Sunday, November 16, 2003
‘The often extravagant ravings of anti-American hatred’: Just finished Jean-Francois Revel’s 'Anti-Americanism’ broadside against infantile anti-Americanism. From his concluding chapter:
“The often extravagant ravings of anti-American hatred, the media imputations -- sometimes the product of incompetence, sometimes of mythomania -- the opinionated ill will that puts the United States in an unfavorable light at every turn, can only confirm for Americans the uselessness of consultations. The result is the exact opposite of what is sought. The fallacies of the anti-American bias encourage American unilateralism.”
Note: Revel does not favor unilateralism, per se. He wants Europe to have more clout in world affairs. He’s not a believer in Pax America, the new ideology touted by some in reaction to anti-Americanism. (Remember Hub Blog’s axiom: Bush and Chirac, they deserve each other.) But Revel is so right to point out how Europeans have made themselves irrelevant -- and unworthy of true clout -- because too many of their views are based on crude stereotypes of America, tired clichés, contradictory rhetoric and actions, etc. etc. ...
Note II: Reading Revel, I was once again reminded of William Shirer’s ‘Collapse of the Third Republic.’ Revel attributes about, oh, 70 percent of French anti-Americanism to remnants of hard-core Leftism. The anti-Americanism of the Right can be traced all the way back to the Bourbon Restoration of the 1840s, he notes. Shirer’s book was intriguing because he delves so deeply into how the French right, even up to 1940, was still infected with reactionary monarchism and contempt for liberal democracy.
Update -11.17.03 -- Collin May over at Innocents Abroad writes about another French intellectual, Nicolas Baverez, who’s not too happy with the current French government. Interesting passage from May on French politics in general:
“Ever since the French Revolution, France has alternated between political extremes of revolutionary fervor and nationalist reaction. ... While the United States has prospered under one constitution for over two hundred years, France has gone through five republics, two empires, a restoration and a constitutional monarchy, not to mention foreign occupation and the Vichy regime.” ... May's blog via Instapundit.
Update II -- More on anti-Americanism, this time from Norway. .... Also via Instapundit.
“The often extravagant ravings of anti-American hatred, the media imputations -- sometimes the product of incompetence, sometimes of mythomania -- the opinionated ill will that puts the United States in an unfavorable light at every turn, can only confirm for Americans the uselessness of consultations. The result is the exact opposite of what is sought. The fallacies of the anti-American bias encourage American unilateralism.”
Note: Revel does not favor unilateralism, per se. He wants Europe to have more clout in world affairs. He’s not a believer in Pax America, the new ideology touted by some in reaction to anti-Americanism. (Remember Hub Blog’s axiom: Bush and Chirac, they deserve each other.) But Revel is so right to point out how Europeans have made themselves irrelevant -- and unworthy of true clout -- because too many of their views are based on crude stereotypes of America, tired clichés, contradictory rhetoric and actions, etc. etc. ...
Note II: Reading Revel, I was once again reminded of William Shirer’s ‘Collapse of the Third Republic.’ Revel attributes about, oh, 70 percent of French anti-Americanism to remnants of hard-core Leftism. The anti-Americanism of the Right can be traced all the way back to the Bourbon Restoration of the 1840s, he notes. Shirer’s book was intriguing because he delves so deeply into how the French right, even up to 1940, was still infected with reactionary monarchism and contempt for liberal democracy.
Update -11.17.03 -- Collin May over at Innocents Abroad writes about another French intellectual, Nicolas Baverez, who’s not too happy with the current French government. Interesting passage from May on French politics in general:
“Ever since the French Revolution, France has alternated between political extremes of revolutionary fervor and nationalist reaction. ... While the United States has prospered under one constitution for over two hundred years, France has gone through five republics, two empires, a restoration and a constitutional monarchy, not to mention foreign occupation and the Vichy regime.” ... May's blog via Instapundit.
Update II -- More on anti-Americanism, this time from Norway. .... Also via Instapundit.
