Actually, I think that plenty of Americans understand how other countries could be anxious about American power. What they find more difficult to understand is how, after we rebuilt Europe and Japan, protected Western Europe against Soviet domination, and spent billions on foreign aid, there can be such a thing as virulent anti- Americanism.......
You are making my point for me. First of all, the understanding to which you refer is intellectual rather than visceral. Secondly, as Steven observed, is that even if we all walked around with halos, it is the very power to do these things at all that causes fear: We choose as a nation to do what we perceive to be good. Who is to stop us if, allowing for all the goodwill in the world, our perceptions are awry? We have some good examples in history of misjudgements.
Fear easily begets anger and hatred. Even when there is no specific trigger, this is so.
Moreover, for all the good we seek to do at our best, we cannot help bullying other nations. Our sheer size and power again make it inevitable. |
