#6588
#4 - JRL 6587
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002
From: Tom Hurt <tth@georgetown.edu>
Subject: Re: anti-Americanism
Here in Moscow, the idea of anti-Americanism tends to stink of the very egotism we are often accused of, as if only an American would think that the average Ivan cares enough about Americans to hate them. Part of the reason, of course, is that the Russians are more worried by other nationalities. (I have dark hair and have had my documents checked around 300 times, but I have never had a problem with the police. After they see I'm American and that my documents are in order, they almost unanimously lose interest.) But the main reason is that, like most ordinary people, the Russians, when presented with an American specimen, by and large do not confuse him with a plenipotentiary representative of his government. I have plenty of heated discussions about interventionism and hegemony, but none of those conversants has ever condemned me personally for the policies of a US administration.
Most of the anti-Americanism I see is not anti-Americanism at all. It is an indistinct melange of antiglobalization, anti-Semitism, fascism, general ignorance, and the eternal temptation of all people everywhere for antagonistic self-definition. Anti-Americanism might be on the rise, but I think a significant part of that might be due to the rising profile of these groups, not to a singling-out of Americans. Foreigners and immigrants are always unpopular when large numbers of natives have been marginalized.
Of course, this is just my experience. But I wonder how useful a term like "anti-American" is when applied to anyone besides an extremist who is anti most other things too. It seems only to encourage the idea that foreign countries are intellectually monolithic places that cannot have legitimate grievances about America and Americans.
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