably beyond hope.
Ergo, David and Ray are providing an invaluable service with this blog, and I encourage you to hang around a little bit.
Posted by: Scout | January 03, 2006 at 11:26 PM
MerelyPreselectedArticles.
“4th and last try:”
Braggart, and a liar. You’ll be back.
“Since I get banned here again and again…”
Enough already!
“… and even my posts are deleted”
They aren’t many electrons, but they do add up.
“I want to use this last post to tell the readers of this site:”
Redundant, but go ahead.
“ Use your brain – and multiple sources.“
Thanks. I’ve printed that in 78 font size and pasted it to the fridge. I think I’ll take the plunge on buying the on-line ‘Be a Neurosurgeon Course.”
“Talk to real Germans…“
No, I like the fake Germans. Fake drunk Germans. Fake drunk Germans, driving fast, at night, with their lights out, while I shotgun road signs and they sing Willie Nelson songs badly, but with passion. Nevada is great for these cross cultural exchanges.
“..and read real German newspapers and magazines.“
I can’t read Germans so I just look at the hotties.
“I am not saying everything David Kaspar and Ray D. say is wrong (even though some claims are absurd, to put it mildly, such as, Der Spiegel supports the left)”
(Insert American colonialism, here ) Why, that’s mighty white of you. Tanks a bunch, boss!
“..but it is DEFINITELY NOT THE WHOLE PICTURE. “
No Sh**t Sherlock.
“This could be a very interesting project if the authors were neutral and a little keener on”
Give useful parameters of ’neutral’. Take you’re time.
“ REAL discussing. “
You found us out. Drat, years of fake discussion down the drain.
“Good bye .”
Door meets arse.
“PS: I hope this post won’t be deleted as well.”
Why?
Posted by: Carl Spackler | January 03, 2006 at 11:34 PM
No, I like the fake Germans. Fake drunk Germans. Fake drunk Germans, driving fast, at night, with their lights out, while I shotgun road signs and they sing Willie Nelson songs badly, but with passion. Nevada is great for these cross cultural exchanges.
That was you? Damn, I thought you believed I was really German.
Posted by: Doug | January 04, 2006 at 12:04 AM
Doug,
Hence my failed experiments in upping fortified wine products with off brand whiskeys. If it was you, you were stunning in the sequined hot-pants. Sorry about the passenger mirror.
Posted by: Carl Spackler | January 04, 2006 at 02:13 AM
If it was you, you were stunning in the sequined hot-pants.
Damn. What did I miss?
Posted by: Pamela | January 04, 2006 at 02:50 AM
Damn. What did I miss?
Nothing that a night in detox, sensory deprivation, and a regimen of antidepressants probably couldn't fix. 'A night to remember,' indeed - so horribly, horribly true. I just hope my next incarnation doesn't go in for regression therapy.
Posted by: Doug | January 04, 2006 at 04:49 AM
@Preselected
"Use your brain – and multiple sources. Talk to real Germans and read real German newspapers and magazines"
I think you are making a condescending assumption: that the American readers here are of the same caliber that blog on AOL or Yahoo.
A good percentage of the Americans that follow this blog either live in Germany and in many instances have German spouses. These Americans live and breath German 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Guessing by the caliber of postings that these people have posted in this blog, I would estimate that most of these people have college educations or post graduate educations.
Then there are people like myself. I live in the U.S. but I was married to a German woman who passed away several years ago. I still talk to her family on a regular basis. I also get Die Welt on a daily basis via E-mail and I have Stern, Focus and Der Spiegel book marked. To think that guys like myself don't have a handle on what Germans think or what their media puts out on a daily basis is great mistake.
The problem with guys like myself is that we not only have a handle on what's going on in Germany, but we also know where all the bodies are buried. So Preselected, be careful for what you wish for. If you really want to discuss issues with real Americans who are informed, then be prepared to rumble!
Posted by: George M | January 04, 2006 at 04:54 AM
@Preselected
"Use your brain – and multiple sources. Talk to real Germans and read real German newspapers and magazines"
Geez, how do you think I ended up here? I have talked to many 'real' Germans and read too many 'real' German newspapers and magazines..
Actually I like the Frankfurter Neue Presse.. they are reasonable..
but TAZ/Spiegel/Stern/Suddeutsche? FORGET IT
Posted by: amiexpat | January 04, 2006 at 03:39 PM
--“..and read real German newspapers and magazines.“
I can’t read Germans so I just look at the hotties.--
Are their pits shaved or braided?
Posted by: grlzjustwant2havefun | January 04, 2006 at 04:24 PM
Preselected doesn't understand, we are using multiple sources, we're here, we're in the world.
Posted by: grlzjustwant2havefun | January 04, 2006 at 04:26 PM
@Doug and Carl: That explains what happened to my mailbox!
Posted by: Cousin Dave | January 04, 2006 at 04:36 PM
@Niko re Galileo: I wonder how long it will take Putin to convince them to drop it and use Glonass instead. Yeah, that's real independence, isn't it?
Posted by: Cousin Dave | January 04, 2006 at 04:40 PM
Erik writes: "Why am I still living in this God-forsaking sewer mess called Europe?"
Poor France, if it were left alone its brightest politicos would run for the lifeboats...
Posted by: FranzisM | January 05, 2006 at 04:23 PM
@Carl - I like the fake Germans.
Are they like the fake Americans playing basketball in the Hamburg Modelleisenbahn Museum while I smoke my pipe and try to play the railway system safe?
Posted by: FranzisM | January 05, 2006 at 04:38 PM