European Tribune

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when Canada ranks opinions toward China even with the US, then the US really has something to worry about. And there's no chance of this improving until the 2006 elections.

The world needs to get this message to Americans, but darned if I know how. Any formal communications will just hit the defensive screen that the US media-White House symbiosis keeps in place at present.

by gradinski chai on Fri Jun 24th, 2005 at 01:05:56 PM EST
and the scary thing that I see happening here is that even if this message seeps through (i.e., the rest of the world thinks we're dangerous, opinion of us is at an all-time low, etc. etc.) too often the response is "the hell with 'em! why should I care what they think?" or something along those lines.

It's a scary time to be here if you aren't one of the brainwashed masses -- even scarier to be raising kids!

by brinnainne on Fri Jun 24th, 2005 at 06:06:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the "White House," I think it's the American people who are mostly at fault. As Brinnaine points out, many -- maybe most -- Americans couldn't care less what "foreigners" think of them. It's "USA! USA!" for them, no matter how incompetent and immoral our foreign policies are.

Personally, I think most Americans are in a state of severe denial. Like most states of denial, this one is due to Americans not being strong or courageous enough to face the facts. Sadly, it's going to take more than a Pew  Survey to get Americans to begin to deal realistically with our country's -- and the world's -- problems.

by Matt in NYC on Sat Jun 25th, 2005 at 09:52:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Pretty much without exception, the Western European nations surveyed blamed George W. Bush for their negative views by margins of about two-to-one (as opposed to a "more general problem with Americans".  The most extreme example of this was found in Spain, where 76% blamed Bush, while only 14% had blamed Americans in general.

In response to another question, their views towards Americans (in contrast to the U.S.) are generally in the range of 65% favorable, which should help repair a lot of the damage to the country's image if a new administration appears more willing to actually engage the global community.

What I found somewhat remarkable was that Americans very much realized the extent to which their nation is disliked by the rest of the world:  only 26% believe that the U.S. is generally liked, while 69% say that it is disliked.  This is probably a healthy skepticism.  (Canadians have the most positive view of their perception by the rest of the world, with 94% thinking that they're liked.  The only other countries surveyed which feel that the world doesn't like them are Russia and Turkey.)

by The Maven on Sat Jun 25th, 2005 at 02:23:02 PM EST
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