Ugly editorials smugly put
Published May 26, 2004
"If only we could see ourselves as others do," my grandmother once lamented. She never finished the thought, but I spent a lifetime wondering what's so hard about self-examination and how come nobody else is pitching in. I don't know what their problem is, but it's not for lack of mirrors.
Today, thanks to Google News, you can see your country as other countries see it. Simply visit the editorial pages of thousands of metro newspapers from all over the world that are continually updated to Google's front page.
These days, what other countries are saying about America, however, is very, very frightening. Mainly because so much of it's undeniably true. Our reputation is trashed. If you can find a newspaper that isn't trashing the U.S. in its editorial pages, post it.
China View is on our essential reading list. It's the giant mouth of the giant that is no longer sleeping but fully awake and huge, and hungry. China is eating steel. It is itself outsourcing jobs. What is happening inside it is a type of economic fusion that, once started, can't be stopped.
And they are mad as hell at the United States. In a piercing editorial in China View, US flaunting double standard, the newspaper says "the United States should look in the mirror for the dirt on its own face before teaching others how to wash."
- Ugly editorials smugly put
- Published: May 26, 2004
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- Section: Culture
- Writer: CW Fisher
- CW Fisher's BC Writer page
- CW Fisher's personal site
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When the world has more than one big target to aim its frustrations at, the pressure on the US will ease. Anti-Americanism will wane somewhat, being partially replaced by anti-Europeanism and anti-China-ism.
CW, thanks for the Google News tip, very interesting.
RJ makes a very fine point about about the current world structure, which certainly focuses negative attention upon the US and its actions. The rest of the world is particularly resentful of the US whenever it flexes its muscles, which is seen as taking advantage of its position.
It is important to know what others are saying and to be instructed by such things, but dwelling too much upon them can also be dangerous.
Do you think any human being on earth is without his or her own agenda, is some kind of neutral arbiter? I don't think such a person exists.
RJ: "...In today's uni-polar world (as opposed to the bi-polar world of the Cold War era), it is natural for the "big dog" to be hated by the rest of the pack. ...I suspect this will change somewhat in the coming years."
Since the USA is about *two clicks away from becoming a Third World Country, your prediction may be correct; they could go from loathing to pity.
*possible "clicks": continued drought in the west, another "gas crisis", the complete and irreversible Wal-Martization of American jobs, a deadly pandemic, or four more years of you-know-who...
Anyway~ Have a Nice Day!
cw:
thanks for the google news tip. if you find some good papers to check out, please let us know.
jack e. jett
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(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/15988)
In today's uni-polar world (as opposed to the bi-polar world of the Cold War era), it is natural for the "big dog" to be hated by the rest of the pack.
I suspect this will change somewhat in the coming years. We are on the brink of becoming a tri-polar world. The EU and Red China will both take a shot at displacing the US as global hegemon.
When this happens, expect something vaguely similar to Orwell's "1984", with three massive regional powers battling each other for global supremacy (though of course this won't be a "hot" war, but an economic and diplomatic one).