German Media State of Denial: Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of Die Zeit

(By Ray D.)

In a recent online piece for the Washington Post, German journalist Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of Die Zeit points out the disturbing fact that many Germans feel more threatened by the United States than Iran. He points to a glut of hate-America, lunatic-fringe comments on his publication's website, yet claims that Die Zeit is "squarely middle-of-the-road" and "read by educated people." Mr. Brockhoff's glaring inability to admit the obvious leftist-bias of his publication is matched only by his audacious unwillingness to acknowledge the German media's far-reaching role in spreading anti-Americanism in Germany. He writes:

"Maybe we are getting a good look at anti-Americanism. Surely, Germany has quite a bit of that. The nationalist right loves to talk about "authenticity" and "roots" as opposed to American "shallowness" and "materialism". The left is proud of its history of "anti-capitalism" and "anti-imperialism". The United States is seen as the premier perpetrator of these crimes. Surely, Germans will have to work through these stereotypes –- and historically they have. But the undeniable anti-Americanism in Germany and all of Europe has also become a convenient excuse for Americans. The argument goes: if it is all about who we are instead of what we do, then why care?

Traditionally, the way America conducted itself in the world influenced foreign audiences. America was able to change the "balance of power" in foreign debates. Certainly, America has again changed foreign lands over the past five or six years. Except, this time it has acted much to its own detriment.

Some argue that America does not explain its policies and motives well enough and that this is why the country is hated. This is a favorite claim from those who do not want to change policy course. These people fool themselves into believing that expanding a White House spin and communication campaign around the globe will change perceptions. It is more likely that Frances Fukuyama of Johns Hopkins University has it right.

During an event on Capitol Hill today he said that rebuilding America’s reputation around the world will take "the better part of a generation. And it cannot be done as long as "American tanks roll through a major Arab capitol". And I might add: there will be little global legitimacy for the U.S. as long as it is seen as a country that routinely tortures its prisoners.

That fact ordinary citizens of European liberal democracies feel more threatened by America than Iran (or Putin’s Russia) is not just because of a lapse of judgment that can easily be dismissed. It is cause for alarm."

How nuanced. Of course. It is current American policy that is to blame. But how does that explain German anti-Americanism at other times in history? Further, Mr. Brockhoff obviously lacks the moral integrity and the downright honesty to admit that his colleagues in the German media have tirelessly fanned the flames of anti-American bigotry and ignorance - particularly over the past five years. There is nothing any administration could conceivably do in the face of a media elite determined to present it in a negative light with little regard for facts or balance.

Could this sort of non-stop hate-America reporting have anything to do with German anti-Americanism Mr. Brockhoff or are you too dishonest to admit it exists? What can Americans possibly do to end the hate spewing from German media? (Take a look through our archives for more examples.)  

Mr. Brockhoff - who fancies himself a tough and fair reporter - would rather continue to exist in a cocoon of denial  - in a fantasy land - and hope that the language barrier and lack of interest for Germany in the United States will continue to conceal the very ugly truth about his profession. He has become too much a stooge of his editors to speak truth to power. Mr. Brockhoff obviously lacks the intellectual honesty to admit that the German media is a major part of the problem. At the very least he could drop the Oberlehrer-like tone of the wise truth-teller preaching down to his so-called American friends.

Mr. Brockhoff misses a further key point. Namely, that American's opinions of Germany and Europe - especially those of informed decision-makers - will likely take a generation to recover from the feckless politics and hateful media propaganda spewing forth from Europe's capitols - and that is something he ought to worry about as well. American leaders are growing increasingly reluctant to give their European partners the benefit of the doubt. Blogs like ours will continue to tirelessly expose and document the hate and hypocrisy coming out of the European press.

This much is certain: Germany's shameless trade with Iraq, Sudan and Iran has not gone unnoticed. Europe's cowardly appeasement of Saddam Hussein and other dictators has not gone unnoticed. Germany's unwillingness to deploy troops in harm's way when it really matters in Afghanistan has not gone unnoticed. Gerhard Schroeder's incredibly corrupt, poodle-like obedience to his Gazprom masters in the Kremlin has not gone unnoticed. And Mr. Brockhoff's - and the German media's - unwillingness to come to terms with the pervasive and undeniable anti-Americanism that plagues his profession will not go unnoticed. If he is so worried about America's image in the world, perhaps he ought to take a very long and hard look in the mirror. Tend your own garden first Mr. Brockhoff - before you tell Americans how they must tend theirs with your hollow - populist policy prescriptions.   

To conclude, we suggest our readers look at this recent piece by Andrei Markovits, which offers a far more honest and comprehensive assessment of European anti-Americanism, it's roots and current implications. Here an excerpt:

"The Bush administration's policies have catapulted global and Western European anti-Americanism into overdrive. But to understand that overdrive, we need to analyze the conditions under which this kind of shift into high gear could occur. Western Europeans' unconditional rejection of and legitimate outrage over abusive and irresponsible American policies — not to mention massive human-rights violations à la Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, secret CIA cells — rest on a substantial sediment of hatred toward, disdain for, and resentment of America that has a long tradition in Europe and has flourished apart from those or any other policies.

Ambivalence, antipathy, and resentment toward and about the United States have made up an important component of European culture since the American Revolution, thus way before America became the world's "Mr. Big" — the proverbial 800-pound gorilla — and a credible rival to Europe's main powers, particularly Britain and France. In recent years, following the end of the cold war, and particularly after 9/11, ambivalence in some quarters has given way to unambiguous hostility. Animosity toward the United States has migrated from the periphery and become a respectable part of the European mainstream.

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."

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[FranzisM]

The connection between UNSC and nukes is valid exactly in so far as a common interest in the future of the United Nations (resp. the NPT) is at hand. If that is not the case, of course that connection was irrelevant.

I think we can agree that while each nation has its own approach to the UN and its pitfalls, the last word whether it is legitimate successor of the League of Nations is neither with Europe nor with America alone:

Twenty-seven years ago, as Emperor of Ethiopia, I mounted the rostrum in Geneva, Switzerland, to address the League of Nations and to appeal for relief from the destruction which had been unleashed against my defenseless nation, by the Fascist invader. I spoke then both to and for the conscience of the world. My words went unheeded, but history testifies to the accuracy of the warning that I gave in 1936.

Today, I stand before the world organization which has succeeded to the mantle discarded by its discredited predecessor. In this body is enshrined the principle of collective security which I unsuccessfully invoked at Geneva. Here, in this Assembly, reposes the best - perhaps the last - hope for the peaceful survival of mankind.

In 1936, I declared that it was not the Covenant of the League that was at stake, but international morality. Undertakings, I said then, are of little worth if the will to keep them is lacking. The Charter of the United Nations expresses the noblest aspirations of man: abjuration of force in the settlement of disputes between states; the assurance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion; the safeguarding of international peace and security.

But these, too, as were the phrases of the Covenant, are only words; their value depends wholly on our will to observe and honor them and give them content and meaning.

When the WWII Axis unfolded, the war against Ethiopia was the decisive action to collapse the system of collective security.

These days the U.S.A. are no longer the only country with their own Wernher von Braun, but in the long term the space defense system only makes sense to replace the old multipolar order of the 20th century, not to preserve it. When even the UN fear we may pull a dinosaur and get hit by an asteroid...

The Persian nuclear program, even if you leave aside the propaganda and the carrier systems and deliberately chose to see only the civilian side of it, is a cargo cult. Like those Pacific island natives who for their perceived spiritual benefits built airstrips before they built airplanes, the Qom cultists build enrichment facilities before they build powerplants for the same reason. No missile shield can protect us from radiological bombs on their basijis carrier systems, only a fundamental reorder of the international system can.