On the heels of Roy Harper’s reasoning comes U.S. bashing no longer a game. I wish the people commentators in the rest of the world would say more things like this:
We usually take this Canadian prejudice lightly, as a kind of foible, but we may have to begin seriously questioning it. Anti-Americanism is not the game that we have so often considered it. America is the most vital and progressive country in the world, the most significant source of democratic impulses, our best friend by far, and the place where much of our culture originates. If our intent is to be authentic and consistent, can we afford to share anything with those who base their politics on hating America?
Perhaps we should acknowledge that reflexive anti-Americanism (as opposed to honest disagreement with the United States) is a poison afflicting large parts of the world, a poison we should purge from our own system.
The reflexive anti-Americanism of everyone, including Americans like me, should be more closely evaluated. I like it here. I can’t walk across the room without thinking about the gaping hole in the NY skyline. No one deserves this. The people in the aspirin factory in Sudan didn’t deserve it either, or the countless others destroyed by regimes funded by the US. But summoning those memories while the tears are still wet in everyones eyes is just poisonous. I wish more writers would think before they write. The US is filled with good people; good people who need to be vigilant of the message that the world sees in the upcoming days/months/years. We have to stand together for a reasonable response to unreasonable terror. Freedom wasn’t attacked, humanity was. But freedom is at stake.
