Anti-Anti-Americanism
A friend just drew my attention to two interesting websites which are relevant for our project.
One is called Medienkritik and is devoted to debunking anti-Americanism in the German media. It does so in English, despite the German title. What is interesting is that many of the ideas it combats - ideas about what has gone wrong with the United States as reported in the European media - are ideas which would find no small degree of assent among members of the Tübingen Progressive Americans. My initial impression of the webpage is that it can serve as an interesting corrective. I think the page does better where it focuses on drawing attention to hypocrisy (like when Germany is also complicit is nastiness) than when it tries to defend American policy, but others may differ.
The other is a German-language site with an English title, politicallyincorrect.de, "pro-American, pro-Israel, and against the Islamization of Europe, for the Grundgesetz and human rights." I would recommend this site as well to German readers who want a passionate defense of positions they are unlikely to find in Der Spiegel, Die Zeit etc.. I would recommend some of it for those on the left who fail to see Islamism for what it is - a threat from the right.
We can see the polemic nature of the writing, however, in articles such as the one on the Rumsfeld case. They claim it is absurd that Germany, which learned democracy from America, should accuse America of war crimes (although I doubt they have considered the implications of this approach - an eternal Maulkorb for Germany). They also wax indignant about matters of jurisdiction and the supposed absurdity of Rumsfeld being accused in a German court of crimes committed against Iraqis. Well, isn't that what part of that democracy-teaching was about back in the 1940s? Didn't the U.S. go even further - using retroactive justice against the Nazis? The article says next to nothing about the substance of the accusations, nor does it mention recent precident, such as the Pinochet case. Instead, the whole issue as portrayed as support for "terrorists" - even though part of the problem with the whole Rumsfeld and torture issue is that it has not been established that the men being tortured were terrorists. Indeed, in the case of Abu Ghraib, the opposite is the case. (And besides, while armed insurgents out of uniform can be executed under the Geneva conventions, no convention or law allows for the torture of anybody, even terrorists.)
What gets me about these two sites is the implication that being anti-Bush administration is somehow the same as being anti-American. Patriots are always spouting about how "I don't agree with your opinion, but I would die to defend your right to have it" and the like. Well, here we are. We have a progressive vision of the United States, a vision with strong historical precedent, and that means disagreeing with the current administration on many, many things. That doesn't mean we hate the country of our birth. I most certainly do not.
One is called Medienkritik and is devoted to debunking anti-Americanism in the German media. It does so in English, despite the German title. What is interesting is that many of the ideas it combats - ideas about what has gone wrong with the United States as reported in the European media - are ideas which would find no small degree of assent among members of the Tübingen Progressive Americans. My initial impression of the webpage is that it can serve as an interesting corrective. I think the page does better where it focuses on drawing attention to hypocrisy (like when Germany is also complicit is nastiness) than when it tries to defend American policy, but others may differ.
The other is a German-language site with an English title, politicallyincorrect.de, "pro-American, pro-Israel, and against the Islamization of Europe, for the Grundgesetz and human rights." I would recommend this site as well to German readers who want a passionate defense of positions they are unlikely to find in Der Spiegel, Die Zeit etc.. I would recommend some of it for those on the left who fail to see Islamism for what it is - a threat from the right.
We can see the polemic nature of the writing, however, in articles such as the one on the Rumsfeld case. They claim it is absurd that Germany, which learned democracy from America, should accuse America of war crimes (although I doubt they have considered the implications of this approach - an eternal Maulkorb for Germany). They also wax indignant about matters of jurisdiction and the supposed absurdity of Rumsfeld being accused in a German court of crimes committed against Iraqis. Well, isn't that what part of that democracy-teaching was about back in the 1940s? Didn't the U.S. go even further - using retroactive justice against the Nazis? The article says next to nothing about the substance of the accusations, nor does it mention recent precident, such as the Pinochet case. Instead, the whole issue as portrayed as support for "terrorists" - even though part of the problem with the whole Rumsfeld and torture issue is that it has not been established that the men being tortured were terrorists. Indeed, in the case of Abu Ghraib, the opposite is the case. (And besides, while armed insurgents out of uniform can be executed under the Geneva conventions, no convention or law allows for the torture of anybody, even terrorists.)
What gets me about these two sites is the implication that being anti-Bush administration is somehow the same as being anti-American. Patriots are always spouting about how "I don't agree with your opinion, but I would die to defend your right to have it" and the like. Well, here we are. We have a progressive vision of the United States, a vision with strong historical precedent, and that means disagreeing with the current administration on many, many things. That doesn't mean we hate the country of our birth. I most certainly do not.
mhatlie - 14. Nov, 15:11
anti what?
Perhaps it's a good sign when the neocons get so upset when their leader gets into trouble.
--Gus