BLOG VIEW | HEADLINE VIEW

ALL

GEEK

Arabs Just Love America!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 15 2006 3:00 PM

Submitted by legionnaire. Edited By legionnaire.

TAGS: Arab, America, poll, Middle East

Despite the stereotype of the American foreign policy machine, grinding everything in its path in a neverending quest for more money, there are actually still places, even in the Arab world, where America is not hated. Places like Jordan, where King Abdullah II has enjoyed a close relationship with Bush, or Morocco or even Egypt, who have typically been further afield from the recent conflicts the US has been involved with, have had a rosier picture of the US. Well, until now, that is.

James Zogby, the head of the Arab American Institute, said the annual survey of opinion in five Arab countries found that U.S. policy toward Iraq and the Palestinian conflict were the main issues driving deteriorating Arab opinion.

�Our policies have not only had a worsening impact in terms of attitudes towards us but also in dampening confidence in the prospects for development and political stability and are therefore, I think, a real concern to countries in the region,� Zogby said.

The survey released by the Arab American Institute found that more than 80 percent of people in Saudi Arabia and Egypt had negative opinions of the United States, similar to previous years, but attitudes worsened in Morocco, Jordan and Lebanon.

The biggest increases were in Jordan, where negative U.S. ratings climbed to 90 percent from 62 percent and Morocco, where they grew to 87 percent from 64 percent.

Attitudes toward American people, movies and democracy were more negative than positive in most of the five countries.
Emphasis added

These people aren't religious fanatics or extremists (though the near-constant portrayal of them as such by US media probably hasn't helped things), they're just regular, everyday people living in these countries. And they absolutely hate America, and even dislike Americans as people.

Sure, this is just a poll, but the fact is even in autocratic governments and monarchies, if the people are that united behind a particular cause, in this case hating America, it's hard for the government to maintain any other position. The diplomatic future of the US in the region is hanging in the balance, and if countries are unified in their hatred of the US it's going to be extremely difficult in the future for the US to play any part at all in trying to shape the politics of the region.

53 Comments

PAGE:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Deny

USA

August 2006

DEC 15, 2006 03:12 PM

Bush doesn't give a crap what we think or anyone else for that matter.

reacher

USA

March 2004

DEC 15, 2006 03:14 PM

probably because the US supports the above mentioned countries with billions of USD in aid each year.

Lips_wawa

I'm lost

December 2006

DEC 15, 2006 03:20 PM

And it's not just Arab countries that hate us. There are plenty of countries that think we are mindless, selfish, bullying twits. Plenty

_kungfoo_

Altadena, CA

April 2005

DEC 15, 2006 03:24 PM

Lips_wawa said:
And it's not just Arab countries that hate us. There are plenty of countries that think we are mindless, selfish, bullying twits. Plenty

Well, I think the Arab countries hate us the most, but, yeah.

_kungfoo_

Altadena, CA

April 2005

DEC 15, 2006 03:28 PM

Deny said:
Bush doesn't give a crap what we think or anyone else for that matter.

It's not that he doesn't give a crap, it's just that:

a. He doesn't know what the fuck he is doing

b. He got bad advice from idiots neocons would told him we would be "greeted as heroes and liberators"

c. He's not smart enough to be President

d. He has to obey his religious right overlords

e. He's a...

this list is going to get way too long. Yeah, let's just stick with he's a total fucking jackass.

_kungfoo_

Altadena, CA

April 2005

DEC 15, 2006 03:39 PM

KUNGFOO said:

Lips_wawa said:
And it's not just Arab countries that hate us. There are plenty of countries that think we are mindless, selfish, bullying twits. Plenty

Well, I think the Arab countries hate us the most, but, yeah.

You know what, I take that back. Maybe not in the middle east, but I lived in the UK for three years while Bush has been in office and did plenty of traveling through Europe this year. As long as your not a jackass, be honest and do the, "Bush? I'm not with that guy!!", you'll meet tons of people who are pretty nice even if you're American.

emotedcreations

Germany

July 2006

DEC 15, 2006 03:43 PM

I don't suppose it has anything to do with us refusing to speak to Syria or Iran for mostly juvenile reasons. Most of the time when this administration justifies foreign policy stances my mind begins to reel. It's like logic has been suspended in a vat of idiocy. You won't talk to Syria because they might ask for diplomatic concession in Lebanon? or Iran might ask for similar concessions? Give me a break. The US is a prime example of wanting its cake and having to eat it too. If you don't know what I'm talking about note Rice's response to the Baker-Hamilton recommendations.

Lips_wawa

I'm lost

December 2006

DEC 15, 2006 03:47 PM

KUNGFOO said:

Lips_wawa said:
And it's not just Arab countries that hate us. There are plenty of countries that think we are mindless, selfish, bullying twits. Plenty

Well, I think the Arab countries hate us the most, but, yeah.

I don't know, I'd say some hate us pretty damn much example

It's nice to read their sides of the story. "Imperialistic" is how we get described quite often

My link didn't quite work - click S. Korean authorities yielding to US pressure

Thorwl

Denmark

October 2006

DEC 15, 2006 03:48 PM

I'm just an ordinary european guy, and my impression is that people don't hate americans or american culture as such, but it is a very common opinion that your foreign policy is a joke, and more importantly, a killing joke.

I think you guys would have a much better rep if your governments just stopped bombing the rest of the world all the time, it's kind of annoying.

Lips_wawa

I'm lost

December 2006

DEC 15, 2006 03:50 PM

KUNGFOO said:

Lips_wawa said:
And it's not just Arab countries that hate us. There are plenty of countries that think we are mindless, selfish, bullying twits. Plenty

Well, I think the Arab countries hate us the most, but, yeah.

Um, they might not hate you, but they have 'strong feelings of dislike' towards your/ my/ our country

NickFaust

USA

April 2004

DEC 15, 2006 03:55 PM

After 9/11 Susan Sontag was called "UnAmerican" because she said that 9/11 was America's foreign policy come home to roost. Unfortuately for the peasants with the torches and pitchforks, she just happened to be right.

I want to go on record early here with my prediction that the pigeons are still flying and that, when they come home to roost this time, I think we need to send the peasants out after Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, William Kristol, and the entirety of the Project for a New American Century.

Colinism

Atlanta, GA

July 2005

DEC 15, 2006 04:34 PM

NickFaust said:
After 9/11 Susan Sontag was called "UnAmerican" because she said that 9/11 was America's foreign policy come home to roost. Unfortuately for the peasants with the torches and pitchforks, she just happened to be right.

I want to go on record early here with my prediction that the pigeons are still flying and that, when they come home to roost this time, I think we need to send the peasants out after Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, William Kristol, and the entirety of the Project for a New American Century.

By your and that logic, then the Iraqi invasion was simply Saddams pidgeons coming home to roost.

MetaTag

United Kingdom

September 2002

DEC 15, 2006 04:36 PM

You have extrapolated the data too far when you say that Arabs "absolutely hate" America and Americans (meaning a hatred amoung most Arabs). That statement does not follow from the data of the survey.

This article from 2003 sums up the situation quite well.

The hawks believe that Arabs respect power, not reason. They have nothing but contempt for the so-called Arab street, which they assume is easily manipulated by authoritarian states into anti-Americanism or anti-Zionism. They blame America's image problems on Islamic or Arab culture, on the envy of the successful by the weak and failed, or on simple misunderstanding of U.S. policy.

Together, these assumptions have produced an approach that combines vigorous military interventions with a dismissal of local opposition to them, offset by occasional patronizing attempts to "get the American message out." Not surprisingly, the result has been to alienate the very people whose support the United States needs to succeed.

A key problem is that it is easier to worsen relations than it is to improve them. While opinions of the US are low, it is easier for the more extreme elements, who do hate America and democracy, to prosper.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

DEC 15, 2006 05:41 PM

Colinism said:

By your and that logic, then the Iraqi invasion was simply Saddams pidgeons coming home to roost.

Ah, no. The Iraqi invasion was done by a government with an agenda (and a poodle). If I understand him correctly, NickFaust is talking about popular feeling and its extremes. I'd have thought that you would understand the distinction between government and people.