The US government, on the other hand, seems to go through periods where it rarely sees a dictator without seeing at the same time a rationalization for supporting that dictator.

Of course, I know that using the language in a way that does not accept the frame that USG=America ... a specific instance of a frame much beloved of dictators and tyrants across the world and through history ... could be accused of confusing the issue.

Indeed, under the current USG and the USG=America frame, rejecting that frame is an Anti-American Activity.


Utsukushikereba sore de ii

The diarist correctly observes that the phrase is used as a weapon (to shoot the messenger), but then goes on to say that there is a place for anti-Americanism.  What I am saying is that the term anti-Americanism should just be taken off the table entirely.

It's not entirely clear, but it seems to me that some misguided assumptions remain.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

I know poemless hates when I generalize here on the subject, so I will try to choose my words carefully, but there is for me a use for the term as a compliment, when it is employed to describe criticism of America. And by America, I mean not just the America of the current regime in Washington which, lets face it, is pretty egregious in its distillation of some of the more obnoxious forms of American exceptionalism. I mean America as understood both by the elites which control its government and its economic power centers and by the vast white middle classes which supply both its labor.

If one could talk, making much sense, of a German Ideology fully 150 years ago, before even Germany was unified, certainly it is possible to talk of an American ideology, defined by its dominant classes, as regards the US today.

"America" is a weltenshauung, and as a weltenschuung, it can be seen as rather selfish ("neo-liberal" is you will) and unconcerned by the truly common good and by solidarity. It is highly naive in its view of itself, the outside world and its relationship to that outside world, with the elites naively thinking in imperial terms of an "American Century" which is ahead of it, rather than well behind it, and a politically naive great middle class which thinks of America as a beacon of hope, freedom and democracy for the rest of the world. It is beholder to an economic ideology which is ultimately no less doomed to failure than the command economy ideology of the early Communists, and it is utterly unconcerned by the lot of the poor, the vulnerable, the downtrodden, both within its borders and outside of it. Above all, it plays by one set of rules and expects others to play by the rules it (and only it) imagines it plays by but doesn't.

Are all Americans like this? Certainly not. But, as a practical matter, whether consciously or not, if you are looking at a white American in the top half of the income strata, there's a very good chance, perhaps as high as two out of three chance, that that's what you are looking at.

So, criticism of America? And Americans? I'm ok with being called anti-American, absolutely.

"C'est un scandale !"

If "anti-Americanism" means such things as opposing water-boarding and torture, then that is good and productive anti-Americanism. Otherwise, the "anti-Americanism" label becomes a weapon to crush dissent and opposition to American actions and policies...

I think we all understand the brow-beating, propaganda version of "anti-country X" that comes from all corners of humanity - it only varies in intensity based on how much power a given group has to promote or enforce their views.

Being "anti-country X" means you believe country Y is better.

We all live on the same planet, and our most pressing problems operate at the level of the planet, which is why local identities need to be obsoleted. The exercise is anti-intellectual and emotionally driven - "anti X" and "pro Y" is the sucker's path to self-worth.

you are the media you consume.

The Twinkies of political discourse.

(golf clap) I like that. :)

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

That's not been my experience.

To be sure, most people's political sensibilities are pretty much on autopilot, basically groping from one issue to the next without any real ideological bearing.

But, those Americans who are politically aware? Definitely, the right-wing, retrograde dominate, and not just in the GOP.

"C'est un scandale !"

Are they afraid of writing plain english ?

Anyway, as somebody asked recently elsewhere, what on earth do southerners, culturally tied to those who resisted the Union of the United States of America, have to do with the ideals expressed by the founding fathers ? Or, what valid opinion should they have on the ACLU ? Beyond STFU that is.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Bin Laden has a regime?

And it lives in DC.