The dangers of generalization
Good news for New Yorkers at the start of the New Year as Thomas L. Friedman, writing in the New York Times, announced that he had found the cure to anti-Americanism: Come to Poland.
In an editorial that didn't know if it was a history lesson or a panacea for Americans' wounded pride in the face of misplaced European hatred, Friedman waxed lyrical about how Poland was a "geopolitical spa" that in three days had massaged out two years of anti-American bruises. The article contained one quote from an American foreign affairs specialist who, after visiting Poland, claimed that it was "...the most pro-American country in the world - including the United States." There then followed a liberal sprinkling of quotes from young Warsaw University students dutifully attacking West Europeans for forgetting the Communist threat and the Second World War because their lives are now "too comfortable."
Having thus massaged his readership, the author went on to laud Poland as being America's best friend in Europe, but stating that this friendship could not be taken for granted. Although Poland has 2,400 troops in Iraq, 75 percent of Poles are against their presence, and if the U.S. ends up in a mess there, Poland will too. Though given the continued violence and mounting death tolls, both military and civilian, the point at which Friedman would be prepared to concede that the Iraq debacle is indeed a "mess" remains somewhat unclear.
The kind of generalizations made in this editorial are disingenuous for a number of reasons, and the constant references to history are misleading. Yes, the U.S. did help in saving Europe from the Nazis and previous administrations did indeed keep up pressure on the Soviets but, as the cliché goes, that was then and this is now. The current administration was not involved in either of these things, and the credit for toppling communism should in any event go to the Poles themselves. About a year ago, when the Bush cabal had already decided on war to grab Iraq's oil/liberate the Iraqi people* (delete as applicable), a number of stories in the pliant western media compared Bush with Churchill in his wilderness years, as he tried to warn of Nazi rearmament. This was a desperate ploy to give Bush some credibility in the face of overwhelming opposition, and represents an even more farcical comparison now than it was then. When it comes to courage, one cannot imagine the current administration following the same course of action had three divisions of Soviet troops been massed on the Iranian border last March.
Then there is the question of anti-American feeling in Europe. The author appears not to understand that it is not America that is hated, only the incumbents at the White House. These middle-aged, white males are not representative of the nation, much less American values. They have merely (and so far very successfully) dressed their naked greed in a cloak of feigned freedom-centered respectability to enrich themselves and their supporters. The rest of the world can only suffer the idiocy of this limitless arrogance until the American people decide otherwise.
Despite the naivety displayed in all these generalizations, the average New Yorker doubtless found the article a pleasant enough read, reassured that there is still at least one country in which America enjoys universal popularity, whether accurate or not, and was reminded once again of France and Germany's ingratitude. However, if editorials in American newspapers contain such sweeping statements, this does mean that Poland must be doing one thing right: playing the game of Trying to Keep Everybody Happy, that most difficult of pastimes.
In an editorial that didn't know if it was a history lesson or a panacea for Americans' wounded pride in the face of misplaced European hatred, Friedman waxed lyrical about how Poland was a "geopolitical spa" that in three days had massaged out two years of anti-American bruises. The article contained one quote from an American foreign affairs specialist who, after visiting Poland, claimed that it was "...the most pro-American country in the world - including the United States." There then followed a liberal sprinkling of quotes from young Warsaw University students dutifully attacking West Europeans for forgetting the Communist threat and the Second World War because their lives are now "too comfortable."
Having thus massaged his readership, the author went on to laud Poland as being America's best friend in Europe, but stating that this friendship could not be taken for granted. Although Poland has 2,400 troops in Iraq, 75 percent of Poles are against their presence, and if the U.S. ends up in a mess there, Poland will too. Though given the continued violence and mounting death tolls, both military and civilian, the point at which Friedman would be prepared to concede that the Iraq debacle is indeed a "mess" remains somewhat unclear.
The kind of generalizations made in this editorial are disingenuous for a number of reasons, and the constant references to history are misleading. Yes, the U.S. did help in saving Europe from the Nazis and previous administrations did indeed keep up pressure on the Soviets but, as the cliché goes, that was then and this is now. The current administration was not involved in either of these things, and the credit for toppling communism should in any event go to the Poles themselves. About a year ago, when the Bush cabal had already decided on war to grab Iraq's oil/liberate the Iraqi people* (delete as applicable), a number of stories in the pliant western media compared Bush with Churchill in his wilderness years, as he tried to warn of Nazi rearmament. This was a desperate ploy to give Bush some credibility in the face of overwhelming opposition, and represents an even more farcical comparison now than it was then. When it comes to courage, one cannot imagine the current administration following the same course of action had three divisions of Soviet troops been massed on the Iranian border last March.
Then there is the question of anti-American feeling in Europe. The author appears not to understand that it is not America that is hated, only the incumbents at the White House. These middle-aged, white males are not representative of the nation, much less American values. They have merely (and so far very successfully) dressed their naked greed in a cloak of feigned freedom-centered respectability to enrich themselves and their supporters. The rest of the world can only suffer the idiocy of this limitless arrogance until the American people decide otherwise.
Despite the naivety displayed in all these generalizations, the average New Yorker doubtless found the article a pleasant enough read, reassured that there is still at least one country in which America enjoys universal popularity, whether accurate or not, and was reminded once again of France and Germany's ingratitude. However, if editorials in American newspapers contain such sweeping statements, this does mean that Poland must be doing one thing right: playing the game of Trying to Keep Everybody Happy, that most difficult of pastimes.
