The Issue of Anti-Americanism and the Ways to Deal with It - Essay Example

26 October Essay In her brief essay, Ann Hulbert discusses the issue of anti-Americanism and the ways to deal with it. She refers to her family trip to Istanbul which turned to be a “personal diplomacy” voyage (72). Several years ago, a renowned advertising executive Keith Reinhardt decided that state efforts were not enough to boost the American image abroad, and public sector had to contribute to these improvement strategies (Hulbert 73). Hulbert writes that it is high time Americans adopted dulcet tones and humble smiles (73). Just tone down can easily crass the cultural differences between Americans and other nations (Hulbert 74). Americans receive a warm welcome from their foreign counterparts, and it is at least narcissistic to assume that America is paying for everyone else’s identity crisis and has the right to provide solutions to them (Hulbert 75). 2. Granitsas evaluates the extent to which the American national identity has grown isolationist. Despite the rapid development of globalization, the contemporary global village mainly consists of the two communities: Americans and everyone else (Granitsas 80). The importance of foreign affairs in America is decreasing (Granitsas 81). That Americans are turning away from the rest of the world is easy to explain: first, America has been historically attractive to millions of immigrants (Granitsas 81). When the whole world is trying to get to America, it comes at no surprise that America is no longer willing to look to the rest of the world (Granitsas 82). Second, the last two decades were marked with the rapid growth of economic well-being in America, and economic well-being dulls the need to participate in foreign affairs (Granitsas 82). Unfortunately, such isolationism is increasingly harmful for America: disinterested citizens can hardly help America to pursue its foreign policy principles abroad (Granitsas 83). As such, while the whole world is turning into a global village, America is slowly moving to its suburbs (Granitsas 83). 3. According to Hilton, “America is on a hiding to nothing” (88). Put simply, Hilton tries to elaborate on the public hatred toward America that has become characteristic of the old continent. Hilton writes that global derision toward Americans is mostly innocent and is not worth being noticed (89). It is a hobby Europeans enjoy in their lives (Hilton 89). However, Europeans, too, are not secured from the failures of hypocrisy (Hilton 93). Nor are Americans as bad as Europeans are trying to imagine them. Anti-Americanism is born of fascination and is a reflection of European jealousy toward American successes (Hilton 95). 4. Barbara Ehrenreich evaluates the relevance of the ethnic background issue. The author refers to a recent talk with an acquaintance who shared the joys of rediscovering her ethnic heritage (Ehrehnreich 234). Ehrenreich writes that during her life, she vainly tried to associate herself with any of the existing races of ethnic groups (Ehrenreich 234). By marrying an Eastern European Jewish man, she hoped to regain the sense of being ethnicity-wise (Ehrenreich 235). However, her children did not seem to develop a sense of belonging to one particular race (Ehrenreich 235). With time she realized that the world would have been better if no one cared of these ethnic and racial divisions (Ehrenreich 236). 5. Paz writes that the American cuisine has long pursued the principles of being plain and healthy (254). Carrots, potatoes, and minimum spices marked Puritan commitment to satisfying a physiological need (Paz 255). Moreover, the American cuisine reflects the American reliance on science and their striving to promote health in work and sports (Paz 255). Ever since their birth as a state, Americans believed in science, which made them modern (Paz 255). Unfortunately, where science cuts away everything unhealthy and non-modern, the American culture also cuts away everything is considered unnecessary and unimportant: this condemnation equally applies to the races and ethnicities that America believes to be “unhealthy” (Paz 255). According to Hilton, “the pursuit of private diplomacy rests on the opposite innocent illusion: just tone down crass Americans’ noisy cultural differences from others, and political and economic harmony will follow” (74). Really, contemporary world lives in the atmosphere of the American cultural domination, which casts some shadows on other nations and traditions. This domination has already become an object of international hatred toward Americans, but it appears that to change the situation is extremely easy. I believe that Hilton’s advice should become the motto America will follow in its relations with foreign countries. It must govern American policies abroad, to reduce the existing divide between America and the rest of the world. Granitsas supports Hilton’s thesis about cultural differences and claims that “for all the talk about a global village, there are actually two communities in the world today: Americans and everyone else” (80). I think that the implications of this phrase are two-fold: on the one hand, Americans have long cut themselves from the rest of the world for the reasons that go beyond cultural and economic prosperity. On the other hand, the flourishing anti-Americanism leads the rest of the world to cut itself from Americans, who are not willing to be a part of this global village. While the whole world is moving to global integrity and unity, America must finally change its arrogant attitudes toward other nations. Otherwise, it risks changing its status and moving to the suburbs of globalization and global economic growth. In Hilton’s essay, we read: “for Europeans, anti-Americanism is a hobby. For too many in the Muslim world it has become a career” (88). That anti-Americanism can be equally the source of hatred and the product of individual beliefs is difficult to deny. However, it seems that Hilton is not completely honest with how anti-Americanism works in Europe. It is difficult to imagine that anti-Americanism it totally a product of fascination and jealousy. From my experience, such attitudes toward Americans are justified by the arrogance and domination, with which they treat Europeans and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Hilton’s essay distorts the truth and leaves no opportunity for the American citizens to change the reality. When Barbara Ehrenreich asked her children whether they felt any stirrings of ethnic or religious identity, they said, “None, and the world would be a better place if nobody else did, either” (236). The truth of this assumption is difficult to underestimate. Recent wars and international conflicts were generated by the differences in ethnic and racial beliefs between America and the rest of the world. That people do not associate themselves with any ethnic identity does not mean that they are losing their heritage; on the contrary, it means that they are able to preserve their ethnic uniqueness without discriminating against those, who look and talk differently. What does American cuisine have to do with its identity and anti-Americanism? Paz writes that healthy American cuisine “is the extirpation or the separation of what is alien, different, ambiguous, impure. One and the same condemnation applies to blacks, Chicanos, sodomites, and spices” (255). This is, actually, where the core of all American problems is. Anti-Americanism is rooted in the American nation’s reluctance to recognize other nations and nationalities as equal. Meanwhile, those whom America has already rejected have a potential to unite into a single global force, which will further promote anti-American moods and push the American nation beyond the boundaries of international cooperation and success. Works Cited Ehrenreich, B. “Cultural Baggage.” pp.233-36. Granitsas, A. “Americans Are Turning Out the World.” pp.80-3. Hilton. D. “Fashionable Anti-Americanism.” pp.87-96. Hulbert, A. “The I’m-Not-Ugly American.” pp.72-4. Paz, O. “Hygiene and Repression.” pp.251-55. Read More