Was surfing the web site of a newspaper in Japan and found the following notice:
Congratulating
the people of the United States of America as they celebrate
their National Day
It was in reference to the recent July 4th holiday and was accompanied by a pro-America editorial by Ambassador Howard Baker (former Senator from Tennessee and Watergate Commission-member; y’know, the guy who asked John Dean “What did the president know, and when did he know it?”). The editorial also thanked the Japanese people for their friendship and partnership “in our fight for peace, prosperity and democracy.”
The piece is part of a series the paper is doing congratulating different countries on their national days (Venesuela was the next country to be congratulated, on July 5th).
I thought it was just dandy that this Japanese newspaper would take the time to congratulate the U.S. on Independence Day, and so in the same spirit, on behalf of the American people, I’d like to congratulate the people of Japan as they celebrate their national day (whenever that may be).
Oh, you Americans are so concerned about what others think of you. You even lose sleep about how people who have dedicated their lives to killing all of you, think of you!
America is the greatest nation on earth — just imagine how world peace will immediately crumble without the USA. Just imagine what the world would be like if the world’s superpower was not as benevolent as the USA.
You have more admirers and friends than you think. Those who hate you, hate you because you are an obstacle to their wicked ways.
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
I’d note that our worry about what other people think of us (which is a characteristic worry of Americans, as many from other countries have noticed) is inextricably bound up with our benevolence. In other words, if we were less benevolent then we would care less about what others thought, and if we cared less about what others thought then we would be less benevolent. These are two sides of the same coin.
As a result, it’s frustrating for us when we are trying to do good in the world but find the leaders of our supposed allies (France? Germany? Canada?) acting toward us in the manner that they have of late.
Jimmy, what you said is so true, and to extend your explanation, the often spineless and often selfish behaviour of your allies, when contrasted with your behaviour, is what makes the US the great nation it is (there would be no mountains if there were no valleys).
Incidentally, there might be a temptation on the part of some in the rest of the world–knowing how much Americans liked to be liked–to practice upon this desire by using scorn to manipulate us.
They might have success with this for a time, but not for very long. There’s the old saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” and a consistent diet of scorn toward Americans would likely produce similar results (i.e., make us less benevolent toward others).
I know that–in view of the disgraceful abandonment we experienced by our allies–*many* Americans felt, “Okay, world. We’ve saved your posteriors *twice* in the last hundred years (i.e., from global domination by Nazis and Soviets), and now we’re in the process of saving you a *third* time (i.e., from domination by Islamists). If you can’t support us when we *need* you then *who cares* what you think!”
That “who cares what you think!” reaction is one others in the world should not want Amerians to start feeling on a regular basis.
Thus far, we haven’t. Our native impulse to try to be nice and get along with everybody is still the dominant factor in how we approach the rest of the world, but our patience has been tested by our allies’ recent failure to help us when we needed them.
Let me post my last post on this topic:
Perhaps Americans are concerned about being nice, and getting along with people, but I believe being ‘nice’ is not the foundation of America’s goal of decent behaviour and not the driver of its international actions.
The foundation is on its values of liberty, freedom, and democracy, which it believes *all* people are entitled to. America feels more compelled than others to act on helping people free themselves because she realises her own abundant blessings and her strength relative to others.
America at her best embodies the DC and Marvel ideas of :truth, justice, and freedom (Superman), and ‘with great power comes great reponsibility’ (Spiderman).
I suppose that includes Democrats as well, at least the Roosevelt and Truman variants. 🙂 🙂
I used to live in Taiwan and the English papers there always had a few pages celebrating the national days of other countries. It helped get advertising from companies wanting business from expatriates, and any expat likes to see his country mentioned positively in the media, so it would be good for circulation too.
I guess that this newspaper publishes an Enlish version. I wonder if there were similar articles in the Japanese version.
I am absolutely ashamed of Canada’s behaviour towards America the past few years.
Honestly, sometimes I feel more American than Canadian, and I’m seriously thinking of moving there someday.
I could spend a day trying to explain Canadian anti-Americanism to you…but I don’t have the time. It’s like a disease here and it’s completely unjustified, and often completely idiotic. And most of all it’s childish. Most people don’t even realize it. I’ve lost some friends over it.
Suffice it to say, I think it has a lot to do with our rampant secularism, atheism, socialism, liberalism and moral relativism. Fundamentally I think it goes deeper and has as its root a disdain and hatred of Christianity.
The media doesn’t help any either.
Think of your most liberal states (Vermont? Massachusetts?) and then think of a whole country like that and that’s pretty much what you’ve got in Canada (except for Alberta). In the United States you have the conservative heartland to balance out the liberal blue states. Here, Alberta is just too small population-wise to make much of a difference.
Americans should take comfort in Jesus’ own words, “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you.”
In the very long term, if America wants to keep it’s allies it will have to re-evangelize them.
Oh, and this might be of interest…I USED TO BE one of those anti-American Canadians. I didn’t even know it.☹
Thankfully my thinking has completely changed around the past few years.☺