Subject:
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Re: Ok, why such anti-American sentiment? (Was Re: the metric system)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Thu, 3 May 2001 13:03:53 GMT
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Viewed:
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488 times
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Linday:
First, I'd like to say that I appreciate all of the information. I'm quite
interested in the role that nations such as Australia and Canada played in the
theater of the World Wars, chiefly because I'm afraid to say that I know quite
little about their contributions.
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
>
> But IIRC the US became a larger trading partner with Australia
> and New Zealand than the UK quite early on--shortly after WWI,
> I believe. It was simple logistics that even imperial preference
> and the Sterling Area couldn't overcome.
Interesting. I've been under the impression that the UK has always been
Australia's and New Zealand's main trading partner (although I'd expect that the
Pacific Rim would be about on par by now.)
> > > > The angry gesture of the disempowered perhaps?
> > >
> > > Sure, when Bolivia shakes its fist, I'll agree. But do the Brittish, the
> > > Germans, the French, the Canadians, maybe even the Australians, consider
> > > themselves disempowered? There is a lot of fist-shaking toward America in
> > > countries that regard us with an air of cultural superiority
>
> Well, yes. When they were in the ascendant, we were uncouth yahoos.
> Now that the US is the dominant imperial power, we're *dangerous*
> uncouth yahoos, bent on imposing our uncultured ways upon them.
> So in a sense, it *is* the angry gesture of the disempowered.
> It's a rather old debate, one that's been going on since at least
> 1883 (IIRC) and the Exposition Universelles in Paris. The funny
> thing, to me, is that without local collaborators and a market,
> all of this "Americanism" would go absolutely nowhere.
My sentiments exactly; again, at the risk of redundancy, I'd say that there is a
big difference between forced market coercion and free market. A comment was
made in the beginning of the thread that America forces all sorts of goods on
Canada. Eh? My shoes are made in Taiwan, and I'd wager that so are those of my
friends to the north. True, much of the overseas labor is financed by American
corporations, but...every industrialized Western market is very lucrative for
consumer goods. I know its just a wee lad in a great big world, so market-wise,
I don't make much difference; but nonetheless, my philosophy is to vote with my
dollars. I don't care for MTV and HBO, so i don't pay for cable. I pretty much
try to ignore "popular" or faddish culture, although i admit to owning a pair of
Sketchers tennies. Yeah, it's inconsistent, but, even so, I don't feel that I
bought them 'cause The Man told me to. If it offends my sensibilities, I avoid
it. I send my money down channels that i support. No one makes me purchase any
particular brand of luxury good, and no American corporation, no matter how
slick their advertising, actually coerces money out of wealthy foreign markets.
james
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