Korean Job Discussion Forums

[No_hite_pls]

[Big_Bird]

Probably very true...anecdotically....thinking of recent overheard conversations here and there...

[Gopher]

What is the real problem behind "the rest of the world's" image of the United States? Easy. Flawed image.

It is a mistake to seek "the rest of the world's" opinion on American political leadership, then. Most of "the rest of the world" views America through crude stereotypes such as those Graham Greene outlined in The Quiet American, those that Michael Moore and his Canadian and European partisan allies tell themselves about "the stupidest people on the planet," and those contained in the stories Latin Americans tell themselves about "the gingos," for example.

Whether America and its political leadership actually represent real problems, and to whatever degree at that, "the rest of the world" can start, at their end, like everyone else beholden to stereotypes, by discarding them, and then they can choose not to impose unrealistically idealistic expectations onto the incoming president, who may or may not be Barack Obama -- which would only be setting themselves up for disappointment and a newly-invigorated round of bitter antiAmericanism when he fails to represent their interests and behave, for example, as the French want the American president to behave.

[Kuros]

As someone who will probably end up voting for Obama, this kind of poll irks me.

America's image was supposedly pretty good on 9-11. Then it declined. America's image will be pretty good should Obama be elected President, then the enthusiasm will wane.

Too many national leaders use America as a symbol upon which to foist their people's resentment and anger. This is true from Berlin to Cairo to Beijing to Seoul. And, increasingly, in some of these places, the anti-Americanism has become so bad that the governments try to mitigate it now; these governments have to work with America after all.

All it takes is a look at the American public to witness what is at play: ignorance. The American bugaboo is China, and China is resented, along with Mexico to a certain extent, for negatively impacting middle-class and lower-middle-class America. But its all bollocks.

Anti-Americanism: it will go away only when ignorance or American power disappears.

[Big_Bird]

US presidents are not all viewed with the dislike Bush has incurred. I know foreigners (with no interest in - or even concept of - Dems or Republicans) who speak very highly of Clinton, and curse Bush.

I think Kuros and Gopher are ignoring the illwill that the Iraq war brought on the US. A nasty unnecessary war which brought your country a certain amount of deserved condemnation.

Yeah yeah. Britain joined in too. But it is not seen as OUR war. It's seen as your and Bush's war.

[Kuros]

[Gopher]

But I bet, Big_Bird, that they actually know very little about Clinton or W. Bush per se, especially if it is true, as you say, that they have no concept of America's politics.

I think people have tended to focus too much on W. Bush and the Iraqi War. Today's virulent antiAmericanism actually began during the Clinton Administration, as the Soviet Union's collapse and the Cold War's end -- and as the dust from these events settled and showed that only America remained as a so-called superpower -- left America isolated and an easy target for, as Kuros calls them, provincial people's resentment and scapegoating for their issues with world affairs.

I would focus on the Cold War's outcome and the post-Cold War order when describing today's antiAmericanism, then. The Iraqi War may have served as a mere pretext for it and/or it may have actually catalyzed it. But this goes far deeper than the Iraqi War. Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American decades ago, for example.

And Kuros: your point on Americans' stereotyping China is a good one, an excellent analogy to make the same point from another angle.

Ever seen this documentary? Well worth your time.

[Big_Bird]

I think the way the Clinton administration handled Iraq was criminal and downright inhumane. The sanctions imposed a horrific cost on the ordinary citizen, many of them dying as a direct consequence. But this passive form of slaughter didn't garner the sort of worldwide attention that a needless vicious bloody and utterly incompetent war did.

Edit, this is a garbled reply. Not supposed to be idling here - supposed to be studying!

[Kuros]

[Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee]

The US wasn't liked before 9-11 and that the US had the sympathy of the world after the WTC attack is a myth.

The fact is that US has been hated and resented since the end of the cold war by much of the world because most of the world doesn't like the idea of a hyper-power.

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=eeHF8UBLi68

[The Bobster]

I think Obama's gonna make the US look good again.

[bacasper]

While it is hard to see how the US image could get any worse than it has been under Bush, I have been having similar thoughts ever since Nixon and have been wrong with most succeeding presidents.

People are just setting themselves up now for a big letdown (but I do hope I am wrong about that).

[pkang0202]

Thats great. The Middle East likes Obama. Lets elect a guy our enemies think is a good guy.

[No_hite_pls]

[bacasper]

In 2001, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard Myers said, "It is very clear that Afghanistan is only a small piece of the US campaign that could last more than a lifetime." This ideology has been a barrage articulated not only by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al., it is also the litany coming from the Democratic party, e.g. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

BO said on Sept. 4, 2007: "Hit Iran where it hurts." "Americans need to come together to confront the challenge posed by Iran. The war in Iraq has strengthened Iran which poses for us the greatest strategic challenge in the Middle East in a generation. Iran supports violent groups and sectarians in Iraq. Iran fuels terror and extremism in the Middle East. Iran is making progress on a nuclear program in defiance of the international community. Iran calls for Israel to be wiped off the map." He follows this up by calling for a pre-emptive military strike on Iran.

On Aug. 3, 2007, speaking at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of the International School for Scholars, BO called for a US attack on Pakistan, more troops in Afghanistan, and unilateral attacks on Iran and Pakistan, and strengthening the US military and intelligence apparatus across the planet.

He'll make us look better - like better war-mongers!